Complaint Review: Electronic Payment Systems (EPS)

Some things people need to consider when making or reading a complaint about Electronic payment systems.  When you sign up you have terms & conditions you agree to. (similar to a cell phone plan or credit application)  Did you read them????????? 

-YES they are in fine print because it is a lengthy bit of information. 

-YES you can you get a blown up copy.

-YES the potential merchant initials every page of the terms stating they are indeed aware of what they are signing?

*Point – know what you are agreeing to!

****Common complaints****

1) “EPS did not cancel my account and keeps billing me”   

Did you send in a cancellation letter in the proper way or were you angry because you just then found out you signed a contract you were legally obligated to thus cancelling verbally and suspecting that was that. (This happens all the time).

Did you cancel 90 days or more prior to your annual contract date?  If not your contract has renewed for another year.

Did you verify with EPS that they received your cancellation letter or send it certified mail?  Understand EPS is a large company and has been in business for 25+ years and they have tens of thousands of merchants they are attending to……It is your account, it is YOUR job to make sure EPS received it.  It is advised you follow up regardless of how mad you are.  That being said EPS keeps records of ALL conversation both recorded and notated in a database.

Did the principal signer of the account cancel it in writing or was it someone else doing it for the principal signer?  If it is obvious that they have not received a letter from the actual account holder these letters may be considered invalid!

2) “EPS keeps charging me different fees” or “EPS is charging me under a different name”

EPS ALWAYS divulges that it is them charging you and is happy to cancel optional services at your request if they are not being used.

3) “I processed nothing for years and then recognized EPS was charging me” 

It is not our job to decide if you do or do not need your account simply because of non-use….you are paying for a capability….example….people pay for insurance in some way shape or form most of their lives and often times don’t use it.  If you need it, it is there to help make things a little easier to deal with.

4) “EPS would not allow me to cancel and would not speak to me”

Keep in mind EPS has NO fiduciary obligation to speak with anyone but the account holder.  We deal with fraud all the time in this industry and speaking with the appropriate party is paramount.  So you say EPS allowed someone else to speak about the account in the past.  If that was the case it was a courtesy and it was likely that it had nothing to do with a situation that required we be talking to the principal owner.  Perhaps they spoke to us about a terminal issue or had basic questions etc.?

5) “EPS signed me up for a lease on a credit card terminal and won’t take it back”

EPS does NOT lease equipment!  Were you possibly signed up by an INDEPENDANT SALES AGENT selling EPS’ processing capabilities?  

6) “That agent represented your company so you (EPS) is responsible” 

Unfortunately, EPS is not responsible for the promises these agents make.  EPS is not the first or last company on the planet who has people who sell a service independently to make a commission.  It is the potential merchants job to do some research before making snap judgments about if processing credit cards is best for them.  There are risks involved with anything in life and it is your job to ASK QUESTIONS.  Processing credit cards is not something you just start doing overnight.  Understand what you are getting into.

7) “Why does EPS even have a contractual obligation?”

We take our business seriously and want to know that you do as well.  If your business is built to last we want to have the utmost faith that you believe in it as well….my question….why would any business that is taking on a risk for you not ask you to sign a contract….it’s an absolute necessity for ANY processing company not just EPS.

8) “EPS will not refund me for…….”

EPS will always issue a good faith REQUEST for a refund of most anything.  Please understand that it is just that, a request! EPS may ask you to prove a charge was taken as well.  Why you ask?  Yes we can see that we took something out of an account in most cases BUT we cannot look into your bank statements to make sure it cleared can we? Each request is also handled on a case by case basis and researched by top management before the refund is approved or issued.

9) “This is really inconvenient (insert situation) and I have spent far too much time on the phone with EPS”

I would hope that you did spend a good amount of time making sure your business’ faculties are in order.  Part of owning a business is dealing with issues of differing magnitudes day in day out.  If you are not willing to take the time and care to attend to the business, no matter what that entails I suggest you find another venture.  Owning a business is not a cake walk and people need to understand that credit card processing is the main pillar that your business’ success hinges on…..AGAIN, I certainly hope you take all the time you can handling issues your business may have.

10) “EPS held my funds and will not pay them out for a year”

In this situation there is likely something high risk about the account.  Here are a few factors that would play into this happening to a merchant of ours.

a) Your business has a very high chargeback (customer dispute) to sale ratio.  Visa states that an acceptable level is anything under 2%.  If you go above that threshold at any point and remain there your account WILL be scrutinized and appropriate remedies will be suggested first before we shut off an account or hold funds.

b) Did EPS find that your business was not what you said it really was?

c) Did we find the business on a match list for … (fraud/excessive chargebacks/collusion/terminated merchant file or blacklisted by another processor/etc.)???

d) Did we ask for documentation to support a sale and receive bad/suspicious/insufficient evidence to show that payment was applied to a balance due?

e) Did we do our standard site inspection and determine there was something off about the business?

* There are lots more reasons but this gives you a rough idea (AGAIN, READ YOUR CONTRACT)

11) “Why hold my funds for a year”?

Chargeback liability extends up to a full year….in other words a customer of any merchant can literally dispute a charge they made 364 days ago for a magnitude of reasons.  Unfortunately Visa/Mastercard/Discover/AMEX allows their customers this right.  If funds were held because there was something about the account EPS did not like it is very common for us to see chargebacks down the line.  If this happens EPS uses those held funds to avoid loss or exposure.

12)  “It’s been a year, where is my money”?

After a year we can indeed begin reviewing the account for a release of anything that remains in the account.  The review could take days or in some cases months (circumstances are unique for each release/merchant)

13) “I processed sales and EPS put a temporary hold on my account and I have not seen the funds”

In this situation a number of factors could have caused something like this as well.  Here are a few…

a)      Did you run a very high dollar amount?  Higher than you indicated was your high dollar ticket when you filled out your application?

b)      Did you key enter or take the sale over the phone opposed to swiping it through a terminal?

c)      It could just be a periodic inquiry or spot check to make certain you are getting appropriate documentation to support your sales?

d)      It could be that we have spotted something that does not look right in general.  Please be aware that EPS does have your best interests at heart and we will attempt to keep you as safe as possible in your transactions

e)      EPS is a business and that being said they make business decisions.  If it is found that something is just not right about a sale or the business they will do as any smart business would…they look out for EPS.  They are not interested in taking a loss if they can see one coming.

f)       Are you running riskier international sales (these take a lot more work to verify for certain)

g)      Do we need to establish a reserve?

h)      Do we need a cardholder letter (a form letter filled out by the merchant’s customer with copies of the credit card used and Identification)?

i)       Are we seeing the same card charged numerous times for strange amounts?

j)       Are you a newer merchant that we are trying to familiarize ourselves with?

k)      We see you have previous processing and are waiting on 3-6mos previous processing statements? (this is usually the fastest way to avoid your account being held or scrutinized off the bat)

l)       Do you have insufficient funds which we are trying to account for or recover?

m)    Is there mail bouncing back from a business’ location we formerly verified or contact information that we need?

 *Again, there are lots more reasons but this gives you a rough idea (AGAIN, READ YOUR CONTRACT)

PLEASE GO BACK AND READ YOUR CONTRACT, TERMS & CONDITIONS BEFORE SLAMMING EPS BECAUSE YOU REFUSED TO UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU WERE SIGNING UP FOR!  IF SOMETHING DOES NOT MAKE SENSE ASK THE LAWYER WHO LIKELY HAD TO INCORPORATE YOUR BUSINESS, ASK THE AGENT WHO IS SIGNING YOU UP, CALL EPS AND ASK QUESTIONS.  I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH!!!