Complaint Review: First National Merchant Solutions

This all started in March of 2007. Jason Myers, a representative for First National Merchant Solutions came into my very small thrift store. He asked me if I accepted credit cards and I said no. I told him it would be way too expensive for my small store. We only do about $1200 in sales a month. He told me that it would only cost $7.50 a month plus a certain percent for each sale. I agreed to do it. He brought me a two page contract which had some discrepancies from his original word. I had him change those before I signed the contract. I opted for the plan where I would make 3 payments to buy my machine. It cost me over $300. I later dropped this machine (my fault) and called to find out if I could buy a different one off the internet. I gave them the model # and they agreed that it would work with their system. I only paid $100 for this machine new on the internet. At that time I new they ripped me off for my original machine. My husband lost his job and I called to cancel my service. They told me it would be $250. I told them that my contract did not have an early cancellation fee on it. They gave me the page number of the contract that stated this. I felt so betrayed. He had only given me two pages. I decided to just stay with them and wait until 3 years had passed. Then I received a $10 a month fee for sending out a statement. They did give me the option of going online to get my statement and I did but I felt that they were not sticking with their side of the contract.

Now I have been told that I will have to start paying an extra $85 a year to be compliant and I will have to buy a new machine because mine is not compliant. I asked the company phone representative if I could just pay my monthly fee of $7.50 and not use the service until my contract runs out. She said I would be charged a $20 a month non compliance fee in this situation even if I was not using the service. To top it all off they are raising my monthly fee to $15 even though the contract clearly states $7.50. When I asked their representative about my contract she said page 15 of your contract clearly states that we can raise your rates with 30 days notice. Why would I sign a contract that said I would pay a certain amount if it could be raised to whatever the company wants. Remember there were only two pages of my contract. I will either have to pay $35 a month for nothing, pay a $250 cancellation fee, or pay about $500 to stay with a corrupt company
who can raise my rates at anytime.

Carrie
Mt. Vernon, Missouri
U.S.A.