# Merchant Account Provider to Avoid!



## BigWeltz (Dec 26, 2006)

Hello All,

I know people on here are constantly looking for some of the best merchant accounts to use, and while we only focus on the good ones, I want to add to a list of merchant account companies to avoid.

CardService International is a very reputable company and is definitely one of the leaders in its industry. The main reason why I wanted to put them on the list of merchant account companies to avoid is their lack of customer serivce. One of their reps by the name of Josh, has harassed me for 2-3 weeks, calling me 3 times a day on my cell and home phone (never even gave my home phone on the application) in order to sign me up. I remind him several times that the easiest way to contact me was through email since I always off at work. When asked about explaining the service in detail, he was very vague and was more focus on getting me on the phone to he could set everything up. I asked him several times the difference between his processor and Costco's (for instance) and all he told he is "we're better."

Since he called me twice within 3 hours this morning, I had enough and emailed him the following letter:



Joshua,

Because of the constant harassing I get from you in the past couple weeks, I have decided to go with someone else. I told you easiest way to get a hold of me was through email, but for some reason you had to call my cell and house number, which I never even gave to you. 

So please stop calling. I have a merchant who is offering better rates and is more open about discussing details before signing. Unlike you, you gave me a brief overview and constantly wanted to get a hold of me so that I could sign on to your company. 

Thanks anyway and I wish you the best of luck in the future.

Chris



His response to the above email:

Hey Chris,

Thanks for the reply, I do hope the broker you signed with enjoys spending your money. When you realize that your getting hosed, feel free to contact me.. For now I am removing your info from our system to assure that no one from my company will be attempting to help you...

Respectfully,
Joshua Harjo
800-295-0819x120



The lack of professionalism is the main reason why I will not being using CardService International as my merchant account.


----------



## lorena (Sep 27, 2006)

YIKES!!

What a rude response. 

I dont understand why he is still employed with that company. 

Anytime they wont give you a description of their services or products dont buy from any company..... because obiously its a bad deal. 

If I'm a company that wants to sell something, Why would I not go into details about my products or services...

LORENA


----------



## BigWeltz (Dec 26, 2006)

Ya...I'm a very laid back guy, but when this type of behavior happens for weeks, it really starts to annoy you. Even if they had the best rates in the world, I would still not use them due to the lack of customer service. I was going to report him to CSI, but couldn't find a contact without having to fill out an application


----------



## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

I've used Card Service International for years with no such problems.

It's important to realize that the actions of one employee don't necessarily equal the policies of the whole company.

You can probably find "rude" employees working for every company. Eventually they get booted out, especially in high turnover jobs.

I wouldn't avoid Card Service International based on one experience. I know several people that have used them for years as well with no issues.


----------



## TripleT (Apr 29, 2007)

What a letter! Josh might be just a bad apple, but that is pretty bad - love your logo


----------



## BigWeltz (Dec 26, 2006)

I know...just at the time I needed somewhere to vent. Thanks for the compliments!


----------



## snmindustries (May 15, 2007)

very interesting though. that guy definitely does not need to be in customer service.


----------



## Robin (Aug 28, 2006)

Did you forward his response to a supervisor at this place? This is certainly not something I would let go. If it was my employee, Id certainly want to know about it ASAP! The sooner I know, the sooner I can fire them!


----------



## Vtec44 (Apr 24, 2006)

Robin said:


> Did you forward his response to a supervisor at this place? This is certainly not something I would let go. If it was my employee, Id certainly want to know about it ASAP! The sooner I know, the sooner I can fire them!


I totally agree.


----------



## james tees (Apr 21, 2007)

Who is the best merchant account company to go with? It seems that the one that I spoke with (United Payment Systems) have these ridiculous fees, $100.00 for equipment, $16.00 a month Tech support, .20 cents authorization fee, $69.00 dollars a year so your personal information doesn't get hacked and so on....... Is there a better company to use???? 

