We processed credit card transaction through GroupISO from 12 to 5. During that time they established a reserve account and deposited as much as 30% of our settlements into that account. That account now holds over $100,000.00.
Our Merchant Agreement reads: 15.2 Any reserve Account will be held by us for the greater often (10) months after termination or expiration of this Agreement or for such longer period of time as is consistent with our liability for Card transactions and Chargebacks in accordance with Association Rules.
We formally terminated our account on May 6. We have been told by Allison Taylor (formerly Allison Montgomery), Risk Manager at GroupISO, that Association Rules refers to Visas Operating Regulations. After contacting Visa it has been confirmed that GroupISO no longer bears liability for any of our transactions. It has been 10 months since the termination of our Agreement, the timeframe in which GroupISO carried liability has expired and they refuse to release reserve account funds pursuant to our Agreement.
As an act of good faith, we complied with Allisons request for a report of the statuses of files that were charged through GroupISO. This audit was time consuming and costly, but was performed under the notion that it would result in the release of funds held by GroupISO. We sent two packages with the audit results via Federal Express; one to their mailing address and one to their physical address. Both packages came back because the recipient moved. We called GroupISO to get an updated address for correspondence and were refused because Visa Rules prohibited them from giving out their address. We had no choice but to correspond through e-mail. Allison was sent multiple e-mails daily but only responded to our Attorney 3 days later requesting our clients contact information. This would be a direct violation of attorney client privilege and GroupISO had no right or reason to request it in the first place. This was when we decided to stop playing their games meant to stall the release of funds. We sent a letter demanding that the money be released pursuant to our Agreement or we would be taking legal action. Again, we received no response. After numerous calls and e-mails Allison finally informed us that they had forwarded it to their legal counsel but by just looking at it it put them in a tough position by not allowing them to do their due diligence. We responded by asking for the direct contact for their legal counsel as she had been uncooperative and unresponsive up to that point and any attempt to reach CEO, Mike Segura, has been in vain. She responded and we are now in direct contact with their legal counsel but have not yet received a response from them. We have already prepared a legal complaint and intend on filing it next week. We have waited long enough
They have employed numerous stall tactics, refuse to give out a physical or mailing address for correspondence, and now refuse to answer phone calls or messages. There are numerous accounts of GroupISO doing this to other merchants and we are growing increasingly concerned that they may have misappropriated reserve funds. Please see below links of other companies experiencing similar problems:
Http://usacomplaints.com/credit-card-processing-ach-companies/group-iso/group-iso-groupiso-group-iso-373fb.htm
http://usacomplaints.com/Credit-Card-Processing-ACH-Companies/Group-ISO/group-iso-in-irvine-california-52cem.htm
Http://usacomplaints.com/Credit-Card-Processing-ACH-Companies/Group-ISO/group-iso-allison-montgomery-p3dec.htm
We have been in contact with Visa, Wells Fargo, CTS Holdings, LLC, and FirstData to no avail. Everyone is connected but no one is responsible. This company does not conduct business with the least bit of integrity and we strongly urge anyone considering using them as a merchant processor to LOOK ELSEWHERE. We intend to do whatever is necessary to get the monies owed and urge anyone with more information (or in the same situation) to contact us at.
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