Accredited Interchange

I own a couple locations to a hair salon franchise, but I work 3 jobs. An agent from accredited interchange came to my place of business at 8pm to meet me so that we could discuss doing business, and I liked the way the deal sounded so I signed up. The problem with my schedule is that I can only manage my shops during odd hours. The agent was amazing, he showed up at 8pm again on a Friday to take care of one location, and was at my other location the next morning, SATURDAY, at 8am to set up the other location. I admire his dedication. It's been one month so far and my first statement came back $120 cheaper for one location, and I saved just over $150 the other location. All around working with accredited interchange has been a great experience.

Thank you for contacting the Revdex.com so that we can resolve this issue for you.  When it comes to cancelling previous processor’s merchant accounts, we are extremely limited in our abilities.  We print cancellation letters and send them on your behalf, but we cannot be held...

responsible for the integrity of another company.  In order to prevent double billing from happening, we provided you with both electronic PDF copies of the letters, as well as hard copies left with you on the day of the install.  We do this because we know that sometimes more than one letter is required with some companies.  By the time you told us about the double charge, we offered to reimburse you 3 months of their fees.  Please note, those fees were not ours, we agreed to take a total loss with that reimbursement as a gesture of our gratitude for your continued patronage. Pin pads are encrypted specific to each individual processor and must be swapped out every time you change merchant service providers.  Please review the PCI Compliance mandate from 2009.  They were not switched for devices that “worked better,” our hands were tied.  We value our customers and go through great lengths to hire patient and compassionate customer service representatives.  Any cocky, rude, and self-serving individual would be fired immediately.  Management reviewed every recording from your calls to Accredited, and found the calls compliant with our high standard of customer services excellence.  Perhaps you called the other company.  Our records indicate that we were working on an amicable resolution through counsel; however, during those discussions, you closed your bank account and ACH rejected interchange fees due.  Unfortunately, once you ACH reject interchange fees from a DDA change, our hands are tied.  The account is automatically closed and sent to an outside collection agency.  We are no longer in a position to help you, except to say that we have heard of very successful negotiations through them.  Please contact them directly to address any future concerns.

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]

Everything that goes on in our office is recorded for quality assurance.  Our records indicate that you called on August 12th 2015 asking us to pay the $500 ETF to [redacted].  You were then instructed to send us the debit statement showing that you paid it, and we’d reimburse the penalty within 72 hours.  Unfortunately that was the last we heard from you, and we never received the debit statement proving payment.   That fact that you took 16 months to get back to us is not our fault.  We cannot be held accountable for that much time.  Had we known within 90 days we would have escalated the issue to help you, but you never gave us that opportunity.  That is why part of our previously proposed solution was to pay you 3 months worth of those minimums.  We feel that is a reasonable amount of time.  This is the same issue with the lease.  Had we known within the first 90 days how unhappy you were with your new merchant account, and that the lease was not something that benefited your business, we would have cancelled it, however, it’s almost 2 years later.  Our Agent wasn’t fired for fraudulent sales tactics; he was fired for not answering his phone, and being unaccountable to management.  As a 1099 Sales Rep he is self employed, not an actual employee of Accredited.  We simply purchased contracts from him.  You signed a 3-year merchant service agreement, and a 4-year lease for $19 a month with him, and he in turn sold it to us.   Your volume has dropped significantly from several thousand dollars a month to only a coulple hundred.  It seems that while your business was making more money you were fine with the merchant account, but now that you are not doing as good you are using the Revdex.com to strong-arm Accredited.  We understand that in times of difficulty with your business you have many frustrations.  We want to help as much as possible.   Accredited takes an initial loss setting up merchant accounts, and those losses are slowly recouped over time through years of processing.  That’s why ETF’s exist.      If you’d like to cancel your account with Accredited, we will reduce your ETF to something more fitting to your volume.  We have lowered your ETF to $150 instead of $1,497.  That’s a $1,347 discount.  Let us know how to proceed.  Thank you.

I love this company!! I switched processors six months ago and could not be happier. I met with a sales agent named Thomas Cody, very professional and considerate salesman. After hearing him out I decided to work with him -- he cut my fees in half and upgraded my credit card machine. I have been checking my statements every month because I have been burned by merchant companies in the past but everything I was promised is true. I have had to call Accredited Interchange a few times for help with transactions and a recent chargeback and their customer service team proved to be just as impressive as my agent. Thank you Accredited. I will be recommending you to my colleagues.

