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  • Report:  #579476

Complaint Review: First National Merchant Solutions

First National Merchant Solutions NPC Lost over $10,000 and closed my account so they can continue their assault on my business Omaha, Nebraska

  • Reported By:
    Carol — Naples New York United States of America
  • Submitted:
    Wed, March 10, 2010
  • Updated:
    Thu, March 18, 2010

This processing company debits my business account for over $7,000 for 2009 alone. I run a small B&B and use credit cards to secure guests reservations.  When guests do not call or show up I have to charge them.  This company sides with the card holder almost every time.  I lost over $7,000 since using them so moved to Capital One where their practices are ethical.  I want to warm businesses that they will bankrupt you.  They closed my account and froze all the money for 180 days.  I can not access my credit card money until July.  I can not believe that they expect me to run my business with out cash flow for 180 days.  However, they do not care what they do to us as long as they get their percentage and constant fees for everything imaginable.

2 Updates & Rebuttals


IMA

Omaha,
Nebraska,
USA

More To The Story???

#3UPDATE EX-employee responds

Thu, March 18, 2010

As a former employee of First National Merchant Solutions I'm comfortable saying I have a fairly decent understanding of their processes as they relate to sales and service.  As a seasoned veteran of the industry I'm willing to bet there are a few more facts about this filers situation that they are not sharing.   Because I no longer work for tFNMS my opinion should be viewed as being unbiased.  That said, it is my opinion the filer of this complaint is wrongly blaming FNMS for their chargeback issues as FNMS (the processor) doesn't decide the final outcome of consumer disputes (a/k/a chargebacks); in fact, FNMS doesn't gain anything but an unhappy customer when their merchant's loose these disputes so it's not in their (FNMS's) interest to not fight on behalf of their customer.  The card brands have very clear rules regarding card acceptance procedures for the lodging industry.  Chances are great that if this merchant continues business as usual without changing procedures they will incur the same issue with Capitol One, or any other processor they partner with.


To the filer....


You may want to check the terms and conditions of your agreement with Capitol One as they, like all processors, will also have something similar to FNMS's 180 day clause.  This is a standard in merchant contracts to protect the processor from financial loss because, depending on the situation, consumers often have up to 6 months to dispute a transaction for one reason or another.


Zizz

United States of America

A couple of misconceptions

#3Consumer Comment

Mon, March 15, 2010

When a cardholder disputes a charge to their card, a "Chargeback Inquiry" is opened in the system.  Card association (V/MC/D/AX) rules define what the merchant (the B&B) and the Acquirer ("processor") must do--and establishes a deadline for responding to their demand for information supporting the validity of the charge. 

The Acquirer and the Merchant are on one 'side' of the dispute; the cardholder and Issuer (bank that issued the card to the cardholder) are on the other 'side'. 

The rules give all decsion-making authority to the card Issuer , not the Acquirer (since they are the instiution extended credit, to the cardholder.)  In other words, your 'processor' does not decide who wins a disputed charge; when you lose, they lose, too.

180 days is a significant number, also another card association rule.  Cardholders are given 180 days from the date of the original charge to dispute it.  Merchant accounts with a predefined high level of chargebacks are required to have funds held in reserve to protect 'the system' against potential future chargebacks.

Finally, over 95% of the 'percentage and constant fees' goes to the card Issuer, not the Acquirer.

Merchant Guidelines on www.Visa.com will provide details of all the rules mentioned.

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