LEADERS

Review: I have been very disappointed with my experiences with Leaders and their staff. As a Psychotherapist running my own private practice, I wanted to be able to accept Medical Flex Spending account cards from my clients, to allow them to access their flex monies directly when pay a co-pay or deductible. When I contacted the company, I specifically said that I wanted to be able to do those type of transactions. Mike Ford and Penelope both assured me that they understood my needs and were setting up the account with medical spending processing capability. In order to received my statement, I had to specifically call the company for them to email it to me. When I asked to have it automatically send to me,I was told they couldn't send financial information that way. I think won't vs. can't is more accurate. They were pretty on it when they automatically transferred my money out of my bank account. When I saw the invoice, I was over charged for the transactions I made. 10% of my income was taken by them. When I called they said the reason was they were off-line, non-qualifying cards. As they explained the types of cards, I explained that none of the cards that I ran met their definition. I was told that it might have keyed in cards. I explained that I didn't key-in any cards. I was told by, Beau, that I couldn't run debit or flex cards w/out a PIN pad. That was never discussed and I was not offered that, as I use the system from my iPhone. Beau also said the "grid had changed" before my account was set. Never understood what that meant. Despite the numerous possible reasons for the over charges- nobody was able to adjust the charges to the correct rate for the kinds of cards they really were.When I asked to close my account and have the ETF waived, I was total that wasn't possible. I talked with several people, Mike and Penelope (sales/set-up). Christina, Beau, Jasmine, Joanne and Sarah Donato in customer service. Mike + Sarah told me many times that they would call me back and haven'.Desired Settlement: I would like the charges adjusted for the transactions in July and Aug 2013. I would like to cancel my account, free of charge.

Business

Response:

LEADERS takes all complaints received from the Revdex.com very seriously. We would like to point out that we mail the merchant a hard copy of her statement each month. We do not send them electronically via e-mail, but the merchant could have opted to have access to her account transactions via iAccess if she had chosen to pay for that service. We have reviewed the records on this account and have determined that the merchant was told Flexible Spending Account cards would qualify for the 1.55% rate. Unfortunately these types of cards actually fell into the merchants’ non-qual rate of 5.89%, so LEADERS will refund the merchant the difference of the rates. The total volume the merchant processed at the rate of 5.89% was $785.00. The merchant paid $46.24 for the non-qual rate. The amount she was quoted would have equaled $12.17 at the 1.55% rate. The total refund to the merchant will be $34.07. The merchant should expect to see this refund in 7-10 business days. As a good faith gesture LEADERS will close the merchants account per the request in this complaint and waive the $350 Early Termination Fee. LEADERS would like to apologize to the merchant for the incorrect information she was given and for any phone calls that were not returned to her. LEADERS would like to wish the merchant much success with her business and considers this complaint resolved and closed.

Business

Response:

LEADERS would like to apologize to the merchant if she was never told about her $129.00 annual fee. This is not a monthly fee and the fee was disclosed in her contract. The $129.00 annual fee is billed in the third month of processing per her signed contract. Since it was the merchants intention to cancel her account prior to being billed the annual fee LEADERS will refund the $129.00 fee. LEADERS will process the refund once receive information from our bank that the fee was not rejected by her bank. The refund should be processed in 7-10 business days.

Consumer

Response:

Review: 9684396

I am rejecting this response because: Today, 9-23-13 I received a bill for $167.29. The bill said I have 10 days to pay before collections. The bill is inaccurate. It does not reflect the payment I sent on 9-6-13 , recv'd by the 9-9-13 and cashed through my bank on 9-13-13. That payment was by check for $133.22. It doesn't account for adjustment they made to subtract $35.07 for inaccurate billing or the $129.00 refund they said they were paying me-

I need a check for the $129.00 and a statement showing that my account is paid in full and I have closed my account.

Regards,

Review: leader Merchant charge Me $99 equipment fees and every month charge me $87.78 and also charge me $40 for equipment fees every month I give them request to cancel my in the month 02 january 2015 but they still charge me $40 a month and they charge me $350 to account cancellation and also charge me pci compliance fees $40 and in month february my total sale for credit card was $3215 but their minimum limit is $3000/=so they sent me statment total sale for month of feb is $2512/- therefore they not take feb 28 transaction which is $827.01 so they wanna charge me $25 fee so I think this co is criminal they just wanna make money from merchantDesired Settlement: they need refund all my money

Business

Response:

LEADERS is a company of integrity and is loyal to our merchants. We are very disheartened to receive a complaint of this nature. After a careful review of the merchants’ complaint, account notes and the signed contracts LEADERS would like to mention that in good faith we have already worked with this merchant to resolve issues he has had with our company. The merchant originally opened 2 accounts with LEADERS. One account ending in -25 was never used and a second account ending in -33 which he is using. LEADERS sent equipment for both accounts to the merchant and the merchant signed our free equipment agreement for each account agreeing to pay $40 each month his volume was not as least $3000. Both accounts were available to the merchant everyday for use. The merchant sent in a closure letter for the account ending in -25 January and the account was closed in March. LEADERS has already offered to refund the two $40 equipment charges the merchant was billed while his account was still open. We have advised the merchant to send back the equipment in full working order and the $80 refund will be issued, if the merchant does not return the equipment the merchant will be responsible for the full price of the equipment per his agreement with LEADERS. LEADERS has never billed the merchant $99 for equipment fees or any other fees so we are not sure what the merchant is taking about. LEADERS only bills the merchant for the fees the merchant is responsible for each month. We have not billed the merchant $87.78 each month, the merchant was billed $87.78 for his account ending in -33 for the month of February, which is an accurate billing for that month. LEADERS will refund the fees billed to the merchant for January and February for the account ending in -25 for an additional refund of $130. As a good faith gesture LEADERS will refund the $350 ETF the merchant was billed for closing the account ending -25 prior to the end of their 3 year contract. As a final good faith gesture LEADERS will refund the $40 equipment fee the merchant was billed in February on his account ending in -33 since he did not understand how the processing would affect his equipment fees. The merchant should see their refund in 7-10 business days once everything has cleared the reject report. LEADERS would like to remind the merchant that they need to take their compliance survey and become PCI Compliant to avoid the $40 PCI Non-Compliance fee that he is being billed each month. This information was sent to the merchant via their welcome letter and their monthly statement each month. LEADERS considers this complaint resolved and closed and wishes the merchant much success.