Review: Be aware everybody from this scammer, I was scammed by this company. When the guy first came to my Restaurant, he promised to come and install terminal and train us and I was somehow signed up for a 3 year lease with [redacted] . I never got trained on the terminal, and I kept asking them to take the equipment back. The only thing that happened was the guy brought a terminal and said he will be for training but never did.

They never returned out phone calls and never came back for training as they promised so I stopped payment on their charges, now the leasing company sends us to collection.Desired Settlement: I want the equipment picked up, cancel the lease and collection.

Business

Response:

Case # [redacted]This complaint is absolutely false. Notes on the account:This business was leased a brand new state-of-the-art POS system that cost Accredited $6,500 to purchase. He leased this POS for $129/48 months. That bringshis total cost for the POS $6,192, and brings Accredited to a $308 loss. This is a loss that we were willing to take in order to gain his business. He has very cheap and weak signaled wireless Internet routers in his place of business and was having trouble keeping the mobile minis from maintaining a connection. We advised him that he needs to upgrade his router and he’ll be fine. His proposed resolution instead, was to have us reprogram his old pos and not use the new POS. We spend 3 weeks setting up the new POS and getting the necessary paperwork completed with the tech support team that manages that POS. Once the reprogram was ready we called Kit to schedule the change over on his old POS and he avoided our calls. We called his cell phone and his business phone and left messages on August 4th, August 6th, August 10th, August 13th, and finally on the 13th he answered and told our customer service agent that he is not interested and hung up. We then tried to take procession of the POS that he was leasing and he would not return it. Finally on Sept 25th we got Kit on the phone and he said if we want our equipment we’ll have to come and get it, and threatened to do bodily harm to our local sales agent if he showed up. Resolution:Mail back the equipment, upon receipt and inspection, we’ll gladly cancel your contract with Accredited at no penalty to you, we’ll take you out of collections, and zero out your balance owed to us. We are sorry that you wouldn’t let us help you, and we hope your current POS is everything that you were looking for.

Consumer

Response:

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.

Every word in this his reply is not true,

there sales rep. stopped in by when the equipment delivered and unpackaged everything

and took the empty boxes and said he will be back tomorrow to set everything up

and train us. Never came back or seen him again, and never returned any phone

calls even the main office the main office in San Diego were not willing to

send someone to setup the equipment and do the training. We kept leaving massages

and e-mail to come set us up or pick the equipment, which just been setting in

the office unable to use.

I will box all, and return it to their

office in San Diego.

Business

Response:

Review: We were introduced to Accredited Interchange credit card service by sales person named [redacted] who is the regional manager for this merchant service company. He promised us with savings per month and also he promised to take care of early termination fees($450) with our old credit card merchant service company. Also, Mr. [redacted] explained to us that the credit card machine fee (borrowing the machine) will be all included in the monthly fee which will be lower than our old merchant company. But, when we received our July statement, we realized that there was a cancellation fee of $495.00 was charged, $74.59 for the merchant card processor LEASE fee, and monthly fee of $54.39 was charged. If you add machine fee of $74.59 and monthly fee of $54.39 it's way more than how much we use to pay for our old merchant service which was $52.26 for the per month with everything included. We want to complain that Accredited Interchange company falsely advertised and didn't follow what the contract says. Also, we gave our EIN number for the contract with Accredited Interchange ( which is business account), but Accredited Interchange shared my SS number with FDGL (merchant credit card machine) and they accessed my personal account and put up a lien amount of $1872.00 on it. We called Accredited Interchange to be responsible with their false advertisements and also resolve unexpected charges to our account, but they are not sorry about what they did. We received our August bill and there was $42.22 charged to FDGL fees and monthly fee for $66.92 separately.Desired Settlement: We want all the charges to be refunded and also want to cancel the contract with Accredited Interchange.

We want Accredited Interchange to refund cancellation fees of $495.00 + merchant card processor fee of $74.59 (machine lease fees)+ merchant card processor fee of $42.22 (machine lease fees). We want them to remove lien (lien of $1872.00) on our personal account. Also, there's a small fees that is charged other then regular monthly fee witch is daily charge (for example if amount is $70, the card processed as $69.69 meaning it's charging $.31 per a day.) and it adds up everyday for the whole month, amount becomes about $9.10 for the month of July and $7.21 for the month of August.

