- Report: #274016
Complaint Review: Leaders LEADERS MERCHANT SERVICES Onlinedatacorp.com CSL LLC - Westchester Illinois
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Leaders LEADERS MERCHANT SERVICES Onlinedatacorp.com CSL LLC
Two Westbrook Corporate Ctr, SUITE 200 Westchester, 601154 Illinois, U.S.A.
Phone:
800-876-9843
Web:
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Onlinedatacorp.com AKA LEADERS MERCHANT SERVICES AKA CSL LLC AKA Leaders Need to cancel your account? Well, suprise! You're in a one-year agreement that renews automatically every year! Early cancelation fee? $246.67 Westchester Illinois
Leaders is one of the many credit card processing companys who send you direct-mail ads as soon as you register a new business. I signed up with them two years ago and decided the hidden fees were a little outrageous. Your bank account gets charged multiple times a month for it's various subscription fees, on top of the monthly statement. I have a small company, we mostly charge by invoices. So our credit card processing volume is often $0 some months. So for example, on a $0 month (meaning, without even using their services), you get charged $34.73 for the monthly invoices, plus two mysterious credit card subscription fees (presumably so you can process discover and american express) which are $10.95 and and $9.95. That brings your total to $55.63. Plus a yearly fee of $99. When you realize that services like Paypal Virtual Terminal offer the same thing for $20 a month, with lower processing rates, you begin to feel ripped of very quickly.
So when you realize you're being ripped off, you naturaly want to cancel. Simple right? I've never been so frustrated with a company in my life. I called 9 months ago to cancel my account. I was told I was in an auto-renewing yearly contract that didn't expire for another 8 months. It was cheaper to keep paying the monthly fees in the long run than pay the $246.76 cancelation fee, if they gave me a discount on my monthly fee to $23 a month. Which is a lie, since you have all the extra little charges (it's still $43.90 a month, making it $351.20 over 8 months).
So I waited until July, to make my second cancelation request since you have to call to cancel 30 days before your contract end date. I was told to call back a few days later. I called back and my account was still open. I then had to fax in a request. Then I called a week later, and my account was still open. I had to fax in a second request. I called back a week later--Finally the account was canceled.
A month later I see a "Leeders Cancel Fee" of $246.67 in my bank statement. I called the company again today. I requested the cancel fee be reversed. The guy on the phone was friendly and reversed it. BUT I HAD TO CATCH THE ERROR. So after 7 calls (It's a 10-20 minute hold everytime) 9 MONTHS, my account was finally canceled.
I feel cheated and ripped off. Who wouldn't?
Benson
Provo, Utah
U.S.A.
So when you realize you're being ripped off, you naturaly want to cancel. Simple right? I've never been so frustrated with a company in my life. I called 9 months ago to cancel my account. I was told I was in an auto-renewing yearly contract that didn't expire for another 8 months. It was cheaper to keep paying the monthly fees in the long run than pay the $246.76 cancelation fee, if they gave me a discount on my monthly fee to $23 a month. Which is a lie, since you have all the extra little charges (it's still $43.90 a month, making it $351.20 over 8 months).
So I waited until July, to make my second cancelation request since you have to call to cancel 30 days before your contract end date. I was told to call back a few days later. I called back and my account was still open. I then had to fax in a request. Then I called a week later, and my account was still open. I had to fax in a second request. I called back a week later--Finally the account was canceled.
A month later I see a "Leeders Cancel Fee" of $246.67 in my bank statement. I called the company again today. I requested the cancel fee be reversed. The guy on the phone was friendly and reversed it. BUT I HAD TO CATCH THE ERROR. So after 7 calls (It's a 10-20 minute hold everytime) 9 MONTHS, my account was finally canceled.
I feel cheated and ripped off. Who wouldn't?
Benson
Provo, Utah
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Sarah
Camarillo,California,
U.S.A.
LEADERS Apologizes for the Mistake by Customer Service and Has Refunded the Inappropriately Charged Early Termination Fee
#2UPDATE Employee
Wed, September 19, 2007
LEADERS regrets to hear the merchant is not satisfied with the services he received and that he feels our company has hidden fees. LEADERS prides itself in providing our merchants with quality service as well as full disclosure of all fees, and we do not like to hear that anyone has had an unpleasant experience with us. All of the fees assessed to the merchant are clearly identified in the documents signed by the merchant. Nevertheless we would like to remedy as many of the merchant's concerns as possible. The merchant opened their account on August 1, 2005 and has been processing with our company for two years and gave no indication that they were dissatisfied with our services, until June 8, 2007 when the merchant called to cancel their account. The merchant states they contacted our company nine months ago and was advised their contract had automatically renewed. The merchant is required to send a closing letter into our company 30 days before the contract's anniversary date, which is a standard procedure in our industry. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused the merchant however; all of this is clearly disclosed in the application signed by the merchant. Our records indicate the merchant called in on July 3, 2007 to ensure their new closing letter was received and was assured by our Customer Care Department the account could be cancelled and the merchant would not be assessed an Early Termination Fee. We were embarrassed to learn that the merchant was charged an Early Termination Fee, and it took a call from the merchant to have this reversed. LEADERS truly apologizes for our error and has confirmed this refund was issued on September 14, 2007 for $267.67. The merchant also states even when they were not processing they were being charged monthly fees. All of our fees are clearly stated in the documentation that is signed by the merchant. Our records indicate the merchant had four months with no processing and was charged a Dormancy Fee for each of those months. The merchant also states they were being charged a monthly fee of $10.95 and $9.95 to process American Express and Discover. These are not American Express or Discover fees. The $10.95 monthly fee is for our Premium Customer Care package which is documented on our signed documents. This entitles the merchant to receive free supplies in addition to a LIFETIME warranty on their terminal. The merchant can opt out of this service at the time of signing their contract or any time thereafter. The $9.95 charge is for On-Line Monthly Access which enables the merchant to view their monthly statements on line and is clearly shown on the signed paperwork, as well. This service, too, may be cancelled at any time. If the merchant will call our Manager of Merchant Services, Corrie Fietsch, or our Director of Operations, Sarah Tieman, at 1-877-538-3377, we will endeavor to fairly remedy the other concerns expressed by the merchant.