Review: Company Name "Leaders Merchant Services"The day I was sign up for the merchant service I change my mind after reading the terms of the contract (07/09/2015). The representative promised by email that they not will send the terminal to my business address and will refund $45.00 shipping fees. In two days I got another charge on my business bank account in the amount of $350.00 for early cancelation. Today they withdraw another amount of $0.38.The sales rep. J[redacted] and sales support rep. L[redacted], they are basically do not disclosing terms, they hiding very important key elements of the contract. I talk to L[redacted] several times and I email to her the proof of annulment of on 07/09/2015.Her manager D[redacted] (no last name) not making any decisions to refund the amounts the company withdraw from my account.Desired Settlement: I want to receive the full refund in the amount of $395.38 from the company Leaders Merchant Services and delete my business bank information from their files. Never, ever touch it again.

Business

Response:

Leaders MerchantServices, LLC, endeavors to provide superior merchant processing services toall of our merchants. In our efforts to resolve this merchants’ issues, LEADERShas already spoken to this merchant, and reviewed all of the merchants records.The merchant was charged correctly based on the rates and fees listed on the 4page merchant application and the free terminal letter. The merchant hasalready received resolution to her complaint by Leaders support department. Asa good faith gesture, Leaders has refunded the $350 Early Termination fee and sincethe merchant did not want the terminal the $45 shipping fee has also beenrefunded for a total refund of $395. LEADERS would like to wish this merchantmuch success with his business and considers this complaint resolved andclosed.

Review: This "company" sales rep, Clarence, told me that he had waived ALL fees associated with my account so that I didn't have any expenses with them. A month later, I have NO EQUIPMENT & a collections notice! This is extremely bad business practice. I have told LEADERS that I want to close the account, which I have notified them of and have yet to receive their cancellation. I will not pay ANY FEES.Desired Settlement: ANY FEES (REFUND) & any harm to my credit, be adjusted IMMEDIATELY & the account be cancelled (WITHOUT FEES!)

Business

Response:

Leaders Merchant Services strives to provide every merchant with

the highest quality merchant services possible, and to receive a complaint such

as this is unfortunate. As a result of this complaint LEADERS has investigated

what the merchant has been billed versus what was in their contract. All rates

and fees billed to the merchant were part of their signed contract. Each merchant

has the opportunity to review the contract prior to signing and agreeing to all

terms. In addition, LEADERS ensures each merchant has a copy of their signed

contract e-mailed to them immediately after they sign and submit the contract.

If the information in the signed contract did not reflect what the merchant and

the sales representative discussed then the merchant should not have signed the

contract. Leaders was never able to collect any fees for this account, and as a

good faith gesture, all collection balances have been waived. The account is

now closed, the merchant has no further obligation. LEADERS would like to wish

the merchant much success and considers this complaint resolved and closed.

Consumer

Response:

Review: 10865689

I am rejecting this response because: the Company broke contract by not providing equipment to render services.

Regards,

S[redacted]

Business

Response:

The merchant was contacted 16 times between 9/3/2015-10/3/2015 to get the free equipment shipped. Leaders does not ship any equipment until an address can be verified with the merchant. Messages were left and there was no response from the merchant, therfore, no free equipment was shipped. Leaders has closed the merchants account at the request of the merchant, therefore there is no free equipment due to the merchant. Leaders wished the merchant good luck in his future endeavors.

Consumer

Response:

Review: 10865689

I am rejecting this response because:I want Leaders to clarify in writing that I have NO debt to them since services were never rendered.

Regards,

S[redacted]

Review: I was offered this with zero monthly fees outside of the percentage due when a charge was made for the entire time I had the unit. After using it once, they started charging me for not using it every month (was not supposed to be part of the deal) as well as additional monthly fees. When I contacted them they said the terms changed and I was responsible for the fees. I said that wouldn't be worth it for me and that I wanted to cancel it and they said that would cost me $350.00 to stop this. I have been trying to negotiate this however they denied my request and said there is no appeal process and would not provide me with contact information for the decision makers as it is internal.

At this point, I have sent back the unit and stopped the account but have not paid any money to them. I did not get my full credit for the one charge I did make either.

They did not deny that I was offered the unit under the terms of no monthly fees or minimums but claim that they are not bound to keep those terms and since I signed the initial contract I am bound to the fees. They made several threats about contacting the IRS and filing claims. I used the device once for about $45.00.Desired Settlement: I want my closing fee to be waived as the terms changed against what I was guaranteed by the individual representative and want my account with them to be deleted permanently. If it cannot be deleted, the waiving of the closing fee will be sufficient.

Business

Response:

LEADERS has been serving merchants since 2000. We work hard to resolve

all complaints our merchants have as quickly and accurately as possible. In a

good faith gesture, LEADERS will refund the Early Termination Fee that was

billed. This refund will take approximately 7-10 business days. LEADERS wishes

the merchant good luck and considers this complaint resolved and closed.

