Absolte Air Industries

In an attempt to resolve this, AppStar Financial is willing
to lower the termination fee to $to cover the costs we have incurred to
date. As we stated previously, the
merchant is processing in a manner which exposes card holder data in violation
of PCI requirements from the card issuing banks. If she would like the termination fee waived
in full, she will need to provide a signed letter from her processor stating
that piggybacking their terminal into the computer and accessing the network as
a pass-through device is PCI compliant for their terminal. Please note that the Self Assessment Questionnaire
would not suffice
The merchant’s argument that it is an equipment issue is
as they are refusing to set it up in a compliant manner. The fact that the terminal works does not mean that they information is secure We ask that the merchant advise us via the
Revdex.com as to which of these two options they intend to pursue

AppStar Financial and First American Payment Systems, our
acquirer, are charged fees on transactions run as sales or reversals. AppStar Financial, unlike most processors,
covers the fee on the reversal, only charging the fee as part of the sale
In an effort to resolve this matter, AppStar is willing to
cover the $fee as a one time exception with the following provisions:
1.
Merchant
understands that this is a one time exception as AppStar is charged this fee by
the card issuing banks and cannot be paying for the costs incurred in the
merchant’s processing
2.
Merchant acknowledges that transactions over his
high ticket of $3,will need prior approval to prevent them being subject
to reversal. He can obtain this approval
by contacting the Risk Management group at ###-###-####. Most likely, Risk Management will require
additional documentation to be able to decision the transaction
This refund is conditional on the merchant accepting this
offer through the Revdex.com as we have been unable to contact the merchant at the
number provided

I submitted a complaint against Appstar on 12/11/2015, (ID# 10991897) on 01/08/I received what I considered an acceptable resolution from AppstarAs it turns out Appstar has not followed through with reimbursing my account $which they owe me for a faulty credit card reader and they continue to charge me $a month for a wireless terminal that I no longer have an their sister company called *** Lease continues to charge me $a month for a credit card reader that was rendered useless in November due to the new chip readersI call *** they tell me they are a sister company of Appstar and will give me no other information other than I need to call Appstar, Appstar says they have no control over ***I sent my letter to discontinue service with Appstar when my contract was up which fortunately is April, I realized they were charging me for a wireless terminal that I returned in December 2015,because I failed to submit a deactivation form, which I would have no way of knowing such a form even existed as no one @Appstar ever bothered to send me a form to accomplish said taskOn 03/01/I spoke with an Account Specialist who supposedly is an account specialist for Appstar who " I can't do anything to help you, I have to switch you over to Appstar" I have been given nothing but a run around from this company since October and I continue to have to deal with them today because of their shady ways.Desired Outcome: I want a total reimbursement from this company for every penny they have stole from my companyI want $back for the faulty credit card reader, I want x $for the bogus wireless terminal fee they hit my account for and I want x $which Appstars sister company continues to debit my account for every month and I want *** to cease taking money from my account for NOTHING

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me. I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved
Regards,
*** ***

AppStar Financial has spoken with this merchant. This merchant is a low volume merchant and as
such needed to be the flat rate program provided by her previous processor. Currently, AppStar Financial does not offer this
pricing plan. As such, the termination
fee will be waived
upon receipt of a signed close letter
Please note that this is an open and active account and the
merchant will continue to be billed until the signed close letter is
received. This can be faxed to
866-336-

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below
To whom it may concern,I agreed to terms to negotiate though the Revdex.com with Appstar and ***'s *** ***. First condition #4 was to include a label to be sent to my email *** so I could send back the terminal in my procession, as of 06/10/I did not receive any label I was very careful to look closely at my emailI asked that this *** label include insurance for the value of the terminal since I do not know the actual dollar value I was told it was around $800.00 thus if this machine is lost or stolen I can still receive the $I expect as part of the agreement. Our business did suffer loss so I wish to have the dollar amounts that we agreed uponSecond I do not believe I have received the $that I was to have refunded for the shipping charge of the paper supplies stated in condition #Thank You for the further assistance.
Regards,
*** ***

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me. I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved
Regards,
*** ***

