Trevia
Fort Wayne,#2UPDATE 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,#3Consumer 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,#4UPDATE 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,#5UPDATE 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,#6UPDATE 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,#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.