Business

Response:

Review: Accredited Interchange came in to my office and promised lower credit card rates based on my companies excellent track record. I was told that I was currently paying 3.07% in fees and they could provide the same service for 1.8%. But I had to sign a 4 year Lease for the equipment which I asked the sales rep [redacted] if the 99.00 was included in the 1.8% and he said yes and that he would put it in writing and send it to me. My charges are running about 3% and I never received anything in writing about Lease payment being included. I signed a NON-CANCELABLE Lease based on these Lies and I think that if someone lies to you to get a signature the contract should be VOID. [redacted] also lied to me about Lease payment being included in the 1.8 %. and he is supposedly VP of Company.Desired Settlement: I want out of this 4 year lease and I want to find anew merchant service company. I should not have to pay Accredited a dime to Release me from this Contract with them. I want them to make this right by voiding all contracts between me and them.

Business

Response:

Case # [redacted]Our records indicate that this is a resolved issue.Customer service notes on account from August 6th 2015:Talked to [redacted]... he was at 3.03% and his last statement with accredited came out at exactly 1.8%. Add the Lease of $94 and he is at 2.2%. I explained to him that we did not hit our 1.8% total mark that we wanted, but we DID save him $200 this month all fees included and he was very happy. I also told him there was a $210 difference on our first month from what we did on this month and I was working on getting it reimbursed for him. He was very happy.Please let us know if something has changed…

Consumer

Response:

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.

Review: On or about 5/30/13 I was approached by [redacted] in my dental office about switching my credit card processing to Accredited Interchange. I will be glad to provide a copy of the initial proposal dated 5/30/13. I did not follow up on this proposal at that time. Again, on or about 8/6/13 I was contacted by [redacted] and pressured to swithch to Accredited Interchange. I explained that the proposal was too vague and did not give me enought information to proceed with the switch. Mr. [redacted] advised me that in order to obtain the exact rates, I had to provide more detailed information, which included my social security number, business tax ID number and banking information. I followed his instructions and signed what he represented to me as an application form on 8/6/13 (a copy is available for review). The review of the proposed rates revealed that only one (1) rate was better that my current provider, i.e. non-qualified surcharge (1.29% as opposed to 2.24%). However, the proposal was full of monthly fees and I expressed that to Mr. [redacted] who put me in touch with his supervisor, [redacted], Director of Sales. Mr. [redacted] assured me that he would do anything he could to earn my business including the remowal of all charges. When I was still hesitant about switching, he issued me a letter dated 8/7/13 that I had ninety (90) days to cancel the agreement with no "early termination fee". A copy is available for review. Further, I have copies of extensive email exchanges with Mr. [redacted] that he was going to remove all fees just to earn my business. The email also states that upon review, I was to sign the contract. That email is dated 8/9/13. I decided not to enter into this contract because it appeared suspicious that the company was so aggressive and was willing to forego so easily hundreds of dollars in monthly fees just to gain my business. In addition, my present processor, agreed to lower my non-qualified surcharge and it does not assess any additional fees. I was very surprised when I was charged by my bank an insufficient funds fee, because on 8/20/13 my account was debited twice for two (2) charges of $397, which I did not expect. Upon investigation, it was determined that these charges were made by Accredited Interchange. I immediately left voice messages for Mr. [redacted] and Mr. [redacted], and my wife sent email messages to them as well inquiring about these debits. Noone returned any phone calls or emails. We called the main telephone number for the company and spoke with [redacted] on 9/9/13. He stated that the charges were for early termination of the contract but was unable to explain the following discrepancies: (1) there was no fully executed contract, and (2) the debit amount does not match any amounts on the purported contract or any of its several versions (when Mr. [redacted] was amending it while we were negotiating it. I have all versions available for review) and (3) the most important piece of evidence - a letter from Mr. [redacted] that there are no "Early Termination Fees" for a period of 90 days. We asked for proof for his charges but he was uanble to produce any and stopped returning our phone calls. I faxed a demand letter to the company giving them an opportunity to refund the unlawful charges by today. They failed to do so or contact me or my wife, therefore I am pursuing this complaint.Desired Settlement: Cash refund in the amount of $794 via certified funds made payable to Dr. [redacted].

