BankCard USA Merchant Services Unfair trade practices, misrepresentation of material facts, failure to disclose, false and misleading sales pitches. ripoff Westlake Village California
BankCard USA has engaged in deceptive trade practices by having its telemarketers lure unsuspecting small business owners in with promises of low fees, by making false and misleading statements and by failing to disclose material facts that would influence a potential clients decision. BankCard USA refuses to refund my money for the purchase of a refurbished credit card swipe machine that I used only once-when they had me activate my account using the machine.
I was initially contacted in late June 2007 by Sarah who pitched a starting rate of 1.69% for credit card processing, 1.3% for processing debit cards and an additional $5.00 per month. She promised no contract cancellation or start up fee. I was then transferred to Troy Loehr who repeated the same information, and that the rate would be 2.29% if I keyed the information in online.
At no time was it disclosed that I would not be able to return the refurbished credit card swipe machine for a refund. Nor was it disclosed that the machine would entail a $17.00 per month 'wireless fee. It was not disclosed in a full, fair and transparent manner that I would also be charged a $25.00 'Minimum discount fee each and every month, but that it would be reduced by the level of charges processed-this I had to find out from customer service.
When I spoke to Troy he said my account could be made 'seasonal to avoid the monthly charges, but that would entail not being able to use the services during 'non-seasonal months. Based upon this information and the fact that fees which I had not be advised of were debited from my account I decided to close my account with BankCard USA.
They refuse to refund $368.00 for the machine, but did offer to refund the monthly charges that were debited to my account and returned 22.00 worth of charges that were debited for June. I have made several attempts to contact Troy Loehr via e-mail and telephoned his supervisor and left a voice mail. I have gotten no responses to my e-mails or phone call.
On August 20, 2007 I was contacted twice by BankCard USA telemarketers trying to get me to open a merchant account with them.
The first one to call was Jan Gribowski at 1:30 p.m., the second was Amber who called at 5 p.m. Central time. Further, they called me even though I had placed my telephone number on the National Do Not Call Registry the day before. When I requested she remove my name from their list, Amber told me that they could not remove me from their list because it is 'international and controlled by the telephone companies'. There is precedence for a claim. The FTC got Certified Merchant Services to pay out $23.5 million in settlement back in Jan. 2004
I want a refund of $416.26 from BankCard USA. I want thier telemarketers to quit calling me.
Kat
Round Rock, Texas
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Sharon
Westlake Village,California,
U.S.A.
BANKCARD USA REBUTTAL!
#2UPDATE Employee
Tue, January 13, 2009
BankCard USA is responding to the above referenced complaint. In reviewing the merchant's complaint, we have concluded to the following-
1. No refunds are due back to the merchant. The credit card terminal was used by the merchant. They processed credit card transactions on this terminal and received funds from their customers-the service and credit card terminal were both used by the merchant.
2. All rates and fees were disclosed to the merchant. These fees can be located in their signed merchant agreement (a copy of the merchant agreement can be provided to the merchant by request). The $25.00 monthly minimum is only charged if a merchant does not accumilate a total of $25.00 in fees (discount rate). This fee is also disclosed on their merchant agreement.
3. Although the cost of the actual terminal cannot be refunded to the merchant, BankCard USA has processed a refund as a courtesy back to the merchant. Our Customer Service Department has even offered to refund the merchant's bank fees that were charged to them. Your previous representative, Troy would not be authorized to process and approve the refund. Please contact our Customer Service directly at (800) 589-8200 ext. 31. They will process and expedite the refund for the months that you did not process any transactions.
Additionally, BankCard USA has eliminated their Telemarketing Department. No other calls will be made to solicit your business into opening up a merchant account. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you and your business. Please contact us with any additional questions or concerns you may have regarding this matter.
Thank you,
Sharon Tan
Operations Department
Bankcard USA
(800) 589-8200 ext. 3512