On June 12, *** *** met with an independent sales consultant and signed a Merchant Application and Agreement for credit card processing. This was a three year agreement with a high ticket of $700.00. On January 20, *** *** requested to have the high ticket raised as a
result of an audit by the Risk Management group. This resulted in the high ticket being raised to $from the $originally requested and was based on the banking provided by the merchant On May 19, we received an email from “***,” the office manager, stating that they had submitted a close letter in June 2015. A review by AppStar Financial and by the Customer Service group showed we had not received the letter. A request was sent to *** to forward us a copy of the email or fax they sentTo date we have not received a response to that request As the merchant was within their close window when they called on May 9, 2016, we would have been able to close the account with no termination fee if they had submitted the close letter at that time. The account has since been closed due to *** rejects AppStar stands by its offer to close the account as a late closure request provided that the merchant submit the email stream or fax confirmation showing that they had attempted to close previously. This would result in the termination fee being waived and the merchant being responsible for the May and June fees as well as the reject and collection fees totally $ I have included a copy of the email sent to ***, the office manager to which we did not receive a reply It should be noted that *** *** misquotes the monthly cost of the service as being $or $month, he was charged $per the attached statement based on the additional services he had opted for. We request that the merchant fax a signed acceptance of this offer to *** along with the email stream We have asked our Collections group to give the merchant until June 30, to complete this

AppStar
Financial has read the merchant’s complaint and strongly disputes the
complaint. The merchant has stated that
she has taken AppStar Financial’s work product, namely the service comparison
and has provided it to her previous provider and that they gave her rates lower
than those
offered by AppStar. It should
be noted that a comparison conducted by AppStar resulted in savings of almost
$per year over Total Merchant Services.
This analysis and the resulting rates are AppStar’s product and it is
unfair that the merchant should be able to benefit from our work product and
leave AppStar to incur the cost involved in setting up the account. These costs include the account creation,
risk and credit evaluation, commitment to our customer service partners and
other costs, all of which are non-recoverable
As such the
request to have the termination fee is declined. We advise Ms*** to contact her
processor and ask them to cover the termination fee. This is standard practice in the industry and
was offered to Ms*** by AppStar and accepted by her as she states in
her complaint: “I finally agreed to sign their
contract because it also included a buy out of my current contract.”
Ms
*** also says that AppStar violated the Fair Trade Act. We have reviewed the Act and could not find
an applicable sectionIf she would like to send the citation of the part of the
Act she feels applies, we would be happy to review it
Finally, she
states that she needed a $10,line of credit. AppStar Financial partners with several cash
advance companies to allow merchants to access future receivables. The amount and the repayment parameters are
determined by those companies and are based on several risk factors including
the industry, method of payment, years in business as well as personal and
business creditAs AppStar is not privy to this underwriting, we cannot state
why Ms*** was only approved for $5,rather than the $10,
she requested. If she is interested in
determining that or proceeding with the funding, we can request that the funding
company contact her directly

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below
I have said MANY times I do NOT wish to be contacted by phone from this company yet they continue to do soI want any replies in writing and on the recordPeriod.This is just another example of them ignoring a customer's request NOT to be contacted by phone and again violating the DoNotCall list
Regards,
*** ***

AppStar Financial regrets the service issues Ms*** has
experienced using the mobile terminal. This
terminal uses the merchant’s internet access to process transactions. As such connectivity is based on the merchant’s
carrier’s coverage
Regarding the other matters in the
complaint, as we have
been unable to reach Ms*** due to conflicting schedules we ask that she
reply with the following information:
1.
Make and Model of her cell phone
2.
Her carrier
3.
A copy of her August processing statement from
her previous processor
This will helps us identify and address the connectivity issue
she is experiencing as well as address the cost issues
The PCI fee mentioned in the complaint pays for the Self-Assessment
Questionnaire (SAQ), which identifies and attempts to correct potential areas
where a merchant may be exposing card holder data. This fee is referenced in the Other Fees
section on page of the Merchant Application and Agreement. “See Paragraphs and in the Merchant
Credit Card Processing Terms & Conditions for information relating to these
and other fees including but not limited to ***/*** Network and PCI
fees.” As this fee is a negotiated fee
and does not originate with AppStar Financial, we are unable to guarantee it
will not change. For low volume
merchants, AppStar Financial offers financial assistance to cover this
cost. This assistance is based on the
merchant completing the SAQ and implementing any suggested changes and is a
reimbursement

