Elavon Credit Card Processing 2023: Reviews & Complaints

I signed up in March 2013 and immediately had problems. If I voided a credit card transaction in showed “out of balance” the next day. Then I had to spend an hour on the phone with customer service who sent over a list of my credit cards that day that I had to “rerun” the tips as sales 3 to 5 biz days later. Is this even legal? I lost over $50.00 per week in tips that I could not recover later or they did not send all of the cc #’s that I had to input manually as sales (oh and they are charging me for those by the way). Calling the sales person in ridiculous. Absolutely no clue what he is doing…John Escher by the way…thanks dude. Called Elavon actually pretty nice about returning the $100 fee (I wasn’t told about)…but LADCO who is an offshoot of Elavon is now going to sue me after I used the terminal for 2 1/2 weeks,,,,begged to return it and they want 1711.00 for a 2 year contract I guess I signed but didn’t get a copy of….really folks? I will spend $33.00 per month to block your $49.22 per month out of my account. Blocked everything with these folks….don’t do it…don’t do it….don’t do it…

I work at a bank and refer often to Elavon. They have cancelled their contract requirements since this review was written, and all of our clients are month-to-month. They also have rolled out mobile pricing that’s similar to Square, and though there’s a $10 monthly account fee and you have to buy your card reader, you get around the holds that Square puts on transactions. Visa and MC transactions are next-day if your bank is one of their partners.
That said, their customer service is basically everything you hope to not have to deal with: long holds on the phone, complicated automated menus, and the quality of the help you receive can vary pretty wildly depending on how experienced the rep is.

We were told that there were “NO” contracts and if we were not happy with the service in any way and wanted to return the system we could with no ties or commitment. I have talked to this guy in the Vancouver office, his name is “Lucky” and he will not listen to our concerns and still wants us to pay for the machine which adds up to $1500.00.
They lack morals and their integrity is a big “0” !!!!!!
I will never deal with these guys again and if their representitives keep lying to potential buyers and users, they will go out of business fast!!!!!!!!!!!!

Small merchants: I second all the opinions saying Elavon is not worth your time or money. They are extremely difficult to get a hold of, and once you do, the customer service is unfriendly. They do not discuss contract terms with you before setting up your account, and as a result you can end up with hidden fees and terms you had no idea you’d signed on for. It took me 3 months to get them to cancel my account. I was charged for each of those months despite the fact that I did not use the service at all during that time. Finally it is closed and I frankly couldn’t be happier to no longer have to deal with this company.

Elavon is probably the worst company there is. They put a hold on my account for no reason and decided that they would not release them for a year. I was told that it is in their contract and no reason has to be given. This can be devastating for a small business. This is nothing short of stealing. Also they told me that they don’t have to release the funds even if they get paid and will not pay any interest on my funds.The only nice person was the one I signed up with.
Also the software sucks. They do not have any good reporting tools. The one they provide will not fit on a page.
Alex

I have gone through HELL trying to cancel my account with Elevon through Costco. I faxed the form they provided back in June 2012. nEVER HEARD BACK FROM THEM…. Finally called them again today after receiving a new bill for 20.00 covering July 2012. They claimed I used the wrong signature and that they had emailed me back in June….No email….they are the rudest people I have ever dealt with…especially after using their service for over 15 years. I urge everyone to switch to “Square Up” credit card service…they put your money in the bank in just a couple of days,,,instead of upwards to 5 days with Elevon. No monthly fees and a small percentage compared to Elevon.

Don’t use Elavon I had them for many years. then they started to raise my rate. When I called about it they told me I was considered high risk and they couldn’t lower my rates. I have NEVER had a charge back. I am a small company and when they first raised my rates I started to encourage my clients to pay with check or cash. When my volume dropped off they raised it again. I called again and was told they couldn’t lower my rate.

Then I found a new Merchant account with a much lower rate, and a much lower monthly fee. After trying the new company out for a while and being satisfied I called to cancel my account. I was told they would send me the cancellation form to fill out and send back. It never arrived. I looked on their website and couldn’t see it. I called back and they said they would send it again. IT NEVER ARRIVED. I received another statement though. Finally I found the form another customer had posted online. I filled it out and sent it back. The account is still open and they say they haven’t recieved the form to close the account.

