Absolte Air Industries

AppStar Financial contacted [redacted] to determine what occurred here.? During these calls [redacted] mixed up our Merchant Application and Agreement with another contract he had signed at the same time.? This included stating that we had called him to do a verbal verification of the Agreement during which the termination fee was not mentioned.? No verbal verification of the agreement was done beyond his initial contacts with the rep as he did not lease equipment from us.? This type of verbal review of a contract is typical of lease agreements involving equipment purchases as opposed to processing agreements Additionally [redacted] stated that he was sure he had raised the issue during the calls as he would not sign an agreement without raising this.? This prompted a review of every call between [redacted] and the rep.? The majority of these calls were [redacted] stating that he had not read the agreement nor had he gotten a counter offer from his bank, an action the rep had advised him to do so that he could put the savings provided by AppStar in perspective to what the bank could do [redacted] stated several times that he was being pressured by his partner to complete this as he had transactions pending:? even going so far as to ask if he could authorize transactions prior to the application being submitted.? The rep correctly told him this was not an option After reviewing half of the calls, we offered to reduce the termination fee as a means to resolve this as there was nothing in the calls to support [redacted] version of events [redacted] declined this offer.? We explained that if after a full review nothing supported his story, the full termination fee would apply.? He again declined this offer A full review was done and there was no discussion of the termination fee being altered.? [redacted] then asked why it was not specifically pointed out to him, we explained that the majority of our merchants process the full term and do not need to have an exit clause pointed out to them.? Furthermore, we designed the application for readability, by grouping all of our fees together below the rates on page two (other processors bury them in the agreement).? Additionally we set our fees apart and bold them in a squared off section titled: Other Fees ? in a visual attempt to highlight them to the merchant.? We find by doing so we avoid the majority of these types of issues as the Agreement is very readable The one exception is the Early Termination Fee, which is on the signature page of the Agreement and is set apart and bolded in an intentional design decision to draw the merchant’s eye to it.? We do this intentionally as, in the event that a merchant chose not to review the rates page, there is no way for them to complete the Agreement without looking at the signature page [redacted] had ample time to review the Agreement and ask questions:? he was prompted by the rep to ask his bank for a comparison, which he tells us he did during the week he had it in his possession prior to signing and returning it to AppStar All of the above was reviewed with [redacted] ***He then raised a new issue: the change in fees? ? On October 24, a Welcome Letter was sent to [redacted] detailing the terms of his approval and providing him logon information for him to access his statements.? Additional mailings were sent prior to his termination providing him information for completing the PCI program [redacted] has stated that he did not receive any of these mailings despite them being mailed to the address he provided On November 21, a welcome call was made to [redacted] was made asking how the service was going and directing him to call our corporate office in the event that he had any issues.? On April 7, [redacted] called in and requested a reduction of the early termination fee stating this his clients no longer paid by credit card.? We reviewed the Agreement with him and said he would try to get them to pay with credit card.? At no time did [redacted] say that he could not access his statements nor raise any issues with the service other than his clients paying on terms rather than via credit card Regarding [redacted] statement that we breached the Agreement when the monthly service fees were increased, merchants were notified of these increases in the monthly statements three months prior to them taking effectThe Card Issuing Banks (***, [redacted] , [redacted] and [redacted] ) raise their rates every April and October.? AppStar Financial reviews these increases and in the majority of times has chosen not to pass these increases on to our merchants.? Over time as these accumulate, we adjust our fees to reflect these changes in pricing.? This is covered in the Terms & Conditions paragraph Rates; Fees Adjustments.? [redacted] on page of the Agreement has signed that he received this page.? Without the ability to adjust rates to adjust costs based on expenses no business, regardless of whether they manufacture steel or process credit card transactions would be viable.? In AppStar’s case, we take a very conservative approach to these increases and only pass them on when they are unavoidable [redacted] request to have the termination fee waived has been declined.? An offer was made to reduce the termination fee in an attempt to resolve this swiftly, which [redacted] declined and a full review of his statements and hos conversation with the rep have shown no basis for reducing the termination fee.? Furthermore, later conversations show he was aware of the termination fee and tried to negotiate it [redacted] has stated that he no longer has use for the service as his clients no longer pay by credit card, so our standard offer of a rate review to provide him additional savings, would not be of benefit to his business Finally, [redacted] in his response has stated that does not believe he was played every conversation between the rep and himself.? A log of their calls has been attached.? [redacted] has not provided us information to believe there were any calls beyond those listed We’d like to thank [redacted] for his time in addressing these issues but are unable to approve his request.? In the event that he is able to provide additional information, we would be open to reviewing this matter again ?

