Flagship Merchant Services
Review Updated: 12/5/2011
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Flagship Merchant Services Overview
Flagship Merchant Services Logo
Flagship Merchant Services (cardservicesales.com & flagshipmerchantservices.com) is a large merchant account sales organization based out of Charlestown, Massachusetts. The company was founded in 2001 and looks to have grown rapidly in the last 10 years. Flagship is a reseller of processing services provided by First Data and possibly other processors, but appears to handle the customer service of its accounts in-house.
Aside from providing credit card processing services and merchant accounts, Flagship also supplies business cash advances, electronic check services, and gift card programs.
Flagship’s Acquiring Bank is Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. of Walnut Creek, CA.
Flagship Merchant Services Sales Tactics & Marketing Strategy | B
This reviewer located only one use of slightly deceptive marketing by Flagship in which the company advertises on its homepage and in Google Adsense ads that “rates start at 0.39%.” This rate quote is somewhat deceptive because it only applies to certain debit card transactions and the majority of a merchant’s transactions will run at much higher rates, which are not being mentioned in the quote. As you can imagine, these types of quotes can lead to confusion for some merchants.
Aside from the rate quote, no other instances of deceptive marketing or sales tactics are apparent as of this update. Flagship appears to primarily use inside sales staff, instead of outside independent sales agents, which allows it to keep tighter controls over the sales processes and practices.
Flagship Merchant Services Fees, Costs & Contract Terms | A
Rates and fees of Flagship merchant accounts may vary for a variety of reasons including a merchant’s business type, processing volume, and agent setting up the account. Additionally the company offers month-to-month contracts with no cancellation fees. Merchants are encouraged to carefully read and understand Flagship’s merchant account agreement prior to signing as many of the complaints about the company relate to pricing, which will be covered in the next section.
Flagship Merchant Services Complaints & Service | C
For a provider of Flagship’s size and time in business, the company has a low-to-moderate number of complaints filed in the usual forums. Many of the complaints follow a common theme, which is the reason Flagship is receiving a low rating in this section. Of the reports, numerous merchants complain of receiving higher than quoted fees after signing up, sudden increases in fees without notification, hidden/undisclosed fees, and difficulty cancelling service.
These types of complaints usually indicate systemic problems in the sales practices in which agents often fail to disclose fees and instead rely on the merchant to find them within the contract. It can also be an indication of problems with the billing system. Either way, Flagship can improve its rating in this section be eliminating future complaints of this nature.
Flagship Merchant Services Better Business Bureau Report | A
As of this update, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) is reporting that Flagship has been accredited since 2009 and holds an “A” rating. The company has 22 BBB complaints filed in the last 36 months. Most of the complaints are regarding fees that merchants did not expect. Of the 22 complaints, all but three (3) were resolved to the merchants’ satisfaction.
Bottom Line
Overall, Flagship scores fairly well for a provider of its size and time in business. Additionally, the company offers month-to-month agreements which make it attractive for many businesses. Flagship can improve its rating in this review by eliminating future merchant complaints about billing, hidden fees, and difficulties cancelling service.
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14 comments
Madison Jones says:
February 3, 2012 at 10:58 pm (UTC -8 )
I just signed up with this company and processed my first transaction on Jan 21, I am STILL waiting for my funds. I was supposed to have a high ticket of 1k, but apparently to get my approved quickly Will Teleau just wrote it up for $500. So when I processed my first trasaction of $700 I got a call 2 days later asking me to complete a limit increase which I faxed over 5 minutes later. Mid week, still no funds so I call and speak to Rose in Risk Management thats supposedly handling it, she claims I was asked to fax in the invoice for the transaction, I was NOT asked that and she bascially called me a liar. So I faxed that over to her within 5 minutes and she said she would be right on it. The next week, still no funds. I call on Wed and she claims she just looked at it Tues and then wanted to go over the name on the invoice. At this point I am mad, as its now 1/31…She says its her problem because she is overworked… REALLY?! I think its MY problem because its MY money they are holding! Its no 2/3 and still NO money!! No calls back from messages left for supervisors, my account manager, or anyone. Absolutely horrible service. I highly recommend going elsewhere for your credit card processing services!
Pam says:
December 22, 2011 at 1:23 pm (UTC -8 )
THis company has ruined my bisness. THey deposited funds into my account int he first month. That was the last deposit.
Every month that we made money their fees went up – it totaled about 75% or more of what ever we were making. WHen we made $29, they charge $25. When we made $140 they charge $110.
It went on h like this for months… I have beenrtying to cancel since APRIL (it is now December) and they refuse to send me any money….. the little bit htat was left over they still kept. I had to close down credit card processing on my site.
These people LIE and STEAL.
SHAME on them!
