There seems to be a little confusion again on the payment process. We’ve discussed this before in the News in detail. A while back we also added a detailed outline of how the process works in the help section for the ladies. In an effort to make this part even more clear for EVERYONE, I’m copying the official Payment Process outline below. It’s been through a few revisions over the years, but this one is pretty polished based on our needs, doctors needs, and the needs of the entire MFI community. Oh, and one more thing, people seem to think the standard 60-day waiting period is now 90-days. That’s not true. It’s a 60-day minimum still, just like it has been for a while now. The word “Minimum” means it could be more, but that’s determined on a case by case basis.
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The Payment Process
The purpose of this document is to teach you everything you need to know about how the payment process works once you reach your goal on MyFreeImplants.
To avoid delays with your surgery, please read this entire document and DO NOT schedule a surgery date until we provide you with a date on which payment will be released.
Getting Consultations
We encourage everyone to get a consultation as early on as possible. A breast augmentation is a serious medical operation and it is important that you are comfortable with the doctor you choose. We recommend you get a few consultations from several different doctors to find the right match for you.
Different doctors have different policies on consultations. Some doctors will charge a fee while others will give a consultation free of charge. Unfortunately we cannot pay for any consultation due to the fact that no funds can be released until you reach your goal. The obviously conflict here is that you won’t know how much exactly your goal is until you receive your consultation. So you have a couple options:
- Become an MFI sales rep. This is easy! Once you have earned $50 or more, you can request one of our doctor informational pamphlets. These pamphlets are essentially sales tools for you to help encourage your doctor to work with us and become a partner of ours. We’ve done the hard work for you. All you have to do is get the pamphlet in the doctor’s hands. We’ve found that the majority of doctors who do decide to partner with us will gladly give our clients (that’s you!) a free consultation.
- Find free consultations. Open up the yellow pages or do a search online for doctors in your area and inquire about a free consultation.
- Pay for your own consultation. If you simply cannot get a free consultation by one of the above methods, you can pay for it yourself. When you go in for your consultation, you can bring our pamphlet in to educate the doctors on how our process works.
After you receive your consultation, be sure to update your surgery goal to reflect the price quote from the doctor of your choice. Hold onto your price quote, we’ll need a copy once you reach your goal…
Reaching Your Goal
Congratulations! You did it! Once you’ve raised your target amount you will automatically be added to the Hall of Fame (a.k.a. Hooterville). From this point on you will no longer be eligible for donations (this is why it’s important to have an accurate amount entered as your surgery goal) and your benefactors will now be able to message you for free to keep the friendships going.
Upon reaching your goal we will conduct an account review…
Account Reviews
30 days after you have reached your goal, you will be able to download your Model Agreement and Liability Waiver Documents which includes your agreement to provide post-op photos of your procedure. You will need to send signed copies of these back to us. Once we receive the documents back from you, we will initiate your account review which consists of two parts:
- We examine your account to be sure it is in compliance and there were no blatant violations of our terms.
- We review all donations to your account to ensure there is no financial risk to MyFreeImplants in releasing the funds to your doctor. Oftentimes we may request additional billing authorization from your benefactors.
NOTE: Should your benefactors fail to provide the additional authorization forms, we may delay your payment for up to 180 days. This is rare, but it is possible. So please, do not start scheduling any surgery dates until we have completed the account review.
Once we have completed our account review (and received back any required additional billing authorization forms) you will be allowed to schedule your surgery date…
Scheduling Your Surgery
After you have passed the account review, we will send you one more document – an Agreement to Pay document. This document will include a date on which your funds will be released for payment. Please DO NOT schedule any surgery dates or make life arrangements (i.e. travel plans or taking time off from work, etc.) until you have received the Agreement to Pay document from us or you may experience a delay in your surgery. Prior to scheduling a surgery, many doctors will require a deposit…
Paying For Deposits
Deposits (when required) are often due to the surgeon up to 2-weeks prior to the actual surgery date. Deposits are different than consultation fees in that the deposit is a down-payment for the actual surgery. This means that you cannot pay for the deposit yourself, and that MyFreeImplants must make payment of the deposit on your behalf. Once you’ve had your consultation, please be sure that the amount of the deposit is included in your surgery goal. No funds can be released to the doctor until the date listed in the above mentioned Agreement to Pay document. This includes the deposit, so be sure to notify your doctors office when we will be releasing the money for deposit. They will in turn let you know what dates are available for your surgery, and when they need to receive the remaining balance of the surgery payment…
Surgery Payment
At this point everything is pretty much on auto-pilot. We’ve most likely already been in contact with the doctors office and they are aware of our payment process. Based on the deposit that may have already been paid they will follow up with us (or we will contact them) to issue payment for the remaining balance of your surgery. Sit back, relax and get some rest before your big day!
