Absolte Air Industries

I have been unable to reach this merchant at the number provided to address this complaint.? We request that he call me at [redacted] so we can address this complaint

AppStar Financial contacted Swipe for *** ***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 *** *** 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 *** *** 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 *** 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 866-336-9173.? If *** *** has
any additional questions, I can be reached at 858-712-

Mr*** 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.? ?

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 $credit from the bank was made after I discussed the situation with them and they agreed your practices were misleading and they did not want to collect their fee under this circumstance.? In addition I was only given pages of a page contract that the bank was given, so much of my needed information was never provided to me.? Furthermore, on one page of the contract I was given, your representative, [redacted] wrote the word "waived" after the early termination fee (documentation attached).? This should have sufficed for not auto renewing my contract.? You continue to offer poor customer service and are not a reputable company.? I worked with you for nearly years and for you to treat a loyal customer this unethically is repulsive.? I would encourage no one to ever work with your company.? ?
Regards,
[redacted]

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 do believe a $termination fee should have been topic of discussion and was not Appstars own phone log will show thatAnd as for the contract I was not made aware of it being anything more than permission to access my bank accounts leading me to believe I just had to sign and that was thatAnd I noticed in the Appstar response there was no mention of me having to log on and check for updates to the account and they certainly didn't mention automatic fee increases
As I said before even if we agree I should've read the contract and known then about the early termination I was still over charged based on said agreement as I was told not a contract and the minimum over charge was $nothe counting annual fee of $that I'm fairly certain was not mentioned verbally or in the agreement plus the PCI charge of as I recall $The only way to make this right is pay back at minimum the over charges of $Appstare made their money and has been over charging and I only caught it because I did a check of the contract they want to go by
These funds were taken from our checking account count electronically and the increase didn't get caught until I audited the account detailThe contract clearly states the fees and they charged more than the agreement by probably more than doubleI am not in the office so I can't currently give exact numbers on the fees charged but the bottom line is on the agreed fees alone they over charged $plus and I am willing to forget it for that amount otherwise I would like to take this as far as possible to get it reconciled including legal council if need.Regards,*** ***

AppStar Financial would like to thank Mr[redacted] for bringing this to our attention? We have contacted him for additional information as our records do not show any calls to [redacted] or to [redacted] Mr[redacted] has agreed to provide the number that the call originated
from so we can verify that he is blocked in our system from further calls.In regards to the complaint: ? 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] vendor.? 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 877-549-[redacted]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 hope this adequately addresses yours and Mr[redacted] concerns? Please do not hesitate to contact me directly should require additional assistance.[redacted]AppStar Financial

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

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
They did not review my set up here in the clinic.? Their "consultant" that was here in my office did not even look at any of my equipment when she was here and has since then disappeared and I have not been able to even contact her.? The only contact I have had is with people that have not seen the inside of my clinic, they keep sending me options to try, they suggested I run a cord throughout the clinic from the modem which is clear in the back office and we are a pediatric clinic so that would be dangerous for children to be tripping on all day.? The loaner machines they sent me have all been sent back as of today.? I am not asking for any money back, just simply to not be charged the early termination fee.? They did not do their job making sure we were set up to use their equipment therefore we should not be responsible for having to terminate the agreement.? We have a new system back up and running and we have not had ONE single issue so that confirms again that it was the only the equipment
Regards,
[redacted]

Mr[redacted] is incorrect in his assumption that debit transactions are charged a $fixed fee.? Debit cards are charged a fixed transaction fee plus the debit network fees which are billed on a pass through basis.? These fees average an effective rate of $For November, Mr[redacted]’s
raw cost was $for debit and $for credit.? We have adjusted his fees to bring the effective rate for credit down to $which is below the effective rate of $for debit, which Mr[redacted] paid in November.? ? ? If Mr[redacted] would like to have his machine prefer debit over credit, we can place him on an older AID.? However he will need to sign a letter stating that he understands that this may result in him paying a effective transaction fee for these transactionsThis can be faxed to 866-336-

