Complaint Review: Lease Finance Group Aka CIT Concord Payment Systems Jeff Stephan Element Payment Systems - Chicago Illinois

Jeff Stephan learned his tactics from Lance Morris and Sean Mecham when they all were with another notorious company called NPMG. They are simply out to sell/Lease credit card equipment period. I personally have had the unfortunate experience of knowing these people and more like them in this industry and can tell you that they are all lacking in integrity and will lie straight to your face easily. Beware of Jeff Stephan as he runs Capital Processing Network these days.

I was a full time employee of Concord Payment Systems and was not aware this false information was on the web that is assaulting the company and individuals working for Concord Payment Systems with no merit whatsoever. To clear the air of the truth, no misrepresentations were ever made to either of Shabir's entities listed in the complaint, 'Proflex Sports' and 'Nutrition Depot of Sugarland.' >>Really, then why did your boss call me to settle the lease and release me of this contract you had put me in? Just look at all small businesses in the ripoff report who fall prey to merchant account swindlers such as yourself. First of all, the sales agent had to meet with Shabbir of Proflex Sports and Nutrition Depot at a donut shop, as the corporate offices for both companies were held out of a small urban apartment Shabbir lived in 2004. Proflex Sports was web based at that time and Nutrition Depot of Nutrition Depot of Sugarland, TX was not even open yet, making it even more difficult for CPS' staff to assess Mr. ---'s true needs. >>Not true, our store business was already under operation. Your sales people called me. We did not look for you. Like swindlers always do, they dangle these great rates, don't show you the true realities and you get stuck in these binding contracts that are totally unreasonable. Frankly, Mr. --- is fortunate that his businesses were EVEN approved or considered as both of his companies participate in the resale of nutritional supplements with promises and claims unsubstantiated by the FDA. Most banks and processors automatically decline high risk business reselling nutrition products due to the ratio of card issuer chargebacks from exorbitant profit margins made by the seller, but poor results to consumers nationwide. >>Whatever, we already had an online merchant account. Hundreds of other businesses in this industry also do. We run a supplement business selling vitamins and proteins. We process hundreds of orders every week and we get the same low rates without the need for long term binding contracts. Contrary to Shabbir's complaints, his enrollment in a merchant account for his ecommerce website proflexsports.com WAS set up. That's why he was billed for them. What his illegitimate comments left out was that he failed to implement it properly! Whenever one has an automated shopping cart it must be pointed to the backend processor (Concrord EFS) through a virtual gateway. Proflex Sports enrolled in EFS.net (concordefsnet.com). Any webmaster or programmer knows this and all of Proflex Sports gateway documentation was provided to their company. Concord Payment Systems can only open the accounts, NOT activate them or point the applicant's shopping cart to the EFS net gateway. Only an administrator of Proflex Sport's website or their webmaster had the authority do that which was never done, nor was it Concord Payment Systems responsibility to do so. All pertinent developer information was easily accessible at concordefsnet.com/Support/GetStarted.asp for Proflex Sports developers to use and implement on top of all the email documentation they received. >>Then why make promises that your backend system can be integrated when you don't even know the shopping cart we use? That is the problem with sales agents scammers like Jeff. Promise you can do stuff - only later when the technical issues come to play they are nowhere to be found. Mr. --- further complains about a rate increase in April of 2004. This too, is purely unsubstantiated. The card associations (Visa USA and MasterCard International) re-evaluate interchange (the cost of processing to acquirers) in the spring of each year. Increases often occur yearly, and banks and acquirers have to pass those on to their merchant base. This happens with each and every processor or acquirer, unless one has a discount rate of 5-6%. Nutrition Depot and Proflex sports qualified rates were 1.71% for swiped transactions and 2.09% for internet/hand keyed transactions. Those were excellent rates given to a.) an e-commerce high risk business and b.) a business who wasn't even open yet and had no processing history for their retail location selling high risk items. Interchange rate increases are clearly listed in the terms and conditions in any standard processing agreement between a merchant and a processing bank. >>So why offer good rates to a "high-risk" business such as ours? What nonsense. We are still in business and we still get these rates from a reputable merchant account provider. According to Shabbir's complaint, he also elected for new hardware financing through Lease Finance Group. This is not a scam, as thousands of merchants nationwide finance credit card machine hardware along with other internal equipment assets, especially when cash flow is tight. Shabbir applied for his 2 merchant accounts on 3/9/2004. Shabbir then emailed the sales agent on 3/13/2004 to 'hold off on the merchant account for the store.' The sales agent held on to the original lease contract as requested, even though the contract could have been executed at signing. Shabbir stated he needed time to decide as he was comparing CPS' program to others available through his franchise. Any lease, merchant application, etc was never processed. Then on March 19, 2004 Shabbir emailed the sales agent again from '[email protected]' stating, 'Well then go ahead with the processing for the terminal for the store as well. Can we expedite the processing for the physical store (Nutrition Depot) and the online store as well?' This comment came after examining CPS' proposal to other merchant service providers. >>I was not made aware that the lease was non-cancellable. Why would anyone in their right mind want to pay $5000 over 5 years for equipment that is worth $500? Equipment which I told him that I already had which just needed to be activated as my next merchant processor did and it did not cost us anything. Upon several phone calls and email requests from Shabbir to the sales agent and others at CPS DEMANDING his new equipment expeditiously, CPS fulfilled the equipment lease order that Shabbir knowingly signed and asked for. The sales agent even made a special request to the accounting department to make all of Nutrition Depot's lease payments until they fully opened for business thereby easing the burden of Nutrition Depot's overhead for their grand opening. The first 3 months of goodwill lease payments made payable to Nutrition Depot of Sugarland were received by Shabbir at his apartment from CPS upon receipt of 3 pieces of credit card equipment he ordered. Each and every one of the promises made by the sales agent was delivered to Shabbir, nothing less. >>Whatever, we had equipment already. I mentioned this to Jeff Stephan but he wanted to push his equipment so he can get his commission. He told me that I would have to get the equipment to get the rates that I received which changed within two months anyway. In conclusion, if one examines the actual facts that occurred in this situation you will find that Hatim and Shabir are the actual ripoff, fraudulent, lying, leeches, dishonest, scammers that they make CPS' staff to be. They use malicious lies and attack the solid and impeccable character of those truly trying to help their businesses grow. In this case, it's apparent that the ---'s had one goal... to escape contractual obligations they were legally bound to by assassinating character and reputation. One may want to think twice before entering into any type of business relationship with either of their entities. >>No I was correct in the statement that you are a fraudulent, lying, leeching, dishonest, scammer - Jeff Stephan. Your company did the right thing by letting me out of the contract which you had put me in. Why Jeff did you write this in the third person? Trying to clear your name? Your company may be honorable but you are not. I closed this whole fiasco with your company. This issue has been resolved as I have stated above.