Consumer

Response:

Review: 10999390

I am rejecting this response because:This company made unauthorized withdrawals from my bank account. They changed the terms of my contract without my approval or authorization and began making sizable withdrawals from my checking account. At no time did I authorize these withdrawals. The contract terms I agreed to were no fees. The withdrawals did not show up under the name of Leaders Merchant either which caused a great deal of confusion for me. I have closed the account and with the Revdex.com help had those fees reversed but am still looking at unauthorized withdrawals which also caused an unexpected overdraft on the account which brought on additional fees. I have contacted the bank and they are able to reverse one of the three withdrawals as it falls within the acceptable range for them. There are still 2 additional withdrawals and the late fee which I would like to be reversed. Withdrawal information: 10/2/2015 ACH Payment 169 BANKCARD MTOT DISC 11/2/2015 ACH Payment 75.5 BANKCARD MTOT DISC 12/2/2015 ACH Payment 99.89 BANKCARD MTOT DISC 12/16/2015 Overdraft Charge 25 Item(s) Presented 12/15/2015 To me, this is fraudulent practice. They were never authorized to do anything other than deposit money into this account.I would like a full refund of the October and November charges as well as the overdraft charge. The December reversal is being handled by the bank directly. The others cannot be due to their regulations of time. 10/2/2015 ACH Payment 169 BANKCARD MTOT DISC 11/2/2015 ACH Payment 75.5 BANKCARD MTOT DISC 12/16/2015 Overdraft Charge 25 Item(s) Presented 12/15/2015Regards,

P[redacted]

Business

Response:

LEADERS has reviewed this merchant’s account and will refund

the PCI Annual Fee that was billed for October as well as waive the collection

balance on this account. The refund will take approximately 7-10 business days.

Consumer

Response:

Review: 10999390

I am rejecting this response because:

Their offer:"LEADERS has reviewed this merchant’s account and will refund the PCI Annual Fee that was billed for October as well as waive the collection

balance on this account."I am reviewing the bill and do not see anything that specifically says PCI Annual fee or collection fee so basically they are not offering to refund anything. Further, they are not offering any compensation for the much larger September money taken out of my account without authorization. I would like to reiterate that the terms I agreed to were No minimum use fee and no additional charges other than the percentage taken from the amount actually charged.I am attaching my statements so you can see how they classify the billing.Hopefully we can come to a reasonable resolution on this.I would like to sincerely like to thank you for your assistance in this matter.

Regards,

P[redacted]

Review: I should have done my research before ever signing up with this fraudulent company. When I spoke to one of the representatives, I specifically told them that I will only use it once, maybe twice a month, maybe none at all and I was told that this was the perfect set up for me. What I didn't know was all the extra fees that they failed to tell me. Minimum discount fees for not using the swipe, regulatory fees, PCI fees. To make matters worse, I was locked in a 3 year contract that, again, they failed to tell me. It just added up to the point where their fees were more than what I brought in each month. How do you operate a business when you are in the red every month? And now they want to charge me $350 for cancelling my account. I went on ahead and cancelled my account on 10/8/13. The fees every month will probably add up to more than $350 anyways, so it's a cost effective way of reducing monthly overhead. Let's see how long before my account is actually closed. It's funny how great their customer service is when you want to open an account with them, and then a complete 180 when you have a complaint.Desired Settlement: I want my account closed, early termination fee of $350 waived and refund of "additional fees" for all the months that I was charged.

Business

Response:

Leaders Merchant Services, LLC, endeavors to provide superior merchant processing services. In our efforts to resolve this merchants issues, LEADERS has thoroughly reviewed our Merchant Service records, which include the Merchant’s signed Agreement and the phone call between the representative and the merchant. The merchant never stated how often he would use this account and never asked about any of the fees that were on the contract during the call with his sales representative. The signed agreement clearly indicates that the merchant has, in fact, been billed correctly according to the documents they signed. To ensure full disclosure during the application process, LEADERS created an Online Application. If the fees the merchant thought he was going to be billed did match what was on the application then the merchant should have not signed the application. In addition, once the merchant completes the Online Application by signing electronically, they are sent a link via the same email address the application was sent to that will allow them to print a hard copy of the documents they signed. Once they downloaded and printed a copy for their records they could have reviewed the documents and if there were any discrepancies they could have called in immediately to correct or cancel the account. These documents also include the Rates, Fees, Terms and Conditions for their Merchant Account. The merchant was not billed any fees that were not in his contract so therefore is not due any refunds, but as a good faith gesture LEADERS will refund the $350 ETF Fee for closing the account prior to the end of his contract. The merchant should see the refund in 7-10 business days. LEADERS considers this complaint resolved and closed.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID 9756276, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

Regards,

Review: I am having difficulty resolving a dispute with this company so am contacting the Revdex.com, as I am unable to get anyone on the phone there who can resolve this issue and am constantly forwarded to various individuals, given voicemail, etc.I joined Leaders one month ago to process credit cards for my very small business. I was very clear with the Rep at Leaders that my business was very small, that I had no guaranteed monthly income and was assured that there were no minimums expected, no monthly fees, etc. This month, I received a withdrawal from my bank account for $27.61 unexpected by Leaders. When I called, I was told that this was due to one credit card I processed (I also can't get either of the two swipers to work that they've sent, meaning I have to enter cards manually at a higher fee) and the $25.00 fee assessed monthly given that I didn't meet the $3,000/month minimum (an estimate, as the rep on the phone wasn't "sure" about my monthly fee).When I asked to close the account given that this arrangement makes no financial sense for my business, I was told that unfortunately there is a $350 early termination fee and that I signed a THREE YEAR contract.WHAT? I was NEVER told I was signing a contract nor for that long. I explicitly asked all of these questions regarding minimums, fees, contracts, etc. and was not told ANY of it by the Rep.I am basically stuck. I can either pay $350 for nothing or continue to cough up 3 years of fees totaling $900. This feels like an absolute scam to me and I would like to request that the Revdex.com assist me in closing this account without penalty given that the verbal statements by representatives of Leaders were wholly misleading. In addition, at whatever point this issue is resolved, I would request that any monthly fees assessed after 12.3.13 be refunded.I should also point out that I CAN'T handle this directly with Leaders, because no one there will speak to me about or resolve this issue--interesting since before I couldn't get them to STOP calling.Desired Settlement: I would like to request that the Revdex.com assist me in closing this account without penalty or fee and that any monthly or other fees assessed applying to any day following today, 12.3.13, be refunded. I add this as I do not know how long it will take to resolve this issue and will be charged their fees until then.

