I’ve been a happy user of Stripe for a long time. However I moved from Singapore to the UK last year and tl;dr my account has been astonishingly deleted. 😱

This leaves me with a very bitter taste in my mouth. I’ve lost Webconverger customer contact information, invoices, and a lot of other data. I’ve also lost the ability to charge my customers. I’ve lost the ability to refund my customers.

What happened?

June 2023, I moved from Singapore to the UK. At the same time, I declared Webconverger end of life, nontheless there was some trickles of income from Webconverger. I planned to close Webconverger Pte (201211208C) later, since I was in no rush.

July / August 2023 - I can’t seem to login anymore from the UK. Perhaps I was getting confused between hendry@iki.fi or hendry@webconverger.com? Maybe it’s because my mobile number changed?

December 2023 I raise support request (27531901) over Twitter that goes to email.

Zel from Stripe says:

Upon checking here, the Webconverger account has already been deleted for more than 90 days. If you’d really like to reopen it, you may inform us or reply back to this email.

Later in the month they say they can reopen if I provide:

1. The company’s articles of incorporation or establishment
2. Documentation stating your company’s name and associated TIN
3. A board resolution naming you as the company’s acting party
4. An operating agreement between yourself and the company represe

February 2024, I provide the documents with the help of my accountant.

March 2024, I get a reply from Stripe:

Vada here with Stripe Support Team. I hope you’re having a wonderful day!

Thank you for reaching out regarding your account. I understand that you may be looking to retrieve access or information from an account that has been closed.

I’m sorry to inform you that we are unable to restore or undelete your account. For security purposes, the information associated with a deleted account is removed from our systems after a certain period, in compliance with data protection regulations and best practices.

This is why we typically advise account holders to export any valuable information or data they might need before proceeding with closing their account. This ensures that you still have access to all the necessary records even after the account is no longer active.

I apologize for any inconvenience this might cause and for any confusion regarding the account deletion process. If there’s any other way we can assist you or if you have any additional concerns, please do not hesitate to let us know.

What now?

I’m not sure. I don’t want to use Stripe anymore if this is how they treat their customers and their data.

I can understand they delete my account after six years of inactivity, not 6 months.