FEDERATED PAYMENT SYSTEMS CREDIT CARD PROCESSING COMPANY FEDERATED PAYMENTS IS SUCH A RIP-OFF, NEVER USE THEM FOR CREDITCARD PROCESSING!!! MELVILLE, Nationwide
My company has been with federated payment systems for 6 years. I was offered a much better rate (0.5% lower!!) from another company therefore I switched. I traveled overseas therefore I told my office to call to cancel the service in Nov. 19th, 2010. Federated told the office that someone authorized had to call so the request for cancellation was unsuccessful.
I came back on Dec 17, 2010 and immediately called Federated to cancel. However I was already charged with Annual Fees, Statement Fees and Compliance Fee etc, totaling $104,even though there was no transaction at all. I spoke to Linda from customer service over the phone and spent 10 minutes to go through the whole cancellation procedure. At the end of the call, she told me that there is a form that she will email me and sign back. That's it. She DID NOT mention that if you did not get the form or did not sign back, the account is not cancelled. And guess what? SHE FORGOT TO SEND THE EMAIL TOME!!! My Outlook mailbox has 20 emails that day and no record of any email from Linda.
So I thought the account and been cancelled.... Until I got a Dec statement on Jan 5th with all the fees and ... a IRS Reporting Fee of some sort for year 2011 totaling $134. So I called immediately to speak to Linda. I made sure that she sent me the email so that I can fax it back to her. She said she will submit the IRS charge for review. I asked her, does that mean it will be not refunded? She said, most likely it will.
Until now, no refunds has been issued. I called again to inquire about the refunds and a supervisor named Darrell respond to my call. He understands that Linda did not send me a email but insisted that there can not be refunds regardless. He also made two comments:
1. He said that I have been a good customer (providing them with revenue) for six years and because I did not call them tolower rates when switching to another company, I deserve to be charged and of course they won't give refunds because the account is now closed.
2. Even though he undestands his employee made a mistake by not sending out the form, it is my fault that I did not call back and ask for it.
Here is my advice for everyone:
1. Federated overcharges and will try everyway to make more money off you and their customer service department are the worst. Do not use their service! there are alot of cheaper alternatives out there!
2. Make sure if you cancel their service, call your bank and ask to stop ACH payments from Federated so that similar cases can be avoided!
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Marketing Director Federated Paymen
United States of AmericaTHE REAL STORY
#2UPDATE Employee
Wed, February 09, 2011
Although the customer in question opted not to identify himself for the purposes of this posting, we were able to determine which business this is, because despite our company having over 30,000 customers, we do not receive very many complaints. Mr. Zhao’s employee Sharon first called Federated on 11/19/2010 to inquire about closing their account (opened in August of 2004 – we provided service to this customer for several years without issue). We advised Sharon that because Mr. Zhao had signed the original service agreement, only his signature on a cancellation form could sever the contract. We asked her to have Mr. Zhao contact us, so we could discuss this further. Sharon called again a month later (12/17) and was given the same information. Mr. Zhao came on the line and confirmed his intention to close the account. We emailed him the closure form that day. It was finally received, signed, on 1/6/2011. The issue at hand is that Federated billed the customer for November and December, because the account had remained open. Based on the records we keep on the account, the delay in closure was because we did not receive the closure form, apparently due to an internal issue between Mr. Zhao and his employee. Federated incurred costs in keeping his account open during those months, and we could not close the account without his written consent, as we had been contracted to provide financial services for his business. For these reasons, the fees assessed will stand. Federated Payments is an accredited member of the Better Business Bureau, and we have a very high rating with that organization. We take our obligations to our customers very seriously and take all steps possible to maintain the highest levels of quality and service. We regret that Mr. Zhao has an issue, but we do wish to point out for the record that he used our company to handle his credit card processing – a significant function at any business – for over six years, and only took issue at the end when he had already decided to close, but failed to provide the needed documentation so that we could assist him.