Business

Response:

Review: I interviewed accredited interchange because I was interested in switching my Merchant Processing account over to them. During the meeting, I was asked to provide documents to see if I would qualify for their program. Once [redacted] (sales agent with Accredited Interchange) left, I found may discrepancies in what he told me. I emailed him and said I had some concerns. He forwarded me to a man by the name of [redacted]. I spoke with [redacted] about my concerns and we decided at that point (February 4, 2014) not to move forward. On February 24, Accredited Interchange activated this Merchant Processing account under my personal ss # by charging a "soft hit" of $0.01. At that point, I emailed [redacted] once again.

I never heard back from [redacted]. A few days later I received a statement from Accredited Interchange showing the $0.01 charge on the merchant account and showed a fee of roughly $50.00. I once again began emailing [redacted] to have this account closed. I never heard from [redacted] again. As of March 20, 2014 Accredited Interchange ACH Debited my account $497.00. I have spent all morning and afternoon today trying to reach someone with Accredited Interchange and have failed. I now have closed my bank accounts, ordered new checks, debit cards, etc. I would like this account close, all fees expunged and my $497.00 deposited back in my account.Desired Settlement: 1) Return the $497.00 you illegall took from my account.

2) Close this account once and for all and remove any charges you placed on this account.

Business

Response:

Great payment processing company. They are dedicated to finding you the best rates and won't scam you with hidden fees. I have known Eric for a couple of months and he consistently impresses me with what he knows and how willing he is to help. My business is small, but they always treat me like I'm their most valued customer. I love it.

I have worked with Accredited's customer service department many times, I'm a little high maintenance. They are always very quick to respond. They do their best to make sure I get the best service available. I would highly recommend Accredited Interchange! Very impressed.

Review: Back in February I accepted an appointment to speak to an individual named [redacted]. It was regarding my merchant service business. I knew that my current service was old and outdated. So old that I didn't even know who it was with. There was no contact information on the credit card machine and the debits out of my account never gave any information as to where they were going. I could have figured out who to call but unfortunately I decided not to do that and meet with Mr. [redacted].

My wife and I were in the meeting together with Mr. [redacted]. He asked that I bring in statements and made everything seem so simple. He said my current company was charging me too much in hidden charges. He tried to explain to me what they were but I just believed him. He said that his company would very simply charge me 2% on every purchase and he would take care of cancelling my current lease and would pick up and send back my old equipment. Knowing nothing about merchant services and believing him to his word I remember signing something. He had a portable printer with him and I grabbed a check that he made a copy of. He said he would be back in 3 days to install new machine and pick up the old one. He came two days later instead and installed the new machine but left the old one in my store.

I thought not much of it for the next couple weeks until I noticed some charges on my online bank account. They amount taken out of my account was almost 3 times higher than what the previous company was taking. Then there was another charge of $99 per month for a lease of a machine. There was another $40 or $50 above that for charges that I didn't understand. I immediately called [redacted] and asked him what was going on. It took about 5 attempts to reach him because the number on his business card does not take messages and sends you to the main office number. When he did finally answer the phone he said he would take care of it. I never spoke or heard from him again. Shortly after I called the main number and spoke with a [redacted]. He also said that he had spoken with [redacted] and would take care of it. I did not here from him again either. Until over a month later.

Very frustrated and paying the fees above plus $50 per month to my previous merchant service company that was never cancelled, I decided to go online and seek help. The first thing I saw was a company that was backed by the Revdex.com and claimed would pay all early termination fees, I called them and spoke to a lady that said she would take care of everything. Sound familiar? I bought it, because I was so fed up with Accredited. I signed up with the new company and they sent out a machine and I unplugged the one from Accredited. That was back in March or April. I called [redacted] back and said I am done and how can I send back the machine. He was no help. All he wanted to do was sign me up again. I noticed on the online bills that a company called First Data was taking the money out of my account. Not Accredited. I called them numerous times and never got anywhere. They said my problems were with Accredited, not them. I lost a lot of sleep over this.

A couple more calls to them. I remember speaking to a nice lady from First Data. I asked her why it doesn't matter to you that the Accredited people have unethical people out there doing anything they can to sign up new customers. She was sorry but said she could do nothing.

