I received a phone call from Merchant Services asking if I would be willing to fax over a copy of the bill with my current credit card processing company, in order to see if their company could save my company money on our processing fees. The woman called me right back and said they indeed could save my company about 10-15% each month on fees. She set up an appointment the next day with their account executive, Alex Isaly. Alex confirmed that they would absolutely save us money and set us up to switch over to their company. He left me with only his business card and a promise to get back in touch with me inorder to configure my credit card machine and that he would send me a copy of all of the paperwork.
3 weeks later I still hadn't heard from their company nor had I received any paperwork in the mail. After placing a call to find out what was going on, a week later they set sent over A week later they sent a programmer over to configure my maching. When teaching me how to use this new machine he said that I did not have to "settle" the account after processing the cards for that day. I was surprised by this instruction considering I was told by my old company that I always would have to settle the account. Nonetheless, the first month I didn't settle the account and was shocked by my first month's statement being nearly 2 times higher than what I was previously paying! I called customer service and they said that I was given misinformation, but was only willing to compensate me $106.50 for their mistake when it cost me about $500.00 MORE than what I would have paid with my former company. I also informed them that I still had not received a copy of my contract as promised, for which they said that they would send one out immediately. Thinking back, I find it strange that Alex did not just make a copy of the contract for me to keep while he was at my office. They also debited my account for a Merchat Club that they automatically enrolled us in, which was not unauthorized my me. They said they would unenroll us and reverse the fee, which never happened. We were charged for the following 4 months.
After the last phone call I immediately began settling the machine on a daily basis, but after receiving the next month's statement the fees were still higher than what I was previously paying (hundreds of dollars more). I called the customer service line again and was told that because I was not swiping the cards but instead keying the entries in, I was subject to higher fees. I responded by telling them that I made it perfectly clear to Alex and the woman I initially spoke with that we always key in the entries because ALL of our orders are taken over the phone. They were unwilling to compensate us.
I called and terminated services in July (3 months after signing up). The next month I received a bill from them, when I called to inquire they said that my account was still active and that in order to cancel I would need to put my request in writing, which I reluctantly did after telling the rep that I was never givien that info. For the next 2 months they debited my account stating that it took 30 days to terminate and since I terminated in the middle of the month I was subject to 2 months' worth of fees.
Throughout the course of my dealings I was forced to deal with the most apathetic and rude customer services reps. One of the supervisors, Mike Pullen, not only refused to compensate me inorder to keep my business but also refused to put me in contact with his supervisor. Needless to say, I switched back to my old credit card company.
Last week I received a charge on my bank statement for $495.00 at the end of October. After researching I found out that this charge originated from Universal Merchant Services and was charged because I terminated my contract, a contract I never received. I spoke with Eric Madura, who was supposed to research my account and call me back but instead had Mike Pullen call me back who once again refused to compensate me in any way.
I should never have signed that semi-filled out contract, because I truly feel that they received my signature and then filled out the contract at a later date changing the terms that we verbally agreed to.
Abetterway
Sherman Oaks, California
U.S.A.
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