ANNETTE MCGILVRAY says:
November 9, 2011 at 8:21 am (UTC -8 )
Stay away from this company they will rip you off. We opened an account with them in Nov. 2010 and have been trying to close it since May of 2011. Once you are set up with them they will start nickel and dimeing you to death. It starts with hidden fees then the pci compliance it goes on and on. Once the customer service realizes your on to them they get really nasty. It is Nov. of 2011 and I’m still trying to get credits for my Authorize.net portion that Flagship never canceled.
Mary Pacheco says:
October 11, 2011 at 3:56 pm (UTC -8 )
I had them for over a year. I went ahead and paid the $47 a month fee for a while because I didn’t want to lose my credit card paying clientele. When I became ill and could not work for a few months, I decided to cancel. They would not cancel. I kept getting the run-around, and even was told that they had no record of me ever trying to cancel. Then they started calling me and sending me emails about PCI-Compliance. For over a year I had no problems with them and they said nothing about this PCI Compliance. Now I’m receiving bills for over $500, and they are STILL refusing to close my account. Finally, I had to close my bank account. Somehow they were still able to charge this closed account, and now I’m in collections with this bank. This is just horrible! Especially since I was sick and really did not feel like dealing with this in the first place. I still have not been able to get them to close the account. If anyone has information on how to get them to close this account, I would really appreciate that information.
Phillip Parker says:
October 11, 2011 at 4:20 pm (UTC -8 )
Hi Mary,
Sounds like a nightmare. You might want to check out this post: How to Report Bad Credit Card Processors
Herschel Everett says:
October 5, 2011 at 1:33 pm (UTC -8 )
I am reporting about Flagship Merchant Services/ Authorize.net. They will charge you till the cows come home. We canceled our their service on September 7th due to the August fees, but they continued to keep our account active till the 20th of September to bill us more. They told us that the cut-off time for canceling service is the 5th. Here is the run down on the charges.
ARB FEE $10.00
GATEWAY$9.00
FRAUD $9.95 September pre-charges
ARB FEE $10.00
PRORATED GATEWAY $9.00
PRORATED FRAUD $9.95
SUB TOTAL $46.24 August charges
GRAND TOTAL
FOR AUGUST
PLUS PRE-PAID FOR SEPTEMBER $46.24
So we closed our account as of September 7th but they continue to keep our account active till the 20th of September.
Billed us for services we didn’t use
Authorized.net charges $10.05
Flagship Merchant services $3.35
Total for October $13.40
Adam says:
August 16, 2011 at 2:43 pm (UTC -8 )
This company are thieves. They were suppossed to switch my service with Authorize.Net. They never did. Not one transaction went through them and they are refusing to refund my money. They ignored my requests to cancel the service. When I finally did they said I was too late. They are unbelievable.
Larry little says:
September 22, 2011 at 6:34 pm (UTC -8 )
I went through authorize.net. They cancelled my $16 monthly hidden access fee with a direct phone call. Flagship will not cancel the account, because they never get my fax closure form– say only half of it came through. I am cancelling because they did not tell me about the$16 a month fee, they now want to reduce to $3. They are a rip off for the merchant. STAY away—-
Michael B says:
August 10, 2011 at 3:50 pm (UTC -8 )
This company is now called FrontStream Payments. Bad Business tatics, be careful.
Phillip Parker says:
August 10, 2011 at 4:19 pm (UTC -8 )
Hi Michael, thanks for the information. Can you tell me where you heard that Flagship Merchant Services is now called FrontStream Payments? I would like to verify it for the next update of the review. Flagship has a separate website from FrontStream and I have never seen anything that says the two companies are affiliated with eachother.
Thresa says:
June 27, 2011 at 11:42 pm (UTC -8 )
I dislike their $99 fee (they didn’t tell at first) for annual compliance fee, plus $19.95 additional fee if you are not pci-compliance, means you don’t pass the security questionaire. I am relieved to switch to Chase payment tech now since the salesman ( the one I got) is super nice. They offer lower rates and no pci fee.
RON says:
June 15, 2011 at 11:35 pm (UTC -8 )
wow what crooks. I have had them for 4 months and i finally had time to look at my statement and i am shocked. they might charge 2% on total transaction but their fees will kill you. I have 35 in discount and 77dollars in fees like, bathch fees, customer service fees, gateway fees, and other crazy fees.
CROOKS CROOKS CROOKS, will be canceling with them with in the week once i have setup other merchant accounts.
David Duren says:
December 17, 2010 at 8:51 am (UTC -8 )
Great points and a message that’s very consistent with what you hear on the phone from these providers. Thanks for helping us avoid bad regrettable decisions.
Jamie Iomo says:
December 7, 2010 at 3:32 pm (UTC -8 )
Good Afternoon
Just wanted to show my appreciation for your time and hard work