Overview
Founded in 1998, CDG Commerce (cdgcommerce.com) is a well-established merchant account provider based out of Chesapeake, Virginia, with a west coast office in San Pedro, California. CDG appears to focus solely on providing credit card processing services, and it offers a wide range of products including wireless and e-commerce processing solutions. Additionally, the company has its own payment gateway and virtual terminal called the “Quantum Gateway.” CDG Commerce is a registered ISO/MSP of Columbus Bank & Trust, Columbus, Georgia, and the First National Bank of Omaha, 1620 Dodge St., Omaha, Nebraska. The co-founder and CEO of CDG Commerce is Chris West.
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CDG Commerce Bottom Line
CDG Commerce is one of the best-rated providers that this reviewer has researched. The company offers transparent pricing, multiple services for most business needs, and month-to-month contracts. CDG also appears to provide active, professional customer support to nearly all of its merchants. For more information, visit CDG’s Website or call (888) 393-1079.
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About Phillip Parker
Phillip Parker is a former merchant services agent turned small business advocate and the author of "Fee Sweep," which teaches merchants how to dramatically lower their processing rates, eliminate junk fees, and avoid fine-print scams. He founded CardPaymentOptions.com to help merchants enact positive change in the credit card processing industry. Schedule a Consultation with Phillip
Schedule a Consultation with Phillip
For the most part, businesses behave well in “normal” or standard situations and transactions, and the better business behave exceptionally well in the difficult ones. CDG does poorly in the latter. Their chargeback management includes a hidden trigger they call a “pledge holder” which can double the amount of funds they withhold or actually debit your account: chargeback amount plus that amount again. The “pledge hold” allows them to interrupt batch transmissions, and go into your account to remove the chargeback amount. They can take two weeks or more to resolve because they have no control – they are beholden to the bank they use and want the merchant account to cover any potential issues for them (business insurance?) “Pledge holds” are removed at their discretion: they notify an account after they take the action and continue to make transactions on the merchant account freely without advance notice. After merchant signs a pledge not to come after them, then they will release funds. CDG may be good for start-ups because of their low cost, but you’ll pay in the end because they lack the depth and control businesses need as they grow and business can become a little more complex.
I saw CDG’s stellar reviews online and made the switch from Wells Fargo. My terminal arrived last week, and as I needed some assistance in setting up the machine I called their technical support line. I was disappointed to discover that their technical support department consists of an answering machine. I’ve left three messages in the last 2 days and still cannot get the terminal to print the correct phone number. More importantly, the terminal has not settled my batch and seems to require a password to do so. I was never issued a password. After reading the A+ and 5-star reviews, I have to say I’m a little disappointed, and I’m beginning to think they are just a bunch of sheisters like every other merchant processor of dealt with in the last 15 years.
I am the CEO and co-founder of CDGcommerce and the above post was brought to my attention by our staff. I would like to reach out to whomever the merchant in question was here to see if I can personally ensure that your matters are successfully resolved. Our reputation has been earned by always putting our clients needs as our top priority and that is the philosophy that our business has been operating on for 15 years.
Please contact our support team at 888-586-3346 x3 and reference this post and ask to be connected directly to me. Without knowing your merchant name or other information I can’t pull up any information on your account but please rest assured that we stand by each and every one of our merchants, 100% and there is nothing more important to us than customer service and always taking care of every single one of our merchants. I look forward to making sure that you get immediate assistance with any of your credit card terminal issues!
We have been with a lot of merchant providers in the past and CDG is one of the only true, honest companies we have found. They don’t have any long term contracts or huge termination fees like most providers, and your monthly fees will never go up. Refreshing to not have to worry about all the hidden fees.