Challas Group Review

Challas Group primarily markets its merchant services through a combination of telemarketing and independently contracted sales agents. This sales approach is also used by Datalink Bankcard Services, Tier 1 Processing, and Main Street Processing, and it tends to generate a high number of merchant complaints. Challas Group is no exception, as we have found more than 20 Challas Group complaints that describe unwanted phone calls, nondisclosure of fees, a negative work environment for agents, misrepresentation of rates, unprofessional conduct, and, most alarmingly, “slamming.”

“Slamming” is the practice of calling merchants and posing as their current processor in order to trick them into signing a contract or equipment lease with your company. A representative complaint filed against Challas Group is detailed here:

They called to say they are a 3rd party auditing firm and saw a red flag on my merchant service account. They tricked one of my employees into sending them one of our statements. Challas ( calling themselves Wholesale Bank) said I was being overcharged and they were going to call my current provider to tell them they are in trouble for over charging me and that Wholesale Bank will be taking over my account and giving me “cost” on my processing. Marci ( probably not her real name)that I was speaking with even got off the phone with me to “call my local sales office to yell at them”. She also said I qualified for a class action law suit because I had been being over charged and she would sign me up for that as well. She had me going until she wanted me to sign a lease for a credit card terminal. NEVER LEASE A TERMINAL. She wanted me to pay $95 a month for 4 years! Terminals are about $200 all over the internet. She said the one I had was not compliant and that my current company was charging me $256 a month for non compliant. Not true.

This complaint is typical of the complaints we have seen about Challas Group and Wholesale Banc, and it is identical to the feedback we have previously seen about Datalink Bankcard-affiliated companies. The practice of slamming is highly unethical and has resulted in legal action being taken against some processors. Challas Group not only appears to mimic Datalink Bankcard in its sales approach, but also in its use of multiple DBAs to spread merchant complaints out across several brands.

The Challas Group website is currently dysfunctional, but the Challas Group, Bankcard Analytics, and Wholesale Banc websites do not display misleading rate quotes on visible or archived pages. This lone bright spot is not enough to overcome the company’s large number of consistent complaints from employees and merchants about its sales practices. It gets an “F.”

Challas Group does not disclose its contract terms or pricing on any of its websites, but we can determine some details from merchant complaints. Merchants state that Challas Group promotes a rate “program” that guarantees rock-bottom rates on transactions in exchange for merchants signing a long-term equipment lease well in excess of the purchase price of the equipment. This pricing scheme is popular among providers that engage in slamming because it enables them to entice merchants with huge savings on rates without explaining that merchants will massively overpay for processing equipment. In addition, this plan often does not clearly explain to merchants that only debit transactions will qualify for the extremely low rates, while credit card transactions will process at a much higher rate.

We have seen a few complaints from Challas merchants who state that their overall costs were higher after switching to Challas than they were through their previous provider. Some complaints mention that Challas signed them up for terminal leases through Northern Leasing Systems, which is notorious for providing expensive, non-cancellable, four-year equipment leases. While we do not have specific contractual language for Challas Group contracts, it appears that the company offers worse-than-average terms for the industry. Moreover, the methods that Challas Group uses to sell these contracts to merchants fall short of what we consider appropriate disclosure, so we do not advise any merchants to sign a contract with Challas Group at this time. If you have any knowledge of the company’s contract terms (including any early termination fees or PCI compliance fees), please share it in the comment section below this review.

We are currently able to locate more than 25 negative Challas Group reviews, many of which outright accuse the company of being a ripoff or a scam. Several reviews also mention Wholesale Banc, although hardly any of them mention Bankcard Analytics. Nearly all complaints are sales related, as they describe unwanted phone calls, misrepresented fees, slamming, nondisclosure of contract terms, and aggressive or unprofessional conduct. Some complaints also mention poor customer service and unsavory contract terms, and still others have been posted by employees who describe an unethical office environment. These complaints are consistent with complaints that we have found for Datalink Bankcard and its related businesses, and we see no evidence to suggest that merchants can expect a quality customer service experience from Challas Group.

Challas Group provides an email address and phone number on its website, but these appear to be channels devoted primarily to sales inquiries rather than customer support.

The Better Business Bureau currently maintains two separate profiles for Challas Group and one for Wholesale Banc. Challas Group Illinois has an “A-” rating with the BBB, Challas Group Texas has a “B” rating with the BBB, and Wholesale Banc has an “A-” rating. For the sake of simplicity, we have combined complaint totals across all of the company’s BBB profiles.

Challas Group has received seven total complaints through the BBB, with three related to advertising or sales issues, two having to do with billing or collection, one due to a product or service problem, and one related to delivery. Two complaints were resolved to the satisfaction of the merchant, while five either were resolved to the dissatisfaction of the merchant or did not receive a final response from the merchant. The company has also received 11 negative informal reviews through the BBB, although it should be noted that these reviews are not subject to authentication. Given the company’s complaint total and resolution ratio, we agree with the BBB’s rating at this time.