Wells Fargo Merchant Services Overall Rating
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Wells Fargo Merchant Services Overview
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Wells Fargo Merchant Services is one of the top ten largest merchant account providers in the United States. The bank recently grew its merchant portfolio significantly with its acquisition of Wachovia Bank. Although Wells Fargo is an Acquiring Bank, it uses First Data as its processor and has been doing so since 1971.
Wells Fargo Merchant Services has had hundreds of thousands of merchant account customers, so there are a few complaints filed against the company. The ratio of complaints to customers is largely insignificant. Not only that, merchants that have their business checking account with Wells Fargo can benefit from next day funding from their credit card sales. Typically, it takes 48 hours to receive funding from third party processors. Overall, the majority of merchants seem satisfied with Wells Fargo Merchant Services. That being said, there are a few common types of complaints that point to where merchants are most likely to experience problems.
One common complaint is with Wells Fargo Merchant Services is with agents being dishonest about terms of the contracts, costs of terminals, or signing up merchants for services they had not requested. This is not surprising because Wells Fargo is known for being highly focused on selling “solutions” and pushes its bankers and agents relentlessly in this regard. Be sure to work with a Wells Fargo Merchant Services agent that has been with the company for a few years and one you trust because it appears that you are more likely to have problems with rookie agents. Two other common complaints had to with sudden and long-term holding of merchants’ sales with no explanation, and Wells Fargo Merchant Services high early cancellation fee of $500.
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13 comments
MAfe
April 25, 2012 at 9:12 am (UTC -7)
They are thieves! STAY away. Not only I was charged with an early termination fee but also a fee for the non-cancellable lease agreement, total fees 1800$
Rui
February 16, 2012 at 11:31 am (UTC -7)
Stay away from Wells Fargo Merchant.
i swiped a card on Feb 6th, 2012. it shows transaction failed but the customer actually got a text message from his bank saying the amount has been taken out from his account. so i called the customer service, the rep told me it went through and just wait 24 hrs to get the money into my account. but no money! so i called again and again… all they said was to wait another 24 hours and another.
until on the 10th, they told me to wait 3 days since they handed to the research department. and finally on the 13th, which is a week from i swiped the card, they told me the transaction didn’t go through. so i asked them the reason. and they said they couldn’t see it neither!!! all they said was trying to get away. such as i didn’t have a valid receipt with customer’s signature… i mean that’s why i called the customer service right after and the rep said it went through!!!
and me and my banker called several times and every rep said a different story about this transaction. they even said i had a second attempt which went through 20 mins after the first one failed and asked me for that receipt. which was bull shit i didn’t have a second attempt and the customer didn’t even stayed for 20 mins long!!!! how can i have a receipt for that?????
up to date… they called and said a total different thing again. they said on their system, i didn’t call on the 6th which the card was first swiped… i called the 7th…
duh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! stay away from them!!!!! they are crap!!!
Veronica
February 15, 2012 at 2:49 pm (UTC -7)
Stay away from Wells Fargo merchant services. The representatives are not honest, they do not disclose all the information such as the terms and conditions. I was not aware of the early cancellation fee nor was it included in the contract that was signed. They have the worst customer service and I would rate them -11!
Tam Lai
January 23, 2012 at 5:28 pm (UTC -7)
I was told by Wells Fargo’s rep, Ryan, that there would be a fix charge every month, yet, my monthly charge had always been higher and it always fluctuates. I later found out that my account is still at a testing mode at its gateway affiliate all this time that they’ve been charging my account. Now, I want to close my account with WF and found out that there’s a $500 charge for early termination.
This came as a shock to me because I was never told about the 3 yrs. contract. All the WF rep did was e-mailed me 3 pages Merchant Application Checklist, Acknowledgement and Signature. Nothing in these 3 pages mention about the 3 yrs. contract or the $500 termination fee.
