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Tell us about your experience with Elavon in the comment section below.
(800) 725-1243
Company Overview
Elavon is one of the largest merchant account providers and credit card processors in North America. The company was formed in 2011 from a merger of NOVA Information Systems and euroConex and is part of U.S. Bank’s (U.S. Bancorp’s) payment services division.
Payment Processing and Merchant Services
Elavon offers credit card processing to conventional business types but does not appear to approve accounts for “high-risk” industries. This processor also acts as a back-end processor for a very large number independently branded subsidiary merchant services providers and reseller partners. The company claims to serve over one million businesses worldwide with a primary focus in North America and Europe. The company also leases processing equipment through a poorly rated subsidiary called Ladco Leasing, a supplier of credit card terminals and point-of-sale systems. Numerous Elavon reviews complain of deceptive sales practices by Ladco Leasing, which has negatively affected Elavon’s rating in this review.
Elavon’s online payments services utilize its own gateways called Converge and Fusebox, and can integrate with other payment gateways such as Authorize.net. For international businesses, the company offers multi-currency merchant services with settlement in 16 currencies, authorization in 85+ currencies, and conversion into the cardholder’s home currency in 48 different currencies. The company also offers its own point-of-sale systems, contactless payment, e-commerce solutions, digital wallets, PCI compliance, Safe-T branded security, and data reporting and analysis.
Location & Ownership
Elavon is headquartered at Two Concourse Parkway, Suite 800, Atlanta, GA 30328. The company has been active in the credit card processing industry since 1991. Jamie Walker has been the CEO of Elavon since 2017.
Industry Specific Merchant Services
Elavon offers tailored merchant services for several different industries in an effort to provide them software, integrations, and POS systems specific to their needs.
Healthcare Credit Card Processing
Elavon offers a range of payment processing solutions and services for healthcare businesses. Some of the specific services include:
Patient Payment Processing
Elavon provides healthcare businesses with the ability to securely process payments from patients, including co-payments, deductibles, and out-of-pocket expenses.
Mobile Payment Solutions
Elavon offers mobile payment solutions that allow healthcare providers to accept payments on the go. With mobile devices and the Elavon MobileMerchant app, providers can securely process payments from anywhere, including at the patient’s bedside.
EMV and PCI Compliance
Elavon helps healthcare businesses stay compliant with the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standards and the EMV (Europay, Mastercard, and Visa) chip card technology standards. They offer solutions that help prevent data breaches and ensure that patient information is protected.
Reporting and Analytics
Elavon provides healthcare businesses with reporting and analytics tools that allow them to track payment activity and identify trends. This information can be used to improve financial performance and patient satisfaction.
Point-of-Sale (POS) Solutions
Elavon offers POS solutions that are specifically designed for healthcare businesses. These solutions include terminals that can accept chip cards, contactless payments, and mobile wallet payments.
Restaurant Merchant Services
Elavon offers several payment processing services that are specific to restaurants, including:
Point-of-Sale (POS) Systems
Elavon offers restaurant-specific POS systems that are designed to handle high-volume, fast-paced environments. These systems can help streamline ordering and payment processes, reduce wait times, and improve the customer experience.
Mobile Payment Solutions
Elavon provides mobile payment solutions that allow servers to take payments tableside. This can improve efficiency and reduce the risk of errors or fraud.
Online Ordering and Payment
Elavon offers online ordering and payment solutions that can help restaurants take orders and process payments through their website or mobile app. This can improve convenience for customers and reduce wait times for orders.
Gift and Loyalty Program
Elavon offers gift and loyalty programs that can help restaurants build customer loyalty and increase revenue. These programs can be customized to meet the specific needs of the restaurant.
Reporting and Analytics
Elavon provides reporting and analytics tools that can help restaurants track sales, identify trends, and make informed business decisions. This information can be used to improve operational efficiency and profitability.
Elavon Review Video Summary
Table of Contents
- Costs & Contract: Offers a multi-year contract with an early termination fee of…
- Complaints & Service: Has received more than 500 public complaints regarding…
- BBB Rating: Has an “A+” rating despite having received 126 complaints and 33 reviews about…
- Sales & Marketing: Hires independent sales agents and has received a low-to-moderate number of complaints about its…
Elavon Reviews and Complaints
Here's What Their Clients Say
Complaint Summary
|
Total Online Complaints
600+
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Live Customer Support
Yes
|
Most Common Complaint
Poor Customer Service
|
Elavon Has Hundreds of Complaints
It is important to keep in mind that Elavon is a huge credit card processor and should therefore be expected to have more complaints than a small merchant services provider. With that said, we have found over 500 Elavon complaints in the comment section of this review and over 100 on other sites, with many more filed against Ladco Leasing. This is an average amount of complaints compared to other processors of Elavon’s size. Elavon complaints from its customers report problems with poor customer support, sudden holds and freezes, unexpected fees, billing disputes, and equipment lease problems.
Elavon and Small Businesses
The common theme to Elavon’s complaints appears to be that small businesses have a the harder time getting problems resolved. This means that Elavon may perform better as an enterprise-level merchant account provider. To its credit, Elavon does offer 24/7 customer support to all of its users. You can read actual merchant complaints in the comment section at the end of this review.
Elavon Lawsuits and Fines
Cisero’s Lawsuit
In 2012, Elavon was sued by one of its merchants, a restaurant named Cisero’s, for PCI compliance fines. The problem started when U.S. Bank (Elavon’s parent company) was fined $90,000 by Visa and MasterCard, who alleged that Cisero’s had not secured its network and experienced a data breach that resulted in fraudulent transactions on a few of its customers cards. In reaction, U.S. Bank debited Cisero’s checking account of $10,000 without notice and then filed a lawsuit against Cisero’s owners to obtain the remaining $80,000, stating that their merchant account contract makes them responsible for such fines.
Civil Suits
A 2019 suit involved a small merchant suing Elavon over misplacing funds and was settled out of court.
Class-Action Lawsuits
Additionally, there is a class-action lawsuit pending against Elavon in California as of the writing of this review, which involves contracts.
Elavon Customer Service Options
We have located multiple Elavon customer service phone numbers:
- (800) 725-1243 – Toll-Free Customer Service
- (877) 938-0317 – Sales
If you a looking for top-rated customer support from your merchant account provider, see our best customer service merchant account provider list.
Elavon BBB Rating and Report
Our Better Business Bureau Profile Assessment
BBB Summary
|
BBB Complaints
106
|
Response Rate
100%
|
Resolved
15
|
Note: We have adjusted this company’s BBB rating according to our own standards. To better understand why we adjust BBB ratings, please see our Rating Criteria.
Note: We have adjusted this company’s BBB rating according to our own standards. To better understand why we adjust BBB ratings, please see our Rating Criteria.
Over 100 Elavon BBB Complaints
As of this update, the Better Business Bureau is awarding Elavon an “A+” rating despite the fact that the company has received 106 complaints in the last 36 months. To the company’s credit this is down from 120 as of our last update. Elavon has responded to 100% of the complaints but only 15 have been resolved to the satisfaction of the business owner.
What Elavon Customers Say
The company has also received 34 informal Elavon reviews totaling a rating of 1.13/5 stars. A recent customer review from the BBB website states:
As I write this review I’m on the phone for the 3rd time with Elavon trying to close my account. When I call them to close it they tell me they need to notify some other department to get the account closed and that they are sending the email as we speak. After telling me they have sent an email to the representative to close the account i get a bill for the minimum monthly charge and have to call them again and get told the same thing. I tell that isn’t working and I’m being charged and their reply is that it is all they can do and that they can not close my account without the 3rd party approval. This is ridiculous. I just want my account closed and for them to stop charging me but they say they cant do it? What a scam. I’m now on eternal hold trying to talk to a supervisor. The last time they put me on eternal hold it eventually hung up on me. DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY!
A “C” Performance Overall
We have adjusted the BBB’s rating to a “C” for the purposes of this review based on how our criteria would have scored Elavon.
Elavon Fees and Rates
A Closer Look at the Contract
Cost Summary
|
Hidden Fees
Yes
|
Monthly & Annual Fees
Yes
|
Rates & Fees
Negotiable
|
|
PCI Compliance Fee
Yes - Negotiable
|
Elavon Fees Overview
As a payment processing company, Elavon charges various fees to its clients for the use of its services. The specific fees that a client will be charged can vary depending on the type of service or product they are using, as well as the specific pricing plan that they negotiated. Some of the fees that Elavon charges may include:
Transaction Fees
Elavon charges a fee for each transaction that is processed through its payment gateway. This fee may vary depending on the type of transaction, the payment method used, and the client’s specific pricing plan. It appears that Elavon prefers to sign businesses up with a tiered pricing model instead of Interchange-plus. In general, business owners will experience higher Elavon fees under tiered pricing.
Monthly Fees
Most Elavon pricing plans may include negotiable monthly fees. These feed may cover various features and benefits, such as access to reporting and analytics tools or customer support, or may just be “junk” fees that can be removed if negotiated.
Chargeback Fees
If a client receives a chargeback from a customer, Elavon may charge a fee to cover the cost of the chargeback process. Chargeback fees typically range from $15 to $35 per incident depending on the negotiated fee.
