Merchant One Overall Rating
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Merchant One Company Overview
Merchant One Logo
Merchant One is a branded independent sales arm of United Bankcard and uses First Data (FDIS) as the processor. This merchant account provider has done a great job of marketing itself, and has a very professional and persuasive website. Merchant One claims to service over 90,000 merchants including well known brands like Paul Mitchell and H&K Furniture. This company provides credit card processing services for nearly any need and has an iPhone app for wireless processing. If one only reviewed this company’s marketing strategy (i.e. TopTenReviews) this company would score as a top provider. However, not is all as it seems with Merchant One.
Merchant One Sales Strategy & Tactics | D
Merchant One’s website is misleading at best, and just plain dishonest at worst. To start, the Merchant One advertises rates starting at 1.19% and then proceeds to quote unrealistic transaction rates on its “Rates & Fees” page. The quoted rates only include an enticingly low “Qualified” rate of which only 10-20% of transactions will qualify for. The page fails to mention, even in sub-text, the “Mid-Qualified” and “Non-Qualified” downgrade fees that 80% or more of transactions will fall into. Typically, these downgrade fees can cost the merchant a full 1-2% more per transaction. There is also no mention of the monthly minimum fee which appears to range from $10-$25, a PCI Compliance Fee that runs from $79-$129 per year, and a potential annual fee of $99. It’s not surprising that many of the complaints online about Merchant One revolve around the provider’s misleading sales tactics.
Merchant One Contract Terms & Pricing | D
As mentioned previously, Merchant One quotes it pricing and rates in a misleading manner. Additionally, the merchant account contract can range from a 3-5 year term with early termination fee of $25 per month for the remaining months of the contract term, or $295, whichever is greater. However, there are several complaints of the cancellation fee being much higher than $295, so it is unclear if $295 is the actual maximum cancellation penalty. Merchant One calls it a “de-conversion” fee and there are several complaints from merchants saying that neither the contract term or cancellation fees were disclosed by the agents during the application process.
Merchant One Service, Complaints & Dispute Resolution | D
Merchant One claims on its website to have “Award Winning Customer Service,” however the reality seems to be otherwise. It is evident that the dispute resolution process needs improvement because there are numerous complaints filed against Merchant One in various places online. On average, Merchant One has a high number of complaints in comparison to other providers of it’s size. The root of the problems center around merchants feeling as though they were deceived during the application process. Many complain of undisclosed fees, undisclosed contract terms, and high cancellation fees.
Merchant One Better Business Bureau Report | D (CPO Adjusted)
As of this review, the BBB is reporting an “A+” rating for Merchant One despite receiving 157 complaints over the last 36 months. The high rating is due to Merchant One resolving 84 complaints and getting 73 of them “Administratively Closed.” The type of complaints mirror the observations of this review because 78 of the complaints were filed under “Sales Practice Issues” and 43 under “Advertising Issues.”
Based on Merchant One’s complaint count, resolution ratio and business size, we are adjusting the rating of this section to a “D” for the purposes of this review. You can learn more about why we adjust BBB ratings in our rating criteria.
Bottom Line
Merchant One has the potential to be one of the best providers; however, its use of misleading advertising and sales tactics is greatly soiling the company’s reputation. Although the vast majority of Merchant One’s customers are probably satisfied, this company has a high number of complaints compared to other processors of its size. Couple that with the resounding theme of fee and contract non-disclosure complaints, and it is tough to get behind Merchant One. Business owners considering a merchant account with Merchant One are advised to thoroughly read and understand the terms the contract before signing
Leave your review of Merchant One in the comment section below.
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11 comments
Tom Booth
May 15, 2012 at 12:31 pm (UTC -7)
I’d agree with all the negative comments above. We were also told there would be no “cancellation fee,” or hidden fees of any kind. We’ve been bombarded with unexplained fees, often with mysterious codes. Today, upon asking for cancellation, we were told there would be a two-year cancellation penalty amounting to $600.
This is a fraudulent company: you should simply avoid doing business with them under any circumnstances.
George
May 10, 2012 at 11:18 am (UTC -7)
This company is horrible. Their fees are outrageous.
Phillip Parker
May 10, 2012 at 4:37 pm (UTC -7)
Hi George, can you provide more details of your experience? Otherwise, we’ll have to delete this comment since it’s not technically a review of the Merchant One’s services.
Dennis Kendrick
May 2, 2012 at 6:47 am (UTC -7)
Wow,
I thought I was the only one being deceived and screwed over.
Does any one have any info on the best way to handle this deceit and fraud ?
thanks.
Debby Arango
March 14, 2012 at 6:55 pm (UTC -7)
Please help put scam companies like this one out of buisness. Fees,Fee’s… anything thing they want to charge
they take right out of your account. Every month I had more and more money taken from my account, and when I would call to ask they said it was in the paperwork.
