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Transnational Bankcard Saving you money?? More like Costing you more! rolling meadows, Illinois
We signed with Bryan, who assured us on several fronts that we were going to get these savings based off our old statement ($98, he was SOOOO sure we were going to get $98 savings, so in the end with a great machine that was covered for ANY problems, we would save 20% as well off our old company). Of course seeing that the lease is for 4 years and I been warned to hell and back NOT to sign with Northern Leasing, I didn't want to sign. Every time I talked to Bryan he assured us if necessary he could get us out of the lease.
Can we get out of this lease?
Yes. Don't worry about it.
But it says here it's non-cancellable.
Don't worry about it, I'm not here to scam you. I'll guarantee you'll be saving over your new company.
Can you sign a paper to the effect we'll be getting two months free and the lease can be broken?
Sure. But you must also guarantee that you'll work with us and not sign with any old guy claiming he'll save you more over our rates.
Yes, of course, if the rates are good why switch over $6(which is the number bryan gave as an example because almost no company is going to give us below 5 basis points).
Now fastforward one month later. After lots of arguing over a partial fee and the $100 credit we still didn't get. We should have known by then, but I guess not.
The average rate for a small business should be around 3% maybe a little less a little more.
Before the machine was taken into account, the amount was 3.7% if you included the machine, it was 4.5%. The statement included web monitoring fees($6.95), data guard($3.95) which he didn't mention as fees when I asked him what other fees are there. This statement cost us about 2.3% over our old company, plus the opportunity cost of 2.74 over the other company we were deciding on, plus of course the fees and lease money.
Also Bryan never told us we would have minimum billing floor of $60(in the beginning, for first two months it was $25. )As a small business owner doing around 7k worth of business, and we were up front about that, and even had about 4 months of statements to see that it was about 7k, at 5 basis points, do you seriously think we can make $60 in fees? or even 25% The average amount for those two months was $6 so we were paying an extra 20, 40 dollars for simply the privilege of having an account with Transnational.
Of course at this point my boss wants to cancel, but doesn't really do anything about it until one week before the end of the first statement. We inform the rep Bryan in advance, which we shouldn't have done and just waited to see if he said would fix the problems that he said would fix to get our effective rate back to around 3%. If we didn't inform him ahead of time we probably would have saved a lot more money.
So we cancel(telling him in person, and faxing over a sheet stating so, and calling him), and that's when bryan starts giving me a hard time about the free two months. His view of the incident was that we would continue on with the service and he would give us those two months, I treated the two months like a trial period. In no way shape or form did Bryan say that these two months free we conditional on us continuing business with Transnational for the rest of the lease period. If so, why even try? Just because you say the rates are low doesn't mean they are, and you were super confident after some serious number swapping around, we could get that rate, it's just shady.
Then on our third and final(I hope so) statement was an annual fee($95!!!!!), which he also didn't mention. $95 annual fee for Visa(according to Bryan, this is a cost Transnational passes onto the merchant, now we were with them for maybe two months, and we get tagged with an annual fee straight up? makes more sense to tag us with only 3 months worth, but no, they would lose money that way. Another undisclosed fee until I called Bryan and asked about it.
In the end, Bryan got us out of the uncancellable lease like he said. but as of right now, we are out $290.82+ the opportunity cost of going with a different company which has already shown the rates to be what they say they are (2.74%). How does that 290.82 break down? $49.95+4.95 loss liability insurance x 3 months + partial monthly surcharge of $29.47 for starting on the 1st, instead of the 15th for Northern Leasing.
If you have high volume and high transaction amounts like the Jade Tattoo Palor that Bryan puports as their client, you probably would get a good rate. But if you're a small business owner of a small restaurant, why bother with the headache? Certainly, $55.45 may not be a lot month to month(and the business owner doesn't care as it's coming out of MY paycheck, little as it already is), but I hate the fact that everyone calls us what amounts to fools for "not reading the fine print". Well, I did, I countered, and he countered, and I ended up in a sinkhole. Are we not supposed to be sales reps? The answer is probably no, but then why bother with having them if they're not going to do what they're supposed.
Bryan really is a great sales rep(in terms of how he sells, and how he was upfront about some things and breaking the uncancellable lease for us at cost to his company, but in the end, the disappearing act, having a dodgy cell phone reception and not saying anything for about two weeks, and then another week was not that great. At least drop me an email. He did do what he said he'll do, which is more than what some people ended up with.
