Newtek Merchant Solutions

Dear Ms***Newtek Merchant Solutions is in receipt of your complaint regarding your accountWe have located two accounts under the business name of T & M Pro ShopThe first account was closed back in July of The 2nd account which has an address of *** *** ** has been closed
since 1/19/with no charges since that timeAdditionally when reviewing that account, we did process a credit for you for fees for the month of December in a total amount of $This was reflected on your final January statement however at that time there were no additional chargesIn reviewing the notes on the account during this time period you were questioning the compliance fees on your accountPCI Compliance is an important industry standard required by the card associations to show that all merchants are handling their customers' card information in a secure mannerIn June Newtek Merchant Solutions, notified all merchants on their monthly statement that they would be required to become PCI Compliant by August 20th, or would be subject to a $monthly compliance feeAdditionally, we notified merchants that they would be assessed their annual PCI compliance fee (the cost of becoming compliant) on their November statement in September of on the monthly statementNewtek Merchant Solutions is unable to waive fees during the month of November because the service was used during that time periodAlthough we are unable to credit the compliance fees, your remaining December fees were credited in January and there were no charges assessed in January so at this time no refund is warranted.Is it possible that there is a third account that I was unable to locate using the information on this complaint? If so, providing the merchant number would definitely assist in resolving the matter and I would be happy to review further Sincerely,*** ***SVP Customer Service Merchant Services - Newtek

Newtek Merchant Solutions apologizes for any confusion that has occurred. In an effort to clarify any confusion a conference call was done with this customer, the First Vice President of Customer Service and the Business Service Specialist that initially set up the account. This is a seasonal...

business and that needed clarification. In speaking with the customer it was determined that they would be declining our breach coverage for 8.95 and that their statement fee for 5.00 would be removed. Newtek Merchant Solutions did agree to credit this customer for both of those services for the month of January. These refunds are being processed through our systems as of 2/26/2015 and should be received no later than 5 business days. If there are any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at 1.[redacted] option 5 for Customer Service or via email at [email protected]. Sincerely, [redacted]SVP Customer ServiceNewtek Merchant Solutions

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 complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
All of these credit card transactions are RENT PAYMENTS, not services, and each card holder (guest of our vacation rentals) has signed a rental agreement and received confirmations that the rents are non-refundable  within 90 days prior to arrival.These rental funds are used to pay for the rental home expenses: yard, pool, cleaning, utilities, cable TV, Internet, repairs, etc. prior to the guest arrival. Here it is Jan 22 and we have not yet received the rents for January! Most of our guests have come and gone already and my company has had to come out of pocket for thousands of dollars of preparations for these arrivals. I am the one at risk here and so are my owners, not NewTek. These funds should have been in my owner’s property management account 3 months ago to pay for these things.He states that “they are working with me”, yet, I provided a full accounting on December 4th and I have to hound them for my rental money.See below:Newtek has done irreparable harm and has put my company in jeopardy.[redacted] Properties#4 Kawaihae Village,Kamuela, HI 96743www.HawaiiOceanfront.comReservation Desk: 808-882-7773RESERVATION DESK : [email protected] AM - 4 PM Monday - Friday[redacted]'s Email: aloha[redacted][email protected][redacted]'s cell: 808.989.7773

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 complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.Mr. [redacted] is holding my rental funds hostage and me hostage.The card holders sign a rental agreement and also receive a reservation and confirmation stating that the rents are non-refundable 90 days prior to arrival.The property expenses must be paid during the month preceding the arrival, as well as, the month of arrival to prepare for the guest stay and take care of the property.No where is there any promise made that the cardholders funds are held in an escrow account until AFTER their stay. This is untrue.
Attached are copies of our documents with the customers.
Regards,
[redacted]

There was action taken under the terms of the merchant agreement based on concerns with advanced sales and questions regarding rental funds which are to be held in an Escrow Account until the renters have completed their vacation stay. We have requested information regarding the verification of the...

