Payment Enablement Concerns

Bob Richard
Bob Richard
Sixth Anniversary Kudos 1 Facilitator 1
in Blackbaud eTapestry® General Discussions
Is there anyone else who is a Blackbaud customer who believes the recent arbitrary Payment Enablement Fee is a violation of existing contract that a customer has with Blackbaud? This fee should be negotiated at the time of contract renewal. Here we all are trying to regain our footing after a very challenging year and Blackbaud provides us one more challenge in the form of the Payment Enable Fee.

Comments

  • Raymah Hutchinson
    Raymah Hutchinson
    Tenth Anniversary Kudos 1 Name Dropper Participant
    Absolutely agree that this came out of nowhere after my budget had been sent. For the first time in 15 years I will reassess Blackbaud and eTapestry.


    Raymah
  • Raymah Hutchinson
    Raymah Hutchinson
    Tenth Anniversary Kudos 1 Name Dropper Participant
    More - the bill states that it's a monthly fee billed annually but the $450 only cover 4/5 thr

    u 12/31. HMMM what does everyone bill says?
  • Raymah Hutchinson
    Raymah Hutchinson
    Tenth Anniversary Kudos 1 Name Dropper Participant
    Hello everyone - I just read my initial email that this is $50 a month. What are we getting for this additional fee that is not in my budget. What improvements are they going to make?
  • Rachel Brunke
    Rachel Brunke
    Fourth Anniversary Kudos 1 Facilitator 1
    I am waiting for a call back from Blackbaud. This fee is not in our budget. Also, the representative that I spoke with said that an email was sent out prior to the bill but I did not receive and email. You can't just send out a bill for $450 and expect it to be paid. This absolutely needs to be negotiated with each contract renewal. We have a 2 year agreement and are still in year 1.
  • Raymah Hutchinson
    Raymah Hutchinson
    Tenth Anniversary Kudos 1 Name Dropper Participant
    We are also in the same exact situation. This will cause big ripples as I have people on the board who have questioned the cost of eTapestry.
  • Bob Richard
    Bob Richard
    Sixth Anniversary Kudos 1 Facilitator 1
    Our bill is the same. I believe this is the same bill all received. Like many, we feel this is a violation of our current agreement. In 2020 Blackbaud announced increased revenues(over 900 million) and at the same time commented on the resiliency of their 45,000 customers during the past year. Great way to recognize this by violating our contracts and adding a $50 additional fee. That's what loyal customers of over 10 years are recognized with, and they don't seem to care.
  • Raymah Hutchinson
    Raymah Hutchinson
    Tenth Anniversary Kudos 1 Name Dropper Participant
    Absolutely - we've been customers for 15 years now.
  • Bob Richard
    Bob Richard
    Sixth Anniversary Kudos 1 Facilitator 1
    I have received a resolution. If interested please call my organization at 217-444-1044.
  • Rachel Brunke
    Rachel Brunke
    Fourth Anniversary Kudos 1 Facilitator 1
    were you able to get Blackbaud to eliminate the charge?
  • Jennie Bernard
    Jennie Bernard
    Ninth Anniversary Facilitator 1
    Our organization does not even use the Payment Services of Blackbaud (because we felt they were not as good as what we were using) and yet we are being charged this additional, non-optional fee. We, too, will be reevaluating the cost effectiveness of Blackbaud. I was able to obtain a payment deferment of 90 days.
  • Jenny Beer
    Jenny Beer
    Fourth Anniversary Facilitator 1
    Absolutely agree with all of the comments here. I've been told we're locked into our year's subscription and will have to pay the PEF for the remainder of the year - so effectively our subscription fee has been arbitrarily raised by £240 that we had not budgeted for, and we have no chance to opt-out. For a company that specialises in charities and non-profits this is pretty disgraceful. I'm taking legal advice on it as I'm struggling to see how it can be right.
  • Bob Richard
    Bob Richard
    Sixth Anniversary Kudos 1 Facilitator 1
    Can you email me at richardb@danville118.org
  • Petra Staal
    Petra Staal
    Fifth Anniversary Facilitator 1
    Definitely. Has anybody been able to successfully fight this?

    We were denied a waiver.
  • Bob Richard
    Bob Richard
    Sixth Anniversary Kudos 1 Facilitator 1
    Yes
  • Sharifa Love
    Sharifa Love
    Sixth Anniversary Participant Facilitator 1
    This is completly absurd to add on mid contract for some sort of magical improvements. I'll be reaching out to my account manager to see about getting this waived.


  • Deirdre Schaneman
    Deirdre Schaneman
    Fourth Anniversary Facilitator 1
    I see a new CRM in the future of my organization. Who's to say this isn't the beginning of a trend of surprise fees? Between this and the data breach last year, I'm seriously considering looking for a non-Blackbaud donor database.

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