FIRST AMERICAN PAYMENT SYSTEMS

Revdex.com:
I agree that the company was going by the letter of the contract. There is no scam or illegal activity. My only complaint is that the company utilized a contract structured in a way that made it most difficult for a customer to cancel it. We had not used the service in a long time and there was no cost to the company, just the monthly draft from our bank account for services that we were not using. If they gave us free equipment on the front end or something else of value that we needed to pay off through a contract, I would understand. There was simply no good reason to charge a cancellation fee other than the contract said they could. Let's not forget the fact that I sent a fax as requested at the correct time, but the company said they didn't get it. There is no way to prove if they received it or not, so this fact simply gets pushed aside, and the company certainly doesn't take it into consideration. It's simply not good business. I see that the company is not going to change their mind on this, so I reluctantly consider the matter resolved. 
Regards,
[redacted]

We are in receipt of Mr. [redacted]‘s complaint.  In response thereto we have enclosed the Merchant Application & Agreement (“the Agreement”), the Merchant Processing Terms & Conditions (“the Terms & Conditions”), and a copy of a voided check provided by Mr. [redacted] to open his...

account for your review.  On August 31, 2016, the merchant signed the Application with First American Payment Systems (“First American”). Mr. [redacted]’s written signature appears twice on the Agreement itself, and also on the voided check he submitted when he opened the account. When Mr. [redacted] signed the Application, he agreed to have received, read and be bound by the Merchant Application & Agreement and the Merchant Processing Terms & Conditions. (See, page 4 of the Agreement). It is clearly stated in the Acknowledgements page of the Agreement, separately in bold, that “Early termination of this agreement shall result in an Early Termination Fee of no less than four hundred ninety-five dollars ($495.00).” In an effort to resolve this dispute amicably and appease Mr. [redacted], First American will waive the early termination fee in return for a signed closing letter. It states in paragraph 23 of the Terms & Conditions, “The written notice must contain MERCHANT’s signature as it appears on the Merchant Application & Agreement in order to be accepted.” Until the appropriate closing letter is received, we cannot close the account. Mr. [redacted] may mail in his closure letter to [redacted]8. We appreciate your attention to this matter.  Should you have any questions or need any additional information, please do not hesitate to contact the undersigned directly. Sincerely, [redacted]Merchant Relations Specialist

We are in receipt of Mr. [redacted]‘s complaint.  By way of background, First American Payment Systems (“First American”) is a credit card processing company that processes transactions for merchants set up by our various Independent Sales Offices, including AppStar Financial...

(“AppStar”).  We have reached out to Appstar for input on this matter. For your reference, we have enclosed the Merchant Application & Agreement (“the Agreement”) and the Merchant Processing Terms & Conditions (“the Terms & Conditions”) for your review.  On June 26, 2014 Mr. [redacted] entered into the Agreement with AppStar for credit card processing services.  By signing the Acknowledgments page of the Agreement, Mr. [redacted] acknowledged: (1) he received, read and agreed to be bound by the Agreement; (2) no verbal agreements or representations had been made; and (3) he relied solely on the Agreement and the Terms & Conditions.  The Early Termination Fee of four hundred ninety-five dollars ($495) is clearly disclosed and set apart as a separate section of the Acknowledgements page in the Agreement, and is also delineated in the Terms & Conditions (See, paragraph 23, page 4). The Terms & Conditions also clearly disclose that the Agreement will continue in full force and effect for a term of (3) years from acceptance by Bank (See, paragraph 23). Mr. [redacted]’s account became active on July 02, 2014 and was closed on September 08, 2016 due to ACH rejects. As such, the outstanding balance was placed for collection ($495 early termination fee, $40.56 August 2016 end of month fee, $30.00 bank return fee, and $25.00 collections cost totaling $590.56). To date, a payment of $100 towards this balance has been received from the Merchant. Although the terms of the Agreement and the Early Termination Fee are clearly disclosed, and Mr. [redacted]’s business closed due to no action on AppStar or First American’s part, as a gesture of good faith and in an effort to resolve this matter amicably, we will agree to waive the remaining balance of $490.56 and consider the matter closed in good standing. We appreciate your attention to this matter.  Should you have any questions or need any additional information, please do not hesitate to contact the undersigned directly.   Sincerely,   [redacted] Merchant Relations

Dear Ms. [redacted], Attached to this response is the letter sent to the merchant's attorney regarding this complaint. Please accept this letter as our response regarding this matter.  Thank you,Merchant Relations

Dear Ms. [redacted]: We are in receipt of Ms. [redacted]‘s complaint.  In response thereto we have enclosed the Merchant Application & Agreement (“the Agreement”), the Merchant Processing Terms & Conditions (“the Terms & Conditions”), and the Non-Cancelable Commercial Lease Agreement...

