Complaint Review: Crescent Processing Co.

I wanted to be able to offer credit card payments to customers who did not qualify for a line of credit with my business, a freight brokerage and management company. The sales representative was very understanding of the small use we may or may not have in regards to utilizing this service and offered a low monthly fee of $7.50. I was aware of the $60 up front fee and the $90 corporation fee (these were the only 2 fees other than the monthly $7.50 we were to be charged).

Every month we received a minimum usage charge of $17.84 and every month the A/P department called Crescent to question this fee. Crescent's customer service department said they would "research" this and get back to her. The next month, the same minimum usage fee appeared and every month we were told the same thing by Crescent's customer service department. This happened for 8 months in a row.

I sold the company after 3 months and the new owner called on the 8th month to close the account and received instructions from customer service on where and how to return the equipment and closed the account. However, our bank account continued to have the monthly fee and minimum usage charge deducted.

Every month the new owner would call customer service and every month they told him they would take care of it and get back to him. Finally, after 5 additional months of being charged the minimum usage fee and the agreed upon fee of $7.50, a customer service rep informed the new owner that he did not have the authority to cancel the service!

Why did it take 5 additional months for someone at Crescent to communicate this requirement? I immediately called because I was the one who set the service up. I demanded to know why we were overcharged for 8 months and was informed that I only had 30 days to dispute a charge in writing. This is not listed on the invoice or statement they send out every month, but it's in the 22 page document I signed. Crescent would only be able to give us credit for 3 months of overcharges and not 13 (total number of months we were over charged even though we returned the equipment after 8 months)!

Not only that, Crescent withdrew the monthly minimum usage fee and another $7.50 from the companies bank account yesterday (why was the account not closed when I called to cancel it per their instructions)?? Why do they continue to withdraw funds?? I received a call from someone by the name of Ronnie L who works for Crescent and I have returned his call and had to leave a voicemail and instructed him to call my cell phone as I no longer own this company. He called me back at the office number where he knows I no longer work or can not be reached!

I do plan on contacting the Better Business Department in Texas and Georgia. I noticed that this company is a Registered Agent of the Columbus Bank and Trust Company located in Columbus, GA and I plan on calling the bank directly to report how this company misleads customers and withdraws incorrect amounts of money every month, does not communicate clearly nor do they ever do anything they say they will do (i.e. research the overcharges and get back to you, close the account, ect.

The sales representative also told me that we would not be charged a fee for terminating as long as we did not go with another processing company. After 8 months, we did not have one charge to process with a credit card. Not one credit card charge was ever processed with the machine we had, thus the lack or need for a credit card processing service. The new owner was told that there would be a cancellation fee and I was also informed by the customer service representative that no matter what I was told, they were covered by the 22 page agreement I signed. In fact, every complaint I had was not his concern because they have every legal right based on the 22 page agreement I signed.

Do NOT sign anything with this company or believe anything a sales rep tells you because it's just not worth it. We should have been charged a total of $210 and instead we have been charged a total of $476.82 to date. When will this madness stop? The bank said we had to close the account and open a new one to prevent Crescent from withdrawing any additonal fees; however, we just purchased 1000 new checks and will have to add that to the total of wasted fees!

And, we never ran one credit card charge through their machine! I'm exhausted by all of the scams that are directed towards small businesses. When you own and operate a small company, it takes all hours of your day just to do that task! Scam artist know this about small businesses and know that the owner wears many hats throughout the day and takes advantage of that fact. That's one of the reasons I sold the business - terrorist live and breath in this country and are slowing sucking the life out of hard working people who are trying to make this country a better place by providing jobs and promoting commerce.

Trina
Woodstock, Georgia
U.S.A.

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