This time it is going out certified mail.

AGAIN DO NOT USE ELAVON

For the last 6 months I have been trying to cancel my service with Elavon. Yet every other week they continue to bill me. I had to close my bank account to get away from the outrageous fees. $655.71 in the last 90 days alone. That is with zero transactions. I 1st tried to close the account in January 2012 and now its July 2012 and its still “open”. DO NOT USE!!!! ps-Use chase payment tech. lower rates, no “equipment lease” to use the website and no sleazy lets add this to your monthly account business partners as well.

I wish I had read these reviews 2 years ago, so I could have chose other merchant service provider. From the experience of contacting Elavon’s customer service, I know that most answer you get from them are not reliable, when you expect to get more help from their manager you will end up getting a nightmare instead. I know a customer service manager in Elavon will regard this a compliment. Am I right Mr. Zack Garron?
Here comes the whole story.
Since the beginning of June 2012 the terminal start to have more and more problems: restart itself (power cord’s problem), communication problem between the pin pad and the terminal resulting extended waiting time (some times 3-4 minutes for a single transaction). I decided to call Elavon’s customer service on June 13, wehnsday. I was told they will send me a new terminal however I have to pay $45, and I will get the new machine on June 18, the next Monday. I didn’t get anything from Elavon on June 18, the Monday. Instead, I found the $45 have already taken from my bank account three days ago, on June 15. I thought now that they have charged me, they must have already delivered the new machine to me. I decided to wait one more day. I didn’t get anything the next day neither. I called them on June 20 and got a recorded message: We are experiencing higher volume call …….. I thought, OK, I am going to wait one more day. The next day, the Thursday, I realized that something must be wrong so I called Elavon customer service. After telling the agent my story I waited 10 minutes before getting the answer which really astonished me: ” We had an issue with shipping department, we will ship the new terminal today.” OMG, I thought, you guys’ service is really beyond my imagination. I didn’t expect the fact that nobody did anything for my new terminal after charging me $45, and furthermore, they have totally forgot it. This is fantastic. However, the agent told me that I could get the new terminal on June 22, Friday. This comforted me a little bit. I really hoped to solve the problem before weekend, which will be very busy. The agent told me her supervisor was working on it and they will try to ship it before 1pm, this way I could receive it on Friday. In Friday morning I decided that I’d better to call Elavon to be sure that I will get the machine that day, just in case they forget it again. Guess what? No only did they not ship it, they didn’t even configure/set up the machine on Thursday. This was too much for me. I really wanted to know what was happening there? I failed to get an answer since all the gentlemen and ladies who answered me seemed don’t know what is happening neither. After a so called ‘technical support supervisor’ failed to give me an answer, I demanded a manager. I was told the manager was in a meeting at the moment and he will call me back. Experiencing what have already happened, I think I know Elavon’s style: What you tell customers will never be true except one thing: taking their money as much and soon as possible. Regarding the above mentioned promised phone call from an Elavon customer service manager? Elavon’s style: didn’t happen. I called them again in the Friday afternoon. Fortunately, I managed to be sure that they really get the terminal shipped this time, I got the tracking number. Bravo. But here comes the mystery which remains unsolved: what have taken Elavon’s hard talking staff 10days to make a shipment? Luckily, I finally have the honor to ask an Elavon customer service manager, Mr. Zack Garron, the question. Instead of giving me the answer to the mystery, respectable Mr. Zack Garron has really taught me a lesson:” If you had called us right after when you hadn’t received the new terminal, you could have already had it now.” For Mr. Zack Garron, and maybe all the Elavon staff, it is perfectly natural and normal that Elavon’s customers need to get used to call several times to get one single problem solved. This is Elavon style NO.2: don’t worry about your memory, those diligent customers will surely remind you of their problems. This is a good explanation why Elavon’s customer service line is always hot, and you can frequently hear the recorded message: We are experiencing high volume incoming call ……..