PCI Compliance Fees
Elavon may charge a fee to help clients maintain compliance with the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standards. PCI Compliance fees can often be removed through negotiation.
Termination Fees
If a client terminates their contract with Elavon before the end of their agreed-upon term, they may be charged a termination fee. However, it appears that Elavon has removed its termination fee for most accounts. Client’s who lease equipment through Ladco may still be subject to lease cancellation fees.
It’s important to note that Elavon’s fees can vary depending specific services, negotiation, and the pricing plan that a client selects. Business owners should carefully review their contract and pricing plan to understand the fees that they will be charged. Additionally, clients may want to compare Elavon’s fees to those of other payment processing companies to ensure they are getting the best value for their money.
Elavon Fees and Pricing May Vary
The company marketed two different pricing models in our previous Elavon review. The first quote was for a counter-top point-of-sale terminal and the second for its mobile payment alternative. Both contracts charged a swipe rate of 2.65% + $0.19 or a keyed-in rate of 3.50% + $0.19 per transaction. Both of these quotes are high in comparison to other well-rated competitors.
Elavon previously charged a convoluted early termination fee which its contract lists as “greater of the total fees paid by Customer during the twelve months immediately prior to termination, or the total fees that would be payable by Customer during the twelve months immediately following termination.” It appears that Elavon is no longer charging any early termination fees. However, Elavon resellers may include different terms regarding cancellation fees, so business owners are encouraged to read their contract. To avoid early termination fees altogether, see our list of merchant service providers that do not charge cancellation fees.
Virtual Terminal and Payment Gateway Fees
In addition to its storefront payment processing services, Elavon also dedicates a portion of its website to advertising its virtual terminal and payment gateway, called “Converge.” There is also an additional payment gateway for hotels and restaurants specifically called “Fusebox.” However, pricing is not disclosed on either of those services. Elavon customer reviews indicate that gateway fees range between 0.75% to 3.5% plus $0.30 as well as a $25 monthly fee.
Previous Early Termination
Prior to February 2013, the company’s standard merchant account contract included a three-year service agreement with a $295 early termination fee if canceled within the first year, or $195 if canceled within the second or third year. Elavon also formerly charged PCI Compliance fees that varied from $29 to $59 per month; however, the company’s recent promises of no more “hidden fees” would seem to indicate that it has abandoned this practice. Please let us know if Elavon or a Elavon partner has charged you an early termination fee in the comment section below.
Long-Term Equipment Leases From Ladco
The company continues to own and operate the equipment lease provider Ladco Leasing for hardware and point of sale leasing. Ladco has an abysmal reputation among numerous Elavon and Ladco reviews.
The standard Ladco Leasing agreement is an expensive, non-cancellable 48-month equipment lease that often costs up to ten times the actual price of the equipment if bought outright. Elavon seems to go to great lengths to conceal the relationship between Ladco and Elavon, probably due to the fact that there are very few positive reviews of Ladco to be found online. In most cases, we recommend that business owners buy their equipment outright. In the event that a business needs a complex point-of-sale system with a need for dedicated support, we strongly encourage you to negotiate the terms of your lease to avoid expensive surprises.
Elavon’s payment gateway options
Elavon Jobs and Employment
Hiring Standards and Ethical Marketing Assessment
Key Points
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Uses Independent Resellers
Yes
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Telemarketing
Yes*
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Misleading Marketing
No
|
Elavon Rate Quotes and Advertising
Elavon relies heavily upon resellers, sub-ISOs, independent agents, and partnerships to market and sell its credit card processing services. This marketing strategy is common among large merchant account providers and can often prove harmful to a company’s reputation, as it appears to have done for Elavon. This processor has received a large number of complaints related to undisclosed merchant account fees and point of sale hardware leasing terms by independent agents and resellers.
Processor For Costco Merchant Services
One of the company’s most notable independent partners is the grocer and retailer Costco. In fact, Costco Merchant Services is often mistaken as its own credit card processing company. However, it is really just acting as a sales and marketing arm of Elavon. Several Elavon reviews regarding Costco Merchant Services complain that they expected to receive the usual wholesale costs that Costco is known for, but were surprised with high rates and fees. In our estimation, Costco and Sam’s Club do not rank among the best low-cost merchant accounts.
Elavon Marketing Practices
Elavon does not publicly disclose its merchant account fees or credit card processing rates. This indicates that rates and fees are set on a per-account basis and will vary based on numerous factors including a business owner’s knowledge on how to negotiate low merchant account fees, the industry of the business, and the agent or partner marketing the merchant account. As of a previous update to this review, the company added a pricing page that quoted 2.65% plus $0.19 on swiped transactions and 3.5% plus $0.19 on keyed-in payments. These quotes have been removed as of latest Elavon review update. Please let us know what Elavon is charging you in the comment section below. For a list of companies that provide transparent rate quotes upfront, compare merchant account providers here.
Elavon Subsidiaries and Partners
A large portion of Elavon’s merchant accounts are marketed by partnered resellers and subsidiaries who use their own sales and marketing strategies. Based on our research of these resellers, it is apparent that some of them are using misleading tactics. The company and its resellers are also notorious for signing merchants up for expensive, non-cancellable equipment leases through Ladco Leasing as part of their merchant services packages. Elavon appears to often enforce the terms of the lease agreement even when merchants claim that they were deceived by an agent.
Elavon Review Summary
Our Final Thoughts and Opinions
Decent for Large Businesses, Poor for Small Businesses
Elavon, a large merchant account provider and credit card processor, a high number of Elavon reviews complain of numerous things such as poor customer service and high fees. Although the company has numerous complaints, the company claims to serve over one million merchants globally and is bound to have a few unhappy customers. Due to this processor’s large size, we have set Elavon’s rating to a “C” since most businesses processing less than $100k per month would be better served by smaller providers that are able to supply better customer service for their size. Very small businesses are encouraged to check our picks for the best merchant accounts. Elavon can improve its score by enacting more favorable leasing policies and by resolving complaints before they become public.
If you found this article helpful, please share it!
Shaun
Where do I begin. I have only had this processor for around 5-6 months then one day was notified that any cbd related products accounts only had 30 days to process and we were terminated after that. So since day 1 they knew what we were processing but months later they are terminating all accounts processing for cbd products. On top of that they have charged me a non pci compliant charge to my already over priced fees. We had 1 sale for the months and in return they charged us 107.00 in fees! So they also charged us a fee for only 1 charge for the months. A minimum monthly fee they call it. Biggest corrupt sh*t I ever have seen. This is why other companies are putting these guys out business due to their fees! I am and still waiting on a call from their customer service department. Wasted a lot of my time and it makes me sick. Stay away from these sharks
This post will help: Best Merchant Accounts for CBD
-Phillip
René Martinez
Elavon is the worst company for credit card process…don’t ever trust them because they’re very big theft…I run out of my restaurant almost 2 years ago then Elavon is making pay them monthly for a credit card process which l don’t have nothing (sent all equipment about 15 months ago) but they told me that my credit score will get screw then send it to collection, if l didn’t pay them so imagine paying more than $500 dlls for nothing…we must stand all together against these abuses, not fear and very disgrace
This post will help: Cancelling a Merchant Account Without Paying a Fee
-Phillip
Monica
I agree. I was verbally told I would be under contract for three years. I guess it’s four and I didn’t read the fine print. Every year I get a new surprise from this horribly unprofessional and shady business. How do they get away with this??
This post will help: Cancelling a Merchant Account Without Paying a Fee
-Phillip
Michelle
Horrible. Very, very bad customer service and experience. Nobody is on the same page, they call without knowing things & they just are so repetitive they don’t hear anything unless you want to buy then it all goes to crap!
This post will help: Top-Rated Merchant Account Providers
-Phillip
Paul needham
RIP off con merchant services more like.i ended up paying stealth charges for a service I didn’t, use, they suggested I take it up with the ombudsman who they clearly knew would be bloody useless, so robbing me of half the money they should have refunded me and then added a further fifty pound plus stealth charge to that, disgusting and clearly business is so good they don’t give a shit about their customers. As soon as my contract ends I will be changing suppliers so I do not have to continue using these clowns
This post will help: Best UK Merchant Services Providers
-Phillip
Ross Grishin
ISHONEST COMPANY WILL LOCK YOU IN A NON CANCELABLE CONTRACT IN A SCAMMY WAY WITHOUT LETTING YOU KNOW
Please… Do yourself a favor and stay away from this scammer
I’ve been caught in their scummy trap
Some crook name christian called me and started offering me the best ever deals and prices with a different messages saying that they work in a different way… and that they don’t lock their clients in a contracts so they can feel free… so he said
After i decided that working with elavon just with a different virtual “resellers” (Eswipe) (before i was with Canadian POS which is a complete joke) is not going to be any different, i decide to close my account and stay with the best Merchant POS – “Square”
when reached out to Elavon (because Eswipe are no body and just a virtual reseller of unknown service) i found out for the first time that they signed me without ever mention for 4 years contract of 55$ a month for a primitive device that sold for 100$
they told me that i cannot cancel this and i am stuck with them for 4 more years even though i realized that i don’t want to deal with them after 2 months, they still insist that i will pay them even if i don’t use their service in no way
i wish i did more research before got in a trouble with those dishonest companies (Elavon, Eswipe)
don’t do my mistake and trust the guy on the phone that sell you stories and then after you already signed with them he will not even answer your emails
The most negative customer experience i had for a very long time
be sure that you not going to get any more new customers if that’s depends on me
Ross Grishin
1120017 B.C LTD.
This post will help: Cancelling a Merchant Account Without Paying a Fee
Xiang DeWitt
Worst experience with merchant service company. They will not put in timely effort to correct issues (if it’s your money they don’t care). Customer service, especially the department that handles refunds and risks, it’s like impossible to get things fixed unless you do all the work and push them with a call everyday!