AppStar Financial has reviewed this complaint. In this case the merchant ran a transaction
over their high ticket limit and the transaction was reversed. AppStar’s portion of the transaction was
$12.90. The remainder of the funds went
to the card issuing banks. AppStar
is
willing to refund the portion that was paid to us. We have been unable to reach the merchant and
ask that he submit his acceptance of this offer through the Revdex.com

On June 12, *** *** met with an independent sales consultant and signed a Merchant Application and Agreement for credit card processing. This was a three year agreement with a high ticket of $700.00. On January 20, *** *** requested to have the high ticket raised as a
result of an audit by the Risk Management group. This resulted in the high ticket being raised to $from the $originally requested and was based on the banking provided by the merchant On May 19, we received an email from “***,” the office manager, stating that they had submitted a close letter in June 2015. A review by AppStar Financial and by the Customer Service group showed we had not received the letter. A request was sent to *** to forward us a copy of the email or fax they sentTo date we have not received a response to that request As the merchant was within their close window when they called on May 9, 2016, we would have been able to close the account with no termination fee if they had submitted the close letter at that time. The account has since been closed due to *** rejects AppStar stands by its offer to close the account as a late closure request provided that the merchant submit the email stream or fax confirmation showing that they had attempted to close previously. This would result in the termination fee being waived and the merchant being responsible for the May and June fees as well as the reject and collection fees totally $ I have included a copy of the email sent to ***, the office manager to which we did not receive a reply It should be noted that *** *** misquotes the monthly cost of the service as being $or $month, he was charged $per the attached statement based on the additional services he had opted for. We request that the merchant fax a signed acceptance of this offer to *** along with the email stream We have asked our Collections group to give the merchant until June 30, to complete this.

AppStar has reviewed Mr***’s rebuttal. Please note that AppStar Financial retains it’s
calls for quality assurance. As in the previous
call, Mr*** disconnected the call.
To recap, in June Mr*** signed a Merchant
Application & Agreement for AppStar Financial to process credit and PIN
based debit cards for CJ’s Auto Store.
At that time he negotiated a reduced termination fee of two hundred
ninety-five dollars.
In March 2014, Mr*** contacted us to add a second
location. At that time he signed the standard
Agreement
In July 2015, Mr*** stated that he had closed the
second location. He was offered a
reduced termination fee for that location with the remaining months to be added
to the existing account. Mr
*** declined that offer due to the extension on the first account
At the same time he switched processors citing pricing and
the extension of the Agreement to cover the remaining months for the account he
had switched
Mr*** has stated that there is no point in
AppStar Financial contacting him further unless it is to reduce the termination
fee. AppStar, on the phone, as well as
in our previous response, has stated a willingness to work with Mr
*** on this, but has predicated our offer on him resuming active
processing which he has stated he is unwilling to do. In both calls, he disconnected the call
abruptly either by hanging up or not returning to the phone
AppStar Financial remains committed to arriving at a
mutually beneficial solution, but is unwilling to bear the full cost of Mr
***’s decision to terminate the Agreement prematurely. As such, any resolution would be based on Mr
*** resuming processing on the first account. In regards to the pricing, AppStar Financial
offers a match or beat guarantee so he would benefit from the reduced pricing
as well
AppStar Financial relies on the willingness of merchants to
resolve these issues. In this case, we
would need Mr*** to propose a solution which includes a resumption
of processing. Barring that the accounts
remain opened pending receipt of a signed termination letter for each location
at which point the termination fee would be charged