sales and confirmation the funds remain in the escrow account from Aloha [redacted] Properties and Ms. [redacted] as the owner of Aloha [redacted] Properties. As of this date she has not provided the requested information and we remain concerned with funds availability. We have been continuing our efforts to work with Ms. [redacted]. Please change the contact to me as today will be Suzie’s last day with Newtek. Thanks [redacted]| Chief Credit and Risk Officer of Merchant ServicesPhone: (414) 831-3956 |Fax: (414) 831-3901

We continue to work with Ms. [redacted] as the services / condo rentals are fulfilled and Newtek releases funds upon the fulfillment of the services. The actions taken were to protect consumers who’s funds were accepted for payments in advance of services being provided. There were specific reasons that led to questions as to the availability of funds to fulfill the obligations of Aloha [redacted] Rentals which is the subject of this complaint and the company that Ms. [redacted] owns.The final resolution and release of all funds will likely go thought the end of February 2016 which is how far in advance payments were made by consumers to Ms. [redacted]’s company. Aloha [redacted]. It is and has always been Newtek’s position that as services are fulfilled, funds will be released in full.

Dear [redacted]I have done a thorough review of the account that is with [redacted] Merchant Solutions. It was opened with [redacted] in September 2009 by [redacted] who signed as a Member/Owner. This account was in fact used for credit card processing from November 2009 through May 2013 when...

activity then stopped. As per the contract that was signed it would be Jennifer's responsibility to close the account if a new company was then contracted. [redacted] does understand that statements can look similar, however, our statement from that point on would have not shown any activity and you would have seen a separate debit from the checking account each month for fees from your new processor and from [redacted]. Additionally, your statement messages would have indicated that if you were going to dispute any charges to please contact us within 90 days of the statement. We understand that you are stating that Jennifer Miller is no longer with the company. As a courtesy to stop the charges I will be happy to close the account for you. However, I am unable to honor your request of a refund dating back to the time the account was opened. This account did have activity for more than 3 years. You were receiving our statements throughout this time period and there are costs that are associated with an account whether there is activity or not. We also do allow for 90 days dispute of any charges. As a courtesy however [redacted] will credit 6 months worth of inactivity fees for a total of $364.50. We apologize for any inconvenience this situation has caused. Should you require further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me at [redacted] ext. 13925 or via email at [redacted]  Sincerely,[redacted]SVP Customer Service[redacted] Merchant Solutions

Review: On September 23 I received an email which was forwarded to me from a recipient who is unrelated to this issue. A stranger received and important email from my merchant service, Newtek. The email was 13 days old at that point and it requested that I contact Newtek.

This was the first news I had. The email contained attachments of very important financial information on my business, yet it was sent to the wrong email address. I consider this irresponsible action of email communication to the wrong party with sensitive financial information, incompetence and inexcusable on their part.

I have a customer service representatives for this merchant card service with Newtek, at Premier Payments named [redacted], and [redacted] with United Capital Payments. Both [redacted] and [redacted] have my correct email as well as my direct phone number. I am easy to reach.

They should have contacted their customer service representative and my customer service representative with any issues they had about my account.

On October 2 , I provided my customer service representative, [redacted] at Premier Payments with a profit and loss statement on my company because Newtek had questions about my business. I did not hear anything back. On October 16, I sent an email to Premier Payments asking what the status was with Newtek.

I received a response stating that Newtek had sent me a notice about pending cancelation “last week". I responded that I had received no notice. I receive my Newtek statements at my PO Box just fine, yet there was no notice whatsoever that they weren't going to start holding all of my credit card sales in a reserve account. There was no request for more financial information!

It wasn't until I received my statement yesterday that I saw that they had put over $64,000 in a reserve account without letting me know! These funds are rental funds that belong to my clients and they are putting me at extreme risk here. I hold their funds in trust for them. There are many expenses that need to be paid for my rental customers such as cleaning and repairs and there are no funds to do that with since they are holding the funds. My October rents are due to the owners, as well as October expense payments and they have not funded my bank account. Their business practices are deceptive and unfair. I can provide documentation upon request. They withheld this money with no notification!Desired Settlement: They need to deposit the credit card sales into my bank account immediately!

If there is anything in our contract which was signed by me that requires me to provide additional financial information, that information must be requested in writing and reference made to the contract that I signed with them.

