Complaint / Review
Merchant One Payment Systems
Misrepresents its Services, Makes Unauthorized Withdrawals from Your Account, and Doesn't Tell you that Your Application for Service is Actually a 3 Year Contract

I started a very small business and chose Merchant One to handle my credit card transactions.
I asked specifics, Can I cancel this service at any time? Is there a contract? M1 assured me I could cancel at any time, there would be no penalties, there was no contract. Have you explained all of the fees youll ever charge? The agent said she had made me aware of all fees that would ever be withdrawn from my account.
I was asked to sign an emailed application and send it back.in areas where it implied extra fees, I asked her to explain. She said the fees were for store-front merchants and didnt apply to me.
Later, M1 withdrew a $150 PCI Compliance Fee from my account without my authorization. I disputed the charge with my bank, they found in my favor and refunded the $150. M1 is now sending me to collections.
I contacted M1 to find out what was going on with my account and explained that the agent I spoke to said this section of the application didnt apply to me. Response: They had no way of verifying what shed said to me so I should refer to my application. Each time I called, they said they didnt have access to my account or contract, so Id have to go back to my own copy of it to answer my questions.
I told them to cancel my account. They sent a form stating that by terminating my contract, (I was totally unaware I had even entered into a contractual agreement with them until this point), I would have to pay $25 per month for the remainder of the contract = $1,400, or $295, whichever was greater.
M1 referred me to an online Program Guide. Www.merchantone.com/programguide. Pdf They never indicated that there was such a thing prior to this. But, there was a section in the application that said, by signing, I agreed that Id received the Program Guide.
Its a 36 page ONLINE document. On page 16, a sentence says that this is a 3 year agreement. I asked why I was never sent a copy of this either by email or regular mail as my contract indicated, they said they didnt know. I DIDNT receive it because they never sent it. Why didn't my "application" state that what I was signing was a 3 year agreement? Highly unethical business practices.
They refuse to close my account and waive these fees.