New to taking credit cards, I thought I'd found the best company for the best rate. I was also in a hurry. I was under the impression that I had put down an average ticket price of $500, and a highest ticket amount of $1500. The highest ticket amount never appeard on the application, but not to worry (they said).
I put through my first charges on a Friday - one at $400, one 2 at $80, and one at $1500. My gateways said successfully accepted - both when I put through the charges and when they were batched at the end of the day. Great! The next day I put through two more charges at $500 - again successful, great. Now I wait, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, no money appears in my account - and NO contact from the company. Finally on Thursday when I call customer service tells me they flagged my account because of the "large charge" of $1500. However they are holding all accounts, nothing has been released. I begin making phone calls, but no one will call me back. Jason Hardy in risk management does not answer any of MANY calls I make, nor does the manager, and his brother Scott Hardy, nor does Heather, their risk management person. People in customer service are basically rude to me. One man told me, if I were you, I'd just close the account. Another tells me disgustedly "we are getting more and more calls like yours. I don't know what's wrong here." My sales rep seems pretty unhappy about it also.
Finally after more calls, and a call from me to the Ventura County DA's office, Risk Mangement sends me an email on the 21st saying they have decided to close my account. Mind you, I have still never received any written notification from them they my account had been flagged or put on hold. Nothing. Of course, it's all my fault. They found an overdraft on my bank statement, my credit report, (if it was so bad, why'd they approve me so quickly in the first place!) I had charged my client an accomodation fee (which they claim I can't do, but my current provider says it's fine), and a $25 discrepancy between an invoice and what I've billed. Of course, they never phoned any of my clients to determine that all the charges were acceptable and as understood by them. They are also claiming I agreed to only bill after materials and services were delivered. Nothing I would have ever knowingly agreed to. So I have now had to contact all my clients. They are afraid that this company is ripping them off, and they are calling me daily to let me know they still have not received their refunds (which the company agreed to do upon my signing their paper. I returned their paper on the morning of the 2/21. But they couldn't get around to processing the refunds until the end of the day on 2/26). My clients are all worried that this company is going to sell or pirate their credit card numbers. And of course, it does nothing for my credibility with them as a business person.
I'd still decided not to go any further with this, until my bank statement came through. I was charged a $74.80 fee for their processing the charges. $74.80 for their returning the charges, and $67.26 for something else - which we still can't quite figure out. These charges were put through my bank on February 27th, March 3rd and March 4th - but they closed my account on February 25th. Also, I clearly stated that they were closing my account. I had only made one "egregious" error - according to them, a large charge amount. But they had chosen to hold, and then cancel the processing on all my charges, so I would certainly not be paying any fees for anything. Now I must go through the process of denying their charges with my bank, and all that entails.
No one ever answered that they would be charging me, or disagreed, they just went into my account and took the money. And you know what? They still have all my information, so unless I close by bank account, I still have no way to know that they won't go in and try to take some more!
Please beware! I made some mistakes. I didn't read the fine print, I just allowed this to be rushed through. I didn't make sure that what was discussed with the Sales Rep. Was what went on the form. And I didn't bother to come to RipOff reports to read the ten or more other reports on this company. Please don't make the same mistake as I did and trust the Maverick Hardy Brothers (as another rip-off victim called them) with your money or the money of your clients. You may end up very, very sorry.
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