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

On December 15, Mr[redacted] met with an Independent Sales Consultant with the express intent of reviewing his credit card processing.? At that time he signed a Merchant Application and Agreement for his business Digital House Computers.? As? part of that Agreement, Mr[redacted] was
lent a terminal and was allowed a day trial to try the service out.? This was later extended to days to allow him to process for one full calendar month prior to deciding to go forwardAppStar Financial has reviewed Mr[redacted]’s complaint and request he provide back up for the following: 1.? ? ? He mentions a $fee.? We could not find a record of this fee being charged.? If he could send us a copy of the bank statement showing the charge we will investigate it further2.? ? ? Mr[redacted] states he was charged “application fee 149, reprogramming fee $encryption fee$anuel imprinter $25” fee.? We show that these fees were waived.? Again, we request back up for the charge3.? ? ? Mr[redacted] was on a day trial which was extended to February 23, 2016.? We need an explanation as to why he waited until June to address this 4.? ? ? Mr[redacted] was lent a terminal to process onHe has yet to return or pay for the terminal.? He will need to either send a check for the equipment or the equipment back in good working order to: AppStar Financial Viewridge Ave Suite C San Diego, CA We’d like to thank Mr[redacted] for his assistance in resolving this matter

AppStar Financial stands by its earlier reply.? It should be noted that Mr[redacted] was given a day trial period as an exception to try the service.? ? This was later extended to days The applications was approved on December 21st, and trained on January 6, 2016.? Mr[redacted] called us on January 14, asking for assistance with FirstView, our online reporting tool.? He called us again on March 7, asking us to reset his password and then on May 5th to discuss the PCI fee.? The May 5th call is the first one where Mr[redacted] expressed any dissatisfaction with the fees.? His account was then closed on June 9th as a result of his monthly billing rejecting, resulting in him being contacted by our collections group.? On June 25th, after being contacted about his breach of the Agreement, Mr[redacted] files a complaint with the Revdex.comAt no point did Mr[redacted] contact us asking for a rate review or for his fees to be reviewed prior to the PCI fee being chargedNor did he contact our office asking for assistance with that fee.? Additionally, he did not file a complaint with the Revdex.com until after he was notified that he would be held to the terms of the Agreement he had breached by having his bank reject the ACH.? Based on his call history, he had the correct information at hand to make those call if he had felt them necessaryReviewing the complaint and the rebuttal to our response, Mr [redacted] states he has an issue with the monthly fees on the account.? It should be noted that, with the exception of the PCI fee, which is a passthrough fee, the fees mentioned by Mr[redacted] are listed on page of the Agreement along with the other rates and fees in the “Other Fees” section.? Unlike other processors, we do not hide our fees.? The PCI, again noted in that same section, is explained in the Terms and Conditions of the AgreementAppStar Financial works to assist merchants with these issues as they occur.? However, we cannot address them without the merchant letting us know that they have an issue.? Mr[redacted] failed to provide us that opportunityIn regards to the termination fee and Mr[redacted]’ belief that that is how we make our money.? First, a minor correction, Mr[redacted] misquotes the termination fee as $600.00:? the actual fee is $as is written in bold above Mr[redacted] signature on page of the AgreementAppStar Financial incurs our costs upfront and recoups them over time based on the merchant actively processing.? ? If Mr[redacted] had contacted us in the first thirty days of service, we would have been forced to accept those costs.? He did not do so andhe termination fee was attached to his account.? The truth is most merchants stay with AppStar long past the initial three year term, and we would be operating at a loss if we relied on termination fees to operate our businessMr[redacted] has given no explanation as to why he did not contact us after his first or even his second billing.? In fact he never contacted us asking for a rate review or a fee adjustment.? His compliant was only filed in response to us holding him to the Agreement.? Based on these factors, the request to have the termination fee waived is declined If Mr[redacted] has information as to why he did not contact us to assist him, but rather chose to have his bank reject the fees, we would be happy to review it

In her response, Ms[redacted] has failed to provide support for her earlier statements that she had submitted the closing letter in a timely manner.? She did however submit an altered signature page with the word “waived” written in.? This is the first we have seen of that page and it does not match the signed agreement which was submitted to us.? It also does not match the waiver of the annual fee on page of the agreement, which was done with a single line(see attached)As such, we are unable to waive the termination fee without Ms[redacted] providing proof that she submitted a close letter during the anniversary period of August 27th through October 26thThese dates were given to her on September 18th when she called inWe politely request a second time that Ms[redacted] provide proof of her earlier statements

Hello Caro I am sending you this email to tell you that yesterday,? February 23, 2016, I sent you the fax that Mr[redacted] asked for so that the case would be closed against Appstar, I would like to send you a copy thru this medium but I do not know howI had called you but I received no answer, thank you for everything and if you could give me a call back I would appreciate? ? my cell number is? [redacted]

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[redacted] and [redacted] 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.?

