Absolte Air Industries

How did this case get closed? I responded immediately after the last update from Appstar (the business I’m filing the complaint from) I included the contract they had me signed, I pointed out where in the contract the information I was needing was buried in the contract I sent you email correspondence from my new credit card processing company stating that they would not cover the cancellation fee, even though AppStar believes they will Since I sent that message through your system, I have not received any updated information from you or any questions for clarification No email notifications, nothing Can someone please call me at ***? I’d like this file re-opened I see in the email correspondence that you sent me an email on 4/15/asking when I was notified of the termination fee I either never received notification in my email of that question, or I completely missed it somehow, but the answer is that I was notified of the termination fees when I called them to cancel my contract with them in the beginning of March I discovered the other ancillary fees that they added on my account without my notification in near the end of February when I started reviewing my credit card processing fees Those additional fees are what prompted me to change processors I made the change without contacting AppStar Reviewing AppStars fees is incredibly cumbersome because they charge me monthly fees and they take money out of credit card deposits, so many reports have to be pulled in order to figure out what they are actually taking from me This is another way AppStar is a bit shady with their business practices *** ***

Good evening, This email is to confirm the acceptance of the proposed resolution for case # *** between *** *** *** and Appstar financialIn the resolution, Appstar has agreed to forward the disputed amount in exchange for my acceptance and understanding that an exception is being made. Best 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

On October 15, an independent sales consultant met with
Ms*** *** and signed a Merchant Application and Agreement for ***’s ***
***. The merchant began
processing on October 22, The complaint can be summarized as
follows:
1.
The merchant feels they were not charged the
quoted rate
2.
They were promised an EMV “chip card compliant terminal”
3.
They feel they had excessive outages
1.
In
reviewing the complaint, it appears the merchant rates with AppStar Financial were
int+dfa+.59% and $.08. This means that
the merchant is passed on the raw cost of the cards charged by the card issuing
banks known as the interchange rate (int) +
dues fees and assessments charged by *** *** *** *** plus
.59%*processing volume + $per transaction.
This represents a .59% markup on the total processing volume, which is
what is referred to in the merchant’s complaint. This is the “cost (DFA) + (% +fee) listed on
the quote provided to the rep by the merchant (see attachment)
2.
The
terminal sent to the ***’s *** ***, the ip90x is EMV capable. The EMV liability shift takes effect on
October 1, 2015. In April 2015, the EMV
build for the ip90x was released and AppStar Financial has begun the process of
updating our merchants to the new program Currently we are on schedule to complete this
prior to the October 1, date. The
only charge that could be incurred by the merchant in upgrading the software
would be if they opted to swap the terminal rather than completing the download
over the phone
3.
In regards to the terminal issues, the merchant
was using *** as a phone provider and then switched to ***. Both of these phone providers use digital
lines. As part of their business
practices they increase the speed on these lines as much as possible. Unfortunately, the credit card terminals on
the market today were designed for either true analog lines or internet (ip)
connectivity. They are not designed for
digital lines. This resulted in the
merchant experiencing issues with the modem.
We advised the merchant that regardless of who she processes with, she
should switch to internet connectivity to avoid the issues with the digital
lines
Based on the call with Ms***, we agreed to the following
refunds
1.
Debit monthly service fee for the months were
the debit service fee was not used. Ms***
*** submitted a close letter for the debit service in November Unfortunately
we were not able to accept this as she was not a signor on the account. A signature discrepancy letter was sent, but
not returned. Based on our conversations
with Ms*** ***, we are approving this refund as an exception
2.
Refund the $debit termination fee for the
reasons listed above
3.
Refund the April end of month fees. We received Ms*** ***’s close letter on
March 31, 2015. Unfortunately, this paperwork
takes time to process resulting in the merchant account closing April 2,
2015. This caused the merchant to be
billed for April 2015, a non-processing month
4.
Refund the $equipment cost upon receipt
of the terminal. A call tag has been
sent to the merchant to assist with this return
5.
Refund the $charged for supplies. This merchant had signed up for AppStar’s
Merchant Benefit Plan which includes free supplies. Unfortunately they contacted the wrong group
and were charged for the purchase of supplies.
We have shown them how to order in the future to avoid this fee in the
event that they resume processing with AppStar
AppStar Financial realizes how valuable the merchant’s
cooperation is in resolving these issuesWe would like to thank both Ms***s for
their assistance in resolving this issue and hope we can provide them further
service in the future
We have explained to Ms*** *** that the refunds listed above
are on hold pending her acceptance of this offer through the Revdex.com

