Cliq Review

Three-Year Contract

The standard Cliq contract is a 3-year agreement through Cynergy Data with automatic 1-year renewal, an early termination fee of $495 or Liquidated Damages, an annual PCI Compliance fee not to exceed $300, a monthly PCI non-compliance fee not to exceed $50, tiered pricing, and other, smaller fees. The company also provides equipment leases that may include their own terms.

Virtual Terminal and Payment Gateway Pricing

In addition to its storefront payment processing services, Cliq also dedicates a portion of its website that advertises its virtual terminal and payment gateway services. However, pricing on either of those services is not disclosed. Additional rates and fees, including gateway fees, technical support fees, batch fees, and additional transaction rates typically apply to these e-commerce services.

Calculating Cliq’s Termination Fee

Cliq’s grade in this category is significantly lowered by two of its policies. The first is its early termination fee. According to the company’s contract, a merchant who cancels service before the conclusion of the initial three-year term is subject to a fee of either $495 or their average monthly processing costs multiplied by the number of remaining months in the contract, whichever amount is greater. This fee will be higher than industry averages regardless of which amount the merchant pays, but the liquidated damages clause could launch the cost of cancellation into the thousands of dollars. We consider this kind of early termination fee to be excessive and of no relation to the company’s actual losses upon termination.

Cliq Fund Holding Policy

The second, smaller factor affecting the company’s grade is the large number of merchant complaints regarding its cash reserve policies. Although it is common within the industry for processors to withhold merchant funds in order to protect themselves against fraudulent charges, Cliq is showing a number of complaints that describe very large amounts placed in withholding. Some of these complaints appear to be duplicated or fabricated, but even accounting for one overzealous merchant’s multiple posts, there does appear to be a persistent issue with the company withholding funds as a precautionary measure. It is understandable that Cliq may want to take these steps to protect itself from fraud, but merchants should prepare to take steps to force Cliq to release their money.

Low Complaint Total

We are currently able to locate more than 10 Cliq negative reviews, some of which accuse the company of being a ripoff or a scam. A large portion of online complaints about the company appears to have been posted by a single merchant who was upset about a large fund hold, but the remaining legitimate complaints do express some worrisome trends. Multiple merchants report similarly large fund holds, very high early termination fees (over $1,500 in most cases), and unexpected rate increases after signup. Recent complaints express frustration with the company’s new payroll system, which enables businesses to pay their employees via reloadable Visa prepaid cards rather than by direct deposit.

Cliq Lawsuits

In July 2014, the Federal Trade Commission brought legal action against CardFlex, alleging that the company knowingly and illegally processed “more than $26 million in unauthorized consumer charges on behalf of a company called I Works.” According to the details of the case, CardFlex enabled I Works to establish over 300 different accounts for shell corporations and split payments between 30 different business accounts in order to process fraudulent transactions without alerting the card networks. CardFlex settled the suit in March 2015. As a condition of the settlement, CardFlex is now prohibited from processing payments for certain merchant categories.

Cliq Customer Support Options

The company has responded to some of these complaints in a professional tone and resolved a few merchant issues, but the content rather than the quantity of these reviews has dropped the company’s grade in this section to a “B.” Cliq offers a dedicated phone number and contact form on its website, but it is unclear whether these lines are serviced by Cliq or by Cynergy Data. It remains to be seen whether Cliq’s rebranding or its FTC settlement has caused the company to correct some of the problems voiced by complainants, but the company does not rank among the best merchant account providers for great customer service at this time.

Under 10 Complaints

Cliq is not accredited with the Better Business Bureau and currently has no rating. The company has received 0 complaints in the past 36 months which was due to a product or service dispute. It was either resolved to the dissatisfaction of the merchant or did not receive a final response from the merchant.

No Rating Assigned

It appears that the BBB is refusing to assign a rating to Cliq at this time due to the FTC settlement against the company. We agree with the BBB’s rating at this time, but merchants should note that there are good reasons to be skeptical of BBB scores.

Inside/Outside Sales Team

Cliq appears to utilize both inside and outside sales agents to market its services. It is unclear at this time whether the company employs independent contractors or W-2 employees, but we are not seeing a complaint volume consistent with the use of independent sales entities. There are currently a handful of negative Cliq reviews online that mention nondisclosure by the company’s sales agents, usually regarding the company’s early termination fee (ETF), which appears to be a very large amount in most cases.

No Deceptive Rate Quotes

Cliq does not appear to engage in deceptive advertising strategies in its official materials, although it has removed its contract terms from its website since it rebranded to its current name. If you suspect that Cliq is overcharging you, we recommend seeking a third-party statement audit to permanently eliminate hidden fees.