I am just starting my own business--I am a proud single mom business owner, and I am so excited about this journey, but Wave did not make it any easier. In fact, they gave me a humongous headache I am still resolving months after my purchase.
I ordered a Wave smart card for my small business — $25 for the card plus $9 for shipping. Straightforward enough. What followed was anything but.
UPS made multiple delivery attempts demanding $193 before they'd hand over the package. I refused delivery every time — I had already paid for shipping and wasn't told to expect any additional fees. Wave eventually acknowledged the issue, apologized, and sent a replacement card via a different method. That part I appreciated and wrote in my initial review.
The problem: UPS then sent my business a formal invoice totaling $195.35 across two billing statements. I forwarded everything to Wave and asked them to resolve it. After several exchanges, they refused, telling me these were "legally mandated government import charges" I was responsible for as the recipient.
Here's what Wave didn't mention: I have the UPS invoices in front of me. The US Customs Duties line on both reads $0.00. There were no government tariffs. The charges are entirely UPS's own brokerage and warehouse fees — fees that accumulated because the package sat in a UPS facility after I refused it rather than being returned to Wave. Wave's customer service rep cited import law to avoid accountability for what are, in fact, UPS processing fees on a package that was never delivered.
The card itself may be a fine product. But just know that Wave ships internationally without disclosing that UPS brokerage fees of this magnitude are possible — fees that can dwarf the cost of the product itself. And if something goes wrong, they will not take responsibility.