This is to report a very serious corporate fraud by this credit card processing company that has been engaging in mail and wire fraud for a number of years. The company:
? Has processed the same small charge backs up to three times;
? Is holding and refusing to pay over $8000 of receipts to pay charge-backs;
? Has taken over $100 from my bank account based on less than $400 in charge-backs;
? Refuses to refund even the money that has already been taken from the account for charge-backs.
A colleague signed me up for this over ten (10) years ago and I had no prior issues with this concern since I used it only sporadically in my patent and criminal law practice. Last November, a client my firm agreed to compensate me with stock the business, of which I was Director and Secretary, and was used my virtual terminal, processed through Group ISO was used for two weeks. The pattern of charges changed from an occasional charge of hundreds to thousands of dollars on occasion to twenty or so charges, few over $100, every day.
Over the Thanksgiving Holiday, without any notice whatsoever, the deposits stopped and, because of the Holiday, it took me a week to realize there was a problem. The firm notified me, not through the email account that it had communicated with me through for a decade, but with a hard copy to the company whose address was on my initial application.
The charges were made in person, but no swiping machine was used; and customers were told that they would get a charge from one of my corporations instead of the store. Apparently this was not made clear in several instances, resulting in about six charge-backs totaling $393.97 out of over $10,000 in charges. Yet, the account was frozen, then closed, and Group ISO now claims to be holding $8,294.84 of funds for products that our customers had received.
Initially, the firm was quite amicable about the problem and told me they would likely be refunding the money in early January (See attached email) and eagerly sought to open a new account for my new endeavor. But after this debacle, the companys President and my client wanted no part of Group ISO. Following our refusal to sign up with this firm that was holding over $8,000 of our money, the company then told me that it could hold the funds for up to ten (10) months. This was based on a Policy Manual that they have failed to produce a copy signed by me. All that I have signed is a one page price information sheet (attached).
On Monday, I noticed the same charge-back appear for the "first time" and to my horror found that indeed it was the exact name, last four digits, and date as one of the first charge-backs that appeared, had re-appeared in January and now. I sent the company a strong letter and instructed them to take no more funds from my account. Today it again took money, from my bank account for charge-backs that they have already taken in the past.
The multiple debits are criminal wire fraud and a civil suit may be a waste of time - but may be the only route absent action by state or federal government officials. I have reported this to several federal and state authorities, with a PDF of the consumer complaints, and if an investigation is not commenced promptly will have no choice but to file a civil complaint in Orange County.
Nancy
Pahrump, Nevada
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