Ms [redacted] contacted our office on July 16, and addressed these issues with a supervisor As a result of that call, the original call was reviewed and it was determined that the customer service representative did not follow procedures and advise her as to the two year extension While the extension is outlined in the Terms & Conditions, AppStar has an internal policy that requires this be reviewed with the merchant prior to any rate adjustments being submitted As this was not done, the extension was rolled back to the correct anniversary date of September 16, Ms [redacted] understands that this has been completed and accepted this as a reasonable resolution After reviewing this case, we have decided to close the account at this time and waive the fees for August Ms [redacted] has been contacted regarding this revised resolution and has accepted the revised resolution

AppStar Financial has contacted this merchant In speaking with him, the issue was that the original close letter was declined due to a signature discrepancyAppStar Financial This caused the account to be closed in April instead of March This resulted in the merchant being charged fees for April AppStar has contacted the merchant and agreed to refund these fees as resolution of this matter AppStar Financial would like to thank Mr [redacted] for his assistance in resolving this matter

Revdex.com: I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID 11529187, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below Hi, Jackie I wanted to contact you in regard of the case ID: I did not have a chance to respond with in the days because I wanted to get some documentation for the fee that I was charge on 4/26/from appstar and today its the only day I have time to go to the bank Now I do have it on and I will forward a copy to you.On the last message they mention things and I wanted to respond to each one -- 1.- They never told my that I was going to have a yearly fee in first place and on April on my bank account I see I withdrawal of $ (sorry I was not a $as I mention on my complain) and they did not put this information on the statement that I got from them the only reason I find out is because I went and check my bank account statement I will attached a copy of the bank statement 2.- I went and check and I did not find fees for application, programming, encryption, anuel imprinter but every month I was charge with this fees ACCT MNTC FEE $BTCH HDR CREDIT $PLAT BENEFITS $REG COMP FEE $NTWK FEE FOR VS $NTWK FEE FOR MC $$50K BREACH PRG $PROC FEE FOR MC $PROC FEE FOR VS $that I have no idea I was going to be charged3.- When the Sales man show up on my store they wanted to sign the contract without any time to check the service I had to tell them that If they did not give me at least month with out cancellation fees they told me that they could not do that but at the end they end up giving me day trial.( I made them write it down on the form) I sign the contract on 12/15/and end up receiving the credit card reader on the 12/29/so I did not used it on December at all I used the credit card reader all January everything was fine by February I have gotten any of the statements so I called and they told me how to access the statements online went and check and find out that for the month of December I was charged $and I did not processed any payments on December I was really Mad but then my trial period was expired they never never told me that the trial period was extended other ways I would just cancel it the service right then 4.- I do have the terminal I did not wanted to send back till this its resolveI have no intention to keep itAs soon this is resolve they will get the credit card readerThey are asking more then $dollars because I cancel I guess this is how they make money stilling other person's money Regards, [redacted] ***

