We had been a customer of Approval Payment Solutions for approximately yearsWe are a small volume non-profit shop run by volunteers, and so probably not the most attractive customer, but I do not think that we ever had a chargebackIn the entire time we were customers, I made two calls to customer service, once when I thought someone was trying to slam us (they were), and once when I thought we might need a raised transaction limit for a special eventWe could hardly have been easier to manage
We initially leased a credit card terminal from an affiliate of APS for $38.68/monthConsidering that the original value of this terminal was less than $250, this was certainly a generous deal for them, which continued for three years, during which we paid nearly $in lease feesOne month in 2008, the fee no longer appearedI wrote two letters about this and offered to purchase the terminal outright if the price was reasonable, which were not answeredSince the terminal was old at that point, I figured that they were just writing it off, and we continued to use their processing servicesNear the start of 2015, however, a monthly lease fee of $was reinstated for this terminal, which was ten years old
In 2015, MrSam P of APS contacted us about getting a new chip card terminalWe were quoted a purchase price of $550, along with another required $programming fee, or a new lease at $per month indefinitelyThe terminal in question, an OMNI Vx (and note, the machine we were quoted did NOT have the Vxpinpad) can be purchased for between $150-at hundreds of vendorsWhen I noted this, MrP replied,
"The programming/encrypting process takes our deployment team 6-hrs per terminalThey go to great lengths in order to ensure that when our customers receive a terminal from us, it is as secure as possibleI cannot stop you from looking into other processing companies, but I would like to caution you about doing soYou have been with us for a long time, with no serious issues that I am aware ofThe original price that I quoted you on the application is very competitive, especially considering I offered to pay your shipping and tax which is not something I am supposed to doI can assure you that switching processors will cost you as much or more by the time your terminal is ready to start accepting cardsplus the risk involved in going with a new company (you would not believe some of the horror stories I have heard from business owners about some of the processing companies out there)."
This is, of course, a blatant lieIt does not take "6-hours" to program these terminals--unless, of course, they take a day-long break after the first minutes and then return minutes before quitting timeThere were literally dozens of no-contract processors willing to sell the same machine, with no programming charge, for prices in the $150-range, so the claim of being "very competitive" is an insult to the intelligenceI also reviewed APS' fees, which had been steadily increasing, so I began to investigate alternativesI did contact APS again via e-mail to find out where to return the current terminal if we switchedRather than providing the requested information, "retention specialist" Jeris S asked why would want to move, and I stated the high fees and the quoted price on a new terminalShe did not send back the requested information until I prompted her again two days later
We did switch processors and purchased a new Vx terminal for $and a Vx pinpad for $No programming charge and no shipping feeNo contractI can now do a straigcomparison over the last four months of with the new processor vsthe last four months of with APSThis includes two relatively high volume months for us and two low volume months; in both years, the total amount of charges were $+/- $You could hardly ask for a closer comparison in terms of the balance of card types as wellThe new processor charged the equivalent of 5.7% of the total in fees, vs6.4% by APS
In terms of stacosts, despite MrP's "assurances," I spent $total to get going with the new processor, vspotentially $to stay with APS
APS' affiliate charged us a $"early termination fee" when I returned the original terminal (with its original packaging and parts)The leases roll over automatically, and customers are not informed when this is happening nor offered any optionsKeep in mind that the original value of the terminal was less than $250, regardless of whatever inflated price APS was offering it for at the time
I am not looking for anything from this company, but people should know what kind of outfit this is and its business practices before dealing with them
These ladies inquired about a cruise and were sent an email on August 14, 2014 which gave them choices of the following cabins along with the prices for each: Inside, Ocean View, Balcony or Ocean Suite.
size="2">Per the client, they have travelled on 4 or more cruises. This is called a seasoned traveler. They were sent the information, but asked no questions.
They made the choice on the cabins. Two of the cabins were inside and one cabin was an ocean view. All clients received the emails from Carnival stating the cabin numbers. The clients have a brochure showing the deck plan for these cabins. They all received invoices stating that it is the client's responsibility to read and approve all invoices, which stated the cabin numbers.