AppStar Financial has reviewed this merchant’s
complaint. In reviewing the notes from
when the independent sales consultant met with the merchant, the merchant was
processing in a non-compliant manner with their previous processor. AppStar Financial does not set up merchants
in a
manner which could potentially expose cardholder data and subject a
merchant to penalties and their clients to fraud
According to the consultant who met with this merchant they
had an external terminal accessing the internet through a port on their
computer, commonly referred to as passthrough or piggybacking. This is non-compliant and a security
risk. To address this, AppStar supplied
a loaner terminal and later a router. Currently
there is no mechanism that is PCI compliant which allows a merchant to
piggyback a credit card terminal through a PC.
In regards to the setup, the merchant is correct, AppStar
Financial loaned the merchant a preprogrammed plug and play terminal to use As this is plug and play, the setup and
training is conducted over the telephone by our install teamIssues arose when
the merchant did not want the terminal accessing their phone lines nor wanted
it located where their Ethernet port was located
The merchant refused to run cable to where they wanted the
terminal to be located. As this is an
infrastructure expense, this is the merchant’s responsibility. Additionally,, AppStar offered to reimburse
the merchant two hundred ninety five dollars in termination fees
To keep the processing issues in perspective, this merchant
actively processed with AppStar from January 21, through February 19,
for a total of sixty seven transactions totaling four thousand two hundred
twenty two dollars and sixty four centsReviewing the statements they
submitted at the time of the application, this is greater than their transaction
volume in November,
It should be noted that AppStar Financial was saving the
merchant nine hundred and nine dollars per year over their previous processor. These savings alone would have been
sufficient to cover the cost of running the Ethernet to their desired location
Based on the factors, the termination fee will stand as
described in the Agreement While
AppStar strives to assist every merchant we cannot be held responsible for
defects in their lines or for changes to the infrastructure at their
location. In this case, we went above
and beyond by providing the merchant a router at our own expense.
A close letter was submitted by the merchant and the account
is slated for closure in March with March processing fees waived. The Termination fee will be charged prior to
March 31st,

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 *** * *** vendorWe were provided with *** *** as
being owned by a business by the name of *** *** which is why we called it
AppStar Financial offers merchant’s 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 the ***. 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
We have contacted *** *** and, based on his request,
blocked this and an additional number from our calling database. Additionally, we have addressed this as an HR
issue with the parties involved as our internal policies were not followed
We’d like to thank *** *** for his assistance and hope
this adequately addresses yours and *** *** concerns.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.I explained it very clearly with the man that came into my work environment that I deal with high tickets all day long and I am in the middle of expanding my company to sell high end vehicles. Why would I switch merchant companies knowing I wouldn't get next day nor was I told there was a credit check that I wasn't told and that the company did without my permissionI was told I had thirty days to try the product and services and if I did not like either one or both I could cancel and now I am being told I have a non cancelable contractThis company/sales person told me one thing and had me signed differentI do not want the productThe product has only been once and is sitting in the original boxes waiting to get sent backI have already went back with *** ** ***
Regards,
*** ***

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ***, and have determined that this proposed action would not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below
I have said MANY times I do NOT wish to be contacted by phone from this company yet they continue to do soI want any replies in writing and on the recordPeriod.This is just another example of them ignoring a customer's request NOT to be contacted by phone and again violating the DoNotCall list
Regards,
*** ***

AppStar Financial would like to thank the merchant for her assistance in this matter. Based on the information in her response, we were able to pull an independent coverage map for ***(attached), which shows that *** has weak 3G signal in her area. In the past, we have advised merchants experiencing this to contact their provider, in this case ***, and request a signal booster, which should fix her connectivity issues. To clarify, the application has no effect on the merchant’s connectivity that is handled completely by her carrier. The only action that the application takes is to direct the phone to connect over either WiFi or 3GRegarding the statement, we would need to see the August statement from her previous processor as that was the last full month she processed with them. If that is not available we could look at a July statement assuming the volume was approximately the same. A later statement would not assist us as it would show either the cost for a partial month or a month where she was inactive with the previous processor. This can be emailed to [email protected]

AppStar Financial contacted *** *** to determine what occurred here. During these calls *** *** 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 *** *** 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 *** *** and the rep. The majority of these calls were *** *** 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
*** *** 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 *** *** version of events*** *** 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.
*** *** 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
*** *** 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 *** ***He then raised a new issue: the change in fees On October 24, a Welcome Letter was sent to *** *** 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*** *** 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 *** *** 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, *** *** 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 *** *** 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 *** *** 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 (***, ***, *** and *** ***) 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. *** *** 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
*** *** 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 *** *** 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
*** *** 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, *** *** 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. *** *** has not provided us information to believe there were any calls beyond those listed
We’d like to thank *** *** 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