Klarna On‑Site Messaging

First of all it was extremely confusing to set up and i've no idea what the online messaging thing is actually supposed to do, but even worse, they're registering return requests as chargebacks.

Klarna's own site state that you need to register an account with them to be able to offer the service with Shopify, while Shopify said exactly the opposite, just enable Klarna and it will work. It did, but by then we had already set up an account with Klarna so I don't know whether we needed it or not.

As others have said, support is awful. I contacted them three times and eventually got a reply, which had literally nothing to do with the questions I had asked them.

But the worst was to come. We have only had Klarna set up for a couple of months, have received a few orders (would we have got those orders without Klarna? None were high value) but here's the problem: If a buyer wants to return an item they apparently have to report it to Klarna. Klarna them register this return as a chargeback and you're charged £10 for the privilege.

Having NEVER had a chargeback in 6 years we have now had 3 in 2 days, one for an order that was never sent because the buyer asked to cancel - it seems Klarna need to be notified and then register this as a chargeback.

A second order from the SAME buyer which WE cancelled and this was also then registered as a chargeback, and a third one today, after a customer had asked to return an item and we agreed and gave him return details only to be notified 2 hours later that he had filed a chargeback.

This time we asked the buyer why he had filed a chargeback as we had already accepted his return request and he insists he hasn't, only that he had to inform Klarna he was returning the item. This is how we found out what was happening. It's absolutely farcical - we're charged £10 and have to fill in a chargeback defence claim even though the buyer (apparently) hasn't filed a chargeback. It seems that it's just Klarna being Klarna.

Needless to say we have now disabled the payment option and unless we get a full personal explanation and assurances that it won't happen again we will not be using Klarna in the future.

REPLY TO KLARNA'S RESPONSE:

I'm well aware that this is for the on-Site Messaging app and not the Klarna Payment System but it is important that business owners understand what they are getting into, and you have provided a classic example of the problem here:

You state that "If you have enabled Klarna via Shopify Payments, returns registered by customers through the Klarna app will come through as disputes. You must respond to them via email to avoid the chargeback. Chargebacks will only occur if you do not respond, at which point Klarna will close the dispute in favor of the customer."

Well I'm sorry, but that's absurd. Why would a return be logged as a dispute? Every business on here will tell you that returns are common and there is no reason whatsoever that you should be logging them as a dispute. Furthermore, it puts us in a very difficult position because we have no idea what the buyer has said to Klarna. If Klarna are to intervene at all it should only be as a last resort. In my case I had a buyer who asked for a refund before the item had even been dispatched and you logged it as a dispute, another order rom the same buyer which we cancelled because of the first dispute (we didn't want to risk another dispute but she reported it AFTER we had cancelled the order and you logged it as a dispute anyway, and this third one.

This third one is a relatively high ticket item that the buyer has returned, falsely claiming it is faulty. we have rigorously tested and inspected the item and it is working perfectly. Despite this, from day one it has been logged as a dispute.

It is now 5 days since the buyer returned the item and we have since tried to contact the buyer. However, in a previous email, when we advised him that the item needed to be tested he replied stating that "we had no reason to contact him" and email are now being returned undelivered, indicating that he has blocked us. Why? Because, according to him, Klarna has ALREADY REFUNDED HIM. If that is the case he was refunded before we even received the item back from him.

His return is well past the window for unwanted purchase returns and there is nothing wrong with the item, as we suspected, so he is not entitled to a refund under the terms of the Consumer rights Act but it seems you've given him one anyway.

This order has NOT been cancelled because he is not entitled to a refund but we haven't even had the chance to put our case forward. According to the details on our Shopify dashboard. "The inquiry response has been submitted. The customer’s bank will receive the response on March 14, 2025 at 11:00 pm".

Where does this leave us? Because we are therefore still owed 100% of the payment. Sorry, but you cannot treat people this way. Retailers have rights too. You should not have taken ANY action without communicating with us first, you should absolutely not be making decisions based on nothing more than the fact that the buyer asked to return an item and we should not have to chase for a payment that has already been made then apparently taken away from us again, which is precisely what will happen when you finally get around the looking at this case on March 14.

Regardless of the outcome you should not be placing us in this position in the first place. There's no way I will be reintroducing Klarna if this is how you deal with returns, there is no need for you to intervene at all.