This post will help: Best Merchant Accounts for Great Customer Service
-Phillip
Mitch W Salyers
Elevan account representatives will NOT return calls so that we can cancel the account. I have been trying for 3 months to cancel and have yet to receive a call, despite the “submitted requests” by the customer service representatives. This has cost us 72.99/month and is adding each month. I would not recommend Elevan for this reason.
This post will help: Cancelling a Merchant Account Without Paying a Fee
-Phillip
Alan
My card reader stopped working. For three days my account manager has failed to return repeated phone calls, and each department I talk to gives me a different story and refers me to another department. There doesn’t seem to be anyone here who will take responsibility for anything, or who can help me receive what I’m paying for.
This post will help: Best EMV-Enabled Credit Card Terminals
-Phillip
Gary Hicks
This company needs to be investigated, I have been using Elavon to process my credit cards for my business. I regularly have problems with them not depositing it into my account. Last month it took over 2 weeks to get my deposits, this month currently over 1 week I am waiting for my money. Call every day with nothing but rude customer service agents telling me my money should be there. But it’s not!!! This company is criminal!!!!
This post will help: How to Make Your Payment Processor Release Your Money
-Phillip
Samuel Fang
I chose Evalon because I trusted Costco (not anymore) and after spent so much on terminal (lied to me $200 rebate) and then comes endless nightmare. It is so difficulty to deal with them. Just make some small change takes forever! It is been few months and still not able to fix our simple problem. We are doing business and cannot afford to play with them. That Fxx company supposed to help us and make our lives easy but instead they enjoying making our lives miserable.
This post will help: Best EMV Terminals
– Phillip
Firyuza Gazizova
The worst service we ever had! We decided to sign up with Elavon thinking that Costco always provide good value at a good cost. Well, not with the merchant services. We cancelled our services with Elavon after one week. You are virtually left to figure out everything on your own, the moment you sign your contract. Our account manager never contacted us, despite our numerous attempts to get a hold of him. It has been over two weeks that we can not receive our money. They can not figure out how to transfer $7,000 to our account. Seriously? Every time I call, it’s a different story from a different representative. They do not know what other person is doing. I could add many more details about them, but I don’t want to waste any more of my time. I can not even express the feeling I have about this company. Absolutely disgusting.
This post will help: How to Make Your Payment Processor Release Your Money
– Phillip
Jimmy
If I can give you one piece of advice as a small business owner is. Do not, under any circumstance, do business with this company. From the very beginning it has been a complete nightmare. They will sign you up real quick and once you are in the contract…forget about it. Good luck on getting help. Nobody knows what the heck is going on. My account manager doesn’t have a clue, my rep who set me is doesn’t have a clue. People they transfer me to can’t help me and not sure why I was transferred. I absolutely regret signing up with their service. My rep even admitted they provided me with incorrect information as they were unaware and would pay my fee’s. Haven’t seen a dime for it yet. I’ve received collection letter for God knows why. As their is sufficient funds in the account. I should have known from the moment the rep called in to their customer service and how oddly rude they were to her that I should’ve of walked away. It was too late at that point. I had already signed up.
Don’t do it people. For the love of God don’t do it. I should have paid attention to the reviews as they are absolutely accurate.
From The Editor
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michael bowman
Worst customer service I have ever experienced. Leaving the company after they screwed us for the last time. They update your equipment and screw up the terminal and then it is a huge huge huge waste of time IF you can get hold of anyone. I have been on hold and no one even comes on line. We had to give up last night because after an hour of them making the situation worse! Now we are on an with an idiot who has no idea how to fix.
From The Editor
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Two Whales Coffee Shop
Ladco, eSwipe and Elavon
eSwipe (Flash Payment Solutions) contacted me late August claiming that Elavon had asked them to so that they could give me better rates than Costco. They are a third party ‘front end’ to Elavon. After much clarification I was told that I could run their account alongside my current Costco/Elavon account (which I have had for 8 years and have found their service/support to be excellent) with an agreement to cancel at any time if I don’t like it. I was also told that the Ladco leasing agreement was not what it says and that I would not be held to it; that I would only be paying $20 per month for the equipment, not the $34.50 in the lease agreement and a few other fabrications. The support at eSwipe is virtually non-existant, with no one answering emails and most calls. I asked them to cancel the account.which they have not done so far (5 December).
I turned out that the eSwipe sales people made numerous false statements. Currently Ladco is being very helpful and suggested that I file a complaint against eSwipe with them, which I have just done.
I learned that Ladco paid the lease capital ($1400) in my case directly to eSwipe so this is presumably how they make their money. They seem to have many more sales staff than support staff. As soon as I signed up communication virtually ended.
I have been able to sort out some problems directly with Elavon – their support staff are are always friendly and helpful – but they say they can not close the account, as yet.
From The Editor
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Ashley
Our company cancelled our account with Elavon Merchant Services in July 2018. Since then we have still been getting Merchant Services charges even though we do not do business with them anymore. When customer service was contacted the first time I told the individual to make sure both accounts we had with them were closed. This was back in September 2018. Come to find out they only closed one of the accounts so we were still being charged. They said that the fee would be refunded but never was. I contacted them again in November and found out that they had only closed one account so at that time I closed the other account. I was told again that I would not be charged anymore and the fee be refunded, just like the first encounter with them. Come December 2018, there was another charge. When I spoke to someone yesterday, they stated that the fee that showed up this month was for November, and after this month we will not see anymore charges. The last individual I spoke with also stated that there was nothing in the notes about a refund of charges. This is not good business practice.
From The Editor
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Excalibur
After several years of satisfactory service, we are NOT pleased with Elavon, at all. In the first place, it is almost impossible to get anyone on the phone. We used them with our business for years, then changed the name of the business and opened another account with them, closing out the first one. Little did we know – they did NOT close the first one, but continued to charge us for over a year and a half, for the previous account.
I happened to stumble across the fraudulent charges, when catching up on paperwork that had been required to “sit” for awhile, due to a shortage of help at our business.
When I tried to reach them, via email, no response. I emailed twice, called, was put on hold, etc., etc. The first time I called, I was told there would be a 2 1/2 to 3 hour wait. The next day, it was an 8 to 10 minute wait. I waited. Explained the situation, and was told we would be refunded immediately for the last 3 months, but the rep could not do more than that without going to a higher “tier” in the company. That was just about a month ago – no refund. The charges added up to about $3,000 – a bit amount for our small business! When I called again, after no responses to emails and no refunds, I was told they would refund 2/3 of the fraudulent charges, and that they would send via UPS, a form for me to sign – a release form.
No form has arrived, and we simply do not have hours and hours to “sit” on the phone to rectify things.
Elavon is quick to take your money, but not quick to correct errors. We were also charged $59.99 a month for PCI non-compliance, although no one contacted us about any non-compliance.
We rectified that, but have had no fees refunded to us. For a credit card processor that takes hundreds of dollars in fees and processing charges from us every month, we would expect better customer service.
NOT pleased with them one bit, and warn others to stay away!
This post will help: Best Merchant Accounts for Great Customer Service
-Phillip
Donisia Trujillo
this company is a joke!! it’s been nothing but problems since day one!!! we were supposed to get a cc machine we got charged $50 something dollars and never received it!! then we get a large deduction out of business account when we didn’t expect it!! now to booth my small business can not have access to any of my money because they are holding it from me!! WTF!! now i have to submit documents to them to PROVE i have my own business so they can release me my money!! please tell me why you set up an account first then want to verify after the merchant is already expecting their deposits!!! this is absolute BS!! SMALL BUSINESSES JUST STAY WITH SQUARE!!!!!! less hassles!!
From The Editor
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Adel Khechana
for the mediocre quality of service such company would be bankrupt if it want for them rubbing themselves against Costco making people imagine they’re affiliated with them. the key to judge a good company is whn things goes wrong. in regular circumstances all they do is collected high fees and selling you overpriced equipment . we were victims of fraud and we lost over 10K is merchandise and Elavon instead of assisting us and helping us while we were trying to understand what happened; and after they back charged which i didn’t mind as the transactions weren’t legit , theu slapped us with over $600 in fees and closed our account and flagged my company ! which added insult to injury the lady handling my case was very very rude and belligerent and she was the judge and the jury, no recourse, no way to talk to her supervisor, no was to get removed from that flagged list. they dont deserve to be in business as they behave like a dictatorship. let them go under . Elavon, the house mediocre overpriced service, come sign in !!!
