Do not do business with these people!!! Extremely unethical business practices!
If there are any lawyers reading this, i would like to know what I can do to get my money back from them.
This is the worst company I have ever had the misfortune of doing business with. Wish I had read complaints before i started doing businees with them!
I owned two retail stores - closed one location over two yrs ago. After a routine audit, i learned Total Merchant Services has continued to deduct $30 a month 'minimum fee' charge from my business account up to this day!
When i called, they said i never closed the account. I had told the local rep to close my account at the time i closed the store. I also sent a fax to Total Merchant Services. They claimed they never got the fax. I said it was obvious there had been no activity on that store's account for over two years - the person on the phone kept saying over and over that i didnt close the account and had no interest in hearing my side of the story.
I sent another fax, a 4 paragraph letter explaining this. 4 weeks later, after not getting a response, i called them again and they said they never got that fax either. HOW CONVENIENT! I can prove the fax went through to them.
Even though this was a different CSR on the phone, she did the same thing to me - quoting policy ad nauseaum and telling ME i never closed the account. She kept interrupting me and didnt want to hear my side of the story. She told me I had to fax them a letter. Yeah right!
I sent a certified letter to them. Surprise - they finally respopnded. They closed that account and charged me an early contract cancellation fee of $99. This is for an account that I had closed, following THEIR procedures, TWO YEARS AGO!
They won't even consider giving me a refund.
I should have known this company was screwed up from the beginning. My first week's credit card charges disappeared - the money was never deposited into my account. I was told by them that I had to re-enter all the charges. Fortunately for me, my business is a high-end, low-volume custom design services company. I had every customer's name, address and phone. I spent two days re-entering the credit card charges and calling my customers to tell them what happened. I didnt want my customers to think I was ripping them off.
A week after I re-entered all the charges, the ORIGINAL transactions went through! I had to go back and issue refunds, because Total Merchant Services REFUSED to take any responsibility for this. And then I had to call my customers back AGAIN, telling them they were double-charged and I was fixing the problem. If I did not have my customer contact info, this would have been a nightmare and destroyed my reputation as a legitimate business.
I have wasted over 40 man-hours on this company trying fix problems they have caused.
They owe me over $700 in bogus charges. I am filing complaints with my state's consumer protection office, the better business bureau, my state's chamber of congress and my local small business organizations.
This is the first time I have ever written a complaint about a company. Their practices are so unethical, their employees are so poorly trained (of perhaps well-trained if you are the owner) and they have angered me so much, that I had to write this complaint.
Phillip
Jersey City, New Jersey
U.S.A.
0 comments