In addition, they must apologize for not corresponding with me and my customer service reps ([redacted] and [redacted]) at the correct email and USPS mail address which is on file.

Any holding of funds should require documentation for the reason, as well as, written communication as to what is contractually required in a return receipt certified letter with ample notice to the merchant.

Business

Response:

There was action taken under the terms of the merchant agreement based on concerns with advanced sales and questions regarding rental funds which are to be held in an Escrow Account until the renters have completed their vacation stay. We have requested information regarding the verification of the sales and confirmation the funds remain in the escrow account from Aloha [redacted] Properties and Ms. [redacted] as the owner of Aloha [redacted] Properties. As of this date she has not provided the requested information and we remain concerned with funds availability. We have been continuing our efforts to work with Ms. [redacted]. Please change the contact to me as today will be Suzie’s last day with Newtek. Thanks [redacted]| Chief Credit and Risk Officer of Merchant ServicesPhone: (414) 831-3956 |Fax: (414) 831-3901

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted] and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.Mr. [redacted] is holding my rental funds hostage and me hostage.The card holders sign a rental agreement and also receive a reservation and confirmation stating that the rents are non-refundable 90 days prior to arrival.The property expenses must be paid during the month preceding the arrival, as well as, the month of arrival to prepare for the guest stay and take care of the property.No where is there any promise made that the cardholders funds are held in an escrow account until AFTER their stay. This is untrue.

Attached are copies of our documents with the customers.

Regards,

Business

Response:

We continue to work with Ms. [redacted] as the services / condo rentals are fulfilled and Newtek releases funds upon the fulfillment of the services. The actions taken were to protect consumers who’s funds were accepted for payments in advance of services being provided. There were specific reasons that led to questions as to the availability of funds to fulfill the obligations of Aloha [redacted] Rentals which is the subject of this complaint and the company that Ms. [redacted] owns.The final resolution and release of all funds will likely go thought the end of February 2016 which is how far in advance payments were made by consumers to Ms. [redacted]’s company. Aloha [redacted]. It is and has always been Newtek’s position that as services are fulfilled, funds will be released in full.

Consumer

Response:

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.

All of these credit card transactions are RENT PAYMENTS, not services, and each card holder (guest of our vacation rentals) has signed a rental agreement and received confirmations that the rents are non-refundable within 90 days prior to arrival.

Review: I closed my account with [redacted] on October 11, 2013 and they have continued to withdrawal their monthly fee of 2.85 and a PCI and monthly fee combined of 61.91 I called on 12-02-2013 and was told refund will be processed and back into my account in 3 to 5 business days. Called again on 12-09-2013 spoke to [redacted] and was told that the refund will be processed and back in my account in 3 to 5 business days. Still no refund called on 12-19-2013 Spoke to [redacted] and was told the refund has not been processed and he will speak to management when they come in. The sad thing is that for the 2 year contract I was stuck in I have opted out of the PCI 3 times and all three times I had to call because they withdrew the funds from my account.Desired Settlement: For [redacted] to refund the $ 64.80 back into my account and apology for the inconvenience.

Business

Response:

January 3, 2014

Re: Revdex.com Complaint

[redacted]

To Whom It May Concern:

Please accept this letter as response to Complaint ID [redacted].

[redacted] has done a thorough review of the account and found the following. Affordable Blinds & Draperies Inc did contact [redacted] back in October to close their account and a letter was submitted. Unfortunately, that letter was not handled properly and when [redacted] was contacted in December, the letter was located and the account was closed. It was explained at that time we would process a refund for both November and December fees as well as the Compliance fee. This has been processed on January 3rd, 2014. During this time of year there is a high volume of refunds and there was a delay in the final remittance.

If there are any questions, please feel free to contact me directly at ###-###-#### or via email [redacted].

