Expect Payment Solutions Review
Updated 1/16/2019: The Expect Payment Solutions website (expectps.com) is currently inactive. There is no evidence that is has been active since October 2016, and a May 2017 comment below this review states that “[t]heir ‘customer service' phone number has been disconnected for more than 6 months.” It appears to have a new website currently under construction (connectwithexpect.com), but based on merchant complaints, it may be that Expect Payment Solutions is no longer an active business. We cannot find any evidence that the company has rebranded under a different name. If you have any information about the current status of Expect Payments Solutions (including any new DBAs or brands created by Derek Garvin), please share it in the comment section below this review.
Founded in 2007, Expect Payment Solutions (expectps.com) is a merchant account provider that serves most standard-risk business types. The company resells First Data products and services. Expect Payment Solutions is a registered ISO/MSP of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., Walnut Creek, California, and is headquartered at 11805 NE 99th Street Suite 1300, Vancouver, Washington 98682.
Brandon Skinner, the current CEO of a Portland, Oregon-based company called Riverside Payments, served as the president and CEO of Expect Payment Solutions from the company's inception until June 2014. The current CEO of Expect Payment Solutions, Derek Garvin, has stated that there is no current relationship between Expect Payment Solutions and Riverside Payments. We will note, however, that the header of the Expect Payment Solutions website currently mentions Portland, Oregon, as a region in which the company operates.
Expect Payment Solutions Customer Reviews
Here's What Their Clients Say
| Total Online Complaints | 20+ |
|---|---|
| Live Customer Support | Yes |
| Most Common Complaint | Undisclosed Fees |
We are currently able to locate over 20 negative Expect Payment Solutions reviews, some of which accuse the company of being a ripoff. Common themes among complainants include nondisclosure of fees, misrepresentation of rates, undisclosed lease terms, difficulty cancelling service, and poor customer support. An Expect Payment Solutions representative has responded to a number of these complaints, in most cases by offering a defense of the company’s policies and asking how the issue can be resolved. For a company that has been in existence since 2007, Expect has a moderate complaint total. Considering the contents of these complaints, we have assigned Expect Payment Solutions a “B-” rating in this category. Expect provides phone and email contact information on its website.
Expect Payment Solutions Online Ratings
Here's How They Rate Online
| Product & Service Complaints | 11 |
|---|---|
| Billing & Collection Complaints | 4 |
| Advertising & Sales Complaints | 11 |
| Guarantee & Warranty Complaints | 0 |
| Delivery Complaints | 0 |
Expect Payment Solutions currently has a “B-” rating with the Better Business Bureau and is not showing BBB accreditation at this time. The company has received 25 complaints in the past three years, with 11 related to product or service problems, 10 due to advertising or sales issues, and four having to do with billing or collection. The company has successfully resolved six of these complaints, while the remaining 19 either were not successfully resolved or did not receive a final response from the complainant. Expect has also received one positive informal review and one negative informal review through the BBB. Given the company’s complaint total and resolution ratio, we agree with the BBB’s rating at this time.
Expect Payment Solutions Fees, Rates & Costs
A Closer Look at The Contract
| Swiped Rate | Variable |
|---|---|
| Keyed-in Rate | Variable |
| Early Termination Fee | $495 |
| PCI Compliance Fee | Variable |
| Equipment Lease Terms | 48 Months, Non-Cancellable |
According to merchant complaints, the standard Expect Payment Solutions contract is a a multiyear agreement through First Data with an early termination fee of $495 and various other monthly fees. The company also appears to lease credit card terminals through First Data Global Leasing. These lease agreements are typically 48-month contracts that cost up to $200 per device per month and cannot be cancelled, meaning that merchants will need to pay the multi-thousand dollar cost of the lease regardless of whether they return the equipment or stop using it. These contract terms alone are enough to merit a “C-” rating in this category, but it’s also possible that the company charges PCI compliance fees, monthly minimum fees, and statement fees of unknown amounts. There are a couple dozen public complaints regarding Expect Payment Solutions’s rates and fees and most of these claim that the company’s higher-than-average costs were not disclosed by sales agents. If you have any specific knowledge of the standard Expect Payment Solutions contract, please share that information in the comment section below this review.