From The Editor
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Jennifer Peat
Not only did they grossly overcharge me monthly, they did not transfer sales $$ into our account – and then one day after absconding with our money, they terminated the agreement immediately. We feel totally scammed and are looking into hiring a lawyer to retrieve our funds.
From The Editor
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Raoul Benjamin
Hey Jennifer,
They have done the exact same thing to us! They didn’t transfer money to use for over 1 month and then we called and immediately put $400k on hold.
Maybe we could exchange contact details and discuss this? They never warned me we had any problems – and the craziest thing is that we only had 4 chargebacks out of 5000 orders!
Did you have any luck with the lawyer?
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nas
Extra minimum monthly charges were not included in the contract, and so i am disputing it even if i have to hire a lawyer…scammy company
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Joyce
I had the same thing happen to me, their prices are NOT what they claimed!
Daniela
This is by far the worst company I’ve ever worked with, 0 costumer service the worker TOM PHILIP is very unprofessional and has 0 consumer service, this company does not care about its costumers, they cut my credit card account on a Friday night without any notification and it’s now Tuesday still no answer from the company all becusse I changed the name of my restaurant and the IRS did not have the new name change so instead of giving me a notice that they will cut me off they just drop you and send you to hell, like I said this company deserves 0 starts
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Eliza Moreno
If you ever need to speak to someone for assistance, their customer service is terrible. Unhelpful, Rude, and the supervisor is the worst. She wouldn’t even listen to anything I had to say. When I asked for her name she wouldn’t give her name just a reference # C3337234. will never use this company again. They will take your money and refuse to refund or back. They are thieves!
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Lester Baskin
Laure Djiepmo in customer service provided prompt, efficient, informative and polite assistance over several contacts. If this is an example of the quality of Elavons customer service, I’m a lifelong client.
CPO
Hi Lester,
Please reply to this comment with your business name and location in order to authenticate your testimonial. Thanks!
LISA BIRD
The poor reviews of Elavon continues and Costco continues to ignore their unethical practices. So very disappointing!!!
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gladys lynch
I switched to Elavon 3 years ago the sales rep came to my store told me their debit provider had lower fees and no leasing just pay month to month. Also buy out of my contract with the other company I did sign a paper saying that i would it did not say leasing i felt great.At the time i was just starting chemo and radiation and was at work off and on. These pays few years the economy took a turn for the worst and slow times I’ve decided to take out the debit do cash or e transfer they told me i was locked in a lease i owed them 2200.00 and when i checked my band acc i will still paying the other provider call them 20 times no return calls when i did get one she told me i only took theirs out to go with someone else which i did not. the leasing company sends me a bill i answered the phone one day told them the sales rep said i wasn’t in a lease that month i blocked them from my bank acc . they were also suppose tp pay me my money from the other provider he said thats what salesmen did to get a sales. well the leasing company can call all they want and can come and put me in jail for their money i’m not paying dam robbers
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deborah hoopes
I cancelled with this company 2 years ago and just
recently moved to a new bank . I though my merchant
service company that i have now was still taking money our of my other bank account even though I have already switched it to the new bank… come to find out Evalon continues to take out over 100 dollars a month in fees after I had cancelled them. never sent me my paper statement which I had usually received and since the debit just said merchant service fee I assumand it was from my current merchant service. I contacted them and they tried to say I had two accounts and looks like I only cancelled one?? Of course I had only one account and one terminal. They finally tried to at first say they would refund 3 months and I was livid and said I will take them to court then they transfered to and the person said they could refund 6 months but they stole thousands and thousands from me and I will take them to court even if it ends up costing me even more. If this has happened to anyone else please get in touch with me. at [email protected] this is out and out fraud. Deborah
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Judi Parsons
I have been waiting for months to get a refund of $2000 dollars that they said I owed then later said I don’t.I have had my own business for years beware of these crooks
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L
Please watch out for this company. I regretted it so much that I was talked to signing up from US Bank. They have a lot of hidden fees and non-cancellable LADCO equipment lease, After seeing all the fees that wasn’t in the contract I tried to contact the agent but I got more headaches from her. I tried to cancel the service but because of the lease for 48 mos. I was forced to keep the service. After about 5 mos I found Clear Pay offering free equipment and very low fees so I finally cancelled Elavon. I still have 37 mos of $33.56/mo to pay for my lease and $25 yearly administration fee that wasn’t even disclosed prior to signing up. The agent that US Bank sent to us told us that our monthly payment was only $31 lease fee for 36 mos plus %fees. This was all a lie. The contract came for us to sign after a month with 48 mos lease when I asked for it because I was shocked with all the fees they charged our bank account. Overall, Elavon with US Bank and LADCO leasing is a scam! Read and research before signing up. I’m saving about $100-$200 a month from Clear Pay even after still paying my LADCO lease.
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Michelle Rondeau
This service will charge you if you do not fill out their “survey” Make sure you read the fine print because my monthly rate went from $10 to $55! all because of a survey!!??
When I get another credit card processing service it will NOT be this one.
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Julia Park
I had hoped to reduce my processing fees in 2018. Elavon promised, lied in fact, to help with this. In every way this company is to be avoided.
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Yining Chen
The sales of credit service can never be trusted, I trapped with a lot of hidden fees. problematic machine, and a non-cancellable Ladco lease (the worst rank of the industry) agreement. The equipment leases are unreasonably expensive, unfairly structured, and deceptively sold. I regret that I did not check the reviews before signing the contract.
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lisa
Be very careful if your a user. I was linked with a user number on this terminal along with my bank info& s.s# to use this terminal. When our company returned and canceled this service they continued to charge my bank account $34.95 per month for 3 months. When I called to see why they said they had no info on the terminal being returned and that I had to cancel this as a separate service. They could see I had NOT used this device in months but that they were keeping my hard earned money. I say skip this confusing way of doing business and use PayPal or square. They are both cheaper to. What a scam Elavon is
Debra
Costco needs to ditch this company and get a real one with decent customer service. The hardwired terminal has mostly worked well for several years, but many people no longer have landlines, so when I travel I needed a mobile app. There the horror began. They waived the initial fee, which was nice because I’d be even angrier if I had paid $149 for this useless app that freezes on the iPad (“there must be something wrong with your iPad, you’d better have Apple look at it”), won’t let me in to the website on the computer despite having all the right passwords, wants you to change your password every 90 days and you can’t use any of the past 13 passwords, as if you would remember them anyway, and takes an hour and a half of one’s precious self-employed time to process a single credit card payment. I am calling Costco tomorrow to give them feedback and urge them to find another company. Meanwhile, I will need to find another mobile solution.
Clive Greenwood
Elavon Terminals, must be reading my system, exactly the same, the terminal locks up, transactions get “lost” simply to anyone ditch this company, I have, BTW what ever you do dont use Talech from elavon, it cost me 100s of hours trying to fix their bug filled softwere
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Julia Atwell
What I found out the hard way with Elavon is READ THE TERMS OF SERVICE !!!! We have been with them for 4 years with no problems. We have no chargebacks and average anywhere from $25k to $50k in one month until May of this year ( 2018) when we had 2 large sales around 20K each. Without knowing it we triggered Elavon’s fraud department to hold the payments and place them in a “reserve” account. We only found out when a letter came ( no calls, no E-mail) a week later from Elavon that they would not put through any further transactions and could hold the funds for 270 days before releasing them. We are not a large company and a $50,000 cash flow shortfall hurts. After many calls between Elavon, the customer (legit purchase) and VISA ( who processed customers purchase with no issues), they are finally considering releasing part of the funds. Now after reading the service agreement I realize they clearly state they can set up a reserve account for basically any reason they deem necessary and can hold funds for 270 days if they wish. Huge learning curve for us. We are going to discourage credit cards for the forseeable future.
Twila
This exact part of the Terms is why I am looking at the reviews. This is my worst fear!
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ana moca
Elavon is the worst company I have ever worked with they are thieves and it is nothing but a headache every time you call in.
Melissa
Signed up with Elavon services for my new broker/wholesale business and after using for just over 1 month got a call to have a ‘review’ and ended with closing my account. (not my choice, THEY SHUT DOWN MY ACCOUNT!) After explaining to them some of my charges they responded with “you cannot use your terminal for accepting sales of product that isnt yours” .. THATS LITERALLY MY JOB/BUSINESS! ..as they knew considering when I signed up for my account I had to describe my company. I buy from manufacturers and resell to people. What terrible customer service… way to damage the ease of my business and lose a customer. Makes zero sense. Screw this company!
Traycee M McDougald
Absolutely awful experience. The amount of fees this company charges a small business is absurd. We eventually found a better company to use, only to be continuously charged by Elavon for services WE HAD CANCELED. I have called numerous times and it is always a run around, you can’t ever speak to someone who is of actual help. The last phone call I had with the company, they admitted charging me when they shouldn’t have and are willing to refund me 50%. Refund me 50% of my own money they had no right to withdraw from my account????
Patrice Smith
On March, 2018, I completed enrollment with Cardx for a credit card processing account for my small art gallery, Art Imports, located in Boca Raton, Florida. I chose Cardx for the attractive rates they offered for credit card processing, and because they touted Florida as one of the states they can offer their technology platform and services.