Business

Response:

This complaint from this merchant has already been resolved. As per the agreement worked out with the merchant and LEADERS dispute specialist prior to receiving this complaint, LEADERS will close this merchants account and waive the ETF per the merchant’s request. LEADERS wishes the merchant much success and considers this complaint resolved and closed.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID 9826978, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

Regards,

Review: On May 11, 2014 I spoke with Leaders Merchant Services representative [redacted] and I discussed my small business needs of a credit card machine that can attach to my phone. He told me that there would be a small charge with every transaction and my monthly bill would not exceed $10. I used my machine for the first time at the end of May and received my first charge of $30.98 in June. I got very bad feeling that this service was a scam so I called and cancelled the service. They told me that not only do I have to have a verbal cancellation it must be written too. They emailed me the form and I faxed it back. After receiving a second charge in July for $32.95 I called and asked why. The representative said they never received my fax in June. I refaxed a new form and then received a third charge in August for 161.00. I called and argued with supervisor [redacted] and he said that he can not refund me the 161.00 because I do not have proof of the first fax. But Leaders Merchants does have proof that I called to cancel in June and July and also show that there are no charges on the credit card reader but that one time in May. [redacted] also told me that I would be charged a termination fee of $350. That was the first time I heard of that fee even though it was in the "contract" I signed.Desired Settlement: I would like a refund of the $161.00 and no termination fee, as I believe this is fraud. How can I be charged for a service that wasn't provided and service that wasn't used?

Business

Response:

LEADERS has been serving our merchants since 2000. We strive to resolve all complaintsour merchants have as quickly and accurately as possible. In our efforts toresolve this merchant’s issues, LEADERS has thoroughly reviewed our MerchantService records, which include the Merchant’s signed Agreement. All rates andfees have been clearly indicated in the contract for the merchant to see priorto signing. If for some reason the sales representative failed to go over anyfees the merchant will be charged, the contracts detail the fees so themerchant can clearly see them before signing. This merchant’s signed agreementacknowledges they read the agreement and agreed to all rates and fees. As agood faith gesture, LEADERS has already closed the account and waived the $350Early Termination Fee. In addition, the $161.00 Month end fees have also beenrefunded as an additional good faith gesture. The merchant should see thisrefund in approximately 7-10 business days. LEADERS wishes the merchant good luck and considers this complaint resolvedand closed.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID 10751943, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

Regards,

Review: I have not been able to get through to a representative on the phone countless times every month since October.Desired Settlement: I would like my account closed for good I would like the fees that were charged to be credited back to me I never authorized any monthly fees .. My original agreement when opening this account was to be charged only when I made a charge a percentage.

Business

Response:

LEADERS goal is provide the highest quality merchant services to every merchant, when we receive a complaint such as this we work diligently to resolve it. Our customer service number is clearly printed on the merchant’s statement and someone is available 24/7 through that number so it is unclear how the merchant was not able to get in touch with a representative to close his account. If the merchant called the sales office he would have been referred to our customer service line to close his account. All rate and fee increases were communicated to the merchant through his monthly statement that was mailed to him, the merchant never called in to discuss the increases. There are no records the merchant ever called customer service about anything until 3/13/2013. The signed contract does have monthly fees on it, so we are not clear how the merchant believed he did not have monthly fees. LEADERS did receive a closure letter on 3/3/2013 and closed the merchant’s account per the request. As a good faith gesture LEADERS waived the merchant’s $350 Early Termination Fee when we closed his account. Also as a good faith gesture LEADERS’ approved a refund in the amount of $180.00 which was all of the PCI non-compliance fees the merchant had been billed even though the merchant never became complaint by completing his compliance survey. As a final good faith gesture LEADERS also refunded the merchant his month end fees for the month of March totaling $55.90. LEADERS has made every effort to assist this merchant when he called and in good faith refunded and waived fees that we owed to us. LEADERS now considers this complaint resolved and closed.

Review: I closed this account after only using it on two clients and due to their extremely poor customer service. Since closing the account on Nov 5, 2015, they have made several charges. I wrote several people in the organization about this and they have completely ignored my requests to credit back fraudulent charges. Note that Laurie received my cancellation of account but they still made frivolous charges which I have no idea of what they are. This is criminal on the account of the Leadership Merchant Service CEO. Here is just "some" of the email strings with this terrible company and the cancellation of account received by them (attached).

This account was closed back in November 2015 and I received a charge of $157.00 on Jan 4, 2016? Dec 2, 2015 for $10.15, Nov 18, 2015 for $26.81.Desired Settlement: They need to immediately refund me: $157.00 on Jan 4, 2016. Dec 2, 2015 for $10.15. Nov 18, 2015 for $26.81. Total: $193.96

Business

Response:

Leaders Merchant Services strives to provide every merchant

with the highest quality merchant services possible. In our efforts to resolve

this merchant’s issue, LEADERS has thoroughly reviewed our Merchant Service

records. LEADERS bills their merchants in the beginning of the following month

for their merchant account. The fees the merchant is referring to that were

billed December 2nd is for the processing that was done in November.

