Complaint Review: Retriever Payment Systems - Orland Park Illinois

I read the rebuttals from sales reps, but they have no idea how corrupt the people they work for are, for if they did, they may have a concious and quit. 

Heres the setup:  Retriever employs independent contractors to setup credit processing services in business.  These reps, may or may not disclose all the fees associated with the account, ususally they do not.   Once the business is signed up, you are now on the hook.  Retriever may send you a policy book, one that was unavailable when you signed the contract, conveniently.  You then discover that you are now subjuect to renewable contracts, fees, charges and if you should have to ever cancel even after your contract has expired, you find that a new one has taken its place and you get yakked for another $250.

You reps need to do a little more investigating into the company your are doing business for.  They are unethical, corrupt and downright dishonest.  That is not to say that all the reps are, some are, some arent, but the company itself is.  They wont return your calls or even work out issues, they dont care at all.

BEWARE,, Never use this company or any other payment system.  Get a bank account at your local bank that accepts credit card transactions.  It may cost a little more, but youll sleep better knowing that youre not dealing with crooks

I'm kinda in the same boat as the others. In January 1999 I got into a contract for a credit card terminal. The contract was for $79/month for 4 years. The contract was through a company called Lease Finance Group. The processing company was Retriever (now dba NPC) and the monthly statements came from a company called First Bank of Omaha. I paid off the terminal in 2003 and opted to pay a final lump sum to keep the unit. The total cost of the terminal was over $3,500. Sometime around 2004 Retriever notified all their customers that we all had to pay a one time $50 fee because they were upgrading their equipment and we were responsible to help pay for it. I was irked, but as an incentive I was invited to start accepting their Retriever Check and Retriever Card programs and the signups would be free for 60 days. I called to sign up and someone was supposed to call me back. I never got a call so got screwed out of that offer. Now Retriever (dba NPC) wants $90/year to enroll in their mandatory PCI DSS compliance program. I'm sorry, but I don't feel that I should have to pay $90/year just to be able to accept credit cards. To complicate matters, my terminal still prints off all the credit card numbers on the receipts and for 2 years I have been trying to get the issue resolved. Retriever tells me to contact Fusion Alliance Group as my terminal (Hypercomm T77-F) won't accept any of their software. Fusion Alliance Group only has a voice mail and on the voice mail tells me to call a toll-free number for 24/7 tech support with terminal issues. The problem is that the toll-free number is the exact number for Retriever so the companies have to be connected in some way or owned by the same people. I don't even know why I have 2 processing companies to begin with. My understanding is the Fusion Alliance Group is an agent who sold my account to Retriever. Don't know why I can't just deal with Retriever directly. I assume someday I will get ahold of someone at Fusion Alliance, but I'm sure they will just try to scam me into upgrading to another $4,000 terminal instead of getting me the program update to truance the terminal numbers. I don't know what to do at this point, but I sure am not going to pay $90/year just to be able to accept credit cards on top of regular fees. I'm starting to investigate into other options. If I have none available, then I will just go back to accepting cash only at my retail establishment.

I have the same problem with Retriever (NPC). The sales rep, James Christianson, LIED about everything. He said I could try the product (credit card machine) for 60 days and cancel if I did not like the service. THAT was a LIE! I tried to cancel within 60 days when I found out the REAL price PLUS the additional processing fee. He said I was locked in a four year contract and denied saying I had 60 days to try the product risk free. When I signed the papers, the price said $45 a month. When he mailed me my copy the price said $85 a month. You can see on my copy the price had been changed. The 45 was whited out (line below missing too) and repalced with 85. He said he had to take the papers after I signed them back to the office for approval. That means I did not get ANY carbon copies. (Yes, this should have been a warning sign.) He also did NOT say anything about the extra $56 a month charged by Retriever for processing fees. I have spent hours on the phone with Retriever and Lease Capital Group with no luck towards any resolution. Another business owner also signed up with James Christianson at the exact same time I did (we were working on the same job). Mr. Christianson of Retreiver did the same thing to both of us (altered documents and misrepresentation of all fees involved). I have filed a fraud report with the local police department and they have informed me it is a civil matter.

This frustrates me. First of all, I'm a sales rep for Retriever. I have a great portfolio and take excellent care of my customers. Those with leases and those without. I have never had a complaint about anyone at the home office being rude. To the contrary, I have gotten quite a few calls from my merchants after calling 24 hour support specifically to tell me that they were very helpful and that they appreciate it because the company they were with before I came along was nearly impossible to deal with. Second, I'm sorry that you feel that your mother was taken advantage of. She very well may have been. There are predatory sales reps out there and if no one is looking, they will get as much as they can from you. This holds true for ANYTHING... But! This does not in any way let your mother off the hook for her part in the deal. I speak just enough spanish to get by but I'm surely NOT going to sign a contract that's written in it. Lease paperwork has very large bold print on top of it that says NON-CANCELLABLE LEASE. It can be cancelled before the terminal is installed. You make it sound like your mother was inept because of her english skills. If that's the case, who was looking out for her business on a daily basis? Third and finally, When a business is sold the price usually includes all contents. It's the seller's responsibility to finalize any outstanding debts on any equipment that comes with the business. Leases can also be transferred to a new owner. Again, I'm sorry this happened to your mother but the company is not responsible. Your mother and the sales rep are.

This frustrates me. First of all, I'm a sales rep for Retriever. I have a great portfolio and take excellent care of my customers. Those with leases and those without. I have never had a complaint about anyone at the home office being rude. To the contrary, I have gotten quite a few calls from my merchants after calling 24 hour support specifically to tell me that they were very helpful and that they appreciate it because the company they were with before I came along was nearly impossible to deal with. Second, I'm sorry that you feel that your mother was taken advantage of. She very well may have been. There are predatory sales reps out there and if no one is looking, they will get as much as they can from you. This holds true for ANYTHING... But! This does not in any way let your mother off the hook for her part in the deal. I speak just enough spanish to get by but I'm surely NOT going to sign a contract that's written in it. Lease paperwork has very large bold print on top of it that says NON-CANCELLABLE LEASE. It can be cancelled before the terminal is installed. You make it sound like your mother was inept because of her english skills. If that's the case, who was looking out for her business on a daily basis? Third and finally, When a business is sold the price usually includes all contents. It's the seller's responsibility to finalize any outstanding debts on any equipment that comes with the business. Leases can also be transferred to a new owner. Again, I'm sorry this happened to your mother but the company is not responsible. Your mother and the sales rep are.

Hello Arlington Friend: 1st of all Leases on Equipment and Service aggreements are in fact seperate. Even with Retriever. I suggest you discuss the 2 cases seperate. 1) Find out how many months are left on the Equipment lease, and discuss with the new Salon owner is the payment exceptable for them on the type of equipment you have there at the Salon. 2) Talk to Retriever about the early termination fee on the services not the Lease. They will let you out with a $295.00 cancellation fee. The Lease on the equipment is always 36 or 48 months non cancellable just like a car. However if the equipment is new you should be able to get the new owner give you some if not all that money left on the lease. Then at the end of the term you or they may 1)buy the machine for what is usaly 10% the total lease 2) return machine or 3)continue to pay lease. Last one I don't recommend. Retreiver did nothing wrong though they are rude I've heard that often. But it was that fast talking Salesman that didn't explain in detail the deal to your mother. Call me if you would like more help... Shawn Martin FirstData/CardService International [email protected] (972)670-3182 cell (800)383-2913 ext. 240 office