(“Lease”) for your review.  The merchant signed the Agreement and the Lease on August 3, 2015. By signing, the merchant acknowledged to have received, read, and be bound by the Agreement and the Terms & Conditions. Our records indicate that Ms. [redacted] processed on the account until July 13, 2017, when the account was closed. The closing fee was waived as a gesture of good faith. The Lease is non-cancelable and continued to be drafted out of Ms. [redacted] bank account. Ms. [redacted] did not notify the company of her bank account’s closure, and the august Lease payment was returned as a result of rejects from the bank. Because of the default on the Lease, the entire balance of the Lease became payable and due at that point. The balance was sent for collection. As a gesture of good faith, we will still honor the merchant’s agreement with ** [redacted] and waive 12 months of the Lease payments and allow the merchant to continue with monthly payments until the remainder of the shortened Lease is paid off. The merchant needs to provide $209.90 upfront in order to utilize this arrangement, as two months of the Lease are past due, as well as processing fees for the month of July and a return fee from the bank. We have already spoken with the merchant and informed her of the deal that we have made for her to pay her balance over time. The merchant may speak with [redacted] in collections about the payment arrangement at [redacted] We appreciate your attention to this matter.  Should you have any questions or need any additional information, please do not hesitate to contact the undersigned directly. Sincerely, Merchant Relations

Dear Ms. [redacted],As was stated previously, we have received correspondence from the merchant's attorney and we are corresponding directly with the merchant's attorney on this matter.Thank you,Merchant Relations

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this does not resolve my dispute.
Please enter your reason(s) for rejecting the business response below.Merrick aka First American Payment Systems received today, 10/14/2016 (see attachment for confirmation of delivery by UPS with tracking number) the Talento terminal that didn't work for over a year, the Charity 100 terminal that worked but would not accept checks because they didn't equip it with the proper "chip" to work with the check reader, the check reader that didn't work, and the new check reader they sent me that worked with the Talento but would not work with the Charity 100, the power plugs for the aforementioned antiquated, substandard, primitive out-dated equipment that I repeatedly had problems with and complained about.   The lease terminated on 9/10/2016.  I no longer have the equipment, Merrick has all the equipment it sent me over the last 5 years and therefore their demand for $595.00 fails for lack of consideration and results in an unfair windfall to Merrick aka First American Payment Systems aka Apex aka Secur-chex or whatever name they are calling themselves these days  when I have no capacity to use their equipment since I no longer have it, they have it.  I should not have to pay these people another penny.  My understanding of the contract was that it was lease to own but I sent the equipment to them because I don't want the clunky mess at my office and now they have it to sell to another victim.  This company has had at least 71 complaints with Revdex.com alone, and the internet is full of nightmare stories from very unsatisfied customers, this company should not be allowed to rob me any further.    
Regards,
[redacted]

First American Payment Systems / Payscape acknowl**g** that the multiple failures in our cr**it card processing were equipment relat** and they had no resolution to the ongoing problem.  I made multiple attempts to contact [redacted], Leasing Administrator for Merimac Capital to discuss the issue.  Every call was met with a "he is not available" response.  He fail** to return any voice mails or respond to faxes sent.    On Jan. 5th. I fax** notice of cancellation to Mr. [redacted] along with a request to provide information for equipment return (see attach**).  Again no response was receiv**. First American Payment Systems / Payscape sent notice that my account met the eligibility requirements and early termination fee was NOT assess** (see attach**).  Merimac Capital fail** to meet their contractual obligations by properly processing cr**it card transaction, but is relying on their non/cancellable contract to continue to collect.  They fail** to provide equipment return instructions and just bill for the equipment.  I do not agree with their response to the complaint.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Regards,
[redacted]

We are in receipt of Mr. [redacted]‘s complaint.  We have attached the Merchant Application & Agreement (“the Agreement”) and the Merchant Processing Terms & Conditions (“the Terms & Conditions”) for your review.    Mr. [redacted] entered into the Agreement for credit card...

processing services with First American Payment Systems (“First American”) on June 12, 2000. By signing the Agreement Mr. [redacted] acknowledged the one year auto-renewal clause, and agreed to provide written notice of termination no less than 30 days prior to the end of the applicable term to avoid an Early Termination Fee. (See ¶18 of the Terms & Conditions).      Our records indicate that Mr. [redacted] contacted our office on December 16, 2015 requesting to close his account. At that time he was advised to submit a signed closing letter no earlier than March 14, 2016 and no later than May 14, 2016 to avoid the Early Termination Fee, and to prevent automatic-renewal.     As gesture of good faith and in order to resolve this matter amicably First American will close Mr. [redacted]’s account, and waive the Early Termination Fee upon receipt of a signed closing letter.  Please fax the letter to First American at [redacted]   We appreciate your attention to this matter.  Should you have any questions or need any additional information, please do not hesitate to contact the undersigned directly.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this does not resolve my dispute.
Please enter your reason(s) for rejecting the business response below.In my previous communication I uploaded proof of delivery of the equipment and now I have uploaded a copy of the termination letter to Merimac Capital that Merimac Capital aka First American Payment Systems aka Apex aka Secur-chex received today, October 14, 2016 when it received the equipment.  If Merimac is not insisting on me paying it $595.00 to terminate my business with that company then fine, I accept their offer.  But if Merimac Capital is still insisting that I pay $595.00 then I must reject it.  Its not clear from this correspondence I am responding to exactly what is being offered.  Please advise.
Regards,
[redacted]

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: first American is attempting to collect funds and has ACH 'd my account not app star. The diosite involves first American taking my money and they should be held accountable for their actions. There is too it's of contract and they should answer for those contractual obligations
Regards,
[redacted]

Dear Ms. [redacted]: We are in receipt of Ms. [redacted] complaint. Ms. [redacted] account was opened on May 31, 2017. Ms. [redacted] account closed on September 6, 2017 after an attempt to draft the monthly fees was rejected by the bank. The account was then automatically placed for collections to...

collect the balance due. As a gesture of good faith, [redacted] S. waived the contractual early termination fee for Ms. [redacted], and collected only the monthly fees that were due for August via the merchant’s credit card. The collections balance was thusly closed and no further balance was due. On October 6, 2017, [redacted] S. sent a letter to the merchant informing her to disregard any previous letters and that the account had a $0.00 balance remaining. At this time, the account has been closed in good standing and no further payments are required from Ms. [redacted]. No negative files have been placed on the merchant’s credit. We appreciate your attention to this matter.  Should you have any questions or need any additional information, please do not hesitate to contact the undersigned directly. Sincerely, [redacted]

If you value your business, I would recommend NOT using Blue Swipe.

Blue Swipe and their staff provided a top-to-toe impressively awful experience. Their salesman, Nathan Lukeson, over-promised and under-delivered. Blueswipe’s services and fees were almost twice expensive than my prior card processing service after promising on multiple occasions that I would be saving a lot of money.

I was given a detailed quote showing how my rates would pan out and what my monthly total processing charges would be. This quote was patently false. Many cards processed was charged at the highest rate, without explanation. To this day, they cannot answer why the cards were processed at the higher rate. The account manager, Kristen Potter, never resolved my concerns after promising to do so on multiple occasions. She asked repeatedly what they could to do keep my business, and when I told her that they needed to keep their promised she offered something like a 0.4% reduction on the highest rate, which wasn’t going to come close to what they initially promised. She just stopped returning my phone calls.

The hardware company, Northern Leasing, has apparently had multiple class action lawsuits brought against it and provided equipment that spontaneously failed three times in a month or so. This was due to an apparently known issue of faulty sensors. The equipment also did not work as Blueswipe promised in terms of the way it handled transactions. Blueswipe was also dishonest about the terms of the equipment lease that they got me into with this company, and I am stuck paying for unreliable technology for three more years (they had told me it was simply $150 or something like that to return it, leaving out that I could only return it after 4 years). I was not provided a paper copy of the lease to look at until after I had signed it. Rookie mistake, but still unethical on their part and sketchy as heck in retrospect.

Being a small local business, I gave them a chance to fix the problem and held off for more than 9 months to post this review, hoping they would make it right. It took them six months to stop charging my bank account fees, despite the fact that I repeatedly asked to cancel my services with them. I also asked them to sublease the equipment back from me since it was so problematic, and they have refused to do so. So, here is my tale. I hope it helps you avoid a bad business deal!

Review: Blueswipe LLC - formerly Eved Systems I just learned - pushes the [redacted] for retail stores. I was originally quoted $74 per month for this app based program and hardware. It was installed in the middle of April 2015. It did not take long to determine this system was not what I was told it was by the sales person Nathan L[redacted]. Many of the features expected in a cash management system are extra charges per month through apps. There are several more issues which allows for employee theft and manipulation. My Front House Manager quickly grew discontent with the system. There are many flaws with the system and some of the issues were emailed to Eved Systems. On April 28th, I called them and told them to take the machines out of the restaurant. I told them this shortly after receiving a bill for over $500 and subsequent payments of over $350 per month. I never paid for the equipment and told them on multiple occasions to replace the equipment with a standard credit card terminal. There were several phone conversations of them trying to convince me I was stuck with the machines. The the senior members of the company called and threatened me by extortion and threats. Recently I received a collection notice for $18748.16. I called the leasing agent and they said the contract was closed and Eved Systems initiated the purchase and the equipment belongs to them. Blueswipe has abandoned the equipment and is attempting to charge me multiple times its worth.Desired Settlement: Blueswipe needs to come get their equipment out of the store and discontinue bogus collection attempts through collection agency Commonwealth Financial Solutions Inc.

Business

Response:

In response to the above mentioned case number: