Complaint Review: Tom Wimsett Mark Schatz NPC National Processing Company

I have my Century Statements in front of me.  They DO charge a minimum.  The PCI fee is $39.95 billed quarterly.  They also do not provide online account access unless you submit a written (snail-mail) request, and then there is a setup and monthly fee.  

Their statement is a single small page with no explanation of the charges, although I did receive a several page letter from them the other day which consisted of premonitions of rate and fee increases, along with new fees soon-to-come.

I just got off the phone with customer service, and they also cannot provide emailed statements, it must be a hard copy.

Classic nickel-and-dime routine.  I'll be switching as soon as I can find one I can actually trust.

This company is holding me hostage.   The have changed me $250 that has turned into $371.   Then they have have what must be their own collections company hold my credit report hostage.   When I called to find out how to remove the smudge on my credit they were rude and told me the would keep it on there forever.  

NPC for many years and once they were bought over everything changed.  First they started charging a paper fee for your statements and I stopped recieving statements but yet I was charged for them.  Then their was the non-compliance fee and once again I never recieved a statement (which I was charged for $5.00 each month).  I never recieved this so called statement telling me about the fees.  I was told that I had to pay the fee for the insurance and I could not get a refund.  And now the newest one is the network connection fee of $2.00.  With every fee that they have tacked on me the $120 insurance that I did not want, the $5 fee for those invisible statements,  the extra $19 a month non-compliance fee and now this so called $2.00 fee for visa. There was a paragraph on my March statement that said Visa was going to charge and extra 10 cents but nothing about $2.00. Not one my statements have said anything about this. I have paid more out to their company that what I have made.  And it just seems they add new fees everytime I turn around.  I am never notified of changes or fees, I find them by looking at my bank statement.  The fact is they tack on fees and don't notify you of them and since they are doing direct with drawl they just take the fees not matter what.  I asked customer support asking were do I find out about the fees and their answer is we can send you a copy of the contract.  Well, what good does that do me they have a web site where it has messages and so forth but they can't even notify you through that. This company loves their sudden fees and invisible notices of changes.

Yes, I was charged "only" $49.95 last year for the "Annual PCI Compliance Fee".  This year however, it is $119 PLUS they have decided to add a monthly charge of $7.95 for "insurance".  If they would have bothered to respond to my request to cancel my merchant account in MARCH, this would have never happened.  I started using SquareUp.  They charge 2.75% per transaction and that is it.  There are not monthy, annual, service or PCI fees.  I'm hoping more companies like Square start popping up so these other typical banks start losing more and more merchant businesses.  With every statement there is a new lengthy list of fees that are due to go up.

I had my company with NPC for many years and was always shocked at the mounting unreasonable monthly charges, but nothing compares to what happened after we went out of business at the end of 2010. I informed them in writing about the closure, but they continued to deduct monthly fees from the little that was left in our bank account. I complained and filed a form to rescind NPC's ACH permission at our bank, but out of the blue, another division of NPC took $250 out of our account as a cancellation fee.

My bank said there was no way to prevent it and they couldn't reverse it because of the way the transaction was done. Apparently once you give NPC your bank information, they and their subsidiaries always have the ability to take whatever they want whenever they want it, and the only way to prevent it is to close your bank account. I can't believe this is legal.

Work with someone that won't nickel and dime you to death.

Century Bankcard Services
No contract; month to month only
No cancellation/termination fees
No monthly minimums
No annual fees

PCI compliance; $49.95 billed 1 time in April.  If you already have your cerfiticate, you will not have to pay it again.

Call me!!! 214-616-6000

NPC forces you to enroll in their platinum security program or pay an additional 19.95 a month for declining.  Doing business with them was one of the worst business decisions I've made.  I didn't realize as a fairly new business owner, that you could sign a contract that locked you in as a customer, but allowed the other party to charge you anything they want.  The charges in place when you sign mean nothing!  If you cancel however, you get hit with a 250.00 fee!  It has been an expensive lesson.  Without processing a single credit card, I still have no idea what will be taken out of my bank account each month.  It's a surprise!  The only consistency is it goes up and never down.  I call it legalized robbery.  Never again. 

And I can assure you that we were required to pitch the Platinum Secuirty package with every proposal.   We received bonuses if we got the customer to sign up.  It is a scare tactic that they use to get the customer to sign up.  "You really need this 'insurance policy' to go with your services because the following can happen...."  If we didn't sell it - we were questioned as to why and got the third degree from our sales managers.  They had created slick brochures...8 1/2 x 11's to include in the proposal and tri-folds that we were suupposed to use as "leave behinds".  They had spent a lot of money on promoting it and we darn well ought to sell it!! 