All merchant services are somewhat difficult to deal with but I feel like I have dodged a” kill shot” bullet by not continuing an association with Elavon!! The sales person gave a name of a company , but did not mention the actual provider would be Elavon. Then I tried to get a similar set up as we have currently. Forget that. It’s their way. I was very uncomfortable with all the discrepancies and terminated the relationship after less than 3 weeks and did not process any charges on any cards.
They processed and charged the .01 cent charge they entered to check the machines before they sent them. The machines were set up for some other type of business. Just a disaster from the start.
For the three weeks of no usage they charged us over $1600.00. I could not say it often enough. Stay away from Elavon.

My company was with Evalon for 30+ years and when I finally moved to a new processor, I found out how much they were taking advantage of us. Every year we would do a rate review and they would lower our fees, but then 3 months later they would increase our fees…and 3 months later do it again. Bottom line they are very misleading and in the end get 3 times the processing fees the reputable companies do. Evalon tricks you with 3 levels of fees: qualifying, partially qualified and non-qualified. They wow you with the qualified rate, but then when you see your bill, you will notice that there is 2% in the qualifying status, 85% in the partially and 13% in the non-qualified! Since I’ve moved to a new processor and have not used Evalon for a year, I find out Evalon was taking fees out monthly and charging my bank account for services I was not using (statement fee and account fee). I have spent hours on the phone with their lack of support center, been disconnected, on hold and rudely spoken to for hours and hours. Each time with a partial refund guaranteed, but in the end I just get another set of charges on my bank account statement the next month. This should be illegal, to just transfer money out of my account into theirs with no services rendered!

Please do not use their services! Big Cooperate company who takes advantage of their customers. Especially when you decide to move to a new processor.
Josh

WARNING TO ALL ELAVON CUSTOMERS- review your contracts and your billing because these guys have been ripping us off for 14 years! They have been charging us an extra $1000-$2000 a month for how the charges have been entered. If you do not follow your fine print you may fall victem to supplimental charges as well which exceed 8.02% and $1.53 per charge!!! When confronted, as a valued, 14 year loyal customer, Steven the funding supervisor, which would not even give his last name or employee identification number, denied even entertaining any resolution on this matter, and told us to go else where… I give this company an F rating, go some where else for your merchant needs!

I need to check a transaction with Elavon and have been on hold now for hours without talking to any person. Do they even work on weekends? I’m really regretting getting involved with these people.

Update to earlier post: Rep. made it right today. Slow about it, lots of nag sessions from me. But, for now, we are even. Just hope it stays that way. I have very little faith in this industry.

This company charges twice what my new processor charges. Then it took 2 months to get them to stop charging me service fees and several phone calls which wastes my time. I recommend staying away from them at all costs.

Elavon has been great for me, Statements come, fees are right. I have had no problems with the terminal itself, and the correct amounts are always in my account when they should be.

I have had to wait on the phone for a while when I did have a question for them, but really if the rates are so low somethings gotta give and for them it might be customer service staff. When I did get to talk to them though they were very good in helping me. I have no complaints about them.

I did however get lured into switching to Axxcess payments and Charge National which both use Pivotal Payments for processing due to their “lower” rates… Once the hidden fees come to light they are double the price!!! You can read my review about them under Still Waiting… needless to say… stay far far away from those companies! When they tell you about 1.59% for Visa/MC also note that their is an “Auth” fee of 15cents for EVERY transaction on top of that! When I did finally cancel with them it took 4 months to get my money back and I had to call EVERYDAY and finally 3 weeks later I spoke to a “supervisor”…

After being told that my contract had expired and I could cancel at any time, I attempted to cancel my agreement. Received A letter telling me that there would be a cancellation fee. Called customer service..”Tom” checked his computer and told me that my contract was expired. Transferred me to “termination Department”. spoke with “suprevisor”. Was told that Customer service rep. wasn’t trained and didn’t know my contract. I asked for a copy of my contract and was told that they would not provide it…only “signature page” , “which is the important page, because it explains the your contract renews”. Refused to provide rest of contract. They faxed me the signature page that said that my agreement was subject to “extension..as specified in Section 11 of Master Agreement”. However, they will not provide the “Master Agreement”