Revdex.com: I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted] , and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.The company Appstar called to go over my complaint yesThe gentleman that called said that there was not going to any negotiated reductions in fee's and also stated that the first original account was going to be charged a cancellation fee as wellI was told that I do not do enough processing with them so they are not willing to negotiate with me on any of the Fee'sAny and all small business should stay clear of this Vendor as they send you invoices with one number and the ACH Deductions to your account are much higher than on the invoicesThey do not work well with small Business and get nasty when you want to cancel themI have moved on to a new Vendor for my needs and expect Appstar to move on as well Regards, [redacted]

AppStar Financial contacted Swipe for [redacted] From the response, it was clear that they docover these fees based on a merchant’s volume We have attempted to contact the merchant to assist her further, but have been told she was too busy and have not received a call back The language that [redacted] stated she was “clueless” about reads as follows: The first bolded setoff paragraph on page above the merchant’s signature: Early termination of this Agreement shall result in an Early Termination Fee of no less than four hundred ninety-five dollars ($495.00) Also, see paragraph of the Merchant Processing Terms & Conditions This second bolded section of paragraph reads as follows: Merchant shall pay on demand, an early termination fee of no less than four hundred ninety-five dollars ($495.00) for each MERCHANT location Rather than being hidden in the fine print as the merchant attests, AppStar makes every effort to highlight that the merchant will be charged a termination fee if they do not fulfil the terms of the contract Given that, and again, given [redacted] specialty in reading DOT regulations as well as the fact that she is familiar with the use of Terms and Conditions as evidenced again by her website (http://www.lobdock.com/terms-conditions/), we stand by our earlier response The offer to refund fees was made in an effort to resolve this matter and was made prior to AppStar having a full understanding of the merchant’s expertise A copy of [redacted] Terms and Condition, referenced above has been included To date, this account remains open as we have not received a signed closed letter This may be faxed to 866-336- If [redacted] has any additional questions, I can be reached at 858-712-

Mr [redacted] contacted us in December asking to close his account.? At that time, he was advised of the termination procedure including that we need to receive the thirty to ninety days prior to the anniversary.? This is also stated in the Termination section of the Terms & Conditions As AppStar retains our calls for quality assurance, this interaction was retained.? Barring an explanation as to why he was unable to submit in that sixty period, the termination fee, as outlined in the Terms & Conditions would stand.? ?

AppStar Financial requests that this matter be closed as the portion, which is under AppStar’s control has been addressed, namely the termination fee, next day funding and the high ticket issue The remainder of the complaint regards the lease to which AppStar Financial is not a party Please note that [redacted] , the leasing company, states in bold on their lease that this is a non-cancellable lease Additionally, [redacted] requires that the merchant verbally affirm in a recorded call that the merchant understands that the lease is non-cancellable Without the merchant agreeing in that recorded call that they understand that the lease is non-cancellable it does not go into effect This is important as only new equipment may be deployed in fulfillment of a lease and this is one of the reasons that the agreement is non-cancellable Per the merchant’s response, the equipment has been used and as such cannot be deployed as new: “PRODUCT WAS USED ONCE AND IS ALREADY BACK IN THE ORIGINAL PACKAGING.” Ultimately the decision to amend the lease would lie solely with [redacted]

RevDex.com: I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted] , and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below. Regards, [redacted]

AppStar Financial spoke with this merchant on October 20, During that conversation it came out that she had met with another processing company after signing with AppStar and they had offered her lowered rates based on their review of her agreement with AppStar Financial It should be noted that AppStar Financial signed her up at raw cost with a .25% markup on volume and a $markup per transaction The other company, who would have known she was in an Agreement when they reviewed our rates, countered with a .20% markup on volume and $markup per transaction When we spoke with her we explained that AppStar Financial has a match or beat policy However as she had not attempted to cancel until after the account was approved on October 12, she was told that the termination fee would standIn an attempt to resolve this, we offered two solutions: We would lower the termination fee to the $she had already paid or We would waive the annual fee and lower the rates to raw cost with a .05% markup on volume and $markup per transaction We have since been notified that a stop payment was placed by the merchant on the check we received and are awaiting [redacted] to accept one of these offers It should be noted that [redacted] has made use of our work product by providing our rates to the other processor and this, along with the costs we have incurred in setting up this account including shipping in both directions are the underlying reason for the termination fee being charged In truth, as the fees rejected, the full termination fee of $should be charged, but as the offer had already been made as settlement we will stand by it We ask at this point, that [redacted] accept whichever offer through the Revdex.com so that it becomes part of the recordA copy of the email sent to [redacted] has been attached for review

