The biggest mistake I have ever made in my business career was when I signed on with Summit Merchant Solutions. The only reason I allowed the rep to discuss switching to this company was because he told me their was no contract. The company I was with was a no contract, but their rates were much higher than what this guy was promising. The service began in Sept.'09, but it in Jan. I received a letter stating our rates were going to increase because the amount being processed was lower than predicted. Well, duh! The economy took a nose dive as did our sales. I called and they explained that it was actually VISA that had set the new rates. So, I sucked it up and went on with my daily grind.in March, a customer sent in a payment for $3,250.00 which I processed the same day. 5 DAYS LATER ~ I received a call from Summit stating the payment was over my cap. Cap? What cap? I've been processing credit cards for 8 years and have never had a cap on our account. They were holding the payment unless I sent in 3 mos. Of bank statements. What? That is confidential information and again, I have never, ever been asked to send in account information other than high and low ticket sales. I placed 6 - 8 calls to the rep, Brad Houser (we're from MN) but never got a return call. Apparently, they placed a $3,000 cap on our account (even though our historical high ticket was over $18,000) and I'm wondering what determined that? For 8 more days I had to fight with them, faxing invoices showing what was being paid for, what our customer's company was to verify that it was in fact a legitimate company, and of course... They conveniently did not receive the first 2 sets of faxes! They finally released the payment to our account, but the damage was already done: 5 overdrafts on my checking account, loss of confidence from our customer, and I don't know how many hours of my time that was spent dealing with these idiots when I should have been working on sales! Their attitude was so smug and rude, but all the time I kept thinking I'll just switch to someone else. Everything seemed to settle down for awhile and it was working fine... Until another payment for $3,319.00 was processed and I wanted to see if anything had changed. What was I thinking? I called in after a couple of days and they were holding that payment as well. I told them that I cannot run my company with that low of a cap and that I would have to cancel the service. THAT was when I was informed that it would involve a $495.00 cancellation fee for early termination. I explained that I did not have a contract ~ but lo and behold, yes, I had unwittingly signed a 3 yr contract! Our nice, local rep who was so "helpful" in setting up this account lied right to my face. Not only that, he filled in some blanks after I signed the application because my copy didn't have the numbers they had ~ and, he acted like he was so concerned about spending too much of my time setting it up that he helped me fill in the application. I realize that I am too trusting and I find that sad, because my faith in people is shaken.in trusting this slime bag, I signed on the dotted line and filed away my "contract".
I recently cancelled the service and have been filing stop payment forms each time Summit withdraws the cancellation fee from our account, and today I received a voicemail from Ryan at Summit telling me we need to pay our past due account. Good luck buddy! I have reported Summit Merchant Solutions to the BBB of Texas, Texas Attorney General's Office, Minnesota Attorney General's Office so it's all on file if their is ever a class action suit ~ I'm in!
I am now with a company that has a very good reputation, low rates, NO contract and a had mere $50 set up fee. I can now receive any amount of payment from our customers (which I could before Summit anyway) and I speak to the same person every time. What a concept.
I'm amazed after reading all the complaints that Summit Merchant Solutions remains in business. I guess it's because many of us still believe that most people are good, honest and hardworking human beings that do not intentionally go out of their way to steal from innocent citizens. Don't let anyone from this company in your door!
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