From what I understood, the customer didn't HAVE TO sign up for it, that it was optional, and the customer could cancel at any time.  But that I SHOULD sell it and get brownie points for doing so.  Just thought you'd like to know from someone who was on the inside.

The Npc Platinum Security is in addition to the mandatory certification required by the Payment Card Industry.  The Platinum Security prgram is a protection against chargebacks from fraudulent or stolen cards.  I think it is a good deal because along with the indemnity of $50,000, the merchant will have free abailablity to mynpcdata.com to see your daily receipts, along with many more features.It is a $129 a year value.

The NPC Platinum Security can be declined and a refund would be issued.  What is necessary is for the merchant to complete the self assessment questionaire.  There is no charge for this. However, if the questionaire is not completed, a non compliance fee of $19.95 a month will be assessed until it is.  A PCI COmpliance Certificate will be issued and one can take the certification number to any processor. Again, the Payment Card has made this mandatory and it would be required by any processor.

A lot of people like to hold onto their anger, even if an issue is resolved.  Nobody is being cheated by NPC.

Our business got a letter from NPC advising us that we will be charged $19.95 per month ($240 per year) because we DECLINED to participate in their NPC Platinum Security Protection Plan.

NPC Might Be The Best At Fraud, Deception & You Can Bet They Would Never Make Good On Any Breach Claim That Any One Has. They Are Selling You An Insurance Policy.
I Want to See Their Insurance License!!!!! How Do You Spell Con Artists??? NPC!!!!!!

ALOHA TOM,

I AM A SALES REPRESENTATIVE WITH RETRIEVER PAYMENT SYSTEMS LOCATED IN HAWAII.  A LOT OF PEOPLE WERE MAD ABOUT THE YEARLY CHARGE FOR PCI COMPLIANCE, BUT ALLOW ME TO CLARIFY THIS FOR YOU.

FIRST, THE BANKCARD INDUSTRY AS BEEN HIGHLY CONCERNED ABOUT IDENTITY THEFT, STOLEN CARDS AND BREACHES TO THEIR SYSTEMS.  FOR EXAMPLE, HEARTLAND PAYMENT SYSTEMS SUFFERED A BREAK IN THAT COMPROMISED A LOT OF ACCOUNTS.  I HEARD THAT BILLIONS OF DOLLARS WERE LOST WITH THE BREACH.  NOW, THE INDUSTRY IS INSISTING UPON COMPLIANCE STANDARDS WITH EVERY MERCHANT ACCOUNT.

NPC HAS OFFERED A PROGRAM CALLED PLATINUM SECURITY, WHICH OFFERS UP TO $50,000 IN INDEMINIFICACTION PROTECTION TO ALL THOSE THAT SUBSCRIBE.  AN INVESTIGATION OF A BREACH TO YOUR ACCOUNT COULD COST YOU $5,000 TO $10,000 JUST TO RESEARCH THE PROBLEM.  WITH NPC PLATINUM SECURITY, YOU WOULD BE PROTECTED AGAINST CHARGE BACKS RELATED TO STOLEN CARDS AND IDENTITY THEFT CARDS.  YOU WOULD ALSO RECEIVE  THE OPPORTUNITY TO ACCESS YOUR DAILY TRANSACTIONS ONLINE, YOUR MONTHLY STATEMENTS AND CHARGEBACKS WITH MY MERCHANT DATA.COM.  IT IS A $120 A YEAR VALUE.

LAST MARCH, YOU PROBABLY RECEIVED A PACKET FROM NPC DESCRIBING THIS PROGRAM.  IN THAT PACKET, IT SAID THAT UNLESS YOU DECLINED THIS PROGRAM, EVERY MERCHANT ACCOUNT WOULD BE BOARDED WITH NPC PLATINUM SECURITY BY THE MAY, 2009 STATEMENT.  VISA/MASTERCARD WILL REQUIRE THAT ALL MERCHANT ACCOUNTS BE PCI COMPLIANT BY JULY, 2010.

NOW, YOU MAY DECLINE THIS PROGRAM, IF YOU ARE WILLING TO ASSUME THE CONSEQUENCES OF BREACHES OR STOLEN CARDS. JUST CALL MERCHANT SERVICES AND THEY WILL FAX YOU OR MAIL YOU A DECLINE FORM TO BE EXCLUDED FROM THIS PROGRAM.  YOU WILL THEN RECEIVE A REFUND.

I HOPE THIS HELPS.  I BELIEVE THAT NPC AND RETRIEVER PAYMENT SYSTEMS IS THE BEST PROCESSOR IN THE INDUSTRY.