I purchased another business that used to work with Linkpoint/First Data as a credit card vendor in Decemver 2007 and as part of the business sale, a letter was documented by the former owner that their services would no longer be required as the business would be sold.
When the sale was finalized, all of sudden I started receiving withdraws from our business bank account from this merchant service in February. I was told the only way to dispute the charge was through their website log in. I explained I purchased the old business and asked how they received my businesses banking information to deduct a $39.99 monthly service fee.
Unable to "log in" since I never had an account with them, I sent an email to the customer service address that was provided (at this point they reufsed a physical mailing address). Attached to the email was evidence of the sale (which actually had our bank account number on it, so they probably received this document as part of the cancellation and did not cancel, but change the routing numbers.
In March a second charge was applied and no credit for the prior charge. I called to complain and was advised by their customer team the only way to cancel an account with them is to initiate an ACH Revocation form through my bank. I asked if there was an amicable way to resolve the cancellation and again explained we were the new owner and felt they misapproriated our information from the cancellation letter and documents provided by the former business and their principals.
The former business owner even called trying to resolve the issue and logged into the old account with no success.
We filed the ACH revocation was charged a $50 fee for the process and promptly started receiving collection calls for the credited bank fees.
I am a small business owner and consultant working independently. All charge card payments with my company are through paypal because they are very rare. Most payments from our clients are issued by check as with most consulting businesses. I don't have the time to monkey around with some company I have never done business with to help them figure out their business.
With the last call initiated by Marie, I explained to her that my business was billed two consecutive months and I was advised by their manager the only way to end the relationship with their organization was through the ACH Revocation. I did not owe them any money, I was not the owner that initiated the contract and that the owner who did initiate the contract sent evidence the business was sold to me which is how they obtained my business fiaccount numbers illegally changing the account routing numbers to extend the life of the contract fraudulently.
That is when I faxed her and emailed a single document thanking her for her interest in doing business with my firm. I enclosed our standard contract for service requiring signature before any additional calls or research was initiated on their behalf.
I also included an invoice for remibursement of the ACH Revocation fee, as well as $150.00 for the 2 hours "consulting" that was spent on the phone wasted trying to explain that my business is a separate entity and they were negligent in not closing the account, but illegally adding my bank account information to transfer the unwanted account to the new ownership.
Needless to say, upon receipt of the contractr/bill all further contact ceased, but the invoice has not been paid. Considering placing them in collection.
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