My report for First Capital Bank Card (FCB) is not good or pleasant. I have been treated the same way that most all of their unsatisfied customers have been, which is of lies, deception, and false hopes. What I have to say is nearly identical to Susan who also filed a complaint sometime in 2006. For your information, I am also going to file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau in Kansas City regarding this matter. The BBB doesn't recommend doing business with this company.
It started out in the Summer of 2005 when the family company that I worked for was in the market for credit card processing. I took on the task of searching for these services. It so happened that we received cold call during the time when I had already spoke with a six or so processing companies. When FCB called, we discussed several options and they were by far the best all-around option regarding price and size of our company. I jotted all information down on a piece of paper. After that initial phone call, I only received one call from them which was approximately four days later; which I mentioned to Mike, the salesman, that we were not ready at the time but would consider it in the future.
Nearly six weeks later, we decided to sign up for their services. When I called Mike he was quite eager to get us signed up. I made sure that I reviewed with him everything that he had offered before to make sure that we both understood the situation.
These were the initial and time-of-sign-up specifications:
Purchase mobile machine/unit $1500 (one time or make or payments same as cash)
1.99% V/MC (Disc & Visa would have to be called directly)
$0.25 per transaction fee
$10 per month fee
No Contracts
100% Satisfaction Guarantee
Bottom line machine payment and monthly fee no more than $40 per month.
Mike was quite anxious to get us signed up, but I was unable to make to their office until the following week. He didn't want to waste any time, so he sent a tech out immediately with the unit and a lot of paper work. Rather then coming out himself like most salesmen do, he sent the tech because he claimed that he would need to "set it up." Well actually the "tech" guy was simply a messenger who claimed to be a third party person who was supposed to set up the equipment. Well the unit we purchased was a wireless unit, similar to a mobile phone and required not setup because it already was setup.
When the guy showed up, he didn't even open the box, he just handed me a stack of papers and said "I have circled all of the areas that you need to sign, so please sign them and you will be on your way." Well I proceeded to read before I signed and found all sorts of information that was not comparable to what we had spoke about on the phone. Of course when I mentioned these issues to the "tech" he claimed that he knew nothing and was just the deliverer (at first he was the "tech").
I made a phone call to Mike and confronted him with all of the differences that we had talked about and he more or less came across as if I was interrupting him and asked to speak with the "tech." After a couple of minutes the "tech" finally hung the phone up and proceeded to make a change on the papers. The only thing that he initially changed was the percentage rate that will be charged which was not correct and made it 1.99% like we had previously spoke about.
Then after further reading, they were charging me a fee for registration which we never even talked about. On that portion there was a $150 setup fee and another fee for something else that was $50. I then proceeded to call Mike again and he once again spoke to the "tech." The tech then scratch out the Registration fee and asked me to sign that page. This just happened to be conveniently located on a sheet that had a total that said something along the lines of "total due and installation" which then was corrected and said $0 but had a portion about a warranty that I didn't find out about until after everything was signed and completed. There was a small paragraph in fine print that mentioned about a warranty of $8.95 per month and web hosting for $16.95 per month. I never spoke with Mike about this over the phone at any time.
I didn't need to contact them until after the first month's charges. During the first month we didn't use the equipment or services. I was expecting a charge of approximately $40 for the first month and there were actually 3 separate charges. $35.39, $80.91, and $8.95. I was furious. I called and asked for Mike but he conveniently "No longer works with FCB" as representative told me. I asked for a manager which also was not available. I left my information and demanded a response very quickly.
I called several times for nearly a month and spoke with Theresa who which told me that Ryan Payne (not sure of spelling) was the person that "is handling my file." Needless to say, I never have ever received a phone call from anyone representing their company. I decided to not use any of the services and attempt to boycott them for the time being. I never filled a complaint with the BBB but had the intention to.
I have information from July of which was soon after I had signed up with them, about how the BBB doesn't recommend doing business with them. I printed it out at the time just for my reference. Now, March I am ready to actually file a complaint with the BBB and have noticed that nearly everything is still the same with the exception of the Principal contact which was previously Theresa Santos and now is Nicole Meiners which both have the title of "Vice President of Quality Control." Needless to say, the complaints are currently at 42 and at the time I believe that it was around 23. The information states this due to the level of unresolved complaints with the company.
Since we signed up, there have been a few annual fees that have been also charged through Electronic Payment Systems (EPS), the processing company. I have not had any luck any being credited with those charges either. Despite the problems that I have encounter with FCB, EPS has allowed us to recently cancel, simply because there isn't a contract.
Action Plan:
In the next few weeks, I have a few things that I am going to try to accomplish. They may include but are not limited to: confronting them personally and attempting to resolve this dispute; Consulting with my attorney (which I have already spoke about this before); and setting up a website dedicated to informing others about this company specifically.
When I set up this site, which will hopefully be before 3-31, It will solely be dedicated to problems with this company ONLY. Due to reasons of this site, I can not display websites URLs, email addresses, or other contact information through this channel.
I can say that the site name WILL have "FCBC" as a part of the URL. All that you will have to do is search Google with text from this article because I will post the entire article there as well. For example, copy and past the third paragraph "Nearly six weeks later, we decided..." into Google's search engine and search. I don't have the URL yet but it may also have the phrase "RIPOFF" or something similar. It will definitely be a dot org address.
If you or someone you know is a victim to the unethical practices of FCB or any of its subsidiaries, please seek the site that I have described above and any other information that will help to bring confront this company with what they deserve.
Jeremy
Kansas City, Missouri
U.S.A.
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