Remember, our goal is to make your experience here an enjoyable one! By understanding the payment process as described above, and following the instructions, we hope to be able to make the end of your journey on MyFreeImplants, just as much fun as the beginning. Good luck and have a speedy recovery!
19 COMMENTS
Leave A CommentAww thanks sooo much for posting this! I somehow missed the first one. LOL Very good info to have in advance to reaching your goal. *Muah!*
Jason and Jay
Thank you for this. I was so confused about this and now I understand the disappointing thing is I have to adjust my goal and the exchange rate changes so much that my amount is up and down all the time. I will chnage the amount tonight and its heartbreaking as I was so close and now much futher away, but I will get there and I will try to get this goal this month. Thank you so much for helping me in this confusion. I have £400 now to splash out on lingerie
Donna xxxxxx
Awww I gotta say to Donna how heart broke I am for you right now girl! I am sorry that your having to do this as well. I got lucky as my doctor needed to have the $500 deposit before scheduling my surgery and I freaked out, which if I had of made the deposit then it would have come off the whole price of my surgery. But because I was going through this site and so forth, my doctor was super nice and worked with me and with Jason and Jay so I wouldn’t have to put the deposit down. As well as with my doctor the consult was free of charge because they was doing a special that month (lucky me), but when anyone that uses him pays for the consult then that will be taken off the $4500 for the surgery itself. But all in all, I think I had one of the easiest transactions the site had. I know I bugged the crap out of Jason because well all in all I was that close to getting my surgery and I wanted it then….but thankfully I had a doctor that really was understanding and worked with me.
But Donna like you said, now you got some extra money to buy some lingerie for after your surgery, which is always a good thing…lol!
I know in the past with most girls they feel they can make their surgery on the same day that their 60 days is up, but I suggest once you reach your goal and you have your paper work from the site, I would make it for at least 1 week after the 60 days is up. That way you know and can assure yourself you won’t have any problems. Though I KNOW how excited you are to get your surgery, but both Jason and Jay know what they are doing and have everything under control. It is our responsibility as women to read everything and understand especially when it comes to this. Not depending on what the blogs say or anything like that. But I know most doctors want the deposit before setting the date but again….Jason and Jay know what they are doing! So rest assure they are doing everything in the order they need to.
And indeed, look at several doctors before settling on the one. I don’t remember how many I went to but it was several of them and all was free for a consultation, but I settled on the right one for me! I know that not everyone can afford to pay several doctors, but you can at least call them and ask over the phone how much they charge for the surgery you are wanting including all deposits, fees, anesthesia and any other fees they might charge. After all it is YOUR responsibility to make sure of things, not the site!
Juicy thank you babes…. i had a few hours away from site and a little tear but I am back and ready to hit my last 1k again ! hehe I will do this and i hope that I have my boucny twins next summer.
The guys here are great and Jason was great through emails so I know they do their best to help us. I will do all I can to drag the Uk into this site for them.
i love this site and i wont be leaving even after my goal, so they are stuck with me
Now wheres that lingerie shop……………???????
Donna xxxxx
I am wondering why the benefactors can’t just pay their payments for messages, etc. directly into a paypal account. It seems that if they paid the money up front, MFI would have the money available within a week or two of us reaching our goals and it would speed things up substantially. The money could then be paid to the doctors and we could have our surgeries in much less time! It is so exciting and we are all so anxious that 60-90 days seems like a really long time after all the time we put in on the site to reach our goals.
I am sure there is a good reason for this, but since I am relatively new I haven’t seen anything on the topic of how or where exactly the money is deposited by the benefactors.
I am always trying to simplify things in my life, and mean no insult to anyone at MFI. I’m sure you guys are doing your absolute best to make things happen as quickly as possible for us. Thank you for that!!
