Merchant Processing,Merchant Services, MSI Merchant Services Inc, MPI, ripoff, unethical, deceptive, cons into uncancellable equipment lease, grossly overcharges, no contract copies to customer Aloha And Beaverton Oregon
My report is almost identical to the 5/31/06 Rip-Off Report filed by Karen of New Braunfils, TX (revised 6/6/06). Here's the chronology of my situation:
In early May, 2006, I received a call at my business from a woman who said she was calling to offer me better rates on our Credit Card processing. When I told her we were on the National Do Not Call list, and don't want solicitations over the phone, she said that she was with Merchant Processing, Inc., and that they did all the processing for Visa and MasterCard, that all merchant processing services went through them directly for Visa and MC processing. Because of this, they could offer me lower flat rates and fees for all Visa and MasterCard processing, as there would be no "middle man." She said they could send out a representative to come and do a comparison with our current Merchant Services company--CostCo/Nova. I agreed to have their representative come and meet with me.
5/16: MPI's representative, Jorge Lara came by to meet with me. He asked me for my last 5 Merchant Services statements (from CostCo/Nova). He did a bunch of calculations in his laptop, using software that he said compares the charges to what they would be with Merchant Processing, Inc., directly with Visa/MasterCard. He stated that the discount rate for all Visa/MasterCard transactions would be 1.65% no matter what kind of card is used, with a 16 per transaction fee, and 30 transaction fee for debit cards, with no discount rate. He figured that I would save about $126 per month (average) because 30% of cards used are debit cards, and I would be avoiding the discount rate charges. He said I would have to lease a new processing machine from them for $39.95 per month for 4 years, one that accepts debit cards.
I told him I could get a keypad now for $99 and process debit cards, but by the nature of our business, there's no time for entering pin numbers into a keypad for our transactions, and our students with Master Money Cards (debit cards with the Visa/MC logo on it) won't wait to enter them in the keypad, they will just have us swipe their card like a Visa/MasterCard. He said the machine I would be leasing differentiates between Credit Cards and Debit Cards when they are swiped, and it would automatically process the Master Money (debit) Cards as debit cards, avoiding the discount rate charges to me, even without the pin code being entered into the keypad. I would only need the keypad and pin entries for straight Debit Cards only. I went over this specifically with him about three times, because this was the key point in being able to actually reduce my processing charges or not.
I asked if I could purchase the equipment up front like I did my last one, he said no, I would have to lease it. I asked if it's a lease to purchase, and he said yes, I could then own the equipment at the end of the lease.
I asked if there were any other charges or fees, even hidden charges, he said only a $10 per month statement fee. He said even with the $39.95 per month and the statement fee, I would average $126 savings per month.
He told me I would have to sign up then to get the flat rates, because it was a limited time offer from Visa/MasterCard. I was still believing he was representing them directly, as he said he was (just like the initial caller), and that I would be dealing directly with Visa/MasterCard with no more middle man. I asked him if I signed up then, and decided I wasn't satisfied, if I could cancel the whole deal, he said yes, within 30 days. I asked if there would be any cancellation fees, he said no, and that they would even get my previous Merchant Services re-established and pay any fees for that.
I signed the papers, noting one for the equipment lease that said it was uncancellable. I asked if I was supposed to sign that, and he said he wasn't sure, he thought he signs it, that it's for his company, and I just fill out my information who will be using the equipment. So I assumed I would just be leasing directly from them, paying them the $39.95 per month, that the automatic charge to my bank account would be part of their monthly statement/bill.
I asked Mr. Lara about my copies of the papers (we don't have a copier), and he said that as soon as it gets submitted, they send me copies right away.
He gave me his business card and said I could call him anytime, to call when the equipment arrives, or if I decided to cancel the deal.
5/19: Mr. Lara called me and said there was one signature we missed, and he couldn't submit it all until it was completed. I was quite busy, but told him to come by and I signed the last one. I didn't look at it closely, he just said it was his oversight and we just missed it. (It seems that was the non-cancellable equipment Lease).
Week of 5/22: I received the Verifone Credit Card Processing machine. I tried to call Mr. Lara at the 800 number on his MPI business card asked for his extension number on the card, but he is not listed in the Company directory, so I got a Customer Service person named Julie. I told her our Verifone arrived, but I hadn't received any of the paperwork or contract copies back or heard anything from them. She said she would have my Sales Rep. (Mr. Lara) call me back. Never did.