I mean it's up to others to crunch the numbers, but for 3 months, expect to pay at least! $300 on top of those "great" rates.
We probably ended up forking over more than $600 if you include the opportunity costs and undisclosed fees. Well, I'm covering the $300 actual costs out of my own wages because I was the translator, and my boss signed even though I translated and he warned the guy he only looked at the final numbers no matter how great the rates were on paper, and bryan of course says yea. Of course my boss kinda sucks, and places the entire responsibility on me for being the translator and pushing for to sign with this company(give them another month I said >.<. Hey Bryan is great at being your best friend and telling you what he's going to do to fix things) Being that I know English ,therefore I can't get scammed. =/ Not true as I now know.
So fast forward to August to December 2009, and I'm forking $300 out of my own salary, at least I got to rant on RipOffReport for the privilege right?
I just wish we just went with the other company instead of being seduced by a "LOCAL" company with "GREAT" rates. Yeah, 5 basis points is very good, but not when you tack on all those fees and the lease, ending up with a crappy rate than the company with 10 basis points.
I am still arguing with Bryan about the $100 that was written in the statement that he signed, but I really doubt I'm going to get it, much less the other $200 in extraneous fees. I stress about this every night, but at least the lease was broken.
4 Updates & Rebuttals
capcityvac
Florida,United States of America
Transnational Bankcard Inc is not practicing honest business
#5Consumer Comment
Thu, January 17, 2013
Terrible and deceptive business practices. They are NOT honest from day one. You will have to fight them month to month with all the fees they attach on your statement. It is a nightmare to deal with them. They switched phone numbers more than multiple times and very hard to get a hold of them.
They are still trying to charge us money even after 4 years of contract is expired with them. They are bullying, pressuring, dishonest and terrible customer service when you need them. They will get you in a 4 year lease for a terminal to run your credit cards and you will end up paying $1500 for a machine you don't even own anymore. I have never seen a worse business practice then these IL based company does. I have filed with every authority and I will be posting anywhere I can find. They still want to charge us $250 for some whatever they came up with. Our contract done with them 6 months ago and we have never missed a single payment or violated the contract. They are saying we are in a lifetime contract with them and to get out is $250.
One good suggestion to anyone who is looking to to do business with them. Just go find another company. Do not do any business with Transnational. They have such a bad reputation and terrible customer service with terrible business practices. They will lie straight to your ear on the phone and keep lying to you until you sign the contract, Then you are done ! go find some other company. Do not do business with Transnational Bankcard Inc.
Blue Willow
United States of AmericaTo the 20 years business owner
#5Author of original report
Sun, December 20, 2009
#1 How long have you been in business??? Doesn't sound like very long by the ineptitude of your comments.
Not very long as an owner, but I've been in the restaurant business for about 10 years. Again, what does this have to do with the processor? If the processor is already charging me 4.5% in the first month, what evidence do I have, except the word of the sales rep, that this amount will lower in the subsequent months? If you are running a long-term business, you are locked into a lease contract for 4 years anyway, regardless of how old your business is or if it goes bankrupt. My restaurant was at 5 basis points with Transnational, and our new company gave us 10 basis points. Yet when all the fees were factored in(and the rep from the new company disclosed ALL the fees), transnational was averaging about 6.1% for the 3 months(10% for the last month, second month was about 3.8%, first was 4.5%), while right off the bat our new company gave us 2.74% And they work with the same processor and bank (HSBC and Global Payments). I don't know if this rate will hold true, but at least the rate held true for at least 1 month. I can't say that about Transnational.
#2 Know what questions to ask when speaking with anyone. There are fees no matter who you process with. Many are hidden within the rates. From your comments is clear that all fees were disclosed and were not hidden within your rates. If they are hidden these fees will cost 2-5 times more in the long run. Trust me I know!!
Yes. I asked point blank, What other fees are there besides the statement fee? Bryan's answer? None. Except there were 3 extra fees. Annual fee, Data guard fee, and web something fee. He even said he would refund those fees when they appeared on the statement. Now, corporate said they were refunding the annual fee.
But those other fees were to be PCI compliant, fine, at least tell me that upfront, don't hedge. Another lie by Bryan was that Tranational would be there for us if anything happened such as a data breach or the machine stopped working. Per coroporate this isn't true, other than the data breach part. If the machine stopped working, we would have to pay to get it replaced unless were part of a merchant circle(there's a fee to join how surprising.).