On April 29, 2015 at 5:00 pm, the client came into the agency without an appointment. I had a meeting to attend at 5:30pm and did not have time to speak with her, but came right into my office.I took notes on her request for her cabins to be upgraded. Please note this is 16 days prior to the departure date. If she had read the emails, confirmations and invoices, this could have been cleared up to her satifsfaction in September 2014, not just days before the trip.
The next day, April 30, 2015, I called Carnival and was advised the ship was almost sold out. There were no inside cabins available to move the clients to that was a triple. They want their cabins to stay together.
Again on May 1, 2015, two of the passengers came into the agency without an appointment. I stopped what I was working on and began helping them. I called Carnival on the speaker phone so the clients could hear the conversation. I was advised all the cabins for an inside triple were sold out and to get a higher floor plan on the ship would cost over $300 per person for an outside cabin. Again, the clients want their cabins together.
At that time, another agent began helping them also. We pleaded with Carnival to give them a cabin upgrade at no additional cost, but to no avail. The sales manager with Carnival stated that this booking dated back to September 2014.
We have assured the clients that we will check for cancellations and will advise them if anything opens up. However, as stated before, they want 3 cabins beside each other.
Again, we provided emails, brochures and invoices. Back in September 2014, we would have gladly moved the clients to their desired cabins if they had let us know they were not satisfied with what was booked.
I do not feel that my agents nor myself are at fault with these clients. The clients need to be responsible to read emails, brochures and invoices. If they have been on prior cruises, they should be familiar with how to read a deck plan. If they didn't, we would have been more than happy to assist them and move their cabins.
Every agent at Linda Long Travel prides themselves on excellent customer service. We went the extra mile for the clients. We made very little commission and spent extra time trying to work out this problem which could have been resolved if the clients had read all the confirmations.
If you have any questions in order to clear up this matter, please give me a call at 864-[redacted]
We had been a customer of Approval Payment Solutions for approximately yearsWe are a small volume non-profit shop run by volunteers, and so probably not the most attractive customer, but I do not think that we ever had a chargebackIn the entire time we were customers, I made two calls to customer service, once when I thought someone was trying to slam us (they were), and once when I thought we might need a raised transaction limit for a special eventWe could hardly have been easier to manage
We initially leased a credit card terminal from an affiliate of APS for $38.68/monthConsidering that the original value of this terminal was less than $250, this was certainly a generous deal for them, which continued for three years, during which we paid nearly $in lease feesOne month in 2008, the fee no longer appearedI wrote two letters about this and offered to purchase the terminal outright if the price was reasonable, which were not answeredSince the terminal was old at that point, I figured that they were just writing it off, and we continued to use their processing servicesNear the start of 2015, however, a monthly lease fee of $was reinstated for this terminal, which was ten years old
In 2015, MrSam P of APS contacted us about getting a new chip card terminalWe were quoted a purchase price of $550, along with another required $programming fee, or a new lease at $per month indefinitelyThe terminal in question, an OMNI Vx (and note, the machine we were quoted did NOT have the Vxpinpad) can be purchased for between $150-at hundreds of vendorsWhen I noted this, MrP replied,
"The programming/encrypting process takes our deployment team 6-hrs per terminalThey go to great lengths in order to ensure that when our customers receive a terminal from us, it is as secure as possibleI cannot stop you from looking into other processing companies, but I would like to caution you about doing soYou have been with us for a long time, with no serious issues that I am aware ofThe original price that I quoted you on the application is very competitive, especially considering I offered to pay your shipping and tax which is not something I am supposed to doI can assure you that switching processors will cost you as much or more by the time your terminal is ready to start accepting cardsplus the risk involved in going with a new company (you would not believe some of the horror stories I have heard from business owners about some of the processing companies out there)."