Regards,

[redacted] Business Services

Electronic Payment Processing

Review: Account opened by unauthorized person. Knowledge of the account or understanding of the account was never discussed or explained. Refusal to deal with the owner of the LLC and the sole member of the LLC when questioned about the account. Account was never used, never logged into, never understood by the owner. The unauthorized person left the company in April of 2012. Never provided details of the account to anyone. When calling to get information, limited information could be given, contact info couldn't be changed. The person that had setup the account was in legal dispute with Owner of company. No knowledge of this account, what it was or what it was for was given. $60.75 was taken out of a bank account for years. The statement sent by [redacted] looks exactly like the Merchant Card statement sent by our normal Merchant company. The one we use regularly. Same colors, same paper, it was unclear that it was a different company. And since no information would be given to the Owner of the company other then fees, nothing could be done. Cancellation in writing was impossible due to the person that had signed up for this account was no longer involved. She was not an employee. She was an independent contractor. This was not a valid contract.Desired Settlement: To receive a settlement of payments made for NO services ever. There was an invalid contract signed.

Business

Response:

Dear [redacted]I have done a thorough review of the account that is with [redacted] Merchant Solutions. It was opened with [redacted] in September 2009 by [redacted] who signed as a Member/Owner. This account was in fact used for credit card processing from November 2009 through May 2013 when activity then stopped. As per the contract that was signed it would be Jennifer's responsibility to close the account if a new company was then contracted. [redacted] does understand that statements can look similar, however, our statement from that point on would have not shown any activity and you would have seen a separate debit from the checking account each month for fees from your new processor and from [redacted]. Additionally, your statement messages would have indicated that if you were going to dispute any charges to please contact us within 90 days of the statement. We understand that you are stating that Jennifer Miller is no longer with the company. As a courtesy to stop the charges I will be happy to close the account for you. However, I am unable to honor your request of a refund dating back to the time the account was opened. This account did have activity for more than 3 years. You were receiving our statements throughout this time period and there are costs that are associated with an account whether there is activity or not. We also do allow for 90 days dispute of any charges. As a courtesy however [redacted] will credit 6 months worth of inactivity fees for a total of $364.50. We apologize for any inconvenience this situation has caused. Should you require further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me at [redacted] ext. 13925 or via email at [redacted] Sincerely,[redacted]SVP Customer Service[redacted] Merchant Solutions

Review: We returned a rental credit card terminal to Newtek and purchased a new one that is a chip reader. Newtek acknowledges that they received the returned rented terminal but continues to charge us the monthly rental on each statement. We have been on the phone with them 5 different times and each time they have a new excuse. The dispute is still not resolved and on the last phone call (Dec 21, 2015) Fabian said they were in the process of trying to waive 2 months and refund us only 1 month. We have overpaid 3 months so far. Each phone call has a new story about why it hasn't been done.Desired Settlement: We should be refunded $12.95 for Sept, Oct, Nov billing totaling $38.85 and it should be removed from our monthly statement so that we are not charge for any future months.

Business

Response:

I have processed the desired refund to this customer and they should see the $38.85 by End of Week if not before. We have reached out to the customer to advise her of this resolution.

Consumer

Response:

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]

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,

Just quite this service - terrible experience with the VP of merchant services [redacted]. Without notice a PCI charge shows up on our bill, started at $19 quickly escalated to $30 and the straw that broke the back was an additional $60 charge for the "annual PCI" compliance. There was no notification of the need to complete the PCI questionnaire until it showed up on the bill. Called, customer service explained the procedure, said we would be refunded. E-mail that was to contain the link never came and the following two months the same fee was added. Finally received a e-mail form from [redacted] and was refunded a grand total of $38. There was no indication of an annual PCI fee in our initial contract or notification otherwise. The card reader rarely worked when needed, often had to manually enter the card information, which with no surprise costs you more. The first month or two we had the card we didn't have a lot of need for the card reader and got a call from "customer service" asking why we weren't using the card - apparently they weren't making any money off of us. Then to terminate our contract we had to send in a letter "on letter head" explaining why, they preferred "fax" but could e-mail it as well - wow - some high tech company here, don't even know where to find a fax machine any more. I'm sure we'll get some additional fee for something yet, even though we sent in our letter... Terrible service and experience, not worth your time. Get the Square, bought one for $10, got $10 credit on first transaction - set up took a grand total of 15 minutes and one e-mail to the bank; works every time, no PCI charges/fees, send e-mailed receipts, swipe and go. No huge sum if you want to have an additional one - simply purchase another one and get the refund - $0 to you. Newtek is being left in the dust and no friend to small business. Don't bother.

