I used to work for this company. After I left (and, no I am not a disgruntled employee) I came across this site, complaint. I played around with it and after typing in several others names, I typed in the name of my ex boss.
I was not surprised to find her, her husband and the company in this site. They have some off beat, almost if not certainly, unlawful business tactics. While I worked for them, I processed New Merchant Applications, filed, faxed, etc. You know, office work. OK, here is how it all works...
First of all, let's start with the Sales Reps. They are recruited from everywhere in the US. The owner spares no money when it comes to recruitments. These sales reps have no sales experience, have very bad credit records and questionalble backgrounds. It doesn't matter though, as long as they are willing to hit the streets and do the following;
They get leads on new businesses. They visit these merchants and tell them how their business will grow if they have the following services, Credit/Debit, Check Cashing, Sell of Pre-Paid Visa and MC and wireless minutes and Accept Bill Payments. All these services are serviced by different providers. Check Cashing for axample is serviced through Red Check, Credit and Debit by EMIDA. Etc. So the merchant has to sign a seperate agreement for each service. Now... And here is the mother of them all... in order to use these services, they will need the terminals/equipment. The equipment is leased for a period of 48 months (4 years) through Northern Leasing. The equipment can easily be found and paid for in full on the internet. No need for any lease with monthly insurance fees and taxes.
Now, most of these merchants are bi-lingual. Meaning their first language is not English.in fact I feel comfortable saying that 100% of them are bi-lingual. 90% are Spanish speaking. The agreements/contracts are all in English... You with me now? The sales reps somehow always convice the merchants to sign blank applications. These poor merchants have about 15 documents shoved under them for signatures and initials. The sales rep fills out only one of the many forms. The Axis application where he takes the merchant's most precious informaiton. Their full legal name, address, phone numbers, social security number, driver's license number, their business license number and voided check with their bank account number.
The sales rep faxes the documents to the office and the processors (which are trained to do so) fill in the blanks, which includes the cost and fees and the duration of their lease agreement with Northen Leasing. The merchants have no idea about the hidden monthly fees for each service or that they even have a 4 year lease?
The sales rep gets his commission once the documents have arrived and the processing department had started faxing the (now filled out) applications to their perpectrive service providers. The applications are faxed along with the copy of the merchant's driver's license, the compnay's license and the voided check. Axis gets a percentage commission from these providers.
The equipment is shipped off to the merchant, the sales rep installs and shows them how to use it and then the merchants are basically on thier own. The merchant calls Axis when they start seeing charges debited form their bank account. Once the charges are explained, they are shocked and say that the sales rep never told them they would have all these fees.
They then want to cancel and return the equipment. Not so easy. They are told that to cancel Red Check services they would need to pay a cancellation service fee of $250. But Red Check only charges Axis $50. Northern Leasing does not under any circumstance cancel a lease agreement/contract.
Alright thanks for staying with me, because here is where the scam comes in... If Northen Leasing is able to collect the first two months from the merchant, then Axis is out of the loop. If the merchant defaults on their agreement, they are billed and sent to collecctions and damage their credit score. BUT, if they can not collect from the merchant on the first or second month, the debt is then transferred to Axis which is called a Chargeback. Axis is charged for the whole lease up front. Example, if the lease is for $90 a month for 48 months, they are charged $4,320.00 and does not reflect on the merchant.
So... When Axis personnel gets a call form a new merchant who wants to cancel before the 2 month window, they are encouraged not to cancel, they are made promises of reimbursements and discounts, anything to keep the merchant happy for at least the next 2 moths. They even reimburse the merchant what the Northern Leasing has debited from their account. Say, they were debited as agreed by Northern Leasing, Axis just returns that money to the merchant. As far as Northern Leasing is concerned, the merchant is paying for their equipment.
But after the risk of a chargeback has has passed, Axis will no longer make any reimbursements, what ever promises they made to the merchants are not kept. Their calls to the owner are not returned. They are basically ignored. The owners do not care about these folks. Eventually, the merchants can not continue to pay their lease and fees and their credit gets damaged.
Axis tells these poor merchants that they do not have a cancellation window (like most other businesses do) but they do! They can just simply return the equipment and mail a letter to Axis requesting to cancel their services. They do not have to pay Red Check for any cancellation fee, Axis does. They should not pay Northern Leasing, they should place a hold on their account so money can not be debited. But if they pay the first 2 months, they are stuck witht the lease fo the next 46 months.
People should always read what they are signing, and never, ever, sign any blank forms or unfilled applications.
I know this was long, but hopefullly helpful to one or more people hurt by Axis Merchant Solutions, Anthony Manzilla, Jennifer Manzilla and their partner, Sean Bondar. These people are rich, have nice houses and one of them even has a ranch with horses. They have no trouble sleeping at night while small business owners are struggling to stay in business.
Sincerely
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