Expect Payment Solutions Employee Reviews & Sales Tacitcs
Should You Work For Them?
| Employs Independent Resellers | No |
|---|---|
| Advertises Deceptive Rates | No |
| Discloses All Important Terms | No |
Expect Payment Solutions appears to utilize a combination of inside sales and strategic partnerships to market its services. The use of fully employed W-2 sales reps is typically preferable to the use of independently contracted sales agents, but Expect Payment Solutions is still showing a moderate amount of complaints related to its sales tactics. Merchant complaints can be found on multiple consumer protection websites that describe nondisclosure and misrepresentation by Expect Payment Solutions sales agents. Some of the complaints on these sites are duplicated across multiple forums, but there is enough unique content to establish a clear pattern. In particular, many merchants complain of being pressured or deceived into signing non-cancellable, four-year lease agreements that charge exorbitant monthly fees.
The consistency and severity of these complaints has lowered Expect’s rating in this category to a “C.” As a point in the company’s favor, we cannot find any misleading rate quotes or unrealistic guarantees on the Expect Payment Solutions website.
Our Expect Payment Solutions Review Summary
Our Final Thoughts
Expect Payment Solutions rates as an average merchant services provider according to all available information. The company appears to offer contract terms that are slightly more expensive than industry averages, and it has received a moderate number of complaints related to its sales practices. Our rating for Expect Payment Solutions may be subject to change once more concrete information is available about its pricing and fees.
If you found this article helpful, please share it!
K.C
Derek Garvin owns PB payments, we we were unfortunately conned into using. Riverside Payments is on ALL of our statements and who we are supposed to call for any customer service needs. They are very much in business with one another.
James
Derek Garvin owns PB payments he is still associated with Brian Skinner owner of Riverside payments
Paul linden
Expect Payment Solutions is a farce. Not even sure they are a legitimate business. We signed up with them and had no problems until our bank was acquired by another bank, so needed to change processing info so money would go into our account. We tried for 3 weeks to get ahold of them to help us, which is their job, and we never got ahold of them. Had no choice but to switch to another processor or could not run cards at my biz. Derrick Harvin contacted us about 18 months later saying we owed early termination fee. Said their new address was in their statements they sent out? My statement goes right to my accountant I never see it! No forwarding address with post office? They have moved a lot, why? All I know is when we needed them, nowhere to be found. Google them and no current contact info? Strange, like I said something not right with them. Stay away wish I would have. Most expensive processor we have ever used!
Related: How to Get Out of Paying an Early Termination Fee
Lois Cook
Where to even start. I’m a small business owner who had done business with Expect for about 7 years, never having many issues except periodically they would contact me & tell me we needed to change processors & I would have to do a bunch of paperwork. Apparently this was a symptom of a bigger issue. This last time Derek Garvin as I understand it had sold his clients to another company. Once the accounts were switched to the new company he didn’t cancel our account so we continued being billed $123.90 per month on top of the fees from the new company. Each time I would reach out he would throw some BS at me indicating that I’d been scammed & he would try to get my account back. He would pretend to be my advocate & eventually told me he would at least make certain that my rates were the same or better than I had with him. Meanwhile I was out $650 +
This went on for about 6 months. I should have stayed on it more, but I’m always so busy & struggling to keep up. I would lose track of it here & there & “knew” Derek was probably just busy too & doing what he could. I finally after about 6 months wrote & said I needed him to stop withdrawing from my account & we could set it up again if or when he got us switched back to Expect’s services. I told him I needed this taken care of by the end of the month(August) and that I was putting a stop-payment on my account for them. Here is his response:
Lois,
Let me be clear, you switched away based on bogus information and I have the name and number of the gentlemen who was responsible. I have done everything I can in order to get in touch with him and let him know this was not a legitimate deal and now you want to go to the Vancouver and Portland Business Journals and spread the word about my bad work ethics to others?
I have every right to charge you the full cancellation amount of $795 based on the agreement if I chose to do so. Your recourse here should be with Radiant Merchant Services and Jeremy Fox who ultimately goes through Pivotal Payments, he is the responsible party who created this mess.
At this point, I am passing this along to my attorney and I will let you know what he says and whether or not any fees apply for closing your account.
