In the credit card processing business, it is common, or should I say most probable, that every merchant will run into a salesman who blows smoke, and sells a bill of goods that is FAKE NEWS! In fact, most likely, every merchant in the country has one time or another gotten taken, scammed, or hoodwinked with “I am going to save you money on your … Read More
True Story About a Low Rate Hussle!
A Long Time Client is Being Hussled! One of my long time clients called me and asked a strange question. She was bombarded by companies calling her to switch her processing. Tired of the hassle she finally said yes, she would listen to the salesperson’s program! She made an appointment with her. Then she called me and asked if I would be at her side … Read More
Scam to Save you $500! Say What?
A current merchant called us and asked us to review a proposal from a competitor. The competitor had a copy of the merchant statement and wrote on it, “Savings of $500!” and circled it in red. He had no data to back up the savings. The merchant wasn’t even paying anywhere near $500 in fees over the wholesale interchange. Bob the scammer got found out.
Scam for Restaurants!
One of our large volume fine dining restaurant client’s was approached by Bob who said he would save them over $300/mth on their fees. Our client asked us to evaluate. We said we needed to see the rates Bob was presenting, not just a number of $300 with nothing to back it up. It took the client 10 days to get a copy of the … Read More
Scam – How Processors Lie About the Rate on their Monthly Statement!
A new merchant contacted us recently about comparing our rates to his current processor. He told us the low cost plus rate he thought he was paying. He even verified it with his processor that this rate was all he was paying. When I got the statement, sure enough, there was a very low rate in plain site. However, when I delved deeper into every … Read More
Scam – Will My Rate Ever Change?
When asked about rate increases, Bob from Brand X always LIED, (that’s right I said LIED) and said that rates would never change with him. The fact is that 99% of processors raise rates whenever they want to. Typically they raise rates when they are getting ready to sell out to a bigger processor, in order to inflate their bottom line. I have experienced this … Read More
Scam – Flat Rate
Bob’s new trick is an old one. His new rate is 1.69% and he says he won’t have any higher rates for keyed-in cards, rewards cards, or corporate cards (?). I think that Bob is either an outright liar or he is new to credit card processing and doesn’t have a clue what he’s talking about. Too bad the company he represents has such a … Read More
Scam – Is it Worth it to Switch?
Bob’s favorite pitch still seems to be, “Let me do a comparison and I guarantee I’ll save you money.” Ask yourself if you want to save money if it is going to cost you more in other areas. Do you want to go through the hassle of doing a comparison, which will be in hieroglyphics instead of English, to possibly only save a couple bucks? … Read More
Scam – Rate Guarantee
Bob’s new quote sheet has a guarantee. Let’s take a look. “We will not increase the qualified discount rate for 48 months.” Response to Bob – BS. How many cards are charged a qualified discount rate? Answer: not very many. Most cards today are debit cards and rewards cards, and then there are corporate cards, keyed-in cards… the list keeps going. Most processors have six … Read More
Scam – I Forgot to Read What was in Front of Me
Bob from Brand X had written NO ETF (Early Termination Fee) near the signature line at a local car detail shop. But right above the signature line in the contract was the verbiage, “NO ALTERATIONS OR STRIKE-OUTS TO THE PROGRAM WILL BE ACCEPTED AND, IF MADE, ANY SUCH ALTERATIONS OR STRIKE-OUTS SHALL NOT APPLY.” And higher up on the page was a paragraph, “The Agreement … Read More