I was a full time employee of Concord Payment Systems and was not aware this false information was on the web that is assaulting the company and individuals working for Concord Payment Systems with no merit whatsoever. To clear the air of the truth, no misrepresentations were ever made to either of Shabir's entities listed in the complaint, "Proflex Sports" and "Nutrition Depot of Sugarland." First of all, the sales agent had to meet with Shabbir Unwala of Proflex Sports and Nutrition Depot at a donut shop, as the corporate offices for both companies were held out of a small urban apartment Shabbir lived in 2004. Proflex Sports was web based at that time and Nutrition Depot of Nutrition Depot of Sugarland, TX was not even open yet, making it even more difficult for CPS' staff to assess Mr. ---'s true needs. Frankly, Mr. --- is fortunate that his businesses were EVEN approved or considered as both of his companies participate in the resale of nutritional supplements with promises and claims unsubstantiated by the FDA. Most banks and processors automatically decline high risk business reselling nutrition products due to the ratio of card issuer chargebacks from exorbitant profit margins made by the seller, but poor results to consumers nationwide. Contrary to Shabbir's complaints, his enrollment in a merchant account for his ecommerce website proflexsports.com WAS set up. That's why he was billed for them. What his illegitimate comments left out was that he failed to implement it properly! Whenever one has an automated shopping cart it must be pointed to the backend processor (Concrord EFS) through a virtual gateway. Proflex Sports enrolled in EFS.net (concordefsnet.com). Any webmaster or programmer knows this and all of Proflex Sports gateway documentation was provided to their company. Concord Payment Systems can only open the accounts, NOT activate them or point the applicant's shopping cart to the EFS net gateway. Only an administrator of Proflex Sport's website or their webmaster had the authority do that which was never done, nor was it Concord Payment Systems responsibility to do so. All pertinent developer information was easily accessible at concordefsnet.com/Support/GetStarted.asp for Proflex Sports developers to use and implement on top of all the email documentation they received. Mr. --- further complains about a rate increase in April of 2004. This too, is purely unsubstantiated. The card associations (Visa USA and MasterCard International) re-evaluate interchange (the cost of processing to acquirers) in the spring of each year. Increases often occur yearly, and banks and acquirers have to pass those on to their merchant base. This happens with each and every processor or acquirer, unless one has a discount rate of 5-6%. Nutrition Depot and Proflex sports qualified rates were 1.71% for swiped transactions and 2.09% for internet/hand keyed transactions. Those were excellent rates given to a.) an e-commerce high risk business and b.) a business who wasn't even open yet and had no processing history for their retail location selling high risk items. Interchange rate increases are clearly listed in the terms and conditions in any standard processing agreement between a merchant and a processing bank. According to Shabbir's complaint, he also elected for new hardware financing through Lease Finance Group. This is not a scam, as thousands of merchants nationwide finance credit card machine hardware along with other internal equipment assets, especially when cash flow is tight. Shabbir applied for his 2 merchant accounts on 3/9/2004. Shabbir then emailed the sales agent on 3/13/2004 to "hold off on the merchant account for the store." The sales agent held on to the original lease contract as requested, even though the contract could have been executed at signing. Shabbir stated he needed time to decide as he was comparing CPS' program to others available through his franchise. Any lease, merchant application, etc was never processed. Then on March 19, 2004 Shabbir emailed the sales agent again from "[email protected]" stating, "Well then go ahead with the processing for the terminal for the store as well. Can we expedite the processing for the physical store (Nutrition Depot) and the online store as well?" This comment came after examining CPS' proposal to other merchant service providers. Upon several phone calls and email requests from Shabbir to the sales agent and others at CPS DEMANDING his new equipment expeditiously, CPS fulfilled the equipment lease order that Shabbir knowingly signed and asked for. The sales agent even made a special request to the accounting department to make all of Nutrition Depot's lease payments until they fully opened for business thereby easing the burden of Nutrition Depot's overhead for their grand opening. The first 3 months of goodwill lease payments made payable to Nutrition Depot of Sugarland were received by Shabbir at his apartment from CPS upon receipt of 3 pieces of credit card equipment he ordered. Each and every one of the promises made by the sales agent was delivered to Shabbir, nothing less. In conclusion, if one examines the actual facts that occurred in this situation you will find that Hatim and Shabir are the actual ripoff, fraudulent, lying, leeches, dishonest, scammers that they make CPS' staff to be. They use malicious lies and attack the solid and impeccable character of those truly trying to help their businesses grow. In this case, it's apparent that the ---'s had one goal... to escape contractual obligations they were legally bound to by assassinating character and reputation. One may want to think twice before entering into any type of business relationship with either of their entities.

The disagreement I had between Concord Payment Systems and our company -ProflexSports was resolved by the president of Concord Payment Systems. He called me and listened to my complaint and acknowledged that the terms of the agreement were unfair (apparently drafted by someone in his organization to which he did not have prior knowledge of). He promptly cancelled the contract and paid off the remainder of the lease agreement with CIT/Lease Finance Group. For all parties concerned, this matter has been closed.