Cardx works in conjunction with Elavon Merchant Services. Elavon merchant services is the bank that performs the credit card processing, while Cardx supplies to interface and virtual terminal for transaction processing. Cardx’s website is extremely friendly, with an easy, straightforward application process.
During this application process, there is no mention that the bank that will actually process your sales will be Elavon Merchant Services.
It turns out that Cardx is nothing more than a well presented “recruiter” of clients for Elavon. Elavon has a well documented reputation for freezing deposits at whim, without any reason or excuse, and to keep the proceeds of the sales you have processed in a “hold” account that bears no interest and you have no access to. Trying to get in touch with them is an exercise in frustration: you can spend hours in the phone ultimately leaving messages that are never returned.
Cardx simply tells you “there is nothing they can do for you” and they provide random contacts within Elavon that always turn up to be phones and emails from data entry clerks that have no say on your deposit hold. They toot themselves as only “the technology providers” and leave you with a financial loss, moving on to the next unsuspected small business applicant that, most certainly, will lose several days of sales to this well orchestrated theft.
I lost over US$1000.00 that I know I will never recoup. My processing history with this company was brief and untarnished: no refunds, no disputed transactions, every sale within the limits declared at the time of application.
The Internet is ripped with statements form former Elavon merchants that have suffered severe losses due to this ruse. Since Cardx does not disclose the fact that they team up with Elavon, you do not even have a chance to do a proper due diligence and avoid the future loss.
Cardx is advertising his services especially to Floridian Small businesses: https://www.cardx.com/compliance#statesweserve. This mean that there will surely be other businesses like mine that will fall prey to this theft, businesses that might be severely damaged by the loss.
Dr G Baytug
Elavon are cavalier in our opinion without adequate governance nor adherence to their own protocols. We have referred their conduct to the FCA (London) which has referred the matter to The Central Bank (Eire). Without disclosing further details, we believe this organisation cannot be trusted to provide a reliable service for its commercial retail vendors.
We believe this organisation has the power to disrupt business, damage SEO ratings of your eCommerce business and junk both your goodwill.
DAVID HEBERT
Total Scam, should have known the sales pitch was too good to be true. They will nickel and dime you to death. Too many hidden fees to count. They will sign you up and not complete any of the paperwork and then charge you for it. Then will loose the paper work that you resubmit and charge you again. Be prepared to be put to the test if you sign up with them. Can not tell you how many times have been put on hold and dropped when trying to fix a problem, then they will charge again for something else, just hope you read this and don’t sign a contract with them
Bryan Laws
A complete scam ! I was in process of signing up, and cancelled my account, since they sent me a mobile device for a android phone, I called the rep, told him I have a iPhone and I would need to go buy a my own device to connect, so I cancelled my account before I ever used it and they have billed me before I got my card device in mail, and now it’s been a year and still trying to collect my money….Square is better ! Don’t sign up, the CEO should be fired for allowing this shit to go on…
Annette Oh
Never n Never get Elavon, I need to talk to Costco Head Office regarding my all issues from begining to now but No Time n Lots lots frustration….
I transfered from other credit card comp . even has to pay penalty for early termination to go Elavon.
When I ordered first, according technician, will be ready to set to start but when I got terminal, nothing was ready, has to spent 2 days to set up and lost Credit n Ebit card sales.
Other day , had issue and spent 2hours but had not resolved issues, lost credit card sales again again.last issues so far, called and talked but they said , fax all info so faxed n emailed to;Elavon but No replay from Elavon for month so has to call again and spent 2hrs again
I think these reasones is enough n enough for No Elavon.
Tracey
Scum of the earth I have never dealt with a low and dirty company as this, They send all these sales people around that promise you low fees and 19 cents per swipe.. then you start to see these charges in your bank account, they charge you for many fees then on top of it they charge you $99.99 for investment in security fee, they say they tell you before they charge you… I did not see anything and i was told the company changed name to Payment insider.. and to check my statements there which 1/2 the time in the month i could not get on to the website…These people are a bunch of crooks and will screw you out of of your last cent… i am so sorry i did not check the reviews first, Now with square and it just clean cut and dry.. And a message for Evalon greed will be the end of you…
Amanda
Been okay with Elavon:
I have been using Elavon on an iPhone 6 since 2015 for my one-chair barber shop, which is still primarily a cash business. So only 20-30% of my sales are with a card, so my fees are lower–only $0.09 per transaction. The percent of total sale fees are the same as stated above. I haven’t had any problems really and have a good local agent. (I went through the credit union holding my financial accounts.)
My one complaint recently is the recent requirement to use a more complicated app for mobile transactions. About 1/3 of the time it won’t process the swiped card and I have to manually enter the card which takes up time and costs me more!
The new payments insider website is a little easier to navigate and understand. Aside from new/annual charges by Visa or MC, I have not been charged any more than expected.
Thank you for independently reviewing these companies. I may look into other options given others’ negative reviews.
My business is still growing, but I doubt I will ever have more than $5k/mo. in c.c. charges. Is there a better company for numerous small transactions?
Jason Lee
This company’s service is very poor. They charge you hidden fees. I used their service for many years. I cancelled my account with them back in June. They were still charging me fees in November even I did not use their service for several months.
Dave
Garbage. Bad customer service, slow, useless, double charge people on our behalf. Hate them.
Jane
My experience has sucked too. I haven’t even started processing payments and have been charged $300.00. They did not disclose fees, and when I call they really don’t give a shit and pass me on to someone else. I only hope I can close my account without getting gauged again and then I can stay the hell away from them
Bashir Khoury
This is the worst company I’ve ever dealt with customer service really lousy ,
Without any notice they shut my credit card Terminal so I can’t Process any credit cards
for my customers
The good think out of this I closed my account and
I got the Square credit card reader
I have no Idea how Costco Recommend a lousy company
Gina Brockinton
Easily the worst customer service. You cannot reach them or you are on hold for hours. My mobile terminal never works I have to enter my credit cards manually which costs more. They had the audacity to say that they are aware of issues with the new iphones and that I probably need a new reader. The one I have is only a year or two old. As soon as I can get set up with another processor I am gone.
Jon Park
Elavon’s processing time for changes takes forever and denies request without reason. I prefer to set everything up the right way the first time. When you want to change something it takes forever.
Dawn Stephens
My partner died tragically in January and I let Elevon know and sent death certificate. Tried to find out where to send machine back to. Since then (10 months) they have constantly sent letters via debt recovery companies, for all sorts of amounts of money. They have not listened to me, Death certs been sent to Debt recovery companies, broken down on the phone the this has continued. Today yet another debt recovery company. They cannot tell me an address to send machine to, (not allowed to). There appear to be loads of unsafe and potentially bogus Elevon links on web. This company is disgusting beyond measure. My partner was intestate. He owed for one month of machine, the month he died! I cannot get this resolved as they do not listen. I am sickened to the core with this despicable company and wish to report them, where?
Mahmod alashqar
I will never do business with elavon , I just start my business and did not make any sales , they charge me 1281 $ , when I called them no one answer and my money is gone , that’s fraud and they’re thiefs
Steven
Elavon is by far not only the worst Merchant service company, but probably the most dishonest and unethical company currently operating on planet earth. They said whatever they needed to pull our business from our former merchant provider of 7 years.
Within our first 3 months, they processed $1.3m which is our standard. Then without warning their Risk team decided to hold our funds without provocation or reason for the past 3 weeks holding over $70k and let us know unless we provided a $700,000 Line of Credit our account would be canceled?!? NO Warning, NO ability to other options, nothing—and we’ve never had a chargeback or return in 7 years. No chargebacks, no fraud, no reason whatsoever to warrant this action. They would only respond after multiple follow ups, only agreed to release funds after multiple follow ups and incorporating attorney involvement. They lost a client for no reason and we’ll certainly do all we can to warn others to not get blindsided by this corrupt company. Costco should be ashamed this is their preferred partner.
David Bledsoe, SR
Why does costco endorse Evalon services thru their Executive membership, if it is so bad?
Lisa Bird
Costco must be getting a huuugggeee payback to endorse Elavon and Ladco Leasing.
Despite the obvious horrible deceitful business practices of Elavon, Costco
Continues to back this company.
Have experienced the same rude behavior from this company.
Greg
Seriously the worst company in the world. During 2015, I had to pay $300 for two credit card processors that were no longer good in 2016. So, then I got to buy two more for $300 and have had them replaced twice. Additionally, they started charging random acct fees. In 2016 I got one for $50. In July, I got one for $99? for what because they do such a great job? Never again
Brian Goode
This company is sneaky and underhanded. They notify you after the fact that they will be raising your rates or adding new fees on top of their already large pile of fees. I was just notified about a $99 security fee effective the beginning of the month, whereas I received my statement on the 13th. Rest assured that this is just the tip of the iceberg with them. Over 30 days ago they offered to “do a rate review”, and I never heard from them again. When I cancelled they said that the rep had spoken to me and I had declined his request for a rate review.
