In the late 2000s, as a broke college student struggling to make ends meet, I was contacted by a merchant services company after uploading my resume to a job listings website. This company promised substantial commissions and ongoing residual income for simply persuading businesses to accept credit card payments. It seemed straightforward enough—after all, what business doesn’t need to process credit card payments? Following a phone interview with a persuasive “sales director,” I found myself embarking on what I believed would be an easy job that would significantly boost my bank account with reliable monthly income and large sales commissions. However, the lessons I learned would profoundly change my life in ways I could never have imagined.
After completing my sales training, I hit the ground running, eager to make sales. This broke college student was determined to improve his financial situation! My first attempt at a cold call, with no prior appointment, ended with a burly man in his 50s yelling at me to leave, claiming he had been “totally robbed” by someone like me before. As I hastily exited, puzzled and intimidated by his reaction, I couldn’t help but wonder what he meant. Throughout the day, I encountered similar hostility from other business owners, all expressing disdain for the industry I had been so excited to join that morning. Confused and curious, I decided to shift my approach from selling to listening.
I quickly uncovered that the merchant services sector was riddled with unethical practices, including hidden fees, deceptive marketing, fine-print traps, and much more. It dawned on me that I had nearly been tricked by a dubious company into selling overpriced services under contracts with long-term commitments, all without being fully aware of what I was promoting. Outraged, I resigned from that company but learned that there were indeed ethical credit card processing companies that treated their clients fairly. Over the next four years, I worked for one such company, assisting hundreds of businesses in securing cost-effective processing solutions. Yet, I also met many more who had been misled and trapped in onerous service agreements. Determined to help people steer clear of these unscrupulous providers, I launched this website in my spare time, dedicating myself to researching and sharing my findings on every merchant account provider I could investigate.
Gradually, more and more business owners began to discover my articles. As word spread, search engines started to rank my content highly, amplifying its reach. My efforts were making a difference! Eventually, the website garnered enough traffic to enable me to leave my job and focus on it full-time, a journey that has now spanned over a decade. This path has not been without its challenges; unscrupulous company owners have tried to intimidate and sue me into silence on several occasions. Yet, I have stood firm against each threat. Here I am, continuing to publish reviews and articles, hoping to safeguard others from the pitfalls of the credit card processing industry.
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William T.
Live chat with Vantiv to discuss concern. After giving merchant number they asked me to call Element who I thought was my previous service. I called Element at the number given and it was answered Vantiv. I questioned and they replied “Element is integrated thru Vantiv.”. So, who knows.
Dawn Carter
SO TERRIBLY DISAPPOINTED! I have been with Elements for over 5 years and always had great customer service. Something has changed with the company. I think that they have been purchased or merged with another company and service and technical support has been TERRIBLE! I have had an error show up every time we try to use a debit card and give cash back. This has been going on for 20 days. I have called several times. On hold each time for approximately 20 minutes only to be told they still don’t know what the issue is and they have “expedited it” Trying to fix it. Every time I have to run a card through as a credit card and not a debit my company pays a higher processing fee. How convenient for them!! The manager was too bust to talk to me today so I am taking this in my own hands and shopping for a new processing company. Any one know of one that cares about their customers??
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Lisa House
I am also trying to get Element to refund my $199.00 fees. I am not having good service from the contact person. I found out about this fee because they wanted me to purchase a new card reader for $250.00. They said I need this to be EMV compliant. The card reader I currently use is the one they sold me for $350. It is capable of reading chip cards and it is less than 2 years old. They say software is not being developed for this reader yet. I believe that if I was told to purchase the reader that I have, odds are, so was everyone else. So why then do they develop software for another machine? In all likely hood they simply want to make another $250.00 per account. Had I not gone through that I never would have known they charged me two $199. fees because there was never any notification of the sudden decision to charge this fee. I should have been given the option to get out of the contract before being charged this fee. I believe that this is breach of contract. I am giving Element more than ample time to make this right. Looks like I will also have to resort to BBB.
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Jolene Mehle
BEWARE! Our company was pursued heavily by Element and was promised a low merchant discount rate but rarely saw the discount rate quoted. When we asked about the discount rate we were told that was dependent upon the credit card we take. Very few cards had the discount rate promised. Most were much higher. Poor training on how to process charges, credits and returns which resulted in our company being charged higher rates and unnecessary fees. I just learned I am being charged a $20 non-compliance fee although I had completed their yearly compliance process. As of last year Element added a $150 service & maintenance fee which we never agreed to. When we called about fees the company was only willing to reduce fees if we signed a 36 month contract. When we said we were going to cancel we were told there would be a $400 early termination fee. I will no longer be using elements services but have to pay their fees until I can cancel my contract in March. Very frustrating. We went to the Square! https://www.cardpaymentoptions.com/square_com! Low, flat fee on all cards, no processing fees, no compliance reports…simple and so far has been working great for our business.
John Peel
For the past 19 months they have been charging and renewing an account I tried to close in January 2014. They are trying to blame me for not jumping through all of there cancellation hoops and will not refund the payments despite zero account activity. I call that stealing.
Antoinette Bracey
This company has horrible service !!! I did a trail service with a software company that said I had to use Elements merchant service. I did not choose to use the software, so I returned the unopened machine on September 17 , 2014! It’s now November 17, and i have not gotten my money returned to me! Elements give you the run around! There now telling me after 2 months of my money will be returned at the end of the month, now to I will have to fill out a W9! I’m done I’m calling bbb and my attorney! Do yourself a favor if you don’t want to stress yourself out!!!!!STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY!
Nancy Scott-Walker
We have been processing credit cards through Element Payment Services since 2008. On or about September 13th, we received our August 2014 statement from Element with a note on the last page stating “Also, beginning with your September 2014 billing statement you will be assessed an annual service and maintenance fee of $199. If you have any questions, please call the number located at the top of your statement.” We have never been charged an annual fee – and certainly not one of $199! I assumed the fee is for the upcoming year, since we were just informed. I contacted our credit card processor, Capital Processing Network on Monday, September 15th to cancel our account due to the ridiculous and bogus annual fee. I stated that we should not be charged the fee starting September as we were only informed of the fee on the August statement which we didn’t receive until September. I completed the cancelation form and sent back that same day. She stated she would check with a supervisor but because we hadn’t been actually charged the fee yet, there
wasn’t much she could do. I explained I was trying to prevent that fee deduction from happening. On or about Oct. 7, I noticed our bank account had been debited for the $199. fee, along with all the other fees. I contacted Capital Processing Network to attempt to get a refund. The person I spoke with said the refund was up to Element and that they would send an email to them with the request and that I should hear from them within a couple days. I was told I could not contact them directly – that the request had to go through Capital Processing. 10-20-14 Did not hear from Element so contacted Capital again. She saw my prior request and didn’t know why we haven’t heard anything yet. She said it’s up to Element on the fee reimbursement. She said I could contact them directly and gave me a number, and said she would also send a follow-up email. She then connected me with Element – I spoke with Patrick who said no one was available to help then and that someone would call
me back that day. No one called. 10-22-14 I contacted Element again – spoke with Patrick who transferred me to Dominic. Dominic stated the $199. annual fee charged was for last year!! I told him that was a rip-off and had we known we were going to be charged that fee for the prior year, we could have canceled when that was disclosed. He said there is nothing we can do about it, the only mediation is talking to him, and there is no one else to talk to about it. I pressed for details to dispute this / if we could have a mediation process and anything else I can do to get the refund, including talking to someone else. He said no – they are allowed to charge any fees they want at any time – and they had to do it to “re-coup”, – whatever it was didn’t make any sense. It likely really amounts to increasing their profit. The annual fee we are disputing was never disclosed until after they decided to implement it and then charged it for the prior year. This is not only unfair and wrong, it’s unethical. We are a Small Business (Verified Service Disabled Veteran-owned) and would not stay in business if we
did that to our customers. In fact, I know of no other service company who gets away with charging AFTER the service for fees that were not disclosed up front. Dominic from Element says utility companies do it – but in reality at least even they are regulated and the rate is known PRIOR to the charge and usage. Being a small business, we cannot understand how a large corporation can get away with charging fees like this without disclosure and leave absolutely no recourse. We want our $199. back. It’s that simple and the only thing acceptable, reasonable and honest to do. I wrote this to the Better Business Bureau – they contacted me after a week or so to see if Element had contacted me yet to “discuss a resolution” which they told her they would do but I told her (BBB) no one has called. And they still haven’t, which is the method of operation thus far. Definitely a horrible experience and it feels like we were literally robbed – and even though the culprit is known, they are getting away with it. This is a clear case of white collar crime. There must be thousands of businesses out there that this has happened to – Element gets hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions in non-disclosed fees.
Maureen Gardiner
Hi Nancy, I stumbled upon your commentary while googling this outrageous practice. I too am in an identical situation with Element/Capital and am hopeful you can share good news of a resolution/credit/refund or something to give me hope for my situation! Best Wishes and Good Luck!!!!
Nancy
Maureen,
I did finally receive a response from Element after 2 follow ups from the BBB. Element agreed to refund the bogus / non-disclosed $199 annual fee. And a couple weeks or so after the agreement to refund we did get it! I sincerely don’t think they would have done anything without the intervention of the BBB. So keep trying and don’t give up. Good luck to you to.
DeAnn Grasinger
Absolutely horrible processing. They charge your account whenever they want to and for weird amounts. Even if your business goes out of business they WILL NOT LET YOU OUT OF YOUR CONTRACT!!!!!! DO not sign up with this company and their ridiculous contracts. So many other companies that don’t have this!