5/26: Not being able to get a hold of Mr. Lara, I called the Tech Services number included with the Verifone. With the help of the Tech rep., Bryan, I plugged in the Verifone so we could test it. Doing 4 tests, which we Voided (so no transactions would appear and be charged for), I could see the machine didn't do what Mr. Lara had said it would to save me money, namely it didn't differentiate a Master Money Card (debit card with the Visa/MC logo on it) as a debit card for purposes of the transaction fees charged to me by MPI, unless the keypad was used, which would be almost impossible the way we do our business, as I explained to Mr. Lara. So it wouldn't help me afterall, I wouldn't be saving money on debit cards swiped without using the keypad. I found out later no machine does that.
The Verifone's software also required the 3 number security code for manually punched in transactions, which would be a huge, and unnecessary burden on our existing way of doing business. Mr. Lara said it was a legal requirement to use them now, but I found out later it's not, it's a security convenience only for the Merchant in case of Charge-backs. So Mr. Lara had lied, or at least misinformed me in selling me the machine. It was to no advantage to what I already had, was actually more of a burden to use, and (I would find out later), was really about a $300 machine (purchased new) I would be paying over $2,300 for. I unplugged it, packaged it back up as it was, and put our existing machine back into use. No charges were made on MPI's Verifone machine.
5/30: I called MPI Cust. Serv. again, and talked to Jennifer. I told explained to her about the machine, that it would actually cost me more to do business with them, plus the huge expense of a machine I didn't need or want. I wanted to cancel with them, as Mr. Lara said I could. She said she couldn't cancel me, the sales rep would have to talk to me. I told her I had tried to call him, that I never heard back from him. She said that she would have him call me. Never did.
6/1: I sent an e-mail to Mr. Lara (using his e-mail address on his business card) explaining everything to him, and how if I didn't hear from him by Monday 6/5, I would cancel with MPI as he told me I could within 30 days.
6/2: I found my e-mail to Mr. Lara had been returned to me from postmaster@gotompi.com (gotompi.com is MPI's website), with the subject line stating Delivery Status Notification (Failure).
Impatient, and not hearing from Mr. Lara, I called MPI Cust. Serv. and got Jennifer again. I told her I wanted to go ahead and cancel the whole thing. She said I couldn't, the Lease for the Verifone was non-cancellable. I would have to call the Lease Company, which was separate from them. I said I would do that. I said I didn't want to do business with MPI now, and I wanted to cancel with MPI. She got a bit rude, but finally said I could send a Cancellation letter to them, with our business name, merchant ID #, reason for cancelling, and my signature.
I asked if I send it to the address on Mr. Lara's MPI business card, she said go ahead and send it there. I asked where to send the Verifone back to, she said to the Deployment Department, where they are sent out from, and confirmed the return address on the box it came in, an Oregon address. I was still under the impression MPI's office was in San Diego, as it's stated on Mr. Lara's MPI business card.
Sunday 6/4: I wrote up a Cancellation letter for MPI, addressed to the San Diego address on Mr. Lara's MPI business card. I included a detailed figuring of how Mr. Lara was wrong, and MPI would actually cost me more money than my current Merchant Processer, CostCo/Nova. I explained the equipment was not useful to us.
6/5: I received a letter from a company called Lease Finance Group, LLC (LFG), dated 6/2, with details of the Verifone equipment lease.
I called LFG, talked to Tangie. I explained about the Verifone, what the MPL sales rep told me, as well as what the Cust. Serv. rep. said. She said that MPL and their sales rep are not agents of theirs. The lease is binding, because they paid MPL for it. She told me not to send the machine to anyone, not back to MPL, because they (LFG) own it. She did say that I could write a Letter of Misrepresentation and send it Attn: Lessee Affairs Dept. at LFG, with the Lease # on it, and if they decided in my favor, could rescind their deal with MPL and get their money back to cancel the lease. She said, if that were to happen, then they would have me send the Verifone back. So I didn't sent the Verifone back.
Tangie also said that MPL could honor the lease by returning their money and cancelling, but I would have to go back to them (MPL) and they would have to do it, but probably wouldn't.