I am not exaggerating when I say that I called Accredited at least 5 times and First Date 10 times. Everyone seemed to be protecting themselves. No one was willing to help me.

Sometime in April or May I got desperate. I had asked for call tags before but no one would give me one. I still had two machines in my store. My original company [redacted], who I wish I had never left, was also useless when I called them. They just wanted me back too. I found an address and sent there old machine back to them.

Accredited/First Data was another issue. I asked for a call tag and got nothing. I finally decided to send it back. I found an address and insured the machine for $500. I sent it back the beginning of May. For some reason a couple weeks later I called Accredited again. I told them that I had sent the machine back. This is where it get's almost funny and when it became the last straw. The guy [redacted] at Accredited told me to get the machine back. He said call them and get it back. He told me that he can get me out of the contract with my new company but I need to get the machine back so my account is not closed. I was shocked and I asked [redacted], "Why would my new company let me out of my contract with them?.' He said, "There is a grace period." I said, "Then where is my grace period with you?" He said, "We are different." For some reason I took his advice and called First Data to try and get machine back. When I finally did find the right person at First Data he told me that yes the machine was received, but it was destroyed. Great news since I had insured it for $500. Brand new machine that had been used for about 4 weeks.

Hell is just beginning. Out of the blue I guess First Data is getting the wind out of what is happening. I get a letter in the mail from them saying that, "No problem, you can get out of you contract with us. You just need to pay $5000."

I have all documents if you want me to send them to you.

When I saw this awful letter I realized it was time to call a lawyer. I have him waiting if I need him. Funny that the only time [redacted] from Accredited ever called me back was when I left a message on his machine that I had a lawyer waiting if I needed him.

A couple months ago in absolute desperation, I decided I had to cancel a bank account that I have had for the last 20 plus years. I have a perfect credit rating too. I could not find any other way of stopping the money coming out of my account without going to a lawyer. Cancelling your business checking account is not easy. It took time and the original merchant service company was able to get a lot of their early termination fees out of there before I could stop payments. I guess I don't blame them though. They didn't do anything wrong. I am still trying to get that money back from my current merchant service company. Also backed by the Revdex.com and claims to pay all early termination fees.

Today I received my first call from Accredited Interchange. A very nice man by the name of [redacted] wants to know why I cancelled my checking account and if I can give him a new cancelled check so we can start all over again. Funny, how he has no clue what is going on. I have not called him back because I know he is probably going to ask my to reup with his company again.

The letters I am getting weekly are threatening me collection agencies and with litigation. I am told my perfect credit will be affected. Yet there is no one from either Accredited or First Data who has done anything to help me. I hope these companies will do the right thing and learn from their mistakes.Desired Settlement: Move on with no termination fees of damage to my credit.

Business

Response:

Review: My name is [redacted]. I am the owner of [redacted]. I feel that I was scammed by this company. When the guy first came to my home, I told him that I only needed my website taken care of. I told him that I did not need nor did I have any use for a terminal for face to face transactions as I do not take face to face transactions nor do I take orders over the phone. I only own a website. I have no use for anything other than credit cards being hosted on my website. That being said, I was somehow signed up for a 3 year lease with [redacted]. I never received a terminal. The only thing that happened was the guy brought a terminal with him for a phone but I told him I did not need it. I only wanted to use you guys for my website. So I am not sure how I was enrolled with [redacted] which is now taking $96.13 from my account every month. I was verbally told there was no contracts with them and that I was only going to be signed up for my website and nothing else. Once again I never even received a terminal and somehow there is paperwork which states that I received a terminal and supposedly has my signature on.I feel that I was the victim of fraud. Ido not take a face to face transaction nor do I plan on it. This problem needs to be fixed as this is very bad business. AND to top it off my account was closed with them on June 15th because I sell e-liquid online and they knew that was the product I was selling when I began dealing witht them. So basically, they signed me up to get my money and then close my account saying its high risk. Well, it wasnt high risk when they came to my home that day trying to get my money. I really feel that I was a victim of fraud and this business is the prime suspect. Please help me fix this issue and help make sure that no one else falls victim to this fraudulent activity as I am thinking the representitive forged my signature with [redacted] because he knew that I did not want or need their services.Desired Settlement: I want my money refunded for the services I did not use nor did I sign up for with [redacted] and the accredited interchange. I would like for the lease that I supposedly signed to be terminated. And I would like for the Revdex.com to take a look at what the accredited interchange and [redacted]) are doing to hard working people so that these scams will stop as I sincerley do feel I was scammed. As opf right now my account is closed with them not because of me but they closed my account and I am stuck with this $96.13 charge every month for the next 3 years for a service I did not request but rather declined. Please help. Thank you!

