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USA Card Services, Global Tech Leasing Ladco Leasing ripoff to receive services advertised forced to lease equipment from Globalt Tech Ladco Leasing which are rip-off companies themselves ripoff Addison Texas
In July of 2004 I responded to USA card services offer of a free e-website and training to include a 50 page e-commerce website, submission to top search engines, unlimited products shopping cart, domain name registration, virtual credit card terminal, 7 day internet marketing course, 250 color business cards and 1 year of free hosting. The reason they were offering all this did not seem to good to be true because they make money off of the credit card fees paid by e-commerce site customers, so helping with these items helps them. DO NOT BELIVE THIS! There are cheaper ways to get an e-commerce site off of the ground. What they did to me was horrible! After I was contacted by Tammi Bean in the Texas office, she stated that I needed to sign a "lease agreement" to have my website built and activated and to have my virtual credit card terminals set-up.
I asked her about the cost of this lease and what is was for, and was told that it was for the physical credit card equipment. I asked if I could skip that part and was told no, and that the lease language was standard. USA card service would act as the liason between the equipment lease company and myself. I was also assured that if I did not need the physical card reader or I went out of business before the 48 months was up, that I could sublease the equipment at no cost to myself and that she could connect me with plenty of people that could not get merchant accounts that would be willing to sublease my equipment. I also was told that I needed a co-signer. I signed up and paid $160.00 per month for these "free services" and the required equipment lease. The website was a disappointment as I could not use it for my online media business because I could not add sounds or music, even though I expressly asked about this ability. The website was a cheap template that is available online from several sources from free to under $100.00. In additon, I could not get into the email portion of my site to check email, and in December, my site stopped working completely with no explanation.
I kept paying as agreed and contacting customer service regarding the email issues (I never got a pin pad either),to no avail. Due to financial trouble I was unable to make my January payment and realized the true nature of what was going on. I could no longer contact Tammi Bean, my personal representative, and the new rep told me that I cannot get assistance from them in subleasing the equipment. Furthermore, they have nothing to do with the lease and their services are "free", the non-cancelable lease is what I am paying for. When I reviewed my lease, I realized that the people billing me were Ladco Leasing and found them here in the Rip-Off Report, but the lease I signed was for Global Tech Leasing! My elderly father is my co-signer and has had 18 hits against his credit, while my personal and business credit is being ruined by this company!
To add insult to injury, Ladco said that I may lease the equipment, but would still be responsible for the equipment costs, and if the person subleasing defaulted it would go against my credit! USA Card Services told me that if I entered intoa a sublease theat I would have to turn over my website also! To make matters worse, the Nurit 2085 that I am "leasing" arrived refurbished, and can be purchased refurbished for $249.00 at www.merchantwarehouse.com, as well as a pin pad for $139.00! I am being charged $4,000.00+ for equipment that only costs $388.00, due to a non-cancelable lease for 48 months (I have 41 months left to go.)! The lease is excessive, unconscianable, and should be illegal. When I asked Ladco to tell me how much they paid for my equipment and what my actual lease fees are they told me they could not give me this information, and that USA Card Services has it. When I called USA card services they sent me back to Ladco for this information. DO NOT FALL FOR THE SCAMS BY USA CARD SERVICE, LADCO LEASING, OR GLOBAL TECH LEASING! I could not find any info on GLobal Tech Leasing on the site, but apparently they either sold my account to Ladco immediately after I signed the lease or they are Ladco Leasing.
All that USA card Services offers are programs that you can get on your own free of charge or for a nominal expense. The website templates are generic and easy to access by simply doing a search for website templates on a search engine, the e-commerce merchant accounts are provided through various sources such as Authorize.net that you can access on your own (USA card services bills you $10.00 per month for this gateway); the training and resources are prvoded by gosmallbiz.com (you can access this directly also), 250 free business cards are provided by Vistaprint.com (a reputable company that charges a nominal S&H fee for agreeing to have their name on the bakc of your free business cards), all you get from USA card services is a link to the free services they offer. You can get all they offer yourself by logging on to the websites that they are affiliated with, and without having to sign an expensive and unconscionable lease agreement.