M.Pierce
Brian, we noticed a $115.44 debit from Elavon in our bank account on 10/2. I called their customer service department and was hold for 30 minutes before getting a rep. We were told that the $99.99 fee notification was on our August statement, and it was for technology and service compliance. We immediately asked for them to close our account and to refund the $99.99 fee! We were told we would receive an email, and then a second email to confirm the closure. Once we received the second email we would have to call to request the refund. Seriously? We had recently called to cancel our account, because we transferred our services to Square. Elavon was charging a $10 monthly fee for a service we have used twice! We have have been a customer for TWO YEARS!!!!! Square has no monthly service fee. They offered to do a rate review, and to call me back to see if they could waive the monthly fee for my company. We never received a call back. I also just read that we may be charged an early termination fee!!! I tried to call Elavon back, and there is 55 minute hold time to speak to a rep. I don’t have the time to stay on hold or to wait for a call back. This is absurd! I know the long hold times are due to every customer freaking out over the $99.99 fee.
SUNSET07
I have had the same thing, i keep getting charges for pci compliance that is now 10.00, statement fee 12.95, emv fee 5.50, account fee 99.99!! I get no statement, only online that i have to print and it is A PAIN TO GET INTO, takes hours to login, as u have to change id info every 30 days and cannot use any used before! U cannot get a hold of anyone in office or any management, PCI is only 25.00 to certify and now the fee is 10.00 a month! HIGHWAY ROBBERY its disgusting they can get away with all these new fees with no recourse to be protected under any contract.
Rob
Outrageous waste of time on PCI compliance and problems with unilateral automatic enrollment in a subscription based product by Elavon called “PCI+”. Elavon purchased TrustWave clients that process Elavon clients and did not capture the PCI compliance certifications, call customers to advise that they need to re-do the compliance questionaire that was just completed a few months ago ALL OVER AGAIN, then, in an almost passing comment, they mention that when this migration of clients from TrustWave went over to Elavon, Elavon automatically, and unilaterally subscribed customers for a fee based service WITHOUT NOTIFICATION and WITHOUT PERMISSION from the client. Elavon just bills you this subscription fee without any notice to the client. How is that possible? ELAVON IS THE WORST to deal with and we are so sorry we ever left our previous processing partner. Elavon is a nightmare at all levels; multiple and convoluted “Customer Service” departments that do not have answers and place on hold dozens of times after waiting in long ques to reach someone. I spent over 80 minutes on the phone replying to Elavon’s request for me to call, then was transferred to 3 departments, with four different individuals and this is the commercial equivalent of the Keystone Cops and their out of control Firetruck.
Alysa
Extremely terrible customer service! Ordered a new processor and they delivered to the wrong address and have been trying for a week now to figure this out. Been talked down to and told it’s my fault. Been in business with them for 4 years now and quiet because of the terrible custromer service. Extremely disappointed
C
Elavon is a JOKE! I am furious right now. I have been processing credit cards for 2 years now through my bank (who started with one company and ended with Elavon and has now cut ties with Elavon for what I can only assume are these types of issues, and gone to another merchant services provider). I had a couple of customers over the years “question: the charges on their cards”, not due to fraud but the fact they did NOT examine the receipt and recognize the charges, I have never had to “pay” for the customer’s error before! This just happened again, only this time I WAS CHARGED $25 (more than the profit I even make on the item!) because my customer called his card company, not recognizing the charge, but 5 minutes later saw what it was for and called back to say it was legitimate. DESPITE his doing so and his bank guaranteeing him it wouldn’t be an issue and they would pay, it wasn’t. Elavon withdrew the funds from my account, asking for proof of the charge, despite the fact the customer had already said it was legitimate. I of course provided the invoice for the items purchased as requested and after a few weeks Elavon put the monies back in my account. BUT a month later they charged ME $25 because the customer did this, claiming it was to cover “paperwork” fees on their part! This was NOT my error, and I am the one having to pay… well Elavon can take a flying leap I am going to another merchant service provider, they refused to budge on this charge, so bye bye Elavon. The company is a greedy rip off as far as merchants are concerned, as if the 3.5%+ they keep in merchant fees isn’t enough, they are now going to charge YOUR account for every “questioned” charge, even if it is $3.95 and legitimate, they will charge YOU the $25 EACH TIME! RIP OFF!
S M C
I am in the middle of a Huge potential litigation with Elavon – they “lost” all my transactions for a 40 day period which equalled roughly $60,000. Once they found them it was 3 months later!.
As they started manually entering the CC Transactions, the customers & their Banks flagged them as fradulent charges, because the “transactions” were now showing up 90 days AFTER the Customer was at my Establishment. Plus it was coded as a”Manual Entry – No Card Present”.
I now have thousands of dollars in Chargebacks.
It caused me to close my business! Not to mention the negative impact on my reputation in this small town, because everyone feels like I was stealing from them & manually entering sale amounts on days they weren’t at my place of business.
Its been the worst nightmare!
Gerard Wilson
For a web based company I find their merchant services website incredibly poor. It is not at all user friendly, and incredibly slow, I feel like I am back in the 90s with dial up connection and some primitave windows system. Only laziness has stopped me looking for an alternative provider so far but I have had enough.
Elly
This company have just taken out the same card payment 3 times instead of one! Payment requests were made 2 months apart – they ‘stole’ my money and left me with not a penny to my name and no reason as to why they had ‘messed up’ and deprived me of £3000 ‘ in error’ – No apology, no reason, no excuse….. Disgusting all round
Maikel Aslanpour
This company are a joke. My account was set up wrong as the trainee made several mistakes. They then decided to say they would not release the money from payments which I had taken for 4-6months which is embarrassing. Santander my business and personal bank recommended them I don’t know what they was thinking. Do NOT Join this company as you can be transferred all over the world to resolve an issue. I will be going back to my previous card provider for card payments. I would not even give them a 1 star rating.
S M C
Maikel,
I notice you said they did not release the money from payments for 4-6 months?! Were you able to final get these “lost” transactions?
I am in the middle of a Huge potential litigation with Elavon – they “lost” all my transactions for a 40 day period which equally roughly $60,000. Once they found them it was 3 months laster. As they started manually entering the CC Transactions, the customers & their Banks flagged them as fradulent charges & I now have thousands of dollars in Chargebacks!
It also caused me to have to close my business!
TOM
These people are crooks, I have fought for my money almost at every occurrence. I used them for over a year. If you get a couple of chargebacks they will try and cancel your account. IF you use your terminal for another transaction that you did not sign up for they threaten you. STAY AWAY FROM THEM!!
N/a
Horrible horrible customer service. One of the worst places I’ve had to deal with. Basically accused someone of stealing when there was a charge on their card.
Cheryl Graham
I would like to say that Evalon and associate Victoria have redeemed themselves …I am glad to say the service has been quite good and as a four year customer I will be staying with Avalon for my debit and credit service
CG HAIR
Philip Warmbrodt
We are new owners of Seaside Oregon golf and restaurant. We meet with Melisa of Elavon on Dec 2016. Its been 2 months of horror. She promised so much and has failed to deliver. Do not give these people access to your bank account. they have taken unauthorized money, promised to refund, promised to help set up our POS , Promise after promise and have not come thru. Gavin, her boss in portland oregon has indicated she did not have the authority to make such promises. Our bank, recommended these people and now they are even shocked by them. We are having to close our account to stop them from taking more out.each of the first 3 months they have taken out different amounts and a has caused us to be overdrawn. In Feb I put a stop payment on AUTO WITHDRAWAL and they changed the amount and so it slid by the bank. I can’t believe I didn’t check them out first. DO NOT GIVE THEM ACCESS TO YOUR BANK ACCOUNT. Our system is still not up and running and they have thousands of our money.
Cheryl Graham
Very poor service Account person”Victoria’ who processed my new debit machine did not know what she was doing..
I have been with this company for four years and had to get t a new machine cause the other was obsolete..
Decided on wifi because it is faster…Account specialist processed my request and a few days later I received my new machine.. Unfortunately could not use it because she forgot to add the debit feature to it…Contacted her and she needed me to sign a new agreement which I did and sent back ….Then she had to make up another agreement because she put the wrong percent on the credit and debit …If this wasn’t bad enough I find I have also been charged the startup fee of $150.00…Now I was to have this waived because I had been a loyal customer for four years..I was also not explained to about an insurance which I would definitely have purchased..Instead I was charged an additional $20.00 for not taking it..hmmmm. This lady was to get back to me after she spoke with her manager..When I didn’t hear back I phoned in to find she had gone home.. Also find it hard to get ahold of a manager to help me with this problem…. Very very dissatisfied customer..Would never recommend this company to anyone.
Cheryl Graham
CG HAIR
Steve
BRUTAL company. Terrible customer service.
We were put in touch with COREY JOHNSON and he was rude, disrespectful, and completely obnoxious.
AVOID THIS COMPANY!
Deanna Amsterdam
Two weeks ago I began the process of changing my banking info. After navegating throught the sight I finally found the forms {( it was not easy to find them) I printed them off and emailed. After three days I called in because I didn’t get a response. Customer service told me to resend them which I did. Two days later I received an email stateing I hadn’t sent in the proper forms, however they neglected to send me the appropriate form . I had to call in again to have the forms sent. I’ve completed these forms and have resent them 3 times now each time it takes days to get a response. If there was a problem with the form I had to resend all the forms rather the just this missing information. The last email asked for information I already sent in the first email!! Its been two weeks and I haven’t been able to process any payments I’m moving my business over to TD
Jill Male
Month in and Month out I have to contact Elavon as they do not seem to update their systems with information from Trustwave etc. I have numerous emails from Trustwave confirming our PCI complaince then to be told today that they do not believe Trustwaves explanation just about topped it all. I am now looking for a new Merchant Bank to host our payments. I have had enough !