LEADERS will refund this merchant $157.00 that was billed as the account was

not closed before the billing cutoff date. The refund will take approximately

7-10 business days. LEADERS wishes the merchant good luck in future endeavors

and considers this complaint closed.

Consumer

Response:

Review: 11078767

I am rejecting this response because: Leadership Merchant is not paying the full frivolous amount charged when the emails confirm receipt and completion of the closed account date.

Regards,

R[redacted]

Business

Response:

The closure form was received November 5th and the closure process can take up to 30 days. LEADERS has refunded fees that were billed for December due to the account not being closed. Unfortunately no other refunds will be issued for this account.

Consumer

Response:

Review: 11078767

I am rejecting this response because: There was nothing in any documentation that an account with Leaders Merchants takes 30 days to cancel. The assumption is that a cancellation of account form was sent to me via a Leaders Merchant customer service rep with the understanding that once signed and sent in, the account is closed on that day. Therefore, it is incumbent that Leaders refunds the remaining fees stolen from my checking account on or after Nov 5, 2015.

After being promised the moon I received not one but two out of date readers that were "no longer supported." After numerous unanswered calls and emails I closed my account. Having never swiped the first card with this company, I was charged a fee that was never mentioned to me. My "account manager" David Gallant has vanished and the story changes each time I speak with this awful company. They are crooks and I do not understand how they have an A rating?

Absolute worse customer service ever! Rep's are rude and are not very knowledgeable about their products and services. They promise to return phone calls but never do. Would not recommend this company to my worse enemy.

Review: Due to a problem with my cell phone I had to find other Credit Card processing businesses to use on my cell. In a search on the internet (http://credit-card-processing.findthebest.com/l/35/Leaders-Merchant-Services) I found Leaders that had no cancellation fee and low rates shown on this site. I signed up for an account on 4/1/2014. Being unhappy with the services I was promised, i.e. American Express acceptance when I could not accept the card, I cancelled the account. I was charged $350.00 cancellation fee that I was told I cannot get back unless I renew with them. They charge a monthly fee even when I don't use their processing and my business is seasonable so I cannot renew my services with them. No other processing service I have used charge this fee. Their advertisement I untruthful on the web sites. After looking at other sites pertaining to Leaders I find that they have had several hundred complaints about their billing practices. I want my $350.00 back from their deceitful practice.Desired Settlement: I want a refund of my $350.00 they took from my bank account and a stop to their deceitful practices.

Business

Response:

Leaders Merchant Services LLC, strives to provide every merchant with the highest quality merchant services possible, and to receive a complaint such as this is disheartening. As a result of this complaint LEADERS has investigated what the merchant has been billed versus what was in their contract. All rates and fees billed to the merchant were part of their signed contract. LEADERS ensures each merchant is automatically sent a copy of their signed contract to the same e-mail their contract was sent to immediately after they sign and submit the contract. If the information in the signed contract did not reflect what the merchant and the sales representative discussed then the merchant should not have signed the contract or contacted LEADERS immediately. Nothing untruthful has been done by LEADERS. The merchant's bank did not pay the $350.00 ETF the merchant is asking LEADERS to refund so therefore LEADERS cannot refund the fee but as a good faith gesture LEADERS will waive the collection balance of $350 owed by the merchant for closing the account prior to the end of the merchants' 3 year contract. LEADERS considers this complaint resolved and closed.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID 10064309, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

A refund to my bank was made after I complained to the bank. Web Sites still show $0.00 for cancellation.

I accept their response but still claim they have misleading information. Cancellation fees, if any, should be told to the merchant at the time of communication with Leaders.

When a call was made to the salesman responsibile, I was immediately transferred to another department.

Regards,

Review: very misleading advertising - initial sales person promised no fees whatsoever if I did not use the service as I have seasonal business. once service started almost immediately I started receiving service fees, minimum service fees, and additional fees with no explanation on the monthly statement. every month I would have to get on the phone and call only to be told I dont know why your being charged and it would take 30 days for the fees to be reversed. then they would change my contract in fine print on the monthly statement and charge me ridiculous fees. call to the help center always resulted in long waits and transfers to another department. promises by the company to have someone call me back never happened. I went from having no fees to being charged 42.95 per month. calls to the original salesman went unanswered. this company performs a classic bait and switch. I am disgusted with their service and lies. their own employee ([redacted] at ### ### #### disagrees with their practices. DO NOT SIGN UP WITH LEADERS FOR YOUR CREDIT CARD PROCESSING.Desired Settlement: I want the fees I have paid over the last 6 months refunded in a normal amount of time and my monthly fees to be more in line of what my original contract says.