Good day,
Derek Garvin | President & CEO
So, I wrote back:
Derek,
Let me be clear. You don’t scare me with your threat of contacting your attorney. You have been dragging this out for months, all along still collecting fees from us & never giving me any real information. I have every email from you & the folks who took over my account including the ones in which you assured me I wouldn’t have to pay any of these months of invoices or any cancelation fees. My company is the victim here & I am certain anyone I explain this situation to will agree with me. You want to try to go after me for a cancellation fee of which you’ve already stolen $645.25 from me? Funny how all these months you have been stringing us along & now I finally have had enough & you resort to threats.
Your attorney can’t be very good & must charge you very little, because collecting an additional $195 on this doesn’t pencil out in any way for you. Even less for you than it has for me thus far.
This response lets me know you are exactly who all the negative reviewers have claimed you are. I was a loyal client for MANY MANY years & if you can’t understand that your lack of follow through over these past 9 months has me frustrated & wanting to demand action you aren’t very business savvy. I would NEVER respond to a client of ours in this way. Only someone who has been called out & knows they are being less than honest would come back with threats like this.
I’m clarifying one more time; get this cleared up & my money refunded by the end of the month or I will be letting everyone I know about your tactics. When I say everyone I intend to include the Better Business Bureau, the WA State Attorney General, the Federal Trade Commission, the Vancouver & Portland Business Journals, Scam Informer, Rip Off Report, Rep Digger, Complaints Board, Card Payment Options, Yellow Pages, Reviews Talk, Bird Eye, Google, Yahoo, Bing, Facebook and any and all business contacts we have in the Portland & Vancouver area. I will provide copies of your email & include this last one to show exactly who you are. I will also be turning over the balance you’ve taken from us to our collections agency.
I look forward to hearing from you and or your attorney in order to get this matter concluded.
Lois
He then tried to back-peddle & pretended he was trying to help me again. I told him I need to know my account has been closed & for him to ensure there were no further billings and that they would not try to collect the final $123.90 that I had not allowed to be processed by issuing the stop-payment. A couple days later I received a collections notice for $123.90 plus a $100 collections fee. And then the fun began again. Derek pretending he was only ever trying to help me and that I had been scammed into switching and that we didn’t turn in our cancellation on time, blah, blah, blah.
Our cancellation had been turned in by myself & the new processor back in March. Additionally the contract I was on with Derek’s company had no cancellation fee as it had been deleted from my most recent agreement by the person from his company handling the last switch of processors in November 2016. And yet he is still threatening me with contacting his lawyer to collect a $795 ccancellation fee from me. Yesterday I got a second collections notice for the $123.90 plus $100 fee. So I wrote to Derek again:
Hello Derek,
I received a second notice today for the collection of $223.90 (final months fees of $123.90 plus a collections fee of $100.) I am requesting again that you halt these collections efforts on my account. Both myself & Jeremy Fox notified you & your company months before you finally canceled our account so there should be no funds due. In fact you actually owe me $645.25 which I will turn in to collections as well if this effort is not stopped immediately. In addition, if this pursuit of my company for the collection of $223.90 continues and has any adverse effect on our company I will have no choice but to hire an attorney and report your deceptive practices to Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover and the Federal Trade Commission. I will also bring this matter to the attention of the Washington State Attorney General.
I look forward to the immediate cancellation of this bogus debt. Please have the collections agency send me a formal cancellation notice indicating this case is closed and there will be no further attempts at collection.
Lois
And he responded with BS yet again:
Lois,
Could you please go ahead and resend me the proof that both you and Jeremy Fox sent in cancellation information to me? Given the fact that I tried to help you when this all first came about, your threats and demeanor are not appreciated and depending on what my attorney says, we may go ahead and proceed with the collection of cancellation fees owed. Do you have the official cancellation efforts from both you and Jeremy because I don’t recall hearing from him or from you based on your time frame.
Derek Garvin | President & CEO
My response:
Derek,
I’ve already given this to you. I’m done playing. You didn’t try helping me, you are full of it. You stalled & kept collecting my money. Call off the dogs or I will be contacting Visa, MasterCard, American Express, the FTC and the State’s Attorney General to file a formal complaint.
