Merchant Lynx Overall Rating
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Merchant Lynx Overview
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Merchant Lynx’s (merchantlynx.com) vision statement says that ”Merchant Lynx Services’ vision is to provide exceptional services to merchants in the Nation,” but the company seems to be falling short somewhere. This merchant services provider is based in Annapolis, MD and has offices in Florida, Pennsylvania, New York, Illinois and Arizona. Merchant Lynx claims to have entered the credit card processing industry in 1994 but it this hard to believe for a couple of reasons. First, this provider has a lot of complaints of a nature that probably would have taken it out of business by now. Second, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) profile for Merchant Lynx wasn’t opened until 2006.
Speaking of the BBB, Merchant Lynx has a “C” rating with 112 complaints filed in the last 36 months as of this review. Of the complaints, 51 are due to problems with the services or products, 36 with Advertising or Sales issues and 24 with billing and collection. Merchant Lynx is also not BBB accredited. If the BBB complaint count isn’t enough to scare most merchants away, the hundreds of other complaints filed online might.
This reviewer stopped counting at 162, but there appears to be many more complaints filed against Merchant Lynx on numerous other websites. The source of the dissatisfaction appears to be rooted in the sales process because most of the complaints can be traced to the setup of the merchant account. The most common complaints are about bad agents, misleading sales tactics, hidden fees, non-disclosure of a 48 month auto-renewing contract with a $395 early cancellation penalty, expensive leases of equipment that costs merchants thousands of dollars but retail in the low hundreds if bought outright and huge equipment lease cancellation penalties.
Merchant Lynx appears to use iPayment and/or First Data as processor, though First Data may only do the equipment leases, and is a registered ISO/MSP of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., Walnut Creek, CA
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4 comments
Marietta Business
April 23, 2012 at 8:24 pm (UTC -7)
Merchant Lynx and First Data are bad companies to deal with. Merchant Lync came into my business
and promised lower rates and a free credit card machine. Two weeks after starting with them I received notice in the mail that I had a 48 month lease of $79.95 a month which i never signed up for. I cancelled immediately and went back to credit card company I had been using. This was in 2007. I had to stop payments thru bank several times but did get them to stop and I never paid them anything. I was turned over to collection agency and they sold to another collection agency and now I am going to court with local attorneys who buy bad collection debts. They are saying I owe $7000.00 but settle for $5000.00. They produced contract that had my inititals on it. I had initialed a one time charge of $79.95. The salesman added the 48 months after he left my office. I am going to court because this is wrong. I will be going to court on April 30. This is so wrong.
Linda Robinson
May 12, 2012 at 7:19 pm (UTC -7)
Case was dismissed because if was fraud committed by Merchant Lynx and First Data.
sandy ahart
March 21, 2012 at 8:25 am (UTC -7)
This company has more complaints than you are aware of; many having to do with employee pay and the company’s flagrant failure to pay employees, especially after they have quit. One of the manager’s, [name omitted], is a disgusting pig who should be in jail for fraud. Don’t walk, run away from this company as fast as you can when they come calling.
John
March 7, 2012 at 4:57 pm (UTC -7)
How are there no comments on this company? I have dealt with this company and can say that Philip is right on the mark on this one. Hidden fees out the wazoo, and their termination fee is actually around $600-700. I have taken credit cards since the late 90′s up till now and have never had a multi-year contract. All my processors that I had dealt with, up to Merchant Lynx Services, had offered me a month to month, no termination fee. Merchant Lynx Services also promised me the same, to match whatever offer I had prior to Lynx. But, my addendum was “lost” and they requested that I pay upwards to around $1600-2000 to leave them (termination fees+lost monthly fees which were undisclosed.) I tricked my salesman Joel Cardonick and got him to do a three way call to Merchant Lynx Services customer service. I told him that I was just checking on my account and needed his expertise in closing them. I got him, on record, to state that another addendum existed that stated that I was on a month to month contract with no termination fee. The rep told him to find the addendum and fax it, otherwise I was to be held to the terms with a termination fee. Needless to say, I never heard back from Joel or Lynx, when I would try to contact Joel, no one would pickup. Also, whenever their reps called you, their business numbers were always blocked. I have received notices from them about a few weeks after this incident, stating that they will, essentially, attack my credit if I do not pay them. I will tell you, if my credit is harmed, I will litigate and have more of a reason to do so after their illegal actions.
Their promise to the BBB a few years ago, stated that they would disclose all terms of the contract, and follow up with their customers, to ensure satisfaction. They did not do this and I doubt they ever had. There are so many blogs about this company I lost count. And I have now took it upon myself to go after them personally, with the help of a couple State Attorney Generals and plan to bring about federal and state criminal charges against them.
There is more to this story, but I will not bore you with all the details, all of which have been forwarded to law enforcement. If you have been contacted by this company or have done business with them, be vigilant, document everything, and be especially suspicious when it comes to the contract and the behavior of their sales staff.