Accessing these companies directly will also spare you being victimized by these companies understanding of the parole evidence rule (Parole Evidence Rule says that the writing in the contract is the sole and complete legal agreement between the parties.) when your salesperson disappears along with their promises, leaving you with bad personal and business credit, and a horrible lease as the agreement between the parties. My educated guess is that this company is profiting from the affiliate money they get when they "refer" people to Global Tech Leasing and/or Ladco Leasing and all of the "free" services that they provide. USA Card Services is simply a referral service that profits by providing a "free" generic web template. If you are a business in need of internet services do a little research for each service that you want and you will come out much better. By the way, the website for usa card services has a Better Business Bureau online logo. I agreed to use this company against my better judgement because they had no complaints about them, and I naively belived the sales reps claims. I assumed if they were fraudulent they would not be able to have a Better Business Bureau Online logo on their site.
Monique
Jonesboro, Georgia
U.S.A.
6 Updates & Rebuttals
Trevia
Fort Wayne,Indiana,
U.S.A.
Oh, I almost forgot another one of USA Card Services lies .. . .
#7UPDATE Employee
Thu, January 12, 2006
Thank you. You reminded me about something very important that I left out. The business cards. This is so stupid it will make you want to cry.
MONTHS before I had ever heard of USA Card Services, I was working with AVON. I decided that I needed some business cards. My sister, who was a sales representative with another cosmetics company told me she had just ordered some business cards from a company called Vistaprint. Coincidentally, that same day, when I checked my email, I noticed a promo from a company called vistaprint offering 250 free business cards + shipping and handling. Yeah, it's getting better. Anyways, I went to the website, it was true (www.vistaprint.com) and placed an order. When my sister and I recieved the cards, it was nothing more than construction paper with our chosen designs. Then, the wonderful USA Card Services shows up. After setting up my website, there was an option that said, "Get your free business cards.", when I clicked this, it was nothing more than a link to www.vistaprint.com (UCS didn't even have the time to at least make sure it was the link that took you directly to the ordering page of the promo!). Since I was already familiar with the free crap this company offers, I placed an order for REAL business cards (when I say real, I mean the ones that you pay for. .. the ones that are printed on the thick card stock paper .... the ones that are actually high quality with a glossed front . . . the ones USA Card Services DOES NOT offer). Like I said before, don't expect much from USA Card Services, or you will be seriously dissappointed.
Arthur
Easton,Pennsylvania,
U.S.A.
How much does it really cost you to make a Profit?
#7Consumer Suggestion
Tue, January 10, 2006
You have hired a company to optimise your website's meta tags and to do all the search engine submitting for you. Which company is this and how much is it really costing you?
Have you gotten your 250 business cards? Don't you realize that you could have gotten then free on your own? You only pay for s/h?
So John, you are making sales. But are you making PROFITS?
Are you working for Usacards?
Trevia
Fort Wayne,Indiana,
U.S.A.
John Is B.S and Probably an Employee as Well. I Signed Up and This is My UNBIASED OPINION
#7UPDATE EX-employee responds
Tue, January 10, 2006
First of all, I did a little research for website hosting and e-commerce solutions. They DO NO COST 1000+ dollars. I have picked up thousands from a simple msn search offering way better templates than usa card services, more features, and cheaper prices. I was told that USA CARD Services were giving me a 5000 dollar value for pratically free. Total B.S. www.Volusion.com charges 50-150.00/month for access to over 100 templates, shopping cart, accept payments through all payment gateways, data export tools, automatic inventory updates, automated dropshipping, FULLY customizable (you may even change the template with photoshop or dreamweaver, whatever.), the list goes on. Seriously go to that website, when i say that they offer EVERYTHING any kind of business needs for a website, I mean it!
Second, no, I don't believe USA Card Services is a rip off, but they do some heay duty false-advertising. It is good to use for simple websites and especially for businesses selling real estate, electronics, furniture, photo services, or company sites. I found out how to pay a one time set up fee, *which is all they are worth* and keep the website, all the tools, info, access, etc. without them even knowing. I can't give my name because I might be found out. Open a bank account somewhere and put about 500 dollars in it. USA Card Services now offers an option to pay only 149 down (or 400, can't remember its been a while) and a certain amount each month. Do it. Tell them you will be strictly online therefore do not need a merchant account or pin pad. By saying this, there is no lease to sign since the lease is for the equipment (this is how they trap you into non-cancellable monthly payments). After the money has been debited from your account, close your account. (if you don't they will take money without your authorization) Wells Fargo is a great bank to do this. Because once your account is closed, you are not liable for anything being debited from it, it will bounce and the person that tried to run it through will pay the fees. Since you did not sign anything stating that you would pay every month, this is perfectly legal due to the fact that USA Card Services terms state that no verbal agreements will be honored. Next set up your website using the info that they give you. Call and say you need more dropshippers and they will give you a one time password to World Wide Brands, one of the best drop ship directories around. Use it, register your domain, publish your website, and tell USA Card Services to kiss your a*s (not literally). As long as you don't contact them, trust me- they will not contact you. I have been doing this for almost 4 1/2 months now. And I still have access to the admin area and dropshippers, but will be upgrading my website soon with Volusion or Perfectory. THIS REALLY WORKS!!!
