I registered with charge.com cause I needed a good merchant services for my business. They looked good no fees etc... Etc on the front end and processing fees seemed fair. However, after I submitted the application I went through a rediculously extensive process to get registered with them which took about two weeks. When I was finally set up I thought I was done.
What they don't tell you is once your run your first charges, they freeze your account and audit you more extensively than the IRS. I have to provide proof I was in business with my resale certificate, proof of shipping product to consumers, proof that I was getting product from a manufacturer, I had to provide pictures to prove that I actually had product that I was shipping. I was very offended that my privacy was violated in this way and that my funds were all frozen when I had already delivered product to my costumers.
As if that wasn't enough, I had to provide my customer data to them so they could call and verify that I was indeed a legitimate business. This was confusing to my customers too. The more issues I had to deal with with charge.com the more fed up I became. They wanted a reserve of 25% of funds processing through charge.com. I had no problem with that, I assume like most companies, they would hold that reserve from the funds processed but they dont'. They actually pull it from your bank account and hold it. It took me a month and a half to get the funds from initial processing unfrozen.
I am closing my account with them and going with a simple processor that doesn't create ridiculous amounts of hoops and grief for its legitimate clients. Do NOT ever use charge.com or you will regret it. It's no wonder they have such a great referral fee because their service is so terrible no one would ever want to use it otherwise.
As I find out right now, I will have to wait 6 months to get my money back, after the guy in their risk department told me he would close my account and give it back to me right away. Of course, I read now, that there is some kind of termination fee although that wasn't in any of the documentation when I set up with them. So its questionable whether I'll ever get anything back.
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