6/6: Got letter from Discover Network, that I now had 2 accounts with them, they were closing one. I called them, told them to keep my original one open, close the new one (from MPI).
I wrote up the Letter of Misrepresentation for LFG, and mailed it together with the MPI cancellation letter at the end of the day, they postmarked 6/7.
6/13: Got the MPI Cancellation letter returned to me from the Post Office as Return to Sender: Not deliverable as addressed, Unable to Forward.
I also got a response from LFG, saying that they did not sell the equipment, nor do they provide the processing services. They just provide the funds to enable me to aquire and lease the Verifone, and my lease agreement is with them, I'm responsible for honoring it. The letter says No representative of the processing company is authorized to waive or alter any term or condition of the equipment lease. The salesperson is not negotiate the contract.... So while Mr. Lara made it seem like MPL was leasing me the Verifone, that they just use a leasing company to service the lease, in fact they sell the equipment to the Lease Company, and get people to sign a lease that is not even with them.
6/15: Found our CostCo/Nova account cancelled. I immediately called them and reopened it. Fortunately they didn't charge any fee for that. They also confirmed that the Verifone does not differentiate Master Money Debit Cards for purposes of discount rate/transaction fees charge to the merchant, unless the pin code keypad is used.
I called MPI Cust. Serv. to get the correct mail address for Cancellation Letter. I was put on hold for 7 mins. In the meantime, I went online and found their Corporate Offices address. The Cust. Serv. man came back on the phone, told me the sales rep would call me right back. I told him I didn't need to talk to the sales rep, and didn't want anyone trying to talk me out of cancelling, just to give me the correct address to send in the cancellation. He wouldn't give it to me. When I asked if the Corporate Office address was where I should send it, he indicated it was, without directly saying so. About 10 minutes later, Mr. Lara called me, and kept asking me why I wanted to cancel. I said I wrote it all on the cancellation letter and just wanted the address to send it. I asked him if the Corporate Office address was where I should send the cancellation letter, he wouldn't tell me, kept asking why I wanted to cancel. Three more times I asked for the address, he wouldn't give it to me, I hung up. I mailed the cancellation letter to the Corporate Office address I got online.
6/29: I went on the internet and Googled merchant processing complaints. I found numerous and similar complaints of fraud, scam, misinformation, entrapment, etc. relating to MPI, and other merchant service companies, on a the Rip-Off Report.com website, and an article at www.wweek.com. There were also statements by former employees (sales reps) for MPI, who quite because of the unethical business practices they were being trained to commit, and MPI's penchant for not paying them their commissions. I started realizing I was tricked and conned into signing up with MPI, and into this non-cancellable lease, just as many others have been. I found out the Verifone costs about $250-300 new.
7/6: I received a statement/bill from MPI dated 6/30, for Merchant Services for the month of June. Since there were no transactions made (except for the 4 tests when I first received the Verifone machine, for 16 each), they charged me a $25 minimum, and a $10 statement fee, for a total of $35.64. To that date, I had received no response to my cancellation letter. The account was not cancelled and closed. I tried calling MPI Cust. Serv., was on automatic hold for 15 minutes, didn't get through.
7/10: I called MPI Cust. Serv., talked to Justin. He told me the cancellation was not in the system yet. He FAX'd me a cancellation form and told me I could FAX it in, and it would be cancelled right away. I filled it out, signed it, and FAX'd it back to Diana Poirer, Cust. Care Rep, as it stated on the form, to facilitate account closure.
7/25: I called Diana Poirer, MPI Customer Care Rep, to see if she had put our cancellation in and closed the account. She said she got it, didn't say it was closed. After having read the other complaint reports online, and how they had been charged cancellation fees without knowing or having been told about it, I asked Diana if they were going to charge a cancellation fee. She said yes, $444 (plus some change). She said it was on the contract I signed. When I told her to that date I had never gotten copies of any of the paper work, sign-up sheets, contracts from them, and that Mr. Lara had told me there would not only be no cancellation fee, if I wasn't happy, but that they would even re-establish and pay any fee my Merchant Service company might charge. She just said she'd send me copies. She also told me that if I had sent the Verifone back to them, they would have just sent it back to me again. When I told her I wouldn't accept any more charges from MPI, that I had been trying to cancel since early June, she said that's my choice. They'll send creditors after me.