John
Racine,Wisconsin,
U.S.A.
This company gave me no problems and answeared all my questions.
#7UPDATE Employee
Fri, July 01, 2005
My site is up and running. Im making some money. I'v been with USA card services for couple of months now, and it doesn't seem like a scam. I had to design my site and find my own dropshipper. It took me a month in a half to finish everything. It's not easy but I followed the training program and my web site came out ok. The hardest part was finding a good dropshipper. Also its a good ideal to hire a company to optimise your website's meta tags and do all the search engine submitting for you. You can do that your self but if you don't know what you are doing it will be hard to be on page one of the popular search engines. Remimber nothing is free. As for Authorize.net's fee and the fee for the equipment the fee for your web site and any other fee is all included in the monthly fee you pay each month. I pay $140.00 a month thats it. that is for everything. If you wanted to buy a website with a shopping cart it would cost at least a couple 1000.00 to do it. Also you would have to pay for bandwith and the space your site takes up. When all is said and done you'll end up paying a couple thousand dollers to get going.
USA Card service's is providing all that for a small monthly payment. Find a good dropshipper and a hire a company to optimise your site for the search engines, and you will have a good business! ALL THIS REQIURES YOU TO DO ALOT OF WORK. Follow the training program and everything will fall into place.
Ken
Waynesville,North Carolina,
U.S.A.
Run away FAST- These people are using the lease companies to pay them
#7UPDATE EX-employee responds
Thu, June 09, 2005
These people are using the lease companies to pay them. The leases are to only be used for equipment used for Retail businesses- NOT internet JUNK. The company is being paid $4-5,000.00 the next day after you "Verify" the lease. Verify means that someone from the lease company will call you at your work phone # and confirm that the equipment has been installed and is working perfectly and you are trained how to use it. These people are using GOOD companies to rip you off BUT you also are letting them rip you off. Just look at what you did and take SOME responsibility for your decisions- If someone tries to sell you a $1.00 items for $100.00 who is wrong- the salesman or the BUYER. If they say you MUST make up your mind TODAY or the deal is off- RUN DON'T WALK AWAY- HANG UP THE PHONE- haven't you heard this all before.
Misty
Watertown,New York,
U.S.A.
a HUGE THANK YOU to Rip Off website and all the other consumers who post and share their hardships and bad decisionns helping make the world a less ripped-off place.
#7Consumer Comment
Wed, June 08, 2005
I had an interview with this same company, different person (Eric Pinola), just today. At the end of it all, I had to agree to the lease ($139.99/mo for 48 months) by close of business, or I was disqualified. I refused to make a decision without first speaking to my husband, who is out of the country. He reluctantly (and made it seem like he was doing me a HUGE favor) put me on an account verification hold so I could talk to my husband. But kept saying he couldn't "get out of this screen" without qualifying or disqualifying me. What computer system is set up like that these days??
When I got off the phone with him, I immediately checked this site due to reports I have filed in the past. I am so glad I did. I found a few reports . . . and no one had anything good to say!!
Luckily, because of this site and other research I have done, red flags came up during the interview. Any company rushing you for a decision is probably a waste of time and money for you. They also refused to give me references of websites and people they have done business with. If they did, and I contacted the people, the company could be sued. I asked about doing this without the lease of the machine, which I don't need for an online business. It is a sign of commitment from me to do this. I could do it without but would have to front $2000.
Anyway, I am so sorry you were scammed by these people. I thank you for sharing your story and saving me the same heartache!!
I would like to end with a HUGE THANK YOU to Rip Off website and all the other consumers who post and share their hardships and bad decisionns helping make the world a less ripped-off place.