WF is a total fraud. Never trust this bank. Never will I do any kind of business with WFMS. I will also tell my friends and family to stay the hell far far away from this bank.
Kyle Williams
December 6, 2011 at 6:43 am (UTC -7)
Stay away from Wells Fargo Merchant Services. First of all, other than sharing a logo with wells, they are not Wells Fargo but an independant, seperate company.
We got the ol run around from our sales rep. First of all, when we realized that it was a ripoff, we decided to at the very least make some changes. We wanted to go to just an online gateway and elimiate the first data terminal. They refuse to allow us to this, and want us to pay the 36 month lease off. (agents i spoke to claimed it was 48 btw).
Then we realized that we were MISSING pages from the contract, which happen to be the pages that spoke about cancellation fees, ironic huh?
This is flat out deception, I don’t care what the company claims, their agent LIED!! He said we could do a month to month, and cancel at any time. Not true!
Basically, what it comes down to at this point is we are closing the bank account they are tied to, and we will take them to court over this if necessary. Considering their record, and the fact that i will request that our agent ERIC be there for court, they don’t stand a chance. Even our banker said he will not even speak to Eric at this point because he has screwed over so many of the people referred to him.
Bottom line is, they will lie to you to get a sale. Their fees are higher than any other merchant account out there, even PAYPAL, despite claims that they are LOW fees, it has never happened. Then they try to lock you into unfair terms, and will not even lift a finger to help you out.
Stay away from Wells Fargo Merchant Services LLC at all costs, unless you enjoy paying high fees and horrible customer service and unheard of super expensive cancellation fees. Its bordering on criminal.
We are also filing a report to the BBB.
Wells Fargo Merchant Services LLC – if you read this, we gave you a fair chance to work with us, and if we at the very least cost you some customers, then its worth it.
Michelle
December 23, 2011 at 4:49 am (UTC -7)
I was also lied to be WFMS, by a different rep named Stephanie. I will not go into details here, but I am obviously not the only one who has been deceived by WFMS. There are many other people who have been deceived by WFMS. It is time that we put a stop to their deceptive practices.
If you want to be part of a class action lawsuit, please email me with your contact information to kabonkbamboom@yahoo.com If you are not serious, do not waste my time.
Richard Lahr
November 5, 2011 at 4:20 pm (UTC -7)
Best advice… before you cancel.. close the account that is affiliated with it… they will then have not way to get they $500…..I’m ready to change banks due to other
reason… mainly they are way too big… what happened to our government even letting them merge with Wachovia after all the bank bailouts. ?????????????
WFMS Fan
January 4, 2012 at 5:21 pm (UTC -7)
If you close your checkings account, you will be sent to collections. Duh!
Colin
November 5, 2011 at 6:34 am (UTC -7)
Wish I had seen this before I signed their contract. I am 15 months into my 3 year contract with Wells Fargo, and want to get out. I started my business and personal accounts with Wachovia years ago, which was then bought by Wells Fargo. Due to a couple of really nasty customer service encounters with WF, I decided to move my accounts to a local bank. I didn’t want to deal with two banks, so I signed up for the local bank’s CC processing.
When I called to cancel the Wells Fargo account I learned of the $500 blackmail and three year term.
I know a lot of you will say “read the contract”, which I did. The contract is 9 pages long, but at the end of this document is an acknowledgement that I had received and read the 50 page “Program Guide”.
Yes, I should have read that too.
But, it is clear that by deceptively naming this addendum to the contract “Program Guide” the company is intentionally misleading you to think that this is perhaps a manual for conducting business with this merchant account, NOT that it might contain very important contract information. IF it is that important (and it is) why wasn’t it included on the 9 page contract? Only one reason – DECEPTION. They know that most people will not read the 50 page “guide (at least not until after signing).
For the record, the salesperson at Wachovia did not mention term of contract or early termination fee.