After 2 years with the company They charged me 250.00 to close out with them, of course they didn’t tell me
that!! It was just missing from my account. We also had to close all buisness accounts so they would stop taking money.
Take warning stay away you will be sorry! I will also make a complaint to the BBB , but I heard they have an A
rating with them . Something fishy there too.!!!
Shawn W
January 19, 2012 at 11:24 am (UTC -7)
Stay away from this one. I’ve been with this company for 6 years. I started out paying 15 dollars a month now every month a new fee. Bill went from 15 to 221.00,129.00,86.00,79.00,68.00 dollars. Now they’re charging a 28 dollar fee three times a year for processing paperwork. A 99 dollar a year fee for annual fees, 87 dollar a year pci fee, and a 3.75 monthly fee for pci. Also a 19.90 dollar fee a month for comstar fee. Also gateway monthly fee that has been as high as 43.00 dollars a month. Those fee don’t even include the fees you pay for charging a credit card such as transaction fees and other charges. By the way the fees I signed up to pay are out the window. When you get a large charge amount your fees go up suddenly. Went as high as 3.15%. Over double what I signed up for. When I called to complain they said we’ll now set your rate so it don’t happen again after the damage is done. For three months they over charged me 19.90 refunded the money then charged me over the next two months also. If I had never caught it I’ll still be paying double. Worst company ever stay away.
Vitaliy K
January 3, 2012 at 9:56 am (UTC -7)
Please Stay away, the worst merchant to deal with. It was very easy to sign in, not possible to sign off.
tim rock, cpa
January 17, 2012 at 8:21 am (UTC -7)
absolutely THE worst company i have ever worked with (22 years practice). watch out for all the hidden fees including the never mentioned annual membership fee of $99/yr that was hidden in the fine print of the contract. and when you cancel, look out! the fax number they provdide to cancel conveniently never works. it actually me 8 days and many phone call and faxes to get it done. i compared to CMS and happily cancelled merchant one. unfortunately, merchant one is not (all of a sudden) easy and friendly to deal with once you try to cancel…and the HIDDEN fees are ridiculous! i have MANY clients that accept cards and they will certainly be “schooled” by me on merchant one. STAY AWAY! seriously. tim.
Kevin Barwick
December 9, 2011 at 11:29 am (UTC -7)
I signed a contract in February 2011. I was verbally told that I was on a month-to-month contract. Besides having frustrations with all the hidden and extemporaneous fees, they were not responsive to my need for them to own up to a mistake they made regarding PCI Compliance.
After several months of being charged $24.50/month for me allegedly being non-compliant with PCI regs, I called Merchant One to get this cleared up. The rep arranged a conference call with Control Scan. CS and Merchant One admitted they made a mistake in how it was inputted, i.e. absolving me of any negligence. Although I had been compliant from the beginning, Merchant One chose to not refund me for any of the months, but one. My five calls to them never transpired into any help toward me.
I thus decided to cancel my contract with Merchant One. I signed the cancellation notice. When I found a $295 charge on my checking account I called once again. They said that there was a three-year contract to which I originally signed. I was never told about a three-year contract, nor was I sent their Program Guide stipulating this policy.
A Merchant One supervisor refused to refund me the cancellation fee, leaning on the fact that I signed an original contract (which indicated only the “possibility” of an early termination fee). I felt as if I wasn’t heard nor respected by the “Customer Service” reps.
I would not recommend Merchant One for any small business needs!
ron salvetti
September 20, 2011 at 4:08 pm (UTC -7)
We have had the same issues with Merchant One as described by other reviewers, that is their deceptive promise of no additional fees, cancellation at any time and a one year contract. We specifically wanted a one year contract for our new business and were assured that this would be the case. We were rushed over the phone to simply sign the contract, our rep assured us that the contract was for one year and we needed to sign now. Shortly after, we were charged the 90.00 compliance fee and then learned that we had a 3 year contract that we are obligated for, personally, even though we are an LLC. Run in the other direction from Merchant One!
Patricia Kruger
September 8, 2011 at 3:34 pm (UTC -7)
When we opened our account with Merchant One almost 9 months ago. We were told we could “cancel at any time”. Yet, when I tried to cancel this month because I just was not using the service (I’ve only used it three times in 9 mos) They tried to force me into agreeing to pay a cancellation fee of $675. When I objected they said, “business has been tough this past year, we have to make our money somehow.” When I told them I was told I could cancel at anytime and never signed a contract (everything was set up online) they sent me an application with a forged signature on it. And, conveniently, my salesman had no recolection of the promise he had made to me when we opened the account. Ultimately we had to cancel our bank account and reopen. I am very disappointed to find this company to be so unprofessional. Being dishonest is not the way to get ahead.