There's a difference from finding out from your statement and your rep telling you there isn't any or that he can refund those fees. Admittedly it was my fault that I did not ask that there was a minimium billing floor, which I didn't know what it was until another rep from another company(Chase Paytech) informed me. And per your rebuttal, you are defending Transnational, but Transnational is billing me these fees? Not sure what the point of this was.
#3 All processors have annual fees, PCI fees, lease terminal fees, etc. If they don't than I can assure it is being made up somewhere else. In 20+ years as business owner this at the very least has been proven to me.
Well, with this current processor, I have been through 5 companies, two while working in another restaurant, 3 with this one. Of all of them, only Transnational had the fees. Sure, the other 4 processors may have been making it up somewhere in the rates, but unfortunately for you, those processors were at least giving me lower than 3%. I jumped ship when the rate went to 3.3% after 5 months to Transnational which offered the better rates, but when the fees were factored in, it was much much more. And what business owner doesn't look at the bottom line?
I actually should have just gone to the old processor company that the old job I was working was using, but they require a $20k minimum sales floor,so we couldn't use them.
Transnational may be right for you, based on the comments the sales rep was making, the higher your average ticket AND sales, transnational may be right for you, but I'm making the case that if you're a SMALL business owner, do you have $600 upfront to try this company? Because maybe down the line, they offer your the better deal?
If we do not believe sales representative of companies, why bother with the sales rep? So they can lie and get their bonuses and leave poor business owners with a 4 year lease with Northern Leasing? This is a senior sales rep, hired and trained by this local company. His business card is Transnational, his email is transnational, his office is a branch office of Transnational. I hate to think the junior sales rep that followed his senior sales rep would now also be spreading inaccurate information. When you represent the company, you should not state or declare things that your company are unable to do or perform. Money is an issue, yes, but the main point of this ripoffreport is that Transnational either fails in their training of sales reps(which I don't believe is true since he's a senior sales rep and has won accolades for sales last year) or they rewarding this behavior. Either way, is this the company you want to work with after this experience?
BusinessOwner
Naperville,Illinois,
United States of America
Very Happy with Transnational!!!!!
#5Consumer Comment
Fri, December 18, 2009
I am a business owner in Tinley Park, IL. I have been in business for over 20 years. Before meeting with my Rep from Transnational I had been with many, many processors. Since signing with TransNational 3 years ago I have never had a problem. If I have a question my Rep or customer service answers is quickly and to my satisfaction. My savings have been consistent over these 3 years and I have had other processors try to beat with no success.
Note to this business owner..
#1 How long have you been in business??? Doesn't sound like very long by the ineptitude of your comments.
#2 Know what questions to ask when speaking with anyone. There are fees no matter who you process with. Many are hidden within the rates. From your comments is clear that all fees were disclosed and were not hidden within your rates. If they are hidden these fees will cost 2-5 times more in the long run. Trust me I know!!
#3 All processors have annual fees, PCI fees, lease terminal fees, etc. If they don't than I can assure it is being made up somewhere else. In 20+ years as business owner this at the very least has been proven to me.
You will see that there are only 6 total complaints regarding Transnational on RipoffReport.com. Taking into account that they are a large company with thousands and thousands of merchants just like you, I will take these odds.. Type in your personal bank and see how many complaints you get. I use Bank of America and there are 1823 complaints. My old processor Merchant Services has 461 complaints.. I think you see what I mean.... If only my business could have 6 complaints in the last 10 years of service; I would sleep much better at night...
Blue Willow
United States of AmericaUpdate
#5Author of original report
Fri, December 18, 2009
So to add insult to injury, the personal phone call at 9am in the morning that Bryan made to me to tell me specifically that we were out of the leasing contract? Completely untrue. We are still being charged $55.45 for the lease.
Also he continued his lie, even though clearly we would find out by the 15th, and now he is refusing to answer his office phone or his cell phone, by stating his company took a hit by breaking the lease, had to pay out a sum to the leasing company, and left with a refubrished machine as an excuse to not give us our money that he promised us.
I can't emphasize it enough, please please do not do business with this company! This LOCAL company is costing me over $3000 now because of a one lying salesman who said he was going to fix everything, and that certain things were fixed.
i guess the moral of the story is ignore any verbal promises no matter how good the company sees, and unless you see it in writing, ignore them. Transnational, with their A+ BBB rating shows their true colors.