AppStar Financial spoke with this merchant on October 20,
2015. 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:
1.
We would lower the termination fee to the
$she had already paid or
2.
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 *** *** to
accept one of these offers. It should be
noted that *** *** 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 *** *** accept whichever
offer through the Revdex.com so that it becomes part of the record. A copy of the email sent to *** *** 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 *** * *** vendorWe were provided with Ms*** number ***
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 AppStar at 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
A message has been left for Ms*** to ensure that we have
blocked all applicable numbers in our system as well as to advise her on how
she can prevent these calls from other companies by contacting *** * ***
We hope this adequately addresses yours and Mr***’s concerns. Please do not hesitate to contact me directly
should require additional assistance
Harry Mort
AppStar Financial

AppStar Financial has reviewed this complaint with the
merchant and her office manager Carrie.
After reviewing the agreement with Carrie, it was agreed that the fees
were as disclosed on the Merchant Application and Agreement.
We would like to thank Dr*** and *** for
allowing us
to clarify this matter. We realize that
this required their time and effort. To
thank them we offered two options: the first,
the merchant can resume processing through AppStar and we can offer a rate
reduction and a full refund of the termination fee after the merchant has
processed for ninety days. The second
was to offer them a $reduction to their termination fee. The merchant has been advised that she will
need notify AppStar via the Revdex.com as to which option she prefers

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,
*** ***

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 until for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved
Regards,
*** ***

AppStar would like to apologize for the delay in this reimbursement being issued. The paperwork was sent to the independent sales consultant and not received in our office until February 6, 2017. The payment was requested that same day and issued February 17, 2017. We have
confirmed with Ms***-***that she has received the depositWe’d like to thank Ms***-***for her assistance in resolving this matter as well as the additional information she provided during our call

Ms***, doing business as *** *** ***, contacted us on September 18, and told us that she wanted to close her account as she no longer wanted to accept credit cards at her business.? She was advised at that time that we would need to receive a signed closing letter no later than
October 26, to avoid the account renewing on August 25, 2017.? On November 17, we received the equipment back along with the close letterAs the account had renewed at this point she was charged the termination fee.? ? Ms*** has told us that she sent an earlier closing letter which we did not receive.? Ultimately, it is her responsibility to provide proof that she sent this as we would not have any way of determining it otherwise.? Her account was eventually closed due to ACH rejectsMs*** has settled this matter with our Collections group.? This resulted in a refund of $being ACH’d to her on February 14, In the event that Ms*** is able to provide us backup for the earlier attempt, we will cover the termination fee for her and issue a full refund

It appears to me I only have the first pages and the copy of our blank checkThe rest of their contract pages only provide more proof of how crazily extensive their contract is and how deep it goes into covering them in any and every way to over charge and change the agreement at their whimI'm fairly confident that if the verbal conversation covered every aspect of this contract they would sign very few customers due to all the unknowns in the contract that as I recall they referred to as an agreement that I could get out of at any time with out a problemI don't recall any conversation about the $I think this company trains their people to be very slick/slippery sales peopleWATCH OUT!

AppStar Financial has reviewed this complaint as well as the
calls between the merchant and our corporate officeThis review has shown that
the merchant was provided proper closing instructions on multiple occasions,
dating back to when she called in to close her son’s account and
continuing
through this year, when she quoted part of the closing procedure to the rep she
was speaking with.? This rep was asked to
call her back and left several messages for her which were not returned.? In addition, after the initial contact,
messages left for the merchant with her staff were not returned.? AppStar aims to work with every merchant to
address their issues as they arise, but relies on the merchant responding to
our calls to do so.?
It should be noted that the merchant faxed in a statement
from her current processor showing she had paid them $on $5,in
sales volume.? To put that in
perspective, the merchant paid AppStar $on $10,in sales, almost
twice the volume.? If she had processed
that volume with her current processor, she would have paid $or 167%
more than AppStar charged
During our one contact, the merchant stated she was
unwilling to return to AppStar as she had paid $for a terminal to the
new processor, the same model that AppStar loans to merchants
We look forward to working with the merchant but ask that
she contact us at 858-712-so that this matter can be resolved

1)[redacted]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]

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
?

AppStar has reviewed our earlier response with the merchant and she has asked that the Revdex.com resubmit it to her for approval

AppStar Financial believes this issue was resolved on
October 20, 2015.? We were contacted by
*** ***, *** *** partner, in August regarding a prior processor
reimbursement (PPR).? We explained at
that time that the deal was submitted without this paperwork.? *** ***
submitted this on September 1,
and the PPR was approved as an exception.?
The PPR was sent to *** *** via ACH on October 20, via ACH to
account ending the *** ** *** account ending in ***
While AppStar Financial strives to handle all PPR’s in a timely
manner in this case the reimbursement was delayed by AppStar being a) unaware
of the offer and b) by the merchant submitting unsigned reimbursement paperwork
after the deadline for submission.? In
the end, exceptions for the late submission and the unsigned reimbursement
paperwork were made and the reimbursement was issued
We ask that *** *** check the October bank statement for the
account ending in *** to verify that she sees the deposit.? In the event that she does not, AppStar will
request a trace on the deposit
In regards to the savings, AppStar has only partial copies
of the October and November statements to compare to, but these show that
the merchant was paying 2.55% on average per month with the previous.? With AppStar, they are paying 2.42% based on
the October statement.?
We hope this answers *** *** concern

