First Data Forced us to pay for services not rendered Nationwide
In December of 2012 my small business chose First Data for our credit card processing services. We entered into a 4 year contract; the first two years the service was fine. In August of 2015 our point of sales terminal simply stopped working. After days of conversations with customer service and tech support I was finally told that our POS was no longer indusrty compatible and I would need a new device. Unfortunately they were unwilling to provide me with a new device, as my contract had been signed through an "Iso" of their company that had gone out of business. After 2 months of being unable to process cards (at a loss of thousands of dollars to my company) I was forced to switch to a new card service provider. I cancelled all contracts with First Data and returned their pos device. I was told numerous times by several customer service reps that I would incur no penalty as the iso I had signed contract with was no longer in business. Unfortunately the leasing department of First Data did not honor this and for the past 2 years they have continued to charge me $46.82 every month for a machine that no longer functiones, and is not even in my possession. As near as I can tell this is a breach of contract, as I was not provided with the product that I signed the contract to rent. I have talked to FDGL customer services numerous times, and even threatend legal action; but I fear the legal fees would be as much as the settlement. As a small business owner I am appalled that big corporations like First Data can take advantage of us in such a perfunctory manner, and be left unchallenged. I would be willing to take place in a class action suit against them if other small businesses come forward.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
two missed shows is several thousand dollars revenue
#3Author of original report
Fri, December 30, 2016
I am a sculptor I do arts and crafts shows, on average I process around $1500 in cards at any given show (often two or three times that at a good show). In september I was waiting for customer service to resolve the issue; at first they assured me that they could just provide me with a new pos. When they discovered that their iso had gone out of business they then declared that they were not liable, the iso was. With no way to contact a company that was out of business I was, quite simply in limbo until I could figure out what to do. September passed and I was unable to process for my show at the Denver merch mart. in October I was on the road in Albuquereque trying to negotiate a new terminal from the road, and eventually setting up a contract with a new card service provider. At no point was simply buying a new pos unit an option, and since my old unit was non-functional I also was unable to process cards for the balloon fiesta (typically a $6000 - $7000 show). Processing cards offline was also not an option as the iso was (as previously stated) out of business so any time the number was called, there was only a busy signal.
What I am even more frustrated by though is the fact that for two years since then I have been charged every month to lease a pos unit that is no longer even in my posession.
Do you work for First Data?
coast
Florida,USA
Two Viable Resolutions
#3Consumer Comment
Thu, December 29, 2016
“After 2 months of being unable to process cards (at a loss of thousands of dollars to my company)”
That makes no sense for two reasons:
You could have purchased a new compliant terminal for less than $200.00.
You could have processed transactions using the telephone backup system provided by all processors. It is inconvenient and costs more but it’s better than losing revenue.