Business

Response:

Leaders Merchant Services, LLC, diligently endeavors to provide superior merchant processing services founded on outstanding business relationships with its merchants; we are therefore, very disappointed to have received a complaint of this nature. In our efforts to resolve the issues the merchant has had with our company, LEADERS has thoroughly reviewed our Merchant Service records and the merchant’s signed Agreement. The Agreement, formed by the 4-page Merchant Application, the Intake Form and Merchant Services' “Program Guide”, clearly reflects all rates and fees that LEADERS has billed the merchant. In addition, LEADERS notified the merchant of all fee or processing cost increases at least 30 days in advance via his merchant processing statement. Pursuant to sections 17.5 and 22.3 of the Merchant Service’ “Program Guide” LEADERS may adjust processing rates or fees provided that the merchant is provided 30 days notice. The merchant signed and accepted the Agreement in January 2011; in doing so, the merchant acknowledged that he read, reviewed and agreed to the terms of Agreement now being disputed in this complaint. Per the Merchant Services’ “Program Guide”, the merchant has 30 days to dispute or close account upon receiving notice of a rate or fee increase. LEADERS did not hear from the merchant within the 30 day window of his rate increase. Per the merchants signed agreement the merchant was responsible for a $99 annual fee, and an annual PCI compliance fee that was $129.00 each year, which LEADERS has already refunded to the merchant for the last 2 years. These charges are explained to the merchant in the schedule of fees on his original contract. LEADERS has in good faith refunded over $500 in fees to the merchant that were his responsibility and we have already agreed to waive the monthly minimum for future billings. As a final good faith gesture LEADERS will refund 2 months of monthly minimums to the merchant for a total refund of $50. The merchant should see this refund in 5-7 business days. LEADERS wishes the merchant much success and considers this complaint resolved and closed.

Thank You,

Leaders Merchant Services, LLC

Consumer

Response:

Review: 9645536

I am rejecting this response because:

Review: We have been with leaders for several years now and over the last few months we have started having more and more issues with their company so have started looking to other people to provide our mto needs.Leaders has attempted to reach out to us for customer retention and was doing a fantastic job at convincing us to stay with them.Today on my bank statement I saw 2 charges one for 55.95 and the other for 47.95 we believe these fees are astronomically high as we have not been using the services at all as we have been testing another mto. When we called to try to find out why the charges were so high it was said that changes had been made to our account upping our fees, how can a fee be up 5x for no reason other than you could, it seems that the company was not making enough money off of us for not using the service so upped the price to gain more money.Further we were told that you had one of our address wrong and that is why I never got informed but when the customer service rep checked the address were the same for both accounts and we do get one of the statement.It seems that this company is using any excuse they want to be able to get more money out of the consumer whether they follow the law or not, we are paying $113 for accounts we are not even using and we are told the reason the fees went up was because we weren't using the accounts. How can your fees go up for not using the accounts?Please note that this is just some of the problems we have experienced just today, we will be opening another complaint to address them if need be.Desired Settlement: We want a refund of the $113 that was taken from our accounts. Further more why are you guys trying to retain us if you plan to do these things, why would we stay with a company who is going to do things like this? We have been with you for years and this is how you treat us.We further more want our $9.95 back on the earthbane account, and the fees on the Universal Pc Services account lowered since we arent using it while we try the other mto.Johnathan608-713-010210am-6pm mon-sat

Business

Response:

LEADERS is one of the largest merchant services companies in the industry and we take pride in the quality customer service we provide. LEADERS has reviewed the merchant’s complaint and both account records including the signed merchant agreements and notes on the account. LEADERS has worked with this merchant on several occasions to assist with any issues he has with his accounts. On good faith that the merchant would continue to process with us, LEADERS has already refunded fees he agreed to pay in his signed merchant agreements on numerous occasions. All merchants were informed via their August monthly statements that there was a rate and fee increase that was being implemented in October due to rate and fee increases from Visa/Mastercard. The merchant states he did receive one of his statements so he was able to see the rate and fee increase that was coming on the statement he did receive. If the merchant was not receiving both statements for the entire length of his contract with LEADERS he could have contacted customer service to have a copy sent to him and get the problem resolved. The only time the merchant mentioned he was not getting his other statement was when he called about the increase in fees and found out the information was sent to him via his statement message. The merchant has a monthly minimum on his account that he must pay if he does not do the required processing on the account. The merchant admits he has stopped processing with LEADERS and is trying another company for his Merchant Services although he is still in contract with LEADERS. The merchant is responsible for all fees his merchant accounts accrue while under contract and therefore is not due any refunds for month end fees on accounts that he is not using. It was the merchants choice to stop using these accounts, LEADERS has not put any processing restrictions on the accounts so therefore the merchant is not due any refunds. All fees billed to this merchant are authorized through his merchant agreement. LEADERS considers this complaint a non- issue and should be closed by the Revdex.com.

Business

Response:

The Merchant account statement was not sent out for the account ending 3953 because the statement for the month of September was returned by the post office as undeliverable. LEADERS flagged the account to stop sending future statements until the merchant notified of us of the correct address. The flag was put on the merchants’ account on 10/29/2013 and removed when we spoke to the merchant on 11/4/2013 and he verified the address was correct. During that time the merchant only missed 2 statements for his account which were his September and October statements. The September statement being returned to LEADERS and the October statement not sent out. The rate and fee increase information was sent on his August 2013 statement. In an effort to resolve this complaint once and for all we will set the merchants rates and fees back to what they were before the rate increase effective October 1, 2013 and refund the difference in fees he was billed for account ending 3953. The amount of the refund owed to the merchant would be $76.00. On 12/4/2013 LEADERS received notification that the merchant’s November month end fees in the amount of $47.95 were not collected because the bank account we have on file is closed. LEADERS will not issue a refund on this account until we receive updated bank account information. LEADERS will waive the collection balance of $47.95 in lieu of that portion of his refund, but we will not issue a refund for the remaining portion in the amount of $28.05 to the merchant until we have updated bank account information. The merchant’s new monthly fees will be $9.95 and subject to his signed agreement with LEADERS. LEADERS has done what the merchant has asked for and therefore considers this complaint resolved and closed.

Consumer

Response:

Review: 9790305

I am rejecting this response because:

Regards,

They are lieing simply put, I never received anything from them stating a %400 increase, yes we did close our account to keep these vultures way from our business assets and please note this was at out banks advise as they were taking money as they saw fit. At this point we are looking into further actions than just changing the accounts and such, we have read countless times how this has been done to other companies and we will not tolerate it.