Finally, I'm hoping the Staff Member from Visa who routinely looks on this website will see this complaint and help me, as they did for the 2/26/06 (updated 6/5/06) Rip-Off Report by Darlene (Pigeon Forge, TN) about Wholesale Merchant Services, Inc. (an almost identicle situation).
key personnel
Mr. Aaron Rian, President
Mr. Mike Greenlee, Managing Director
Ms. Shawna Meyer, Legal Counse
M. DeGroat
Diane Poirier, Customer Care Representative
Jorge Lara, Sales Representative (San Diego)
Additional Phone Numbers
(503) 643-2646
Tel: (800) 605-5581
Tel: (866) 305-1810
Tel: (866) 749-7199
Tel: (866) 206-1792
Tel: (866) 647-6879
Tel: (503) 352-0300
Additional Addresses
14845 SW Murray Scholls Dr
Ste 110 PMB 108
Beaverton, OR 97007
PO Box 5087
Beaverton, OR 97006
Additional FAX Numbers
(503) 353-3400
Additional Email Addresses
customerservice@gotompi.com
miked@gotompi.com
James
San Diego, California
U.S.A.
14 Updates & Rebuttals
JWhitt
United States of AmericaSpecify Exactly the merchant service provider name----
#15Consumer Suggestion
Thu, November 01, 2012
The merchant service processing "reseller"polulation has exploded - like the Mortgage brokers of the 90's there are good and there are bad and no license or training is required for the individual sales people.
IT sounds like this MPI, like all merchant service processing entities is what's called an ISO - independent sales organization - there are "super iso's" that are the huge organizations that have branch offices providing the sales to local areas all the way down to 1 person iso's that do this and send the "contracts" to their main service provider.
MPI is apparently one of the bad ones - just out to get a contract signed, you into a bad lease - which most leases are!! and when it comes to credit card terminals - breaking one is almost impossible - and then the salesperson disappears. There are companies that actually send out teams to scour an area for say two weeks, sign as much as possible, then bring the team back home.
There are as many names of these entities as you can think up, and in fact there is a MSI (Merchant Services, Inc.) that you included in your article when it is actually MPI that is the culprit here--so just to make everyone aware, be specific of the company name, and look a little deeper into the company behind the sales person - and that sales person should not be hesitant to answer any question regarding fees, services, support, etc. And expecially - answer the question as to where the salesperson is located and how to contact.
With more and more regulation coming into this industry - it will be more and more costly to not check out what you are signing and how much you are truely paying. As any business owner knows more regulation means more expense to pass on - no one can guarantee savings - they can estimate what they will be charging you, but until you swipe that card the cost of it is unknown.
understanding
Hillsboro,Oregon,
USA
compassion from an ex-employee.
#15UPDATE EX-employee responds
Thu, October 08, 2009
Hello, I am an ex-employee of MPI. I was hired as a customer service representative in september of 2006. Right from the start I had a feeling this company would not be right for me. The office manager conducted my interview and told me the position I had applied for paid $13.50 - $16.50 an hour which as a young college student seemed incredible. I was called a few days later to say they were offering me the job at $10.50 an hour. As my only other interview had been canceled and I was desperate for ANY job, I agreed. This was my first customer service job and with no prior experience in the credit card processing industry I was about as Naive as you can be. Right away the blase attitude of the local sales reps in the office and the bizarre company policies such as a doctors note for one day sick (imagine the look on my doctors face when I asked for a note because I had a bad cold) started to flash some red lights. As customer service representatives we were trained that the customer is always wrong. They didn't read the contracts, they were adding wrong, they must have vandalized the terminal, you name it customers were accused of it. I quit that job in January of 2007 because I felt that the company had no right ripping off small business owners, or any business owner for that matter and the whole company was incredibly unethical to it's customers and those of us dealing with the reprocussions of their actions, it really ate at my conscience and I am deeply sorry if any of you had to deal with me during my employment there. I would like to let "helper" from Portland OR know that I also noticed that Aaron Rian is now a licensed Real Estate broker a few months back. I am currently training to obtain my license and through my many good, ethical contacts in the industry who are instructing me now, I have begun the process of finding out if there is a good ethical way to make sure any consumer who tries to work with him is at least alerted to his fraudulent past.