JT


----------



## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

There are a few suggestions here: http://www.t-shirtforums.com/tags/merchant-account/


----------



## lorena (Sep 27, 2006)

I've gotten two different junk mail's from merchant accounts... 

one says I can get a $50 gas card if I join with them.. 
the other says


I can get a free Dell computer (while supplies last) if I sign up with them. is this real? 


I havent called them but now I'm curious. 

How much should one pay anyways? or maybe I should read the post that Rodny suggested.. 

hahah!

LORENA


----------



## Twinge (Apr 26, 2005)

There are a LOT of bad seeds in this industry. You've got to be careful when signing up for any of these companies. (Note that what I'm saying applies more specifically to US companies; I don't know how much it varies out of country.)

NEVER, ever lease a terminal. (Luckily, this one is not from experience, but I've heard a lot of bad stories here; usually you end up paying $4000 for a $300 machine or something like that!)

I would suggest avoiding any company offering sign-up gimmicks to get you on board - free terminals, free computers, free gas cards, etc. If they need to offer you a gimmick to sign up, expect them to screw you later on.

Make sure you ask in detail about all the fees charged. Also make sure that everything a salesman promises you is in WRITING. Again, NEVER lease a terminal; you'll pay far, far too much for something worth only a few hundred dollars. Make sure the company you go with has no cancelation fee.

You should expect to pay somewhere between $5 and $20 a month, but you should not have annual fees on top of this. There will be transaction fees on every charge; usually something like 20 cents each transaction + 1.5-2.5% of the sale. A signup fee of $75-100 is fairly standard as well.


As far as specific companies, I'd suggest avoding any company that is a subsidiary of Merchant Services (aka MSI). I've had problems with at least 2 companies that were under Merchant Services, and I've heard of several others that have had problems as well.

Right now we're working on getting a refund on a cancelation fee our previous company (1st National Processing, a subsidiary of MSI) charged us when we quit - even though they had a note that there were no cancelation fees in the contract AND said there was none when I called them up. $250 cancelation fee, put our business account into the negatives the next check we wrote; fun!


----------



## saltybeachdianne (Oct 17, 2007)

You are so right about CSI....Card Services International.

here is a quote I rcvd from somebody named Chris...who finally emailed me the cost after I ignored his constant calls, on my cell and home for over 2 months!

"The Linkpoint Secure Payment Gateway can be purchased on a lease option for only $29.95 a month! The discount rate and transaction fee is 2.49% plus $.30 per transaction and there is a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) hosting and customer service fee of $30.00 per month."

Thank you for posting this, I thought he was taking advantage of me, I did not know they harass and are aggressive toward everybody! 

After that email, I did not respond so I assume he gave up. At least I hope! 

Dianne


----------



## JPD (Nov 8, 2006)

I let my Card Service Int. sales rep know about Josh and he will forward the information about this thread and how he acted to the corporate offices.

Just like Dealerships aren't really employees of the Auto Manufacturers, there are sales reps that sell CSI products.

Eric


----------



## HarryBeaver (Oct 24, 2007)

That's one salesperson that doesn't have much of a future...geesh.


----------



## emberrayne (Aug 25, 2007)

I used Cardservice International and was royally SCR#W#D by them. Royally. Their sales department called and bird dogged me into signing up for an account as a complete NOOB... I had NO idea what I was signing up for and was too starry eyed to read the fine print. Foolish me. When I did see what I'd gotten into I tried to cancel with them and was slapped with a $350 termination fee that was nowhere in the paperwork... Wiser now I'm wary and stick with paypal until I learn what I'm doing... at least I can just cancel that if I need to... MANY of these companies are out to grab unsuspecting fools and lock them into a contract that they'll have to pay to get out of...


----------



## Semtex (Jan 22, 2009)

Robin said:


> Did you forward his response to a supervisor at this place? This is certainly not something I would let go. If it was my employee, Id certainly want to know about it ASAP! The sooner I know, the sooner I can fire them!



I also agree with this. You never know, this might have been the guys first couple weeks on the job for this company. This could explain him being so annoyingly persistent also. God knows I've had some employees over the years who were very rude up to the day I was told about it.

On a more positive note, who did you end up going with?
Thanks.


----------

