Unpacking Fiserv: A Comprehensive Look at Merchant Services, Fees, and Customer Experience

I will not waste time, first data is the worst company I have ever had to deal with and I am having to still deal with it. I have seriously considered going to the fraud department of the federal government to straight out the ridiculous various positions first data has taken I am not sure yet if I am dealing with a clever fraud operation or not.

Beware this merchant Service has been in litigation with the Federal Trade Committee. For scamming customers I was charged twice for equipment I never purchased. Also charged $100.00 for collection fees.

Horrible company scammers there in Canada Toronto Ontario, going through brokers, scamming small businesses for their money. I recently signed and changed over with your fast, talking sales representatives from the broker. I made a mistake and changed my merchant service now after two weeks, they are holding 30 K of my money. The risk department has no consideration. If there even is a risk department they were based in the US will not respond to me, asking me questions and want to three months of bank statements now they will not reply to me, nor give me my money I can no longer use my portal for transactions as I will not get the money. I did not know all this, especially with clover first data and changing their name. I did a few transactions everything went through. I did a bigger transaction and they held it now they will not talk to me nor give me my money I keep talking to the broker and they say I’m gonna get paid, but I never have yet. It has been almost 3 weeks and nothing in reply. The American government needs to come down on these crooks for good and I’m glad they got sued for all their money, and I hope they lose everything the people working for them. Yes I understand. They have a job and getting paid, but they should have some morals. The American government should get down to business with these people and I’m so happy for the people suing them for millions of dollars for overcharging because they are fraudsters in scammers and they will pay for everything they’ve done sincerely a small business in Toronto Ontario.

Ee have been in business for 35 years, Huntington recently set up our merchant account for us, the first transaction we ran was flagged, all legit sales, we provided fiserv with everything, our product is gone, they have our 9,000 and said that they are holding it for 60 days upon further review. the huntington merch rep now conveniently wont answer her phone and we cannot pay our bills and our employees this week before christmas. If anyone can help please let me know!!!

I called customer service and they could not find my acct.. Absolutely could not understand the tech and after 10 minutes of trying to get customer service and giving all my info i hung up. Now I switch bye bye

I made a contract with SDCCU bank, but they used Clover for merchant services and Clover uses first data. I decided to move to a smaller bank because it looked like a good deal with what they were offering over at San Diego County Credit Union.
On the first day of using these new terminals my first transaction, made on November 24, was for $1 and we saw that it worked but we didn’t see the deposit because normally it gets deposited the next day. So I continued to make charges with the terminal with no issues processing thousands of dollars per day until I noticed there was no deposit into my account. ( A total of $21,000 ) I got ahold of Clover and they said there was a security hold of my account. I was left to talk to their risk management department (someone named Terrance) stated that I needed to fill out some extra documentation. I finally called on December 6th, and they stated that my funds would be released within 24-48 hours. I then got a Letter from First data, which was dated the 2nd of December. I tried calling and was only able to leave a voicemail to Mr. Justin Benbow and all he stated was that he was going to conference with them on the 14th. I called on that day, no one answered. Ten minutes later Mr. Justin Benbow, stated that they were closing my account because of supposed ” Potential fraudulent charges.” I didn’t know why they were doing that because I was just trying to do business with a local bank. They stated that it was within their jurisdiction that they could hold my funds for up to 60 days. At this point in time, it has been more than 60 days and I can’t talk with anybody from the first data. I then spoke to Mr. Tony Rodriguez who was very aggressive. He stated that I would not get back my money and that my business was at risk. He also stated that he did not care. I am missing the $21,000 that rightfully belong to me still. I also stated that this was killing my business because I had no cash flow. He stated he did not care. I can’t get anyone to help me. These are a bunch of criminals and thieves who only use your money to make more money. I understand that this is a business, but what they are doing is stealing from people for no reason.

Fiserv took 15% of my total profits last month. Only 68% of that was actually shown in bank statements. There is literally 32% fees, which are simply missing. It is time to drop this merchant. I would rather pay the early cancellation fee that continue to be robbed by these guys every month. To top it off, they planned on increasing my fees by 0.10% across the board for all card types, and I had to call them to tell them I am not ok with it, or they would just make it part of my terms of service. So basically, If I am not watching them like a hawk, they will try and pull a fast one on me without me noticing. What the hell is this company?

The worse!!! I had over 11g taken out of my account because they said my TIN/FEIN was incorrect! They said the IRS required them to do so. The IRS doesn’t have my money and 1st Data says they do but don’t know.
I’m a sm business that got nothing from the pandemic..now this. Going to shut down my business. I can’t get anyone to help me…
Do not do business here.

I agree they are the most crooked in the business they should be held accountable for all the harm they have caused to small family owned business they have scammed ( robbed for all they could )

worst company i have ever dealt with of any kind i am 77 years old and have dealt with many good people but this is not one of those i have always maintained perfect credit when these people want you pay charges you don’t owe they immediately threaten to turn you over to the credit bureau i have paid them way more than originally agreed on and paid my lease off way in advance to get rid of their deceptive practices , for approximately 3 and a half years i paid them without ever using their products or services even after they agreed to cancel my contact within 2 weeks after signing also it is almost impossible to get them on the phone and when you do they pass you from 1 agent to another and you never get one who acts like they know what your talking about if you do business with them you will be signed to an unbreakable lease and even if you never once use them or their equipment you still have to pay dearly to them and they throw charges on you that is not in the contract i was never late paying them but i had no choice or risk a negative report on my credit which is otherwise perfect