Review: When I initially signed up over the phone with merchant services I was assured that I was under no obligation to remain with them and that there would be no additional fees whatsoever. I made it clear that I would not be using the service frequently and again was assured that they would waive any fees beside processing fees. I was charged $350 which was automatically debited from my checking account for cancelling my account with them. I am firmly requesting an immediate refund asap!Desired Settlement: $350 back to my checking account immediately

Business

Response:

As a one of the fastest growing merchant service providers in the nation LEADERS takes pride in resolving any issues a merchant may have with LEADERS as quickly as possible. LEADERS has reviewed the merchants complaint and pulled the signed contract. To ensure full disclosure during the application process, LEADERS created an Online Application. During this Online Application process, on their computer screen, the merchant can clearly and easily see each and every rate and fee as well as the complete terms and conditions applicable to the Merchant Account they will be opening with us. In addition, once the merchant completes the Online Application, they are sent a link via email that will allow them to print a hard copy of the documents they signed. These documents also include the Rates, Fees, Terms and Conditions for their Merchant Account. If the rates and fees did not match what the merchant and the sales representative discussed then the merchant should not have signed the contract. As a good faith gesture, LEADERS will refund the $350 ETF. The merchant should expect a refund in the amount of $350 in 7-14 business days. LEADERS would like to wish the merchant much success and considers this complaint resolved and closed.

Review: Numerous issues! First, I never received a copy of my contract. And I clearly never signed for it as it was an electronic signature, which had not mine but my husband's phone number (not sure where they even got that). I was charged a $170 PCI compliance fee. When I called they said they charge the fee for the year in advance after you have been a customer for 3 months. When I cancelled my Leaders account they told me that the fee could not be refunded because it was for the past months that I had been with Leaders. complete contradiction! Then to make matters worse I was charged on the following month $40 more for being PCI non-compliant. So what was the fee for? The statements are impossible to read and you can't tell what is important on them. I tried to call my sales rep, [redacted], to help and he told me he's in another department now and can't help. I also asked when I signed up about any cancellation fees - of which I was told there were none. Well guess what I just got hit with a $350 cancellation fee!!! And to make matters worse, this company sends you the bills only after they have deducted money from you checking account (seems fishy they won't take a credit card) so you never have any warning in advance of how much they deduction may be.Desired Settlement: I would like the balance of the PCI fee refunded and the $40 non compliance fee and no cancellation fee should be charged.

Business

Response:

As a one of the fastest growing merchant service providers in the nation LEADERS takes pride in resolving any issues a merchant may have with LEADERS as quickly as possible. LEADERS has reviewed the merchants’ complaint and pulled the signed contract. To ensure full disclosure during the application process, LEADERS created an Online Application. During this Online Application process, on their computer screen, the merchant can clearly and easily see each and every rate and fee as well as the complete terms and conditions applicable to the Merchant Account they will be opening with us. In addition, once the merchant completes the Online Application, they are sent a link via email that will allow them to print a hard copy of the documents they signed. These documents also include the Rates, Fees, Terms and Conditions for their Merchant Account. If the rates and fees did not match what the merchant and the sales representative discussed then the merchant should not have signed the contract. The statement is a standard statement sent to the merchant each month. It is not a bill. It is a statement showing all the merchants transactions and what the merchant paid for them. The settlement that is taken from the merchants account around the first of the month is the amount owed to LEADERS for the processing and monthly fees owed to LEADERS. The statement shows the breakdown of these fees in detail. LEADERS customer service would have been happy to explain this information to the merchant if she would have given us the opportunity. The Early Termination Fee billed to the merchant was in her contract and is billed to the merchant if the merchant closes their account prior to the end of their 3 year contract. The merchant was billed the $350 ETF because she closed her account after 3 months of service with LEADERS. The fee was rejected by the merchants’ bank and never collected by LEADERS. As a good faith gesture, LEADERS will refund the $96.75 of the $129 PCI annual fee collected from the merchant. This refund is for 9 months of the annual fee the merchant did not have an open account with LEADERS. LEADERS will also refund the $40 non-compliance fee the merchant was billed because she never filled out the survey that was required to ensure she was compliant. The reminder to take the survey was on every statement sent to the merchant and the fee was only billed after 3 months when the merchant still had not completed the survey. The merchant should expect a refund in the amount of $136.75 in 7-14 business days. The refund may come in two separate deposits. As a final good faith gesture LEADERS will waive the collection balance owed to us for the $350 ETF. LEADERS would like to wish the merchant much success and considers this complaint resolved and closed.

Review: Leaders has been holding all of my customers credit card transactions since 4/29/14 for an "audit" that was supposed to take "1-3 business days" Today is 5/12/14 and I have still not received any of my funds which amount to thousands of dollars in needed revenue to operate my business. I have spoken to countless "customer service" representatives and sent many emails requesting resolution and release of my funds but to no avail. Was told by one very rude and interruptive rep that the person who was supposed to be handling this audit was out sick!!! So my funds get held until that person returns?? What if they don't return soon. Is there not a process for this, unbelievable!! My funds need to be released immediately.Desired Settlement: Release my credit card transaction funds to my bank and cancel my contract waiving early termination fees.

