Sage Payment Solutions Overall Rating
Rating Criteria | Top Rated Processors | Get Instant Rate Quotes | Write a Review
Sage Payment Solutions Review
Sage Payment Solutions is a direct processor that has been in business for over 20 years and is registered as an Independent Sales Organization (ISO) with Visa and certified as a MasterCard Service Provider. The processor offers a full range of credit card processing, including a proprietary payment gateway called the Sage Payment Gateway and a virtual terminal called the Sage Virtual Terminal. In addition to credit card processing, Sage Payment Solutions also offer a host of electronic check processing services including Check 21, Check Conversion, Check by Phone, Check by Web, Check Guarantee, Check Verification and ACH Processing. The Sage website also has several resources about PCI Compliance.
Sage Payment Solutions Complaints
Sage Payments allows other merchant account sales organizations to resell Sage credit card processing as either a “non-registered ISO” or as a “registered ISO,” which is a common practice in the merchant services industry. A non-registered ISO must sell under the Sage Payment Solutions brand and represent itself as a representative of Sage. Overall, the non-registered ISOs seem to be doing a good job of maintaining Sage Payment’s brand. The Sage Payment registered ISOs are allowed to resell Sage’s services under their own brand name as though it is their own service. It appears that this is where the complaints about Sage Payment Solutions arise. The main source of complaints about Sage come mainly from two registered ISOs: ICON Payment Solutions and Prineta Payment Solutions. Although both ISOs had mentions about poor customer service, it looks like bad sales agents are to blame for the complaints
Overall Sage Payment Solutions scores well and has very few complaints given the amount of time the processor has been in business. Most the complaints are either due to misunderstanding of credit card processing fees, or can be traced to an agent who did a poor job of educating the merchants on the terms of the merchant account agreement.
The only two Better Business profiles for Sage are for branches and not the company as a whole. Both of the Sage Payment Solutions BBB profiles for the branches have “A+” ratings and no complaints, as of this review.
Conclusion
Sage Payment Solutions scores well. Most of the complaints about this processor can be traced back to 3rd party sales companies, or independent agents. Registered and non-registered ISOs of Sage Payment can set forth customized terms of their merchant account agreements, so it is advised to read the agreement in full and understand all terms before signing.
Leave your own review of Sage Payment Solutions in the comment section below:
Featured Provider:
Merchant Warehouse (866) 460-5538
Review | Website
- Check Our Recommended Processors
- Compare Processor Rates & Fees
- How to Avoid Scams, High Fees and Long Contracts
- Merchant Services Jobs
Copyright © CardPaymentOptions.com (Digital Fingerprint: 0d38c6720f0d78a701b74d58653af608)
6 comments
Shane Hatch
April 26, 2012 at 8:12 pm (UTC -7)
Ive been using Sage Payment Solutions to process credit card transactions for over 2 years. In december i noticed that i was charged $90 for processing $300 worth of credit card payments. I am a small pest control company and $300 is the most i have ever processed thru them. Last month i was charged $40 for $90 worth or transactions. I called to cancel with them and was told to leave my bank account open incase other payments had not cleared. a week later i noticed a $475 cancellation fee on my bank statement. I was never informed of a cancellation fee or recieved a statement. I called to have the fees reversed since they were charged without my knowledge as was informed that the only person who could do that was out of state.
Heidi King
December 7, 2011 at 11:50 am (UTC -7)
I am totally disgusted by the service and fees since signing up with Sage. I spent 3 months, questioning and reading the contracts, and was blantantly lied to. When I was asked to sign the contract, I asked to read it, was told that it would be email in a packet later, I wouldn’t sign until I read and went over it. Asked very direct questions about fees, hidden fees and such. There were no misunderstanding on my part, I was totally lied to. My gut told me something wasnt right, but after 3 months, taking notes, and researching signed up, and sure enough hidden fees left and right. This has also happened to two other business I have spoke with. Very unhappy and disgusted by their deceptions.