AppStar Financial has spoken with Mr[redacted] and he has told us this complaint was resolved? We'd like to thank Mr[redacted] for his assistance in resolving this matter

Thank you for forwarding *** *** complaint.? In
response, I have provided a copy of the following:
1.? ? ? ? ? ?
Merchant Application & Agreement ??" pages
and 4;
2.? ? ? ? ? ?
Terms & Conditions
Acknowledgement;
3.? ? ? ? ? ?
A printout of *** Management page
4.? ? ? ? ? ?
Page of the merchant’s March and April
statements
5.? ? ? ? ? ?
Blog Posting regarding *** ability to
manage compliance issues for it’s clients
First, It should be noted what services *** *** *** business, provides.? ***
on their website lobdock.com, states:
DOT
compliance regulations can be confusionand they are often a "moving
target."
We can help you navigate through the sea of
Federal red tape…
In short, they bill their service as including the
interpretation of DOT regulations and “Managing Contractor Compliance
Guidelines[:]” they specialize in reading the fine print for their clients
While speaking with *** *** and in her complaint, Ms
Lobsinger stated that “there were tons of hidden and confusing fees that I
still don’t understand.”? AppStar would
like to contest that.? In our
conversations *** *** focused on three items: the Breach Protection
Program, the Merchant Benefits Package and the term of the contract
These items are not listed in the “fine print.”? AppStar Financial designs its Agreement for
readability.? Unlike other processors we
group our fees together so that merchants are not left to dig through “the fine
print” in an attempt to locate the fees.?
All fees related to credit card processing are explicitly listed on page
of the Agreement
The Breach Protection Program, which was announced March
and implemented in May 2014, is the exception.? As the program had not been launched yet, it
was announced on page of the March and April statements.? After the program was launched, it was added
to page of the Agreement.? The announcement
read:
Data breach protection programIn an effort to
protect our
customers from the over data breaches of
million
records in and the breaches at Target,
Neiman
Marcus and hundreds of other businesses, we have
negotiated and secured a data breach protection
program
for our customers starting April 1, at a
monthly cost
of five dollars thirty two centsThis product is
specifically
designed to help cover the significant costs that
would
result from a breach at your locationFrom the
data and
reports that we have reviewed we believe that
data
security issues will become increasingly
importantPlease
note that this does not replace the need to
become and
remain PCI compliant pursuant to the PCI program
we
have set up for youFor questions on this
program, please
call
1-866-565-
The announcement included a number for merchants to call
with questions about the program and, if they chose, to opt out.? Additionally all statements advise the
merchant to reconcile their charges monthly and advise us within ninety days if
they wish to dispute the charges.? Ms
Lobsinger has stated that she had neither accessed nor read her statement with
us during the twenty four months she actively processed
*** *** also stated that she did not know she had
signed up for the Merchant Benefits Package.?
This package is explicitly listed on page of the Agreement along with
the Rates and the Other Fees.? It should be
noted that the rates were adjusted on this page so it is implied that a review
of this page was conducted
In regards to the termination fee and the term of the Agreement:? *** *** expressed that we should
include paragraph in its entirety on page of the Agreement, space
precludes us from doing this.? Additionally,
it would go against our intent to do so.?
The page is designed to draw the signer’s eye to the termination fee and
direct them to the Terms and Conditions for the full explanation.? If AppStar were to include paragraph in
its entirety it would actually serve to hide this information in the “fine
print” making it less likely not more so that merchant would read that
paragraph.? We instead decided to section
off the termination statement in its own bolded sqaure and include it on the
signature page in an attempt to draw the merchant’s eye to this.? This is the opposite of hiding items in the fine
print
Finally, *** *** complaint that the three year term
is in the “fine print” asks us to ignore that her business advertises that they
read and interpret this type of material for their clients, so while we
disagree with her characterization that the term is hidden, *** ***
states that she specializes in reading this type of material
We have reviewed this material with *** *** and have
advised her to approach her new processor about picking up the fee, something
which is standard in the Merchant Services industry and which AppStar regularly
offers merchants.? *** *** stated
that her new processor has refused to assist her with the termination fee
Based on the above, the merchant’s request to refund the
fees charged and waive the termination fee is declined.?

Mr*** 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*** service on the initial account on March 2, ??" four years prior to his final transaction and Mr*** 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 (***, ***, *** and *** ***) 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*** 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

AppStar provides a match or beat guarantee for our
merchants.? We ask that Mr[redacted]
submit his November and December processing statements for review? ? If AppStar is unable to match or beat what
his previous processor was charging him, the termination fee will be waived