Business

Response:

Since 2000, Leaders Merchant Services, LLC, has upheld one of the largest Chargeback and Fraud departments in the industry. While LEADERS can appreciate all of the merchant’s frustrations, our Risk Management department has followed Industry-wide standards and protocol by holding and validating the merchants monies and transactions in order to protect against the threat of high risk transactions and fraudulent activity. In our efforts to resolve the issues stated in this complaint, LEADERS has thoroughly reviewed our copy of the merchant’s signed Agreement (formed by the 4-page Merchant Application, and the Merchant Services’ “Program Guide”). LEADERS would like to refer the merchant to the Merchant Services’ “Program Guide”, page 20, section 12 “Association Compliance”: ‘MasterCard, Visa and Discover have established guidelines, merchant monitoring programs and reports to track merchant activity such as, but not limited to excessive Credits and Chargebacks, and increased deposit activity. In the event you exceed the guidelines or submit suspicious Transactions as identified by an Association or any related program or reports, you may be subject to: (i) operating procedure requirement modifications; (ii) incremental Chargebacks and/or fees; (iii) settlement delay or withholding; (iv) termination of your Agreement; or (v) audit and imposition of fines.’ It is the merchant’s responsibility to know and to understand the terms of the signed Agreement prior to processing credit cards. It is also the merchant’s responsibility to abide by these terms in order for the terms of our business relationship to be advantageous. LEADERS risk department flagged and held the merchants’ transactions to verify the suspicious transactions that were brought to the attention of our risk department. When the merchant called our risk department about the held funds they were told the representative who was handling their case was out sick but was advised to send all paperwork to the representative answering the phone. LEADERS released all funds on 5/12/2014 after verifying the transactions with the cardholders which can be a very lengthy process. The funds should already be in their account. As per the merchants request in this complaint, LEADERS has closed the merchants account with no Early Termination Fee. LEADERS wishes the merchant well with their business and considers this matter resolved and closed.

Review: Leaders Merchant Services lied to us about the fees they charge monthly, as we were promised that we would not be charged a monthly fee if we met a minimum transaction amount. "If you sell more than $3500 on the terminal per month, there are no service charges." Instead, they added miscellaneous fees that aren't technically labeled as "service charges" that we were never made aware of when we opened the account. One month we were charged $692.17 in fees! Further, the company charged our account for these hidden fees without our approval or any kind of confirmation. It took weeks for us to obtain access to our online account so that we could monitor the transactions due to miscommunication among customer service representatives at this company. Now that we are unhappy with the service we want to cancel, and they want to charge us $350 to close the account which was also not disclosed when we spoke with the representative during the sign-up. We are of course now aware that it is in the tiny fine print on the application. We should have been paying closer attention to this company's behavior, but we never expected their dealings to be so purposefully misleading.Desired Settlement: We want all the undisclosed fees refunded to us from when we opened the account in 04/2014 until 06/2015. This amount comes to $3,264.90. We also want the $350 cancellation fee refunded. This results in a total of $3,614.90. We would like for this company to thoroughly review and revise its policies using real business ethics, including becoming more transparent to its customers.

Business

Response:

LEADERS Merchant Services is a leader in the merchant servicesindustry and works diligently to take care of our merchants. Leaders hasreviewed the merchant’s application and all merchants records. All fees chargedto the merchant are correct according to his signed contract. Our system onlybills according to the contract not verbal agreements. If the contract did notmatch any verbal agreements the merchant felt were discussed, then the merchantshould have had his representative update the contract prior to signing it. Inaddition, this account has been open for more than a year and the merchant hasprocessed a significant amount of transactions each month. If the merchant wasunhappy with the charges on the account, the merchant should have called ourCustomer Care department immediately to try and resolve the situation. Insteadthe merchant continued to process for 14 months. Regarding the minimum processing the merchant referred to in hiscomplaint, the merchant was also signed up for the Free Terminal Program whichstipulates that the merchant will process a minimum of $3,000 or he will becharged a fee of $40 for every month the processing volume was less than$3,000. This free terminal agreement and any charges are separate from themonthly fees listed on the merchants application. When the merchant agreed toand submitted the merchant application and free terminal program letter, themerchant was sent a link to access copies of both of these agreements. As stated above, if the merchant was not happywith any of the contract terms, he should have contacted Leaders immediatelyinstead of processing for 14 months. As a good faith gesture, Leaders hasclosed the account and waived the $250 Early Termination Fee. Leaders considersthis complaint closed.

Review: I opened this account to receive credit card payments through my website I only had the account for about a week, I received a few international orders and I got a call from a representative stating that they have to review my account because I received too many international orders and it can be risky which they never mentioned to me prior before opening this account. However they put my funds on hold while they reviewed my account. Therefore I waited a few days for them to call me which thy did about 3 days later they told me that they were closing the account and they will deposit my remaining funds which was $184 which they did and along with that they took $350 which I believe was for cancelling. I don't understand how they charged me to cancel when I didn't ask to cancel so now I have a negative on my account this company is a scam after reviewing reviews on google I regret opening this account.Desired Settlement: I would like to receive the $350 they debited out of my account.

Business

Response:

Since 2000, Leaders

Merchant Services, LLC, has upheld one of the largest Chargeback and Fraud

departments in the industry. While LEADERS can appreciate all of the merchant’s

frustrations, our Risk Management department followed Industry-wide standards

and protocol by holding and validating the merchant’s monies and transactions

in order to protect against the threat of high risk transactions and fraudulent

activity. Based on specific criteria, the international cards that were

processing through this account were found to be too high of a risk for them to

continue to be accepted, therefore, this account was closed. As a good faith

gesture, LEADERS will refund the Early Termination Fee of $350 once we have

confirmation from the merchants bank that LEADERS did collect this fee. If

there is any rejection from the merchants bank to show the fee was blocked from

being billed, there will be no refund. This process generally takes a few days

to confirm. If this fee was indeed collected by LEADERS the merchant should see

a refund in approximately 7-10 working days. LEADERS wishes the merchant good

luck in future endeavors and considers this complaint closed.