I was contacted by telephone by Merchant Services on several occasions prior to finally agreeing to meet with their representative. I explained during these phone calls and to the representative when he came, that I had owned the business only a few months, and that I was committed to a contract with another company therefore, I would not likely be able to make a change.
I also advised the representative that sales had been slow, and that I had no excess $ to waste. I even provided my existing lease for the representative to look over, and was told by him that there would be no penalties to cancel after December 1st, the one year anniversary date. I questioned the fact that the lease was showing cancellation fees before 3 years had been completed he responded that any fees would not exceed the amount that his company would pay towards the penalties, and assured me that I would save so much money on transaction fees with Merchant Services, that it would be worth it to pay the rental on my current machine until the one year anniversary date had passed.
I asked him what his company would do if I had to close my business and he simply shrugged and said what are they going to do if you have no money? Most questions I had and concerns I expressed were shrugged off in this manner.
He also told me that renting the machine was not an option with Merchant Services, but that the purchase would save me even more $. If the business had to close, I could return or sell the equipment without a problem.
I have since been informed that renting was an available option. I can only assume that his commission was greater on a sale over a rental. Mr. Swartman also informed me when asked, that I was dealing with a Canadian company, but this (obviously) was an outright lie. He told me that nothing would change for me in the long run, and that for less than I was paying now, I would also have access to the tip option through my debit terminal.
I was contacted by his supervisor shortly thereafter, who informed me that if I signed with Merchant Services, I would not be able to accept annual membership payments in full. Based on this conversation, I informed Mr. Swartman that this was not going to work for me, and that I could not commit to this contract the very next day, he was back at my location, telling me that he had spoken to his supervisor and that it would be fine to accept annual payments, as the incidence of these type of payments was infrequent, and they would not worry about a few. Having been verbally satisfied, and still believing the representative to be trustworthy, I did at that time, agree to switch to Merchant Services (September 17).
While Mr. Swartman was at my facility, he inspected my existing equipment to ensure that a compatible terminal would be shipped to us. The terminal that arrived was not compatible, however, and could not be set up. I was charged set up fees upon receiving the equipment, but was unable to even use the new equipment even when it was finally up and running, the tip option was not available until a later date. Meanwhile, I was paying fees for both terminals. As I had been advised to do by Mr. Swartman, I contacted First Data to cancel my contract after December 1st, and was told that there would be a $650.00 fee to do so. I contacted Mr. Swartman regarding this, and he came in to investigate he looked over the same contract he had seen originally, (when he had informed me that there would be no fees after December 1st.) and this time informed me that his company would pay only $250.00 towards the cancellation fees. Mr. Swartman refused to return my calls or respond to emails since that time. I had yet to receive a copy of the contract with Merchant Services, expecting that it would be sent when everything was in place and running smoothly. I did not receive a copy of the contract until I began the process to have my contract with Merchant Services dissolved. The debit terminal that I received from Merchant Services also does not accept American Express, which my original one did I lost over $1,200.00 worth of business in December due to this fact.
This representative presents himself as a knowledgeable and informed/experienced individual who knows how these things work and cares about his clients, but the truth is that he misinformed & blatantly lied to me even as he stood in front of me with my original contract in his hand. He was simply determined to have me sign on with him, regardless of the outcome to me & my business, as long as he could make his commission.
Mr. Darryl Peppers at Merchant Services did not hesitate to cancel my contract with them when I contacted him with these concerns, but told me that I would have to contact NLS to arrange the return of my equipment and cancellation of my contract separately. This too has proven to be a lie, as I have since spoken to the manager of another local business (Donna Rioux at Odim Spectrum) who had the same type of experience with Jeff Swartman and Merchant Services.
Her entire contract, including the portion with NLS, was cancelled by Darryl Peppers on request, and the equipment was shipped back to them. Mr. Peppers has failed to respond to requests I have left for him to call me back concerning this situation.
I have now spoken to another local (also female) business owner who was also deceived into signing a contract with Merchant Services, finding her monthly fees to be significantly higher than what she was quoted. I have also just been recently informed that there is another business in the city that has run into the same situation as myself. I cannot name these businesses or individuals without requesting their permission first, but apparently will have no shortage of witnesses to back my claim if needed. NLS obviously has the equipment returned from Odim Spectrum and a copy of her cancelled contract. I would like to know the reason that my contract with NLS is non-cancelable, but hers was not? If need be, I imagine that it will not be hard to find others as well, based on the fact that I have discovered these individuals with very little effort.
I also ran into a situation with additional insurance fees that I am being charged. My insurance representative (Lisa Avery at Broker Link) faxed my proof of insurance on the equipment to NLS on November 8th (confirmation # 8883212309), but NLS claimed never to have received it I had to have her re-send the document and have yet to see re-imbursement for the fees I was charged for this insurance I did not require.
The terminal I was conned into purchasing was in use for a very short period of time before it was disconnected and packaged for return. It is in perfect condition, completely intact, and waiting to be shipped back.
I was advised by representatives at NLS to fax my information to them for review. Once someone finally received my faxed information, it was ignored, and when I finally called to check on the status, I was told that original documents had to be mailed to be recognized. So, after many hours of wasted time, and months later, I have had to do everything all over again and send information in the mail. Could a company really consider this to be good customer service? I am amazed by the lack of communication and efficiency I have had to deal with for the past few months, with nothing being resolved, and am stuck paying monthly fees for a purchase of equipment that I have no use for and cannot afford.
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