- Report: #142985
Complaint Review: EMerchants Group - Pebble Beach California
-
Author Confirmed
Why?
EMerchants Group
Pebble Beach, CA Pebble Beach, California, U.S.A.
Web:
N/A
Categories:
Business Rating:
(0)
Tell us has your experience with this business or person been good?
EMerchants Group, Steven, Steven Allen, Steve Allen, Steven Hymowitz, West Coast Merchant Services,Chi Phan Misrepresentation of Fees and Charges Pebble Beach California
eMerchantsGroup is a Credit Card Processing Company operated by a man named "Steven" and his rep "Chi Phan" that works with Ecommerce companies to set them up with the ability to take credit cards for payment online.
They advertised that they were a group for merchants and would save me money on many things, but to get in I had to switch to them for credit card processing.
They have no phone number to talk directly and make you use a Hotmail address to communicate with "Steven", and when they contact you, a difficult understand lady named Chi will call you until you give in and swith to them (and pay $50!)
I was not unhappy with my processor, but Steven told me that this service did not charge more for what he called "Up Charges" (some credit cards get charged a higher rate by the bank and this is normal).
We changed to the service to find out that the UPS Savings he had talked about, AND health insurance was still not "ready" to go yet.
After three months of processing and not being able to understand charges that kept showing up on our statement that we could not match, we went to our banker that showed us that they were charging these upcharges a MONTH after they had happened.
We left a good relationship to get in bed with this jerk and now we can't get them to respond to our emails. If we cancel, they make us pay (the bank) a cancellation fee!
We thought it was funny when Steven would not write on the contract that we would not be charged these upcharges, but we were happy about the savings and signed anyway. (We were stupid. never again)
Anyway - THis guy is all over the internet spewing this nonsense about "joining together" and "help the group grow", think he even has people schilling for him now.
So if you need to process credit cards for for your online store and see this group "eMerchantsGroup" somewhere don't be stupid like we were.
Deal with honest people. THis guy hangs out on the Yahoo Store Forums and Monster Commerce Forums. He has said some horrible things to some members who challenge his honesty.
We caled Visa about it, but they don't care.
Show that you care by passing this along to anyone you know that has an online store and tell them not to use this group.
They are BAD NEWS and LIARS.
Charles
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
U.S.A.
They advertised that they were a group for merchants and would save me money on many things, but to get in I had to switch to them for credit card processing.
They have no phone number to talk directly and make you use a Hotmail address to communicate with "Steven", and when they contact you, a difficult understand lady named Chi will call you until you give in and swith to them (and pay $50!)
I was not unhappy with my processor, but Steven told me that this service did not charge more for what he called "Up Charges" (some credit cards get charged a higher rate by the bank and this is normal).
We changed to the service to find out that the UPS Savings he had talked about, AND health insurance was still not "ready" to go yet.
After three months of processing and not being able to understand charges that kept showing up on our statement that we could not match, we went to our banker that showed us that they were charging these upcharges a MONTH after they had happened.
We left a good relationship to get in bed with this jerk and now we can't get them to respond to our emails. If we cancel, they make us pay (the bank) a cancellation fee!
We thought it was funny when Steven would not write on the contract that we would not be charged these upcharges, but we were happy about the savings and signed anyway. (We were stupid. never again)
Anyway - THis guy is all over the internet spewing this nonsense about "joining together" and "help the group grow", think he even has people schilling for him now.
So if you need to process credit cards for for your online store and see this group "eMerchantsGroup" somewhere don't be stupid like we were.
Deal with honest people. THis guy hangs out on the Yahoo Store Forums and Monster Commerce Forums. He has said some horrible things to some members who challenge his honesty.
We caled Visa about it, but they don't care.
Show that you care by passing this along to anyone you know that has an online store and tell them not to use this group.
They are BAD NEWS and LIARS.
Charles
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Steven
Pebble Beach,California,
U.S.A.
EmerchantsGroup.com what it is and what it is not.
#2REBUTTAL Owner of company
Thu, June 02, 2005
I founded http://Emerchantsgroup.com at the end of 2002 and since then over 500 merchants have chosen to join. Of those 500 merchants who have joined only one has left and that merchant was not from PA. Merchants who use the merchant processing program "our first program" have enjoyed the savings and the service and have said so - see link below: http://www.emerchantsgroup.com/testimonials.html The merchants that were nice enough to supply a testimonial and let us post their names and websites are from REAL merchants and REAL TOP companies. The initial post that I am rebutting is from a jealous competitor pretending to be an unhappy member. The initial post is simply untrue and thus the content of the post is largley distorted or just plain wrong. There is no Charles from PA who EVER was an EmerchantsGroup member. There is no initiation or termination fees and this easily confirmed with REAL clients - see link above or on our website. WHAT EMERCHANTSGROUP REALLY IS: EmerchantsGroup is a grassroots collective of online merchants. All merchant services can be obtained free of cost. By working together, merchants large and small will benefit while our ability to obtain additional group benefits increase. Our first program is merchant processing or credit card processing. All the pricing for the merchant processing program can be found - see link below: http://www.emerchantsgroup.com/viandmapr.html Credit card processing or merchant accounts is an expense for all e-merchants and hence a logical starting point. In other words, if you are doing business on-line you have to accept credit cards to generate revenue. When you participate in our merchant account you enable EMG to demonstrate to all potential vendors the cumulative total of merchants and merchant dollars that utilize our program. This helps potential vendors estimate how much potential business is available to them when they provide discounted goods or services to our members. EmerchantsGroup will at some point have a REAL unhappy client, but the post that prompted this reply is NOT that customer. I feel sad for those competitors who feel that this kind of mudslinging will distract any intelligent merchant. This negative post will not effect our group from continuing to grow and benefit all those who are part of EmerchantsGroup. I have seen this same effort by this same competitor in other forums and it only serves to promote our cause - THANK YOU! I continue to be optimistic at what we can all do as a group as there really is power in unity and numbers. I welcome your questions or comments, please feel free to use the "contact us" tab located at http://EmerchantsGroup.com Thank you,