I feel that Wells Fargo and Wachovia acted in unison to intentionally deceive me into signing this contract. I never would have agreed to 3 years and $500 ET. Nor would most people…this is why they bury this clause.
Ever signed a two year agreement with Verizon Wireless? They are COMPLETELY transparent about early termination. They even play you a recording telling you of the early termination fee, and then record you saying that you agree. At least they are completely up front about their policies.
Run from Wells Fargo.
Taylor Ulrich
October 3, 2011 at 3:05 pm (UTC -7)
As the others have stated this is the same problem I ran into. No notice of cancellation fee, they don’t prorate and they all have a screw you attitude. I too have been with Wells Fargo many years and have 5 accounts with them and I’ve never felt bad about the company until using their merchant service. The woman I spoke with, Daniel (beware), was a completely rude woman and should not be in any type of customer service position. She tried to let me know they are like a cellphone company and I “couldn’t just terminate without fees incurred.” Well… big problem here is I OWN A CELL PHONE STORE and she was comparing to something she KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT. I tried to explain to her how a cellular phone company works and she cut me off and didn’t want me to tell her because she knew she had dug herself into a hole at that point. Then she just passed me along like a piece of garbage. I will not stand for this and am going to take action… including taking my accounts to a bank that doesn’t do business with such a poor company. STAY AWAY FROM WELLS FARGO MERCHANT SERVICE. Hopefully this message saves someone a lot of time and money. I only wish I read through these before falling victim to a horrible company.
ceemey trujillo
September 18, 2011 at 2:05 pm (UTC -7)
After some research i see I’m only one of many upset with wells farfo merchant services. I have banked with Wells for over 18 years and never been treated so poorly as I have with the merchant services division. My account was set up by an account representative and my business owner. After leaving that company I called to transfer my account to my new business. After quoting the rates i decided to check into different merchant service companies. Of course I found many to be much cheaper so i decided to use a different company. I called Wells to close my account and they did. Two weeks later they took $500 out of my account without any notice what so ever. They said I broke my contranct. It would have been nice of them to tell me I was already locked into a contract, when i inquired about transferring my service. They have been extremely difficult to deal with. I feel they are out to get people and cheat out of their money. The representatves are unfriendly and mean. Its too bad, because I’ve been so happy with Wells Fargo for 18 years,but now I will leave their institution, along with my numerous accounts!
richard lahr
July 20, 2011 at 5:59 am (UTC -7)
Well I see I am not the only one. Caution to those who cancel there account within 60 days.
I did this due to the expense for my low volume business, I switched to Paypal. The contract says you can close with no penalty. Well they went and took $500 out of my account as a penalty.
Trying to get it back is a chore so you best have some time and patience. Point of fact, they had no right to take it out to start with. It’s been a week, I am stillwaiting to see the money back in my account. I give it 3 more days and my wife and I change banks and take out 5 accounts with us !
Chelsea
June 28, 2011 at 5:17 pm (UTC -7)
I tried using Wells Fargo merchant services for my business and it was nothing but trouble. I ran three transactions that were larger than my set “maximum” transaction amount. My representative told me that it would not ever be a problem. Well, it was a huge problem.
All of the money was taken from my account after handing out the equipment, I was still charged processing fees, my account was cancelled, I was placed on a merchant black-list for fraud, and it has taken nearly one month to get any sort of communication back from them. Plus, I was charged a way higher lease fee for the equipment and the managers refuse to discuss it with me (very strange).
I was never given the chance to provide receipts and proof of the validity of my transactions, though their securities person covered his own butt by notating that he asked me for receipts twice. It was just not true at all.
I thought that Wells Fargo would have been the best choice for us since their fees are low, they tout about their “killer” customer service, and I have banked with them for the past seven years. I am closing all of my accounts once this issue is resolved, because I do not trust them at all with my business. They only care about their own bottom line. My advice is that you would be better off with a smaller business provider who cares about your business, as well. Plus, be sure to get everything in writing before you believe any of it.