Aloha and welcome to Hawaiian Experience Spa

After almost 19 years, Hawaiian Experience Spa is no more. The criminal actions of the owner of Palm Valley Pavilions (the center which the Goodyear Spa was located)  and their attorney, started a chain of events that resulted in an unavoidable closure. Due to those actions, reviews went up that the spa was permanently closed and there was a surge in disputed transactions, some of which stated the same. Mindbody Online’s “Payment Risk Team” in conjunction with the credit card processor Transfirst/TYTS (the only processor Mindbody can be used with), placed a hold on our merchant account for Goodyear, which allowed new transactions to go through but prevented all revenue from being provided to the spa.

Mindbody’s Payment Risk Team again with TYTS started withholding increasing amounts of funds for our three other merchant accounts despite no issues with them, no surge in disputed transactions and most notably entirely separate corporations.

The hold placed on a merchant’s account is designed to allocate funds to cover future disputes in the case that the merchant does not have money to cover them.  (When a dispute is submitted, money comes from the merchant’s bank account). There was never a single instance where there was an issue with any spa accounts (they continued to withdraw money for disputes while they were not depositing money for sales).

After this Mindbody and TYTS, suddenly terminated all four of our merchant accounts with the stated reason that review sites and comments in disputes said all Hawaiian Experience Spa locations were closed permanently. This is how it was determined by Mindbody, who can see all appointments, transactions, communication, therapist schedules, etc. It is unfathomable. It resulted in not being able to process a single sale be it an autopay for a monthly membership, checking out a guest’s appointment, online sales, etc.

This meant that the spa had no income whatsoever, while they continued to withdrawal funds for their fees, any disputes and other significant items. Resolving this rapidly was impossible due to everything it required and Mindbody’s complete lack of concern (the appropriate department does not even take phone calls). Using a new credit card processor ended up not even being possible as Mindbody possesses all credit card information which precludes us from processing any recurring membership charges, among other things. While the spa clearly has a significant claim against Mindbody and Transfirst, their actions actually make it impossible to resolve quickly enough. It certainly was not something which was a foreseeable risk either.

I intend to expand upon this, speaking more broadly, an immediate explanation was important.

Mahalo nui loa,

Mike Ibach