REPLY TO 2nd KLARNA RESPONSE:
You're damned right we should not have received chargebacks, and needless to say the main one has now been found in the buyer's favour despite providing thorough representation explaining that after extensive tests we found absolutely nothing wrong with the item the buyer returned claiming it was faulty. A conclusion that despite contacting us many times, including several abusive messages, simply stating that he is not paying NOT ONCE has the buyer contested our findings. Yet Klarna still found the case in his favour. As my chance to present our case closed at midnight on 12 March and the decision was made just 4 hours later, at 04:00 a.m., clearly this decision was made by bot.

Absolute farce and I will indeed be contacting you by email, because if this decision isn't reversed we're going to court.

Totally disgusted.

Same experience as other users: the app doesn't work and the customer is nowhere to be found. Opened a ticket 8 days ago...

The app used to work on our store, but wouldn't translate for German customers. We were advised to reinstall it, which completely broke it.

I should have taken heed of the other 1-star reviews. I almost never leave reviews, but in this case, I feel I have to - to help others avoid wasting time and energy.

Despite spending over 4 months actively trying to integrate Klarna with my Shopify store - including countless emails, troubleshooting steps, and back-and-forth with support - the experience was one of the most frustrating and unproductive I’ve encountered. Despite countless emails, screenshots, and explanations, the app never functioned properly - and support continuously offered surface-level responses without resolving the issue.

The app lacks clarity, error messaging is non-existent, and the support process is incredibly inefficient.

I’ve removed Klarna from my store and will moving to another provider. I strongly recommend others avoid this app unless you’re prepared to spend months troubleshooting with little to no progress.

The app is not working. Don't lie to people. I have not been contacted by any support team.

The bad reviews are 100% real. This app simply doesn’t work, and the technical support is awful. I've been waiting over three weeks for a response, and still nothing. If I could give zero stars, I would.

worst installation experience. I've been trying to install it on my Shopify store for a month, still without success. terrible assistance. Days go by without responding, when they do respond, they seem to not know how to resolve the issue by asking scattered questions to save time. After a month and after submitting all the documentation, I still havent the app installed in my store. They are not at all interested in solving the problem.

I was unable to get the app installed on my store at first. My brain was so fogged up. I took a break for a few days and went back to try and integrate Klarna to my website and it was really easy. I guess it just took me to slow down and read everything thoroughly. I went back to my site to check and make sure it was done successful and now I'm happy and can share the news with my customers.

For anyone out there struggling like i was just take a mental break. Then go back to the klarna app on your shopify store click the dots on the top right then hit manage it will send you to the klarna app log in with your business info and then follow the steps from there. Make sure you have your merchant ID handy. The app will automatically try to integrate. Then it will switch to your shopify store but it wont go through. There will be a box that says manual entry thats where you put in your merchant ID and then your done, its activated. I think thats all the steps lol, sorry if I missed one. Just follow the last few steps after that. Hope this helps.

Schlimmste Installationserfahrung. Ich versuche seit einem Monat, es in meinem Shopify-Shop zu installieren, immer noch ohne Erfolg. Schreckliche Unterstützung. Tagelang vergehen, ohne zu antworten. Wenn sie antworten, scheinen sie nicht zu wissen, wie sie das Problem lösen sollen, indem sie verstreute Fragen stellen, um Zeit zu sparen. Nach einem Monat und nachdem ich alle Unterlagen eingereicht habe, habe ich die App immer noch nicht in meinem Shop installiert. Sie sind nicht ...

Usless app if you using it with shopify payments, you still need klarna account to show klarna message...

UPDATE: after reaching out, Klarna support has solved the issues in a proficient manner, special thanks to Teodora and Nicole for the help!

UPDATE: 10 days later I had a reply back although the person didn't know what the problem was. After highlighting that to them, someone else replied which didn't appear to know either but at least quoted Sara Nyrönen (Delivery Manager) in. Sara eventually replied and was very helpful.
Essentially, we created a Klarna account ourselves before Shopify coming up with its own integration. Due to the integration, I believe that a second account was created automatically behind the scenes, but Klarna couldn't detect the correct one to use.
Sara shared with us the correct Merchant ID which worked right away.
Hopefully this will help somebody, both help desk and customers.

PS. I don't know how it works now, 6 months later, but I believe the app should have at least a clear notification about this scenario and how to address it (e.g. raise a ticket with this specific request).

INITIAL REVIEW Oct 2024: Now that Shopify integrates directly with Klarna, https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/payments/shopify-payments/local-payment-methods/klarna , this app shouldn't require a Klarna account to be able to enable the on-site messaging on the product page. Without an account this is useless. :(
I have contacted merchant@klarna.com three days ago without an answer.