AppStar Financial is in the business of selling credit card and other electronic processing services to businesses who accept cards as a form of payment from their customersFor this reason we are only interested in calling businesses and purchase our leads of business-only telephone numbers from a [redacted] vendorWe were provided with Mr [redacted] number 203-987- [redacted] as being owned by a business by the name of [redacted] Inc which is why we called it We have attempted to contact Mr [redacted] to review this with him, but have been unsuccessful AppStar Financial offers merchants multiple ways to be removed from our call list including but not limited to: verbal requests to the agent during the call, email requests, requests through a third party such as a Consumer Affairs agency as well as by calling 877-549- A merchant calling that number is directed to enter their ten digit phone number followed by the # sign This automatically removes them from our callable database Prior to receiving the Revdex.com complaint, Mr [redacted] number had been removed from our call database per his request Mr [redacted] may want to contact [redacted] as well to be removed from their business listings [redacted] AppStar Financial

Revdex.com: I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted] , and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.The company has agreed to let us out of the contract with no chargesThey even stated that they will not charge us in an emailThe company then proceeded to charge us an absurd amount for no reason at allThey are not happy that they are losing customers so they decided to illegally withdraw money from our accountsThis is unethical and very poor business decisions made by the companyThey are wasting our precious time having to deal with trying to get our money backThey should not have even taken the money to begin withThis is the worst company to deal withThey do not follow their own contracts and do not stick to their wordThey do as they pleaseSomething needs to be done so people do not keep getting taken advantage of.return the money that was illegally charged Regards, [redacted]

AppStar Financial would like to extend our condolences to Mr [redacted] over the passing of Mr [redacted] . In reviewing the case, we have been able to determine that the business closed as a result of Mr [redacted] ’s passing and is no longer operating as a paint store. As such, AppStar Financial has waived the termination fee for this accountMr [redacted] will need to return the terminal and pinpad that was lent to Mr [redacted] to avoid billing for non-returned equipment. In consideration of the number of items which need to be addressed in these cases, we have extend the return date to August 1, The equipment should be sent to: AppStar Financial Attn: [redacted] Viewridge Avenue Suiite C San Diego, CA We’d like to thank Mr [redacted] for his assistance in resolving this matter

1)***2) [redacted] 3) I never got a August statement? I have a statement in December about the surcharge and I have the original contractI can email them? Just give me an email address and I shall do so immediately I have since lost a sale for dollar due to the app star ? failing to finish submitting it? It just spun aroundIt should have saved the transaction if it did not submit but lost my payment? I have still not recovered it Thanks for helping, I feel I should be released due to the ? fraudulent business actions, the company is stealing from me , they misrepresented the product and I am very dissatisfied ? ? ? ? ? ? ? [redacted] ? [redacted]

Based on the rejection, AppStar Financial contacted the merchant To date the following refunds have been issued to Ms***: $sent via ACH on 6/2/ $sent via ACH on 6/1/ $sent via ACH on 6/10/ $refund is being issued by our partner, which is what the merchant was charged for paper in error As this is being refund issued by our partner, we are unable to control the timing of that refund This is the $the merchant is referring to in her rebuttal The call tag, was issued by [redacted] on May 22, We have asked that the call tag be reissued and sent to AppStar We will forward the call tag to Ms [redacted] via email and [redacted] to ensure she receives itFinally, we advised the merchant that she does not need to insure the equipment AppStar reviews the shipping information and is able to determine the content of the package based on information provided by Fedex at the time of pickupWe'd again like to thank Ms [redacted] for her assistance in resolving this matter