Helper
Portland,Oregon,
U.S.A.
helper
#15Consumer Suggestion
Sun, December 14, 2008
Hi
My name is Hassan I'm an ISO, I own Merchant Services Company Express MPS Group partner with Digital Financial Group one of the best company Sponsored by wells Fargo and First Data.
WOW I'm sorry you got Ripped off, by these guys.
Do not sign a terminal lease if it's more than $30 a month. AND DON'T BUY A FREE CREDIT CARD MACHINE.BECAUSE IT'S A RIP OFF
Read the contract very closely and keep a copy of it and tell the agent to wait for TOW days or comeback within TWO day so you have time to read the contract and look up their company @ www.ripoffreport.com
when you decided to sign with them make sure you get your contract copy right a way. (Means) go to the copy machine and make your own copy of the contract you signed.
WE ALL LEARNED FROM OUT MISTAKES
This is some Consumer Guide on Merchant Services to help you choose your merchant service provider wisely.
Merchant Services: Beware of Marketing Ploys
Like any other business field, merchant service providers have their own jargon, inside information, heroes and villains. There are honest companies and those willing to say just about anything to close a sale.
This is Consumer Guide on Merchant Services to help you choose your merchant service provider wisely.
Don't Be Fooled By Marketing Tricks.
In the field of merchant services, there are many price variables that can be manipulated to fool a customer into believing they are paying the lowest price, but in fact they are not.
The merchant services industry is advertising a low discount rate. The discount rate can be temporarily manipulated through "introductory" offers which quickly expire. This is the rate that a merchant pays for a swiped card transaction, usually between 1.69% and 2.69% depending on credit, volume, product type and risk factors.
Below are some marketing techniques and issues to be educated on.
1) "Merchant Accounts 1.09% 1.39% 1.59% and 1.64%!" When you see such an ad, click through and try to find the rate guaranteed and watch out when you see (guaranteed**) anywhere on the merchant services website. See if you can even find it ever mentioned again! Some advertising might grand-stand lower rates that are only given to extremely high volume customers. Once you have invested time into the application process, a savvy high pressure closer will explain with great charm and detail why your final rate wasn't as good as the one given to say, "A world wide fast food chain" but was still a great deal considering your risk factors.
2) "Free Merchant Account?" What does this mean!? The merchant account provider must charge a discount rate and per item transaction fee. Does that sound free? A free set-up fee can easily be exchanged with an "annual fee" or some other kind of hidden charge.
3) Hidden Charges: Another "switch" is simply substituting hidden charges that you won't discover until after you get your first bill.
STEPS
1-Customer Service... Ask your sales agent what you can expect when you call their office for support. Who will answer the phone? Do they have one of those annoying automated system that takes you into a black hole, or do they have a live human answering the phone? What are the hours of operation? If you speak another language, do they have a translation service? If you have an emergency, is there a 24 hour telephone number?
2- Rate...You should not base your decision solely on price. Be weary of those that are offering extremely low rates. They may be padding the back end with additional fees. Qualified and non-qualified rates are determined by Visa/MasterCard. Look at their websites to determine what these credit card companies are charging your processor to run Visa/MasterCard transactions. If the rate is lower than this "set" rate, be cautious. Remember that your processor is a business, with expenses and employees to pay.
3 -Funding...How long will it take for your e-funds (funds from credit, debit, and e-checks) to be deposited into your bank account? The deposit or funding time is different with each processor. If your business needs daily cash flow to pay employees funding time could be very important to you. Processors fund anywhere from 24 hours to several days to even weeks.
4-Experience...How many years has the processor been in business? This can prove to be very important when a problem arises with your account or your equipment. Ensure they have the know-how to get things resolved, and fast!
5- Equipment...Long gone are the days of having to purchase costly equipment, or get stuck in a long lease. Leading processors are offering free equipment with new, approved merchant accounts. Understand that this is a free terminal placement while you are a current client of the processor. If you terminate the agreement, for any reason, you must return the equipment. Be cautious about processors who push new, costly, equipment. Unless you current equipment is not PCI compliant or network compliant, you should not have to upgrade.
