Recently, an Intergrated Merchant Alliance salesperson, Melinda Ayer came into our business in an attempt to sell us on switching our credit card service from our bank to IMA for lower rates. This woman tried to sell her service by trashing our bank, her competitor. I realized this right away and threw her out of my store. I would never buy anything from a salesperson who uses negative sales techniques. That is is a sign of not having worth while products or services, or a weak sales person.
I was so mad that I wanted to find out what the hell kind of company Intergrated Merchant Alliance really was. So I did some investigating. Turns out they are not a credit card processing company, like Ms. Ayer told me. They are just a reseller of First Data. Which anyone can go direct to and not have to pay a middleman like Intergrated Merchant Alliance.in addition, IMA is not recognized by any card association (Visa Mastercard American Express Discover) and they are not list on the PCI/DSS or CISP Certified Security list.
Here is the best part, my bank pointed out to me that this company Intergrated Merchant Alliance has been operating in several states without proper business licensing for years. Here in South Carolina any business that physcially calls on businesses in person, is required to be licensed by every county and city that they conduct business in. The standard business license fee is 2% of gross sales.
We have since notified the City of Charleston and The South Carolina Department of Revenue and both are currently investigating. Each year municipalities are cheated out of millions of dollars in business licencing fees and taxes by out of state companies like Intergrated Merchant Alliance. IMA doesn't list any contact or mailing information on their website. What a surprise!
If any of thes IMA "Sales Professional" come into your business, do yourself a big favor and throw them out!!!
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