Donna
Signed up to SagePay and unbeknown to us Elavon handle the payments. Their staff are the most unhelpful ever. They dont inform you of fees coming off and you have to try and negotiate their horrible online system, which apparently will NEVER accept a user password to download a really bad statement which gives no information at all! Always take off more than the documented “fees” from payments but no record of where they money goes so accounting is a nightmare! Stay away from Elavon, SagePay if you can afford their monthly scheme are absolutely great but if you are a small business like us… AVOID!
Kimberly
Elavon has no morals they make the rules up as they go along. They charge you what ever they want and it makes no logical sense. My rates are as high as 6% with other hidden fees of up to $80.00 a month. We are a very small business and it is ridiculous when you process less than 10 transactions a month that their fees are no less than $200.00 a month. We have had the same terminal for 12 years . Why is this kind of gouging not illegal??? Do not recommend them at all !!
rebecca mork
I had cancelled my services with Elevon. They did not cancel it and instead continued to charge me. I didn’t recognize the name on my bank statements and assumed it was from a different company, so I unfortunately did not check into it. I called Elevon to complain that here they see I have not used their services for over 1 year, and they would not refund me. I would not recommend them to anyone.
Yotshee Willie
Our company used Elavon service for our check and credit card processing and they over charged us and they ruined our business almost put us out of business. They charged us over $40,000 for service that we have already performed for our clients. They caused us to lose a milti million dollar deal. They lied and did not deposit our money in our account like they stated in the contract. I would not recommend them to anyone.
gong
Elavon’s rate and fee are higher than others’.
Equipment’s price is also extremely expensive.
I was silly I have trusted them because they work with Costco.
Timothy Stolz
Had nothing but trouble trying to revolve a merchant issue. I’m sorry I ever did business with Elavon. Six days now still no resolution. Customer service folks need more training. Keep getting different answers to my problem. Not happy!
IAN EMBERTON
Absolutely disgraceful. These idiots never even managed to set the account up never mind process any payments, yes they felt it their right to take money from my account, despite canceling the direct debit FOUR times.
This was 3 years ago
Now theyve set a debit collecting agency on me for £47
MY PERSONAL OPINION IS THAT ELAVON SHOULD BE AVOIDED AT ALL COSTS
Amy
DO Not USE ELAVON! I have used this company since i opened 15 yrs ago, never 1 chargeback, void, or refund! The customer service is horrible and will never amswer you! Jason Ross does not answer emails, phone calls, voicemails, and when asked to speak to his boss, he refuses to give that information. THE HIDDEN FEES THAT ARE TACKED ON MONTHLY AND RATES ARE SHOCKING!! I now have 5 NEW monthly fees that stay on and no statement! Its the biggest headache our company has! The cost is OUTRAGEOUS!! Ghost fees!! Customer Service is an F! Have not had problems with terminal because i bought mine from another company outright, rather than spend $4,000 for lease!!! Now the new EMV software they use is HORRible! Tech support is a waiste, no one evers answers the phone or concerns EVER! they have no care of my business and soooo glad to be rid of these SCUM BAGs! when i did finally get a luve person, they told me i had no account, it took a senior manager to find it because of my name has a & symbol in it! lol. really! Stay far away dont fall for no fees! I will glady join a clasd action for these fees i was never notified on, and who knows the issues i will have next month when i see if my account was actually closed and what fees they charge, no terminal, no contract, no transactions???
Amy Galan
Same thing here, 15yrs now, jason is my rep, never answers any contact. Tried to get his boss, wont tell you! Cant find my account because i have a symbol also in my name!! What a bunch of incompetent ass*** ! fees upon fees upon fees, login is a joke to their online portal! Never works! Now i have to buy a new emv machine and need to change merchants but am reluctant to use any of these merchant scam.companies. have you found a better company? I cant believe they are allowed to operate and take any amount of fees they choose!
Sharon Herrmann
I am a small business that just does a few shows, was set up many years ago with elavon and was this was the way to process cards, had many months with no shows but pais the 41.00 with modern tech ways to process stayed with elavon until it was just to much out of pocket, well my last bill no charges so no income they up it from 41.00 to 101.00 what is wrong with this company, never use them, customer service is awful, I closed my account so no way to refund me, like you would so disappointed, have a 800.00 machine you told me I needed that is worthless how much of my small income can you suck out of a person. Sorry but you are not customer friendly and sure you will delete this but customer beware
Rhonda K Hill
I rate Elvalon as a “F”. I had Fraud money that was deposited into my account by a credit card my compnay took. After the money was in my account we realized it was fraud money. I contacted Elvalon ASAP and told them which they confirmed it was fraud. Elvalon charged me $274.00 on fees for that money that was fraud. I believe that I did what was right by telling Elvalon. They still charged me a fee! I dont believe that was right to charge me when I was the honest one. Elvalon could have been out $8100.00
Last time I work with them
Pissed off
I was suddenly charged $59.99 and they refused to refund $49.99 of it because they said they had uploaded the new fees to their website and it was up to the responsbility of the customer to log on to view the new fees but I had never received that website or option for a paper statement so I had no way to know that this was happening. Customer service ignored me and like a broken record stated that my account was open after the deadline so the fee was incurred. I explained that the representative that I had never explained this outside website or paper statement option and only said that I would be charged $10 a month if I didn’t swipe $500 worth of credit card transactions through the card swiper.
When I went to change my account in mid-December so it would be free again the US Bank rep said everything was done and I wouldn’t be charged the $10 merchant fee anymore. Again the customer service rep ignored me and refused to refund the $49.99 nor send me to anyone who may be able to.
I explained that they are punishing the customer by doing this and that I am left to write a bad review on my experience. She apologized and was quiet. Nothing more to say so I hung up.
Trip
Same happened to me. 49.99 charged with no explanation. Complain to the FCC>
… and no warning from the PCI compliant fees to remind me that had to be done for a new account. Where do you even find out about these changes?
Jon Acord
Horrible scam artist, I am am AMAZED Costco goes they them. I called to get info, they took some info from me, and then charged my credit card $150, I keep telling them I dont want this, now they are charging my card every month, I never wanted this, just info, I have told them repeatedly please cancel this, they refuse, to the point I have to close my bank account. Seriously stay away. They just called me again last week to help setting up processing on my end, I tell them I dont want this, and they keep on some sales pitch, I tell them please cancel this, and quit charging my credit card, they have refused. they just ignore what I tell them and start on a sales pitch again. STAY AWAY FROM COSTCO CREDIT CARD SERVICES, there not run by Costco
Wyndham Worldwide Franchisee
With the “upgrade” to the Sabre-owned SynXis POS (in both senses of the term) we were FORCED to use Elavon by Wyndham for our credit cards. The integration is poor into very buggy software and there are crashes and other problems all the time. We’ve also received charge-backs, and trying to search via Elavon’s “Fusebox” is, frankly, a sick joke. Previous to this we had a separate CC machine that rarely had trouble and was pretty reliable–NOT ANYMORE!
I’m personally glad I’m not a Wyndham franchisee having to pay exorbitantly for this garbage and only have to work for the franchisee. I have yet to hear of a single good thing from ANYONE about Elavon. It’s no surprise they keep getting hacked.
pinman
It sucks! no one monthly statement for 5 years and charged 40$ for seurity test without notification. the rate is much high than any other company. the sales man cheated and push me to buy a very expensive terminal machine and refuse to return. I felt i was cheated by them for past 5 years!
Ellen Mogensen
Elavon is good IF you do not get a chargeback. If you do get a chargeback they do NOTHING to support you. Worse, they automatically assume that you as the merchant are at fault. Even when your customer withdraws their chargeback (like mine did) they let things slide until you are at the pre-arbitration stage where either you agree to accepting the chargeback or you risk incurring a heavy fine for not doing so. Of course, there is NO mechanism to complain to management… which is why I posted this review.
Timothy Stolz
There are legal options for all of us to use. We need to band together and sue Evalon for their own good! What an unpleasant experience it has been to deal with these people.
Kevin
I agree if enough get together and bring a law suit against them . They are scam artist at the best . Cancell your debt machine saying it is not to standards anymore and leave you hanging with the lease.
Gavin
We’ve experienced the exact same problems. Elavon staff could not be less helpful. I was asked to send them chargeback statements from our last year with our previous processor. After spending several hours compiling and sending statements that showed zero chargebacks, they decided to disregard the reports and close the account, then be intentionally unhelpful when we need to refund customers. I don’t appreciate my time being wasted and being treated by a criminal by someone who answers phones for a living. I can’t say I’m surprised to see so many bad reviews of this joke of a company. We will be keeping a close eye on our accounts to make sure they don’t try to screw us over even more.
Shana White
If I could give ZERO stars I would! Triple the fees and total rip off! How they can get away with doing this to small business is beyond me.