Do not sign a terminal lease if it's more than $30 a month
If you have a lease and it's the end of the lease TERM make sure you call the lease company to cancel your lease, because IF YOU DON'T CALL THEM they will continue charging you.
6- Contract Term... Know if there is a contract term. If there is a contract term and you want to cancel the contract in the future what is the fee. Are there certain exceptions to this early-cancellation fee?
TIP...
Be honest with your processor about your business type,
How much you process and the average ticket amount. Don't claim a $20.00 average ticket amount when your average ticket is around $200.00. This may see like a good idea to qualify for a "lower" rate but what will undoubtly happen is. After you run a few "abnormal" transactions, a red flag will go up at the risk department. They are looking for fraud. If your account has abnormal activity that might be fraudulent, they will freeze your account to minimize their exposure. Your account will be held until an investigation is completed. This can take months. Be honest and up front with your credit card processor to eliminate this hassle all together.
WARNING
Ask Questions. Be studious. Look at all contracts, really all the lines. Your processor can't realistically go over everything. It is your job to look the contract over and ask any questions you might have. Be weary of processors who are quick to get your signed without addressing all of your concerns.
THANKS
TO www.ripoffreport.com
If you have any Question please feel free to email me. @ MY PERSONAL EMAIL (((ROR redacted)))
CLICK here to see why Rip-off Report, as a matter of policy, deleted either a phone number, link or e-mail address from this Report.
Honest Abe
Aloha,Oregon,
U.S.A.
FTC pursued MPI, settlement reached may 2008
#15Consumer Comment
Wed, October 01, 2008
Aaron Rian owned and operated MPI. The FTC pursued him for fraud etc. You can see the settlement here:
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2008/05/mpi.shtm
What is incredible is that this guy is a real estate agent in the Portland Oregon area and he advertises that he utilizes years of contract negotiation, finance, and marketing experience to help you get the best deal possible! Those years of experience were spent scamming people through the contract process ... so I guess basically he is saying he will use that experience and help you too.
Don't deal with this guy.
Honest Abe
Aloha,Oregon,
U.S.A.
FTC pursued MPI, settlement reached may 2008
#15Consumer Comment
Wed, October 01, 2008
Aaron Rian owned and operated MPI. The FTC pursued him for fraud etc. You can see the settlement here:
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2008/05/mpi.shtm
What is incredible is that this guy is a real estate agent in the Portland Oregon area and he advertises that he utilizes years of contract negotiation, finance, and marketing experience to help you get the best deal possible! Those years of experience were spent scamming people through the contract process ... so I guess basically he is saying he will use that experience and help you too.
Don't deal with this guy.
Honest Abe
Aloha,Oregon,
U.S.A.
FTC pursued MPI, settlement reached may 2008
#15Consumer Comment
Wed, October 01, 2008
Aaron Rian owned and operated MPI. The FTC pursued him for fraud etc. You can see the settlement here:
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2008/05/mpi.shtm
What is incredible is that this guy is a real estate agent in the Portland Oregon area and he advertises that he utilizes years of contract negotiation, finance, and marketing experience to help you get the best deal possible! Those years of experience were spent scamming people through the contract process ... so I guess basically he is saying he will use that experience and help you too.
Don't deal with this guy.
Mike
LAKESIDE,California,
U.S.A.
LOCATE JACK KELLY, SCUMBAG SALESMAN FOR MPI IN SAN DIEGO AREA
#15Consumer Comment
Sat, April 26, 2008
My business was also ripped off by mpi, local sales person was Jack Kelly, most costly part was the bogus lease he told us we had to have for the cc machine., over a 4 year lease the machine cost us over $4600
( we got a new one after cancelling mpi and going with nova for $269)
we ( victums of the scum bag Jack( a**) Kelly, need to get in touch with each other (* in san diego area) and repeatidly take him to small claims court for the max by each of his victums.
his last email address ( no good now, or mpi is covering for him) was jkelly@gotompi.com.
address in san diego is
3111 camino del rio north
800 605-5581 ex 8979 or 800 442-8390 ( mpi headquarters phone numbers)
lets get this dirtbag, find him, expose his info ( home and latest business address on the net)
see if he can hid from us, or at least expose him for what he is.
James
San Diego,California,
U.S.A.