Review: advertisied $250 guarantee will meet or beat your current merchant processing pricing or we will give you $250.00. told $8.95 per month. I was paying $9.98 I got charged $94.28 for the first month (which was only a partial month 1/14/ to 1/31/15) charged for equipment $59.00(I was told this) became $70.42. monthly $8.95 became $24.86. I called four separate times never got a call back. Raul the manager said there is nothing he can do all the fees are correct and he is not changing anything. [redacted] in Customer Service never called me back. [redacted] my salesman I left four requests to call back and he never calls.Desired Settlement: I want to be charged the 8.95 per month I was told (plus the cost of the equipment)

Business

Response:

Newtek Merchant Solutions apologizes for any confusion that has occurred. In an effort to clarify any confusion a conference call was done with this customer, the First Vice President of Customer Service and the Business Service Specialist that initially set up the account. This is a seasonal business and that needed clarification. In speaking with the customer it was determined that they would be declining our breach coverage for 8.95 and that their statement fee for 5.00 would be removed. Newtek Merchant Solutions did agree to credit this customer for both of those services for the month of January. These refunds are being processed through our systems as of 2/26/2015 and should be received no later than 5 business days. If there are any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at 1.[redacted] option 5 for Customer Service or via email at [email protected]. Sincerely, [redacted]SVP Customer ServiceNewtek Merchant Solutions

Review: Our business takes credit cards and we were set up with Newtek Solutions who is a middle man for the credit card processing. I tried to cancel the account and was charged continually for three (3) months after, as they have your bank account #. Calling every month was not good enough and also was not told until I got angry after the third month, was told I had to "fax" in the request for cancelation. I have been fighting the merchant processor since Nov.2014. They have continued to charge the bank acct. until I called again demanding a refund of the charges they have made since Dec.2014. ( I was not told that I had to call them also until Dec. 2014) I have called them continually since then and then was told yesterday that the account was not closed until 4/15/15 and the refund had been denied. "[redacted]" would not let me speak with anyone as to why this had been denied. I finally hung up as I was too upset to continue with someone so obstinate.Desired Settlement: It gave me several options. I would like our account to be refunded but would also like an explanation. We are just a small business and work very hard to help customers be able to pay by cc. The merchant services business is almost impossible to try and understand how they charge by transaction and what tier a small business should be in ie:"trustworthy" is not what they are...and they have all of your banking information!

Business

Response:

Dear Ms. [redacted]Newtek Merchant Solutions is in receipt of your complaint regarding your account. We have located two accounts under the business name of T & M Pro Shop. The first account was closed back in July of 2013. The 2nd account which has an address of [redacted] has been closed since 1/19/2015 with no charges since that time. Additionally when reviewing that account, we did process a credit for you for fees for the month of December in a total amount of $39.30. This was reflected on your final January statement however at that time there were no additional charges. In reviewing the notes on the account during this time period you were questioning the compliance fees on your account. PCI Compliance is an important industry standard required by the card associations to show that all merchants are handling their customers' card information in a secure manner. In June 2014 Newtek Merchant Solutions, notified all merchants on their monthly statement that they would be required to become PCI Compliant by August 20th, 2014 or would be subject to a $19.00 monthly compliance fee. Additionally, we notified merchants that they would be assessed their annual PCI compliance fee (the cost of becoming compliant) on their November statement in September of 2014 on the monthly statement. Newtek Merchant Solutions is unable to waive fees during the month of November because the service was used during that time period. Although we are unable to credit the compliance fees, your remaining December fees were credited in January and there were no charges assessed in January so at this time no refund is warranted.Is it possible that there is a third account that I was unable to locate using the information on this complaint? If so, providing the merchant number would definitely assist in resolving the matter and I would be happy to review further. Sincerely,[redacted]SVP Customer Service Merchant Services - Newtek