Cali: We’ve already been down the PayPal route a long time ago, and it was a big mess and a painful learning process. Long story short — we can no longer accept PayPal. In fact PayPal actually held onto the money LONGER and we almost had to delay surgeries because of them.
I have a question since i reached my goal once and signed all the forms will i need to do it again once i reach my goal again???
Cowboys Angel: Yes you will. We’ve since updated the forms.
I had my surgery about 75 days after I reached my goal. It was just easier than rushing through it. Everything went threw great. i am still impressed that these bad girls were free
At risk of my account, I’m going to ask the question that has bothered me since I first learned of these audits…
Why are the women responsible for fraudulent credit card charges?
They don’t accept the payment, they don’t have any information about the donor. They have absolutely no control over anything in the payment process besides inspiring benefactors to donate, yet somehow they assume all the risk.
The site charges 15% for donations and at least 20$ for messages. Normal credit card processors charge a rate based on risk. I don’t know what (or even if) MFI is paying on these transactions, but I have to assume it’s less than 15%. In truth, I thought I had read that one of the downtimes was caused by a change to processing credit cards on their own.
I think there should be some period of time after which the money is no longer in doubt. Maybe a 1-2 week period to ensure charges have had time to process. After that, there may still be some fraud, but I think the site should bear the burden of that cost. Other businesses do.
Unrelated to my previous point, the article which you pointed to said that there was the possibility of consultation fees and deposits being paid early based on the account history. That appears to no longer be the case. Yet another situation where I believe MFI is not operating in its own best interests.
Yes, there is financial risk, but there are other factors to consider as well. Every time I read one of these policies the word “draconian” leaps to mind. You guys need to make things easier for the successful women. There must be some reason that so many of them quit the site. I know the obvious answer is that they’ve received what they wanted and are now through with us. I don’t believe that is the sole reason.
I know I’ll be blasted by some folks who think that the operators of this site are operating a public service and therefore beyond reproach, but the truth is they are operating a business. Although men (primarily) provide the income, it is the women on the site who make the site succeed. I think the rules and policies should better reflect that. After all, a woman who achieves a $5,000 goal has raised $5,882.35 in donations, more if she received some messages as part of her goal. That leave 882.35 for the site.
I can’t speak for Jason or Jay but from my experience handeling billing and credit card transactions for another site, I can say this:
MFI would be considered high risk, therefore credit card companies charge 10-15% for the transactions.
The 60 day period is needed to account for charge backs, this isn’t only annoying but it costs the site money as well. I believe it’s around $30 for each one, so the site needs to make sure all of the money donated is from the rightful owner and if it’s not, it needs to be refunded.
Yeah it’s a pain in the ass, but as stated, this IS a business and they need to conduct it like so.
Drone,
We appreciate your feedback. We want to make things run more efficiently any time we can. We are constantly trying to improve processes here. We understand that high customer satisfaction is a cornerstone of every successful business.
You bring up several good points. Let me address them individually
1) We both take on the burden of fraud. Every charge back that takes money from the women on the site has an associated fee. Say they lose two $10 donations. We not only lose our slim profit, we also get hit with two fees of $25. That’s $50 we lose, and $20 the women loses. We use the highest available security for online merchants so its not like we can tighten our processes. We’re doing everything we can. Bottom line, fraud sucks for everyone. Both the site and the women get screwed! Hopefully new security will be available soon.
2) As for credit card processing. The site has been through several merchants because we want to allow freedom of expression. We are not an adult site but many vendors view us in the same category. It’s not uncommon for adult sites to have to pay 8-15 percent in fees. To ensure we have no more site down time we’ve been relegated to using the same “high risk” card services. Therefore, the site earns less than half of 15% it takes after all is said and done.
3) 1 to 2 weeks would make the website solely responsible for all fraud, and possibly encourage it. 60 days allows us to share risk. If we wanted to be completely safe (less customer friendly) it would be longer. We feel this amount is reasonable for both parties.
4) We are taking specific steps to improve relations with all members, including successful women. A lot of the issues initially were with communication. As we improve our SOP’s and make them more accessible to women, that should improve. I think they have gotten a lot better. We have many strong advocates for the site, whereas before there were few. Many women will leave because they indeed got what they wanted and are over it. We cannot help that. We are constantly trying to improve relations though. Women make this site possible, and we appreciate them greatly.