Business

Response:

Case # [redacted]This file was set up as a retail account with a wireless terminal because the merchant sold his product at the swap meet every week. There are no phone/internet lines or power cords so a wireless terminal was the best option. The merchant was very happy with his setup for the first 3 months until the swap meet finally kicked him out for reasons unknown to Accredited. At that point, the merchant did not want the wireless terminal, but that’s not how leases work, they are non cancellable. He was approved to sell those products as a retail account, so once he became a fully MOTO account the Interchange shut him down as well. Had we known in advance that he was going to get kicked out of the swap meet we would have offered a different solution during the initial meeting. We also provided a shopping cart for his website. Our records show that he used both the wireless terminal and the shopping cart during his first few months with Accredited. The accusation that he was swindled and scammed is a false accusation in an attempt to get out of a contract. Accredited completely denies these allegations. Resolution:We understand that getting kicked out of the swap meet was probably bad for business, and has added additional stress to this merchant’s life. We have cancelled our contract with this merchant with no penalty and will not seek legal action for the money owed. His current balance with Accredited is $0. We wish him luck on his endeavors; hopefully his next retail shop is not shut down.

Review: Mr [redacted] came to my office mid Dec 2014 and told me that he could save me money on my current credit card processing. He said it was an easy set up and I would be off and running in no time. He brought out the credit card swiper to be used with my device and told me it was easy and would take just a few minutes to set up. After 45 min he could not get it to work. He left it on my desk and left. I never once used the device or heard back from [redacted].

Then accredited interchange started with drawing money from my account. I called the local office in Jan and explained to them that [redacted] was unable to get it to work and I had never used the device. I was told that is a manager issue and I will have to be called back. One week later Accredited interchange took additional funds from my account. I called again on Feb 6th and spoke with [redacted] at the local office. He said that is weird and this is a manager issue I will have to get a call back from his manager. Again no call back. I called back again on the 13th of Feb and [redacted] said he sees my file but can't do anything without a manager. so I will have to wait for a call back. The following with Accredited put a $495 charge through. I called the local office again and now [redacted] wouldn't take my calls and I was told my account is no longer accessible. This would have to go through a manager. I called back the following week again and asked for [redacted], again he wouldn't take my call and they said he was at lunch and would call me back. He never did. I have never ever received a call back.

I had to close my account. Accredited interchange has now sent me a collections letter for $1300. On this letter it says please call if you have questions or concerns. I have called the number On April 21st and 25th and not received a call back. I have called [redacted] on April 21st he answered and told me he would have his office call me. No one has called. I have called [redacted] back on the 22nd, 23rd, and 25th he does not answer and never calls me back.Desired Settlement: I would like to you to stop this collection process you have started for a service you have never provided. You have already collected money from my account when I never once used your service and [redacted] was unable to get it working.

I don't even care any more that you took money for a service that was not provided but the collection letter is ridiculous. Please stop.

cease and desist future attempts to collect for a service never provided.

Business

Response:

Case # [redacted]Resolution:[redacted],We have taken your account out of collections, and have cancelled your account at no penalty to you. Your current balance with Accredited is $0. We are terribly sorry for all of the stress and frustration that we may have caused. We hope this gesture helps. Best of luck with your business.

Consumer

Response:

Hello I am [redacted]. I filed this complaint and on Nov 3rd of 2015 I was given notice that Accredited Interchange would put my account in good standing and drop all collections. However not refund the money the took. I was happy to finally be done with them !!! A total nightmare. In December they gave my information to another collection company and began to start harassing me for payment for a service I never used or had hooked up and that they agreed to desist. PLEASE HELP. [redacted]

Business

Response:

The customer support department at Accredited kept their word and cancelled this debt. He is showing a $0 balance. Maybe he owes someone else...

Great people to work with. I have a very nice local representative, Travis, who checks in on me all the time. He lowered my rates, gave me online access to my account which shows EVERYTHING I need to know, and helped me setup my website shopping cart with no hassle. Thank you Accredited Interchange, you guys rock!