Mr [redacted] contacted us in December asking to close his account At that time, he was advised of the termination procedure including that we need to receive the thirty to ninety days prior to the anniversary This is also stated in the Termination section of the Terms & Conditions As AppStar retains our calls for quality assurance, this interaction was retained Barring an explanation as to why he was unable to submit in that sixty period, the termination fee, as outlined in the Terms & Conditions would stand

1)***2) [redacted] 3) I never got a August statement. I have a statement in December about the surcharge and I have the original contract. I can email them. Just give me an email address and I shall do so immediately . I have since lost a sale for 72 dollar due to the app star failing to finish submitting it. It just spun around. It should have saved the transaction if it did not submit but lost my payment. I have still not recovered it . Thanks for helping, I feel I should be released due to the fraudulent business actions, the company is stealing from me , they misrepresented the product and I am very dissatisfied [redacted] [redacted]

AppStar Financial has spoken with the Independent Sales Consultant and with Mr [redacted] as well as ***, his secretary, who he delegated to address the complaint Please note that AppStar Financial takes these issues very seriouslyWe are in the business of selling credit card and other electronic processing services to businesses who accept cards as a form of payment from their customers This is a very competitive industry and AppStar Financial manages to distinguish itself through its combination of service and value, while ensuring merchants are compliant with all current card issuing standardsMr [redacted] mentioned several issues in his complaint as well as during our initial call We have attempted to address these with ***, his delegate and believe that we have resolved the issueThe primary complaint and the basis for our decision to waive the termination fee was the merchant’s desire that the terminal allow him to decision whether a particular card would be processed as a debit or a credit card transaction On the current AID for the processing platforms, this decision is pushed to the card issuing bank to determine We would need to place the merchant on an older AID to do this and as this would raise compliance concerns, we would not be able to do thisSecondly the merchant raised the issue of the cancelled refund and the termination fee We clarified with the merchant that that is not a true refund, rather AppStar Financial pays the fees for merchants who install late in the month as an investment in our long term relationship As the merchant was cancelling that investment would not be appropriate and they opted to accept the refund of the termination fee in lieu of that first month’s refundThe merchant also addressed the issue of “hidden fees” and their belief that there was no termination feeWe showed them how the Agreement was designed specifically to draw their attention to all fees and that the termination fee was separated from the rest of the Agreement on the signature page by being placed in its own box and bolded As AppStar Financial works with Independent Consultants, we have designed the Agreement for readability as well as to highlight these items The Consultant in this case stated that she had relied on them seeing the bolded paragraph and had not explicitly covered the issues as most merchant remain with AppStar Financial long past the initial term and that this would not be of concern to themAdditionally as AppStar Financial guarantees to match or beat other processor’s rates most merchants who are affected prefer to stay with AppStar as a result of the pricing guarantee and the ability to access personalized serviceWe also reviewed with the merchant how we differentiate ourselves from other processors, not only in offering competitive pricing through our match/beat guarantee, but also through our Corporate Care Group, which is available to assist all merchants regardless of processing level and effectively act as their advocate when processing issues occur It is this same group which contacts merchants after they have been with us thirty days to ensure that they are fully satisfied with the service we are providing As far as we know, we are the only processor in the country that proactively reaches out to merchants to identify and address any concerns they may haveBased on that, we asked and the merchant agreed that when a new AID is released which allows them to select Debit over Credit that we would be able to contact them regarding returning to AppStar Financial for their credit card processingWe’d like to thank all parties involved for their input in resolving this issue As we stated to the merchant, the refund of the termination fee is pended for their acceptance of this offer through the Revdex.com A refund of the fee will occur within ten business days of the Revdex.com notifying us that the merchant has accepted our offerIn a call on October 31, the merchant stated that this had resolved their issues and that they would be open to speaking with us in the future regarding processing provided we were able to support their requested changes

AppStar Financial stands by its earlier responseMr [redacted] has failed to provide an explanation as to why the termination fee should not apply to him.? Regarding his response, a review of the notes show that the only contacts in were regarding a terminal issue on November 9, on the retail account and a January 15, call regarding a transaction on the ecommerce account.? When Mr [redacted] called February 24, he hung up on the rep before she could give him the closing instructions.? Based on his last settlement dates of February 9, and February 17, respectively, Mr [redacted] waited to contact until after he had switched processors, limiting our ability to assist him by either completing a rate review or by advising him to get in writing that his new processor would cover the termination feeThe ? termination of the accounts on March 4, was prompted by the merchant’s bank rejecting the monthly fees at Mr [redacted] ’s direction rather than by Mr [redacted] submitting the signed close request as he had been instructed to do both over the phone and in the Agreement? As such, both accounts were closed and the merchant was contacted regarding the termination feeOver the six years with the merchant, AppStar Financial has followed the terms of the Agreement, which can be summarized as: we processed his transactions, evaluated the transactions for risk and paid the merchant AppStar requests that the merchant provide a reason as to why the terms of the Agreement should not apply to him as well as to why he instructed his bank to reject his processing fees for February Barring a valid reason other than he chose to switch processors, the fees will stand and the account will remain in Collections

Mr [redacted] doing business as Special Equipment CoLLC met with an independent sales consultant on February 24, and signed a Merchant Application and Agreement, a commercial contract, for credit card processing using both a dial up and a wireless terminal He then contacted us a year later on February 9, and added the debit service to this account At that time he opened an additional account for ecommerce transactions He continued to process on both accounts through February 9, and February 17, respectively Both accounts were closed in March due to Ach rejects The rates and fees he questions are listed on page of the Agreement Page of the Agreement, a signature page, references the early termination fee of $per account The autorenewal is listed in the Termination section of the Merchant Services Terms and Condition, which the merchant signed he received in and again in Without the autorenewal clause, we would have had to terminate Mr [redacted] service on the initial account on March 2, – four years prior to his final transaction and Mr [redacted] would then be justified in complaining about the resulting interruption this would present for his business This is why accounts are set up to auto renew This is common in any service industry such as credit card processing, cell phone service etc It should be noted that the merchant had called in previously: in when he asked to have the monthly minimum removed and in when he called in to tell us he had switched processors and he wanted the early termination fee waived as a result In the first case, we were able to lower the monthly minimum to fifteen dollars and in the second case, the request was declined It is common practice in the merchant services industry for the new processor to cover the termination fee for the merchant AppStar Financial regularly does this for merchants and we advise the merchant to contact his new processor to see if they would offer reimbursement Alternately, he can reopen his account with AppStar and the termination fee would not apply as long as the account remained open per the Terms and ConditionsA copy of the Agreements signed by the merchant as well as the Terms & Conditions has been attached to this response to address his concerns regarding rates It should be noted that the card issuing banks (***, [redacted] , [redacted] and [redacted] ) raise their rates every April and October AppStar Financial reviews these increases and makes a decision as to whether or not to pass the increase on to the merchants or to cover it for them as a cost of doing business In the majority of cases, AppStar Financial has chosen not to pass this increase on However, over time, these build up and we are required to pass the cost on When this occurs, a notification is included in the monthly statement for the three months prior to the increase taking effect, providing the merchant ample opportunity to contact us for a rate reviewFinally, we cannot honor Mr [redacted] request to not contact him as he is in Collections for the owed amount which would include the final month’s fees, the return fees and the termination fees for both accounts Per the Collections Manager, the merchant has not responded to attempts to contact him If he wishes to address this, he can reach me directly at 858-712-or the Collections Group at 800-633-between 9:a.mand 6:p.meastern time