Doug
August 25, 2011 at 8:43 pm (UTC -7)
Earlier this year, I left Bank of America processing as our terminal was no longer supported, and I was led to believe by my Sage rep that using their processing portal would be a cost effective alternative. He neglected to tell me the expense and complexity of getting PCI compliant using this method, even though we do not keep any card info on our computers. The quote emailed to me had no mention of a term for the agreement. The BOA service I had before could be cancelled anytime. Also, the contract I signed had all the pertinent numbers regarding fees, but again no mention of a THREE YEAR term. About two weeks ago, I decided to go back to using a terminal through a phone line, to make PCI compliance cheaper. I called Sage support and the tech told me that the terminal I was going to buy through EBay could be reprogrammed. When the terminal arrived, I called our salesman to set up reprogramming. He then tells me that terminal cannot be reprogrammed, but I can buy a new terminal from him for $400. So I tell him I will be going back to BOA, who can reprogram the terminal I bout for less the $50. Today, I get an email from my salesman that they will be charging a $725 early termination fee for breaking my THREE YEAR contract. It turns out they buried a the term and fee in the very fine print. Again, no mention was made of any time commitment in the quote or in the main part of the agreement. I am livid about this, and want nothing more to do with a company that conceals vital parts of an agreement to trap customers who are not happy with their service. Admittedly, I should read every letter of all fine print in all the agreements to which I agree, I compared the noted from my initial call to the written quote to the figures in the main body of the agreement. They all matched up, so I signed it and moved on. I wonder if I am the only one who finds this practiced unethical. I just know that if I deliberately concealed vital downsides of an agreement from my customers, I would be out of business pretty quickly. If I had any idea there was a multi-year commitment, or that our business is not a good fit for the Sage portal, I never would have worked with them.
Ron
June 24, 2011 at 7:56 am (UTC -7)
Sage Payment Solutions has caused a “NIGHTMARE” scenario for a merchant that uses recurring transactions. Through some unexplained glitch in their software, our recurring transactions are mysteriously getting corrupted and the credit card information is disappearing. Of all the things that could possibly happen with a subscription based service, this has to be the worst. They have no immediate solutions, only promises to talk with developers and my company is losing thousands and our reputation is being damaged.
Processing Pro
April 20, 2011 at 9:50 pm (UTC -7)
Philip, I am beginning to see a trend of misinformation in your descriptions about these credit card processing ISO/MSPs, this is number 2 that is not quite right.
From: http://www.sagepayments.com/
Sage Payment Solutions is a registered ISO/MSP of Harris N.A.
An ISO is an Independent Sales Organization, they are responsible for writing the contracts that the merchants then sign, they set the fees, and the terms, and just about everything else. A sales organization is registered with an acquiring bank and a processor. The second part MSP (ISO/MSP) means Merchant Service Provider, not a Processor or anything else.
Anyone who works with an ISO, whether an Agent or Office has virtually no say in what the contract says, unless they are a registered ISO working under a registered ISO, and there are simply not very many of them, and the ones that exist are usually smaller entities who register, mainly, for marketing purposes.
Conclusion: Complaints relating to fees or processing chargebacks or holding of funds are almost always controlled by the ISO/MSP, who’s name will be clearly branded on the contract the merchant signs.
Thank you for your time.
Phillip Parker
April 20, 2011 at 10:39 pm (UTC -7)
Hi Processing Pro,
Thank you for the comment. Just to clarify, I believe what you are calling misinformation is actually just a misunderstanding of semantics. “ISO” (Independent Service Organization) is actually a formal certification to signify that a company is registered and approved with Visa itself. In order for a company to legally sell Visa’s credit card processing services under it’s own brand, it must be registered as an ISO. The same goes for MasterCard, except that the certification is called a Member Service Provider, or MSP. Contrary to popular belief, MSP does not stand for Merchant Service Provider.
A company can be an ISO, Acquiring Bank and Processor all under one roof, such as Well Fargo Merchant Services or First Data (FDIS); however, more commonly, each of these are usually separate companies. Sage is a registered ISO/MSP and a Processor, and Harris Bank provides the line of credit for the merchant account making it the Acquiring Bank (all processors must be supported by an Acquiring Bank). The processors set their own fees and rates, and then the ISOs that resell under the processors mark the rates up for a profit. The business relationships between these companies can be set up in many different ways, which can make it very confusing to the unfamiliar.
As a former agent who has worked for both large direct processors and small ISOs, I can tell you that agents often times have a lot of control of the fees, rates, and terms of the contract – within certain limitations. Complaints of fees and chargebacks can be traced to either the provider or the agent, or both, depending the company. The company that you work for may not allow you to control these fees, but I have worked for companies that do allow it. As for holding of funds, that is almost always initiated by the ISO and/or processor.