Lois
This guy is a scam artist. It is my understanding that he’s gotten himself backed into a corner financially due to selling his clients & them not being what he claimed they were. I don’t think those collections notices are even real. Also hilarious that he CC’d an email account called [email protected] on his last message to me. He’s the only one that still works for that company as the owner/president or whatever he calls himself. So, [email protected] is so laughable.
Just stay far far away from Derek Garvin, Expect Payment Solutions & whatever else he becomes next.
Looks like he may be doing something in Oregon now too, a company called DZE LLC has been organized as of 2017. Just beware!
From The Editor
This Post Might Help: How to Report Bad Credit Card Processors
Mike Cummings
To : “[email protected]” , “[email protected]” , “[email protected]” , “[email protected]”
Mike Cummings
P.O.Box 220
Ridgefield, WA, 98642
May 15, 2017
Derek Garvin
Owner, Expect Payement Solutions
5600 NE 121st AVE
Vancouver, WA, 98682
Dear Mr. Garvin,
Due to constructive discharge tactics used regularly by you, I am forced to resign my position with Expect Payment Solutions effective immediately. The conditions created by you have become so unbearable that I am unable to execute my duties.
Over the past several months, I have used the proper human resources channels to indicate the childsupport withholdings are not being sent after deducting from my pay check and pay checks bouncing that was taking place . At that point, I had warned of a constructive discharge situation, but it appears that my words fell on deaf ears.
I am extremely disappointed in the lack of responsibility shown by the company ownership and the lack of action on my behalf. I enjoyed my job and I did enjoy the company of the majority of the people I worked with. But when the owner decides to make a work environment poisonous and nothing is done to stop him, then I am left with no choice but to resign.
If you would like more information on this unfortunate situation, please feel free to contact me by mail at P.O. BOX 220 Ridgefield WA 98642. No other form of communication will be tolerated. Also mail my last paycheck of 40 hours at $13.50 per hour, dates on the clock are as follows: 5/08/17, 5/09/17, 5/10/17, 5/11/17, 5/12/17 .
Sincerely Yours,
Mike Cummings
P.S. I have notified all vendors used by EXPECT PAYMENT SOLUTIONS that I am no longer an employee due to Constructive Discharge and my name shall not be used to conduct any work performed by EXPECT PAYMENT SOLUTIONS and all of its affiliates.
Examples of vendors includes but not limited too are :
Blue Square
Firstdata
ELG
Auth.net
Please remove all email domains with my name and no longer use my name in anyway.
Lisa
They are absolutely terrible, I am surprised this company has not gone under. Their “customer service” phone number has been disconnected for more than 6 months, no one returnes email, or faxes, I was able to squeeze a phone number out of them via facebook (because their official website is also closed) and the number I got always goes to voicemail and no one ever calls back. Have tried contacting them for over a month now regarding an issue. Never once have I gotten any kind of response in any shape or form.
julie
My complaint has to do with the fact that I used them as our merchant processor for 2 years. I should have realized early on that I was not with a solution oriented business. My phone calls were not returned, and issues not resolved until after I called and called and called. Last fall, I called them on at least 3 occasions, asking for my rates to be reviewed, and for help on becoming PCI compliant, and NOTHING. No return calls, no emails, I finally gave up, and left them, then found out that I was forced to give up $495 in early term fees! Their fees definitely do not go to customer service! If you wish to do business with a customer oriented company, don’t call them.
—
Are you with Expect Payment Solutions? Learn how to resolve this complaint.
Derek Garvin
Have you ever considered talking to the people directly when dealing with companies such as mine? A good chunk of our complaints and what we deal with were brought on while under old management and we have done nothing short of trying to fulfill the expectations to improve our name. We steer clear from large leases but will indeed lease equipment to those who need it at a fair price and we have doubled our staff where customer service is involved in an attempt to focus more on keeping happy customers. Our rates and pricing are nowhere near what other companies charge, especially banks, this allows us to keep our merchants. Overall, we have taken huge steps in changing our approach to the industry and will continue to fine-tune what we do in order to not just board new merchants but more importantly, take care of them when they join us.
Sarah Rubicam
Who’s your management now? I have called YOUR cell phone at least 50 times with no response. Your office numbers still do not work. You promised I would receive my check in the mail months ago.
Lisa
Yes no one answers my calls either.