Review: This is a merchant processing company. I have a signed agreement offering me a fixed transaction fee of 1.4% plus $65/month. What I ended up with is the $65/month plus a more standard interchange rate plus lots of fees resulting in an effective rate of over 3.1%. The company made excuses about it but rather than honor the agreement, agreed to cancel the agreement with no penalty. However, it turns out that they turned the $65 monthly fee into a lease agreement for a terminal that I never needed since I use QuickBooks directly and tell me that the lease is non-cancellable. Phone calls from supervisors are not returned as promised. I have finally talked to the company with the lease and while they agree that the leases are normally non-cancellable, there are special conditions where they can be cancelled. Breach of contract certainly applies. I do not signed any lease agreement with First Data, it was all done through the merchant processor. I have wasted hours and hours of time. Since they didn't honor their 1.4% but charged me the $65/month, I want the $65/month returned ($236) and everything cancelled.Desired Settlement: Since the company did not honor their agreement, they should, at least refund me the fixed fee that they charged me. Even though the transaction fee is more than double what they agreed to, I am willing to leave that alone if they cancel their agreement at no penalty (they agreed to this) and also cancel the lease immediately.

Consumer

Response:

I have already sent in the agreement we signed showing the promised fees and rates and a copy of the statement showing more than twice the rate. They are just saying that they can change this to give me a better rate but in their response to Revdex.com, they said exactly what they said to me that they would "dramatically reduce" the fees but would not specify which fees or how much the effective rate would become. They DID NOT honor the agreement and will be served by my attorney.

Business

Response:

Review: I signed up to have Accredited handle my merchant credit card processing for parkside inn & suites. I was supposed to receive deposits to my bank account within 24 hours. Two weeks passed and I received not a single deposit. Their telephone number was a cell phone that had a full voicemail. I immidately thought that I was defrauded so I changed my processor back to chase.

Two days later accredited informed me that theyhad made an error my bank account numbers and my money was on a 77 day hold!!!

I asked them to cancel the agreement and they agreed over the telephone.

They continue to charge me for a terminal that is still sitting in their warehouse and now want $2900 to cancel a contract that they breached.Desired Settlement: Close the account and issue a full refund and a written apology for their mistake.

Business

Response:

Case # [redacted],We are terribly sorry for the banking inconvenience and we understand why you felt compelled to cancel your account early. As a business owner it’s very important that you receive your funds in a timely manner. We have closed your account at no penalty to you; your current balance with Accredited is $0.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], 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,

Review: Nov. 13, 2013

We are posting a second letter of complaint against Accredited Interchange because Accredited Interchange has not resolved refund issues, reduction on monthly bill, removing lien on our personal bank account. On the business response letter that they have posted on Revdex.com website, they made it sound like they resolved the entire problem for us, but none of the promises has been kept. We still haven’t received any refund, our monthly bill has not been reduced, and lien on our bank account has not been removed either. On top of that the worst matter is that on our month’s statement that received on Nov. 11, 2013 had annual fee of $99.00 was changed. On the copy of the contract that we have (which we signed in front of the sales person Mr. [redacted]), the sales representative Mr. [redacted] crossed out the section of service fee schedule which includes annual fees, early termination fee, charge back fee, retrieval fee, minimum monthly fee, monthly statement fee, wireless fee, portfolio mgr fee, debit access fee, IRS reporting fee, and more. I called Mr. [redacted] right away and he was saying that on the original copy that he has does not have that section crossed out and he was suspecting that we may just have it crossed it out. I told him that it’s not possible because sales representative crossed out that section and waived all the fees when we signed in front of him and we made the copies of all the documents, and we kept the copies and original copies were given to the sales representative. So, we asked him to email us that original copy and he said he will, but we never received anything from him. Also, Mr. [redacted] mentioned that in order for us to get refund on our cancellation fee of $495, we need to sign another contract saying that we won't cancel out on them, but we are not willing to sign any more paper with Accredited Interchange since all what we're asking is for them to keep their promise on the contract we signed. We are very tired and sick of Accredited Interchange lying to us at this time and we are very disappointed with the Revdex.com giving such a high score rate for Accredited interchange without specific investigation on resolving the issue with the complaints. If look at on the bottom of the pages, we have included our first complain towards Accredited Interchange and also their responds. If you read their responds, they seem like such a great company who’s taking care of the matter right away, but it’s just all words, and not action. We are posting second complaint due to none of the issues that we complained being resolved or satisfied.