Update re: MPI
#15Author of original report
Wed, September 27, 2006
MPI finally cancelled my account. I had the cancellation fee they charged me reversed. I had filed a complaint with the BBB in OR. MPI responded, but completely bypassed the issues of the complaint, and basically refused to acknowledged it. It was left "unresolved to the complaintants satisfaction."
I also filed reports with the CA Attorney General's Office, the OR Atty. Gen., and the FTC. The CA Dept. of Justice forwarded my report to MPI and LFG. LFG responed, saying they are releasing us of any further obligations of the lease of the Verifone equipment. I sent the Verifone back to them.
I also retained an Attorney, who sent letters to MPI and the Leasing Company of the Verifone equipment, Lease Capitol Group, Inc (LCG). My attorney got a letter from LCF saying I was still liable for the lease. Apparently they sold or transferred the lease to LFG (unless they are two entities of the same company but they don't seem to know what the other is doing).
Since LFG has released us from the lease, in a letter to the Dept. of Justice (Attorney General) of CA, and the equipment is returned, we consider the whole matter resolved and finished. With this, and as long as my Credit Report has not been damaged, we will no longer feel we any need to proceed with legal action. We will be satisfied the matter is resolved..
James
San Diego,California,
U.S.A.
Response to 9/27/06 Rebuttal
#15Author of original report
Wed, September 27, 2006
Mr. George of Merchant Services, Inc.:
If you go to the following webpage for the Better Business Bureau Reliability Report on Merchant Processing, Inc (MPI), it shows "MSI" and "Merchant Services Inc." as an additional DBA names, that's where I got the additional names for MPI, for the title of my original report here: http://www.thebbb.org/commonreport.html?bid=37003201.
The Report is from the BBB serving Alaska, Oregon, and Washington. Perhaps there are two MSI's. Maybe you should look into them using your name as an additional DBA to see if they are doing so illegally.
I don't know how to change the wording in the title of my origional report here, but if you are a completely separate company from MPI, then let the readers here know that my report is not about your company, but about Merchant Processing, Inc. in Beaverton, OR, and the people who operate it (and any past, present, and future operations they are involved with).
George
New Providence,New Jersey,
U.S.A.
MSI - Merchant Services Inc No Affliation with MPI
#15REBUTTAL Owner of company
Wed, September 27, 2006
I am the president of MSI -Merchant Services Inc we have no affliation with MPI. I would like you to change the title and remove MSI and Merchant Services Inc. MSI prides itself in customer service and neither of those sales reps work for us.
Thank You
George
New Providence,New Jersey,
U.S.A.
MSI - Merchant Services Inc No Affliation with MPI
#15REBUTTAL Owner of company
Wed, September 27, 2006
I am the president of MSI -Merchant Services Inc we have no affliation with MPI. I would like you to change the title and remove MSI and Merchant Services Inc. MSI prides itself in customer service and neither of those sales reps work for us.
Thank You
George
New Providence,New Jersey,
U.S.A.
MSI - Merchant Services Inc No Affliation with MPI
#15REBUTTAL Owner of company
Wed, September 27, 2006
I am the president of MSI -Merchant Services Inc we have no affliation with MPI. I would like you to change the title and remove MSI and Merchant Services Inc. MSI prides itself in customer service and neither of those sales reps work for us.
Thank You
George
New Providence,New Jersey,
U.S.A.
MSI - Merchant Services Inc No Affliation with MPI
#15REBUTTAL Owner of company
Wed, September 27, 2006
I am the president of MSI -Merchant Services Inc we have no affliation with MPI. I would like you to change the title and remove MSI and Merchant Services Inc. MSI prides itself in customer service and neither of those sales reps work for us.
Thank You
James
San Diego,California,
U.S.A.
Update, re: MPI
#15Author of original report
Thu, August 03, 2006
I will update this report as it goes...
7/31: I sent an e-mail to the upper management of MPI explaining the whole sequence of events, and that I simply want the whole deal cancelled, including remission of the lease. I sent in full, detailed complaints to the Oregon Better Business Bureau (ref. # 22083618), the California Attorney General's Office, the Federal Trade Commission (ref. # 8738852), and am sending on into the Oregon Attorney General's Office. I am looking for a lawyer, and have talked to one already.