5) The most efficient and well run non-profit charities in the word operate on 20-30% use of funds. MFI operates on less than 7% of donations. Sure its a business, but finally not a very successful one, and definitely not one able to pay any salaries. That’s OK though. We didn’t start MFI to get rich. We started it to help a friend, and now we’re helping thousands. That’s good enough for me…
Bottom line we understand that customer satisfaction leads to a successful business. We could raise our rates, hire some experts, and come up with a plan to better serve the community? Or we can keep trying to improve the community ourselves by get specific feedback from our members. I would think most MFI’ers would prefer the latter.
Thanks,
-Jay
It’s an interesting story, but the facts don’t necessarily bear out the claims. In the evolution of the Terms of Service and particularly the conditions for payment, including deposits and consultation fees, the site has clearly gone from being fairly loose on payment terms (girls would be paid almost immediately) to the new 60 days or more rules. In general, I believe it is getting harder to get your implants after raising the money.
One can see this change just by looking at the last payment article where consultations and deposits were described as “possible”. In the follow up commentary that time I suggested there should be some amount of deposit that MFI would pay based on a woman’s longevity with the site, you said “Paying deposits will get more consistent. Jason and I discussed a similar sliding scale last evening. Depending on how much the member brings in, and how fast, they will be allocated a set portion towards a deposit.”
I guess it has gotten consistent anyway.
Much of the money charities spend is for fund-raising – they have to spend it to make it. AT MFI, the fund-raising effort is largely free, provided by the women of the site.
In addition, charities would likely be required to include an annual membership fee of $120 (12 * $10 per month for premium benefactor status) for each donator. I’m sure there are some donators who are not premium members, but I would imagine the number is still substantial – most subscription/renewal websites build clients over time.
One of the key factors that will allow us to minimize any financial risk is a large data set of transactions. With enough data we will get much better at being able to assess risk which should in turn help us speed up time to surgery.
Because we’ve been through several different merchant accounts and payment gateways, the type of data that is exposed to us is all over the map, which makes it very difficult to pinpoint any potential risk. Part of the reason we’ve selected to bite the bullet and go with a merchant at a higher rate (albeit at a lower profit margin for MFI), is the stability it provides which will allow us to collect consistent transaction history data for reporting.
One of the most challenging parts of running this business is that everything is bootstrapped. Nothing like this has ever been done on this scale before. While we’ve both been involved in startups before and we can call upon that past experience/knowledge, we can’t exactly pick up a book or consult with the SBA on high-risk fund raising for implants online!
So it’s a learning process for all of us. And like Jay said, input from the community is paramount to that learning process. So thanks to everyone for their continued input, and keep it coming.
We can only hope to continue to make changes and improvements that benefit everyone here.
Thanks for clearing that up guys! As I said, I’m sure there is a reason for the way things are done and I was just wondering if there are other options that would be more effective and profitable for everyone on MFI.
It does seem like 60 days is a very long time to wait for transactions to clear, but I am not an expert on how exactly the financial process works. I appreciate all you guys do to help us out on here and I am sure that the longer MFI is around, the lesser of a risk it may become to financial institutions. I also know that credit card fraud is the newest and easiest crime to commit because most people cannot be caught. It just seems like there should be a way to make sure these funds are available before the person actually messages or donates to accounts so we know where we stand in terms of our goals.
I am sure you guys are working on these issues because the more satisfied models you have on this site, the more people will be attracted to the site as well.
Thanks for all you do and for being so helpful in explaining the process to us so we can have a clear understanding of how and why things function the way they do.
Jay and / or Jayson,
Not too long ago I filled out a request from a link on this page (under become a MFI sales rep) to get the info to take to the doctor. I did not get any information from that, and I have spoken with you guys a couple of times since then, and was directed to come back here and click the link again, but the link is gone. I have tried from multiple computers and browsers, but I cannot find the link. Can one of you guys please send the link to me? Or can someone in this thread point me in the right direction? I am about a week away from the first doctor visit, and starting to stress a bit about not having all of the necessary paperwork to take with me.
Thank you all in advance!
(kisses) Christi
who is it that i request one of the doctor information pamphelets from? or where do i go to do that?
Wondering if I will have to wait 60 days? I reached Hof 6 months ago, and although my papers were only recently sent to you, and account gone into review (very exciteing)….Hopeing that all my donations will have cleared ages ago???……. I cant wait to have puuuuurfect bOObs
xXx