8/06/13

Fist Review: We were introduced to Accredited Interchange credit card service by sales person named [redacted] who is the regional manager for this merchant service company. He promised us with savings per month and also he promised to take care of early termination fees($450) with our old credit card merchant service company. Also, Mr. [redacted] explained to us that the credit card machine fee (borrowing the machine) will be all included in the monthly fee which will be lower than our old merchant company. But, when we received our July statement, we realized that there was a cancellation fee of $495.00 was charged, $74.59 for the merchant card processor LEASE fee, and monthly fee of $54.39 was charged. If you add machine fee of $74.59 and monthly fee of $54.39 it's way more than how much we use to pay for our old merchant service which was $52.26 for the per month with everything included. We want to complain that Accredited Interchange Company falsely advertised and didn't follow what the contract says. Also, we gave our EIN number for the contract with Accredited Interchange ( which is business account), but Accredited Interchange shared my SS number with FDGL (merchant credit card machine) and they accessed my personal account and put up a lien amount of $1872.00 on it. We called Accredited Interchange to be responsible with their false advertisements and also resolve unexpected charges to our account, but they are not sorry about what they did. We received our August bill and there was $42.22 charged to FDGL fees and monthly fee for $66.92 separately.

Desired Settlement: We want all the charges to be refunded and also want to cancel the contract with Accredited Interchange. We want Accredited Interchange to refund cancellation fees of $495.00 + merchant card processor fee of $74.59 (machine lease fees)+ merchant card processor fee of $42.22 (machine lease fees). We want them to remove lien (lien of $1872.00) on our personal account. Also, there's a small fees that is charged other then regular monthly fee which is daily charge (for example if amount is $70, the card processed as $69.69 meaning it's charging $.31 per a day.) and it adds up every day for the whole month, amount becomes about $9.10 for the month of July and $7.21 for the month of August.

Business Response:

Hello Dr. [redacted], we have been in touch via email and telephone over the last 2 weeks both with you and [redacted]. We value your business and appreciate you.

You stated that you did not want us to address the lease issue at this point, but to fix the ETF reimbursement and merchant fee issue first, which we have done.

Accredited has already lowered your rates to an extremely competitive discount as of last week, and have also submitted to have $495 deposited into your account. That money was released to you on Tuesday this week, per your request, but it takes 5 to 10 business days to show up in your account. We called you Tuesday and Wednesday this week to share the good news with you, and address the lease issue, but were unable to get hold of you.

As far as the lease goes, you signed a personal guarantee, which is why it shows up as a trade line on your credit report. When you first called customer service with this concern you were told that you would need to send Accredited 2 years Corporate Financials, specifically your Balance Sheet and Profit & Loss Statement. Your CPA misinformed you that we did not need that when, in fact, we do.

All told: You called in with concerns and we addressed all of them without hesitation. You wanted your previous processors ETF reimbursed and we submitted it. You didn’t want the lease on your credit report, and we educated you on what we need in order to make that happen. You were concerned about your fees so we lowered them. You wanted to deal with the lease at a later date, and we have waited.

Please retract this complaint and continue to work with us as your processor, we are confident that we can clear up any issues with your account to your satisfaction.

We have already made good faith efforts on your behalf, please keep in mind that the ETF reimbursement of $495 is due back to Accredited immediately if you cancel our services early, and could potentially harm your credit.

- Accredited Interchange Customer Service

Revdex.com's Final Determination: Business offered a resolution. Consumer did not pursue further with Revdex.com and the matter was assumed to be resolvedDesired Settlement: We want Accredited Interchange to refund cancellation fees of $495.00, and monthly merchant card processor fee $42.22 should be removed from monthly statement (machine lease fees should be all included to merchant card processor fee rather than charged separately). Also, we want them to remove lien (lien of $1872.00) on our personal account and we want refund on annual fee of $99.00 because it was supposed to be waive on the contract where we signed. (We have proof of the contract and we can scan it and post the contract on internet) We want apology from Accredited Interchange for costing us unnecessary funds, time and stress trying to settle this matter.

Business

Response: