Complaint Review: Red Payments

In response to your rebuttal:

1.  My name is Ron and not Roger.  Roger also runs a charter operation out of this port and also uses Red Payments.  After talking to him, I found out that he has much of the same problems I have and I think you are combining the problems of the charter operations into one.  

2.  No check was sent for $22.06 My may bill was 39.74 and no check was recieved.

3.  I did report a $12 gate way fee that showed up on the bank statement and emailed a copy of the bank statement to red payments.

4.  I did discuss the PCI Fee and the company did send me a check for $50 as a partial refund and not $70 you stated.  May be I should get another $20

5.  I did not call on 9/13 to deactivate the business-- I called on 9/27.

6.  I did ask about the concierge fee and was told it would be refunded (but was not) and was not on the next two statements.

7.  I did ask why the first 3 months did not have a non  complience fee and it was never explained why.  I did not speak to anyone about the necessity of a PCI monthy scan  The only time I talked to any one about the compliance fee was the PCI annual fee.  No one sent me log in credentials on May 18 and no one spoke to me about  this on June 27th.

8.  I did not talk to any one about a closed bank account.

9.  I scan through a reader and I phone and do not have a machine.

10.  Twice I have requested a supervisor to call me and they were not returned.

I think you have bits and pieces of two different businesses mixed up into one.  However it is baffles my mind how both have so many complaints in common.  

Before you defame my business and name, be sure you have the correct information.

When I look at the whole item and after talking to the other charter operation--you are talking about a second operation that also uses Red Payments.  I do not have a machine and all of the info refers  to the other operation and not mine.  

I think you have two charter operations mixed up.  My name is Ron and not Roger but Roger also has a charter operation and also used Red Payments and has some of the same complaints that I do.  As far as the bank statement goes, I did email you a copy of the bank statement showing the gateway fee.  Also I did talk to a person about the conciege fee and it did not show again but credit was not given.  I think you are not looking at just my account but have two charter operations mixed up.

The last two calls I made, I asked for a return call from the supervisor and never recieved one.  

We initially spoke to this merchant on 6/17/13, when Roger called to discuss being charged monthly minimum fees of $22.06 for the month of May, before he began to use our service. We agreed to refund this full amount and a check was sent on 6/26/13, made out to the company’s DBA. On 7/16/13, the merchant contacted us by email stating that he was not able to cash the check because his bank account was on his company’s legal name. The check made out to the legal name was resent on 8/1/13.

On 6/17/13, we did receive speak to the owner about a $12 gateway charge that appeared on their bank statement. We advised the merchant that we would look into this and if the charge was coming from us, we would certainly refund it. On 6/20, we spoke to the merchant again, and advised that we do not see this charge as coming from us, but to submit a bank statement for further analysis, and we would certainly refund if it was, in fact, our charge. The merchant did not submit a bank statement, so no further action was taken.

We spoke to the merchant again on 8/23/13 about the PCI Assessment Fee. We explained to the merchant that this is an annual PCI fee that is charged in order to maintain compliance with Visa and M/C regulations. We did offer a courtesy reimbursement of $70, which was sent to the merchant by check on 9/3/13.

On 9/13/13, the merchant called us in order to have the account deactivated since this is a seasonal business. This was completed.

The merchant did not ever ask us about the Concierge fee of $10, nor about the Incomplete SAQ (PCI Non-Compliance) fee of $19.99.

The Concierge program is an optional program that provides the merchant with free supplies, full terminal protection, and a direct Concierge account representative. All merchants receive an introductory letter about the program, and are free to opt out at any time. If the merchant gets charged prior to opting out and does not use the program benefits, a retroactive credit of up to 3 months can be issued.

The Incomplete SAQ scan fee is a penalty for PCI Compliance, which the merchant is charged if they are not in compliance with Visa and MC PCI standards. While the annual fee covers the merchant’s participation in the program, which is mandatory, the penalty gets charged if the merchant does not fulfill his responsibilities under the Merchant Agreement to maintain full compliance with Visa/MC regulations at all times. Several emails were sent out to remind you to become PCI Compliant, and the PCI Department has attempted to reach out to you by phone as well.

The merchant has our contact information and is able to reach us with any questions or concerns, which we are always responsive to.

The merchant states: “I was informed that this scan had to be done every 3 months but they could not explain why this fee was not on the May, June and July bill when there was not scan completed.   In addition in I noticed two Gateway fees of $8.99.  Calls have been made every month and credits were promised and not completed.  To top things off, when I called this month to complain about the double gate way fees, and said I was thinking of canceling the account, I was told this was a 3 year contract and would have to pay a early termination fee.” This is untrue. The merchant was advised that every merchant is given 90 days to become PCI Compliant before the penalty is charged. This gives the merchant sufficient time to respond to the emails and phone calls from the PCI Department. The PCI Department first spoke to the merchant and sent him log in credentials on May 16^th, 2013. On June 27th, the PCI Department spoke to the merchant again and reminded them about the PCI Compliance. Emails were sent to the merchant on 22nd May, 29th May, 5th June, 12th June, 27th June, 26th July, 27th August, and 26th September. The merchant never did become PCI Compliant.

Following this complaint, we called the merchant and spoke to him in an effort to clarify this situation. The merchant blamed us for not sending him the PCI Compliance Certificate. We advised the merchant that we sent him reminders to become PCI Compliant, but that it is Visa/MC policy that he must go through the survey himself. The merchant stated that he doesn’t care about Visa/MC or their compliance. This is a merchant who does not care about his merchant responsibilities under Visa/MC Card Acceptance rules.

This merchant is not being charged any gateway fees, as far as we could see, and he was advised to send a bank statement for review if he was seeing any charges.

In addition to this, the merchant has stated that he has closed his bank account, which is a breach of the Merchant Agreement, according to which, the merchant must fund any disputes that might come in from cardholders by providing us with valid banking information.

The merchant also refused to return our equipment and said that he would throw it in the garbage before he returns it to us. Any equipment that is provided to the merchant to use free or charge while he is processing with us must be returned back to our company within 30 days of inactivity or account closure at the merchant’s expense. Otherwise, the merchant must pay $600.00 for the equipment. We have advised the merchant of this, and have offered to send a prepaid return label, but the merchant has clearly expressed that he will not be returning our equipment and refuses to pay for it. This constitutes property theft. We do not recommend any processing company to approve this merchant’s account.