This is, of course, a blatant lieIt does not take "6-hours" to program these terminals--unless, of course, they take a day-long break after the first minutes and then return minutes before quitting timeThere were literally dozens of no-contract processors willing to sell the same machine, with no programming charge, for prices in the $150-range, so the claim of being "very competitive" is an insult to the intelligenceI also reviewed APS' fees, which had been steadily increasing, so I began to investigate alternativesI did contact APS again via e-mail to find out where to return the current terminal if we switchedRather than providing the requested information, "retention specialist" Jeris S asked why would want to move, and I stated the high fees and the quoted price on a new terminalShe did not send back the requested information until I prompted her again two days later
We did switch processors and purchased a new Vx terminal for $and a Vx pinpad for $No programming charge and no shipping feeNo contractI can now do a straigcomparison over the last four months of with the new processor vsthe last four months of with APSThis includes two relatively high volume months for us and two low volume months; in both years, the total amount of charges were $+/- $You could hardly ask for a closer comparison in terms of the balance of card types as wellThe new processor charged the equivalent of 5.7% of the total in fees, vs6.4% by APS
In terms of stacosts, despite MrP's "assurances," I spent $total to get going with the new processor, vspotentially $to stay with APS
APS' affiliate charged us a $"early termination fee" when I returned the original terminal (with its original packaging and parts)The leases roll over automatically, and customers are not informed when this is happening nor offered any optionsKeep in mind that the original value of the terminal was less than $250, regardless of whatever inflated price APS was offering it for at the time
I am not looking for anything from this company, but people should know what kind of outfit this is and its business practices before dealing with them
These ladies inquired about a cruise and were sent an email on August 14, 2014 which gave them choices of the following cabins along with the prices for each: Inside, Ocean View, Balcony or Ocean Suite.
size="2">Per the client, they have travelled on 4 or more cruises. This is called a seasoned traveler. They were sent the information, but asked no questions.
They made the choice on the cabins. Two of the cabins were inside and one cabin was an ocean view. All clients received the emails from Carnival stating the cabin numbers. The clients have a brochure showing the deck plan for these cabins. They all received invoices stating that it is the client's responsibility to read and approve all invoices, which stated the cabin numbers.
On April 29, 2015 at 5:00 pm, the client came into the agency without an appointment. I had a meeting to attend at 5:30pm and did not have time to speak with her, but came right into my office.I took notes on her request for her cabins to be upgraded. Please note this is 16 days prior to the departure date. If she had read the emails, confirmations and invoices, this could have been cleared up to her satifsfaction in September 2014, not just days before the trip.
The next day, April 30, 2015, I called Carnival and was advised the ship was almost sold out. There were no inside cabins available to move the clients to that was a triple. They want their cabins to stay together.
Again on May 1, 2015, two of the passengers came into the agency without an appointment. I stopped what I was working on and began helping them. I called Carnival on the speaker phone so the clients could hear the conversation. I was advised all the cabins for an inside triple were sold out and to get a higher floor plan on the ship would cost over $300 per person for an outside cabin. Again, the clients want their cabins together.
At that time, another agent began helping them also. We pleaded with Carnival to give them a cabin upgrade at no additional cost, but to no avail. The sales manager with Carnival stated that this booking dated back to September 2014.
We have assured the clients that we will check for cancellations and will advise them if anything opens up. However, as stated before, they want 3 cabins beside each other.
Again, we provided emails, brochures and invoices. Back in September 2014, we would have gladly moved the clients to their desired cabins if they had let us know they were not satisfied with what was booked.
I do not feel that my agents nor myself are at fault with these clients. The clients need to be responsible to read emails, brochures and invoices. If they have been on prior cruises, they should be familiar with how to read a deck plan. If they didn't, we would have been more than happy to assist them and move their cabins.
Every agent at Linda Long Travel prides themselves on excellent customer service. We went the extra mile for the clients. We made very little commission and spent extra time trying to work out this problem which could have been resolved if the clients had read all the confirmations.
If you have any questions in order to clear up this matter, please give me a call at 864-[redacted]
Sincerely,
[redacted]
President