Matthew Johnson
They charge you a crazy high lease that you cant get out of. It makes no sense. You can go get a credit card plan where you don’t pay a $4,000 lease to pay off for them lending you the credit card machine. Its a waste of money if you compare to other companies.
Cory
One word. Disaster. I recommend you stay clear of this company. after only two weeks of service they claimed false accusations about my company and decided they want to discontinue service… over the course of 24 hours. No merit, no justification. leaving me and my business high and dry in time for the weekend. I mean if you don’t want my business that’s fine, but to make false statements about my company that is not. rude, disrespectful and otherwise un businesslike. I will be pursuing defamation. Beware.
Steve
We had the EXACT same experience.
The compliance manager COREY JOHNSON refused to let us know what we had done wrong.
Jackie's freelance hairdressing services
Never go with Elavon, I ended my contract back in April 2016 I carried on paying my monthly fee for my pdq terminal until October 2016 despite me informing Elavon I’ve terminated the contract due to faulty machine. I stopped the direct debit at the end of October 2016, now got an unexpected bill in from greedy thieving Elavon for £83. I don’t think so let’s have this out in court shall we and let the judge decide at what point was I aware of this ghost fee. Look forward to seeing you.
alexander milinovich
i cancelled the company more than a year ago and they were still taking money out of my account , when i called them they told me they would cancel it right away. what happened to all that money they took, i demanded a refund and they told me they cant do it because i just cancelled. what a rip off don”t use them they do not honor anything.
lisa Chiodini
Having had Elavon/ Costco since 2004 I never had a problem until the new Chip Card Terminals came out. The ability of their team to program and solve problems is poor and the Management has been equally frustrating. They are giving you products that have a lot of error and illegal spacing for signature protection. They have no regard for waisting your businesses time. Literally I have over 8 hours and the problems are still not resolve. They refuse to restitue or make the damages correct. They also keep failing to get my autobatching correct and I have not had funds deposited as contracted due to their error. They don’t seem to care. The receipts for a standard visa charge are 10″ long the used to be 3-4″ so each sale I am using 20″ of thermal tape. Very disappointed in Randy, manager.
Kim M.
I have been trying to cancel my Evalon services since June 15, 2016. Customer service took all my information and informed me I would receive a call to confirm cancellation in the next three hours. No one ever called after I left 5 messages trying to cancel. I then was able to get Roshina to email cancellation forms (Its Now August)! I returned the forms cancelling both merchant services and data insure. On Sept 2, $199.60 was deducted from my bank account listed as “data insure closed”. Then on Sept 28 another $1,169.00 was deducted from my bank account listed as “data insure closed.” I was told the $1169.00 was for equipment ($475) and Quickbooks ($199) that I had received, the remaining $495 charge couldn’t be explained . Evalon has NEVER sent me anything because they didn’t even have my correct address on file! I was able to get a $475 refund for equipment that I never had, but can not get ANYONE to return calls from this business to be refunded for the remaining $694 owed to me. In addition Evalon is still charging me monthly merchant service fees! I had to alert my bank of fraud and place a stop payment to this company! I think Evalon owes me $694 plus all the monthly charges they have charged since I tried closing with this terrible company in June. Evalon is a scam and the WORST company I have ever dealt with in my life!
Martin
NEVER NEVER trust Evalon or let them have access to your bank account. Customer service is the worst I have ever dealt with. I have been trying to close my account for over 4 months and have been told over 10 times that someone will call me back within an hour. NO return calls (and yes they have the correct number). I finally got data insure closed and got charged over $1300 in closing fees and equipment that was never used (closing fee was stated to be $195). Currently still trying to recoup $600 that should not have been charged! Still getting charged merchant service fees! This is the most unprofessional dishonest company out there!
G.F.
Leaving Elavon after many years. They now charge me for a declined card, only a small fee but why am I paying for a customer presenting a card with no funds on it! Also the provider I am moving to supplies an up to date contactless machine for less monthly rental and with fees almost two thirds cheaper than Elavon, my estimated savings are over £1000 per year! dont know why I stayed with Elavon for so long.
Silvia Hernandez
Don’t use ELAVON, its a big fraud, they are the worst merchant service ever, I have been in business for more than 30 years and a sales rep convinced me to switch to Elavon, big mistake, worst service, ghost fees, and not to mention the customer service I was on hold for more than an hour to resolve nothing, Please Please don’t even consider them even if it sounds like a good offer do not be tempted.
Silvia Hernandez
amit mishra
Please do not ever work with ELAVON, ITS REP Pierre Stehlik and Northern Leasing company.Its a such a big scam to trap your life and take away money from your business. Learnt it hard way.Its a scam to trap you with leasing companies for years and years …thank to Mr. Pierre Stehlik.
Taylor dietz the compliance manager who sits in Knoxville is of no use and work on behalf of ELAVON agents.Big SCAM and syndicate…Keep your self away
jeff lacombe
I Made The Mistake Of Leaving Heartland And Going To Elavon . i had one large swipe and they will not release my money .first they said send me a copy of the invoice and i did now they want more information which i provided i call the repeatedly and they dont even answer the phone . heartland im sorry for leaving
Tina Davis
I left Heartland too for Elavon. It has literally cost me thousands. I canNOT believe that Elavon/Ladco are still in business!
D. A. Land
After 5+ years of continually escalating costs and unhelpful service, we quit Elavon last year and immediately saved over $1000 the first six months due to the lack of “junk fees” that Elavon routinely tacked on. It seemed to us like they invented a new fee almost every month, and the rates they quoted never matched the rates actually charged. They even want to charge you for a statement!! Also, the company they contract with for PCI scans cannot produce accurate, consistent results we had to hire another company to perform this function…so it is no surprise to us that they have problems with the Credit Card companies. Beware of this processor and verify EVERYTHING they tell you.
Sebastian Kim
Do not work with this company. Their customer service is horrible and will just give you the run-a-round transfering you from one department to “someone who can assist you”
Back in June a gentlemen Michael Watts from “Smart Card Merchant Services” with the title of Senior Account Executive to try and have us change over to their merchant processor. We had a contract drawn up but the deal ultimately fell through. He told me don’t worry the contract will be cancelled yet for the past 3 months I’m being charged $15.95 on both merchant accounts that I do not use.
I follow up with Michael, he says he is no longer with the company and gives me the information to someone at Smart Card Services. They tell me they do not see any charges, I have the merchant statements in front of me and we are charged $15.95 for 3 months even after I’ve told them to cancel.
I finally find out the correct person to speak with, after being transfered and hung up on for about an hour only to find out that I will not be credited for the charges because someone at Smart Card did not notify Priority Payment of the cancellation.
Why am I being charged for services that were supposed to be cancelled before even taking effect?
And now I won’t be reimbursed because of an error on their end?
This company is horrible with communicating as well as their customer service.
Sebastian Kim
They now want me to fax over my bank statements to prove that the $15.95 was taken out of our accounts for a total of 6 times. They say nothing shows up on their end of the ACH Payment regarding these charges. So I guess the money debited from our accounts for the past 3 months just disappeared into thin air after it left our accounts?
Adreena
Elavon is the most AWFUL AND I MEAN AWFUL company that I have EVER worked for. They are so EXTREMELY UNPROFESSIONAL and they DO NOT care about there employees. Today I got fired because the ONE trainer said I was acting some type of way towards her. Like seriously? And when I asked what I had done to her that had bothered her I was given NO ANSWER. I’m not sure if these two white women were racist and trying to intimidate me but I felt EXTREMELY threatened and I had a very bad anxiety attack to the point that they had to call the ambulance. I was COMPLETELY blindsided. I would have felt that if another ADULT (Which I assume Lisa McLain Anderson was not) if they would felt I did or said something they made them feel some way they would come to me and tell me because I did not mean to anything if I even did anything! I will tell everyone I know not to do business or work for this AWFUL unprofessional company and I would love to talk to the director of HR and complain to the correct person! I don’t want my job back but I would love for the company to know what kind of employees they have.
Darla Green
After three times in six months of my credit card terminal going down and causing me HOURS of aggravation in on-hold wait times, never being able to talk to a human and having to hand run credit cards that cost me a MUCH HIGHER FEE. I am finished with this company. If there is a class action lawsuit, I would gleefully join. Disrespectful of small business and ones time. Save yourself the hassle and run away from this company as fast as you can. a NEGATIVE ZERO rating from me.
mike
Do not use Elavon.
If you switch from them they will not put your terminal back to programming before you used them. They are absolute S***.
M
Araceli N Ayala
I sign a new contract with Elavon (I used to work with them for almost 10 years before). This time I ask for a Mobile device service. When I read the cost I already knew that I was going to pay 149.00 for the new equipment. Well I was charge $312.95. That overdraft my account. I called them and they told me that is a charge for the software, which a download myself and is free. I just call them because I never received any letter with my user name and password. I try to cancel and they say that if I cancel I have to pay anywhere. That totally illegal. Because they do not tell you the real cost in the beginning so you can decide to go for it. I don’t know what to do. Call the corporate office and nobody answer the phone. Somebody please HELP!
Ahmed Ismail
dont work with elavon any more they only looking to stealing your money i dont used any services from them also i didnt receive any services and keeping charges $10 and they are bigs liers please dont work with them thanks