AppStar Financial has reached out to Ms[redacted].? We would like to apologize for the delay in the refund, the equipment was received 2/7/16.? Unfortunately, a refund email was not sent causing the delay.? As an exception (and due to the delay), AppStar has agreed to refund the wireless fees the merchant was charged after her last wireless transaction.? As the account is closed, a data request has been sent so that we can determine the amount of the refund.Regarding [redacted], AppStar does not have the right to alter [redacted]’s leases once they have been approved and we ask that that part of the complaint be sent to [redacted] to be addressed.We have spoken with Ms[redacted] and she is aware that she will receive to refunds via ACH with the second arriving no later than May 5th, 2016.We’d like to thank Ms[redacted] for bringing this oversight to our attention and for her assistance this morning in resolving it

n regards to complaint # [redacted]:? ? 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 Dunn & Bradstreet vendorWe were provided with Mr[redacted]‘s number [redacted] as being owned by a business by the name of [redacted] Ltd// [redacted] which is why we called it.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 877-549-5884.? ? 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 removed [redacted] from our database.? ? If there are any additional numbers Mr[redacted] would like removed, he can submit those through the Revdex.com or directly to AppStar at? [email protected] on Mr[redacted]’s remarks, we are reviewing the calls placed to this number as an HR matter.? We hope this adequately addresses yours and Mr[redacted]'s concerns.? ? Please do not hesitate to contact me directly should require additional assistance.?

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.?
I had trouble trying to log into your site to answer emails looking for response, I have also had a considerable amount of contact with [redacted] representing App StarIn my contact with [redacted] I listened to some recordings regarding our purchase of service from App StarI am certain I didn’t hear all conversations however what I did hear had nothing discussing an early termination fee though it was on the service agreement that I signed as their rep had askedThe way it was presented to me verbally was the thing I was signing was mostly to get the funds collected on my behalf via credit cards was to get the banking info correct not a contract and I recall him mentioning small monthly fees that are on the contract plus % on all charges run through their serviceIn the end [redacted] did offer to refund half of the $up front and I declined feeling I have been mislead big time by the phone solicitor and upon my further investigation I found that they had raised the monthly charges from even what their agreement said and his answer was that they had incurred additional cost and raised the charges accordingly and this was done without notice to me, he claimed it was my obligation to log onto their site to get these notices regularly something I was not made aware of and seems a bit shady to meThere were also charges that I didn’t agree to in any way that I can see $annually $PCI charge
?
The monthly charges on the contract added up to $and change and in fact they charged my account an average of $over mosI told [redacted] as I saw it if we went soley by the? agreement? as I signed? it they over charged me approx$not including the early termination or the separate charges they added aboveeven if we say sorry [redacted] you signed this agreement and it said early termination $they breached the agreement when they started raising the monthly charges without notice so honestly I think the $495? should also be returned but I'm going to rely on your knowledge and expertise to tell me what we should do going forward.? Regards,[redacted]

AppStar Financial met with this merchant on January 31, 2014.  At that time she signed an agreement for credit card processing with AppStar Financial as well as a lease with [redacted].  She later cancelled the lease and AppStar Financial provided her a terminal at a reduced cost as...

she was a new business.[redacted] states that the rates are not what she agreed to. It should be noted that AppStar Financial differs from other processors in that we group all of our rates and fee together on page 2 of the Agreement labeled “Rates & Fees .”  We do this specifically to avoid questions of “hidden fees” which plague so many other processors.In reviewing her charges, all rates &  fees were charged according to what is listed on this page with the exception of those fees which were reduced when she called in for a rate review (those fees are lower than the listed rates).Additionally, as the sales consultant lowered the fees from the standard fees listed on the application, it is clear that this page was reviewed with the merchant.AppStar Financial, in this case, relied on the merchant’s signed statement that there had been no verbal commitments made to her that were not reflected in writing on the Agreement.   Without this, we would have rejected the Agreement as there would have been no way to limit what we would have been agreeing to.As the merchant has asked her attorney to address this with our Collections department, we ask that this complaint be closed due to the merchant pursuing it through a different venue.

AppStar Financial received this merchant’s close letter on
January 15, 2015 requesting her account be closed on her anniversary date of
March 6, 2015. A copy of this letter has been attached.
The account was closed on March 6, 2015 with a final bill
for March generated the first week of April...

2015.  We believe that this final bill is what
caused the merchant to believe the account remained open.
A message reviewing this matter was left with the merchant
on April 8, 2015.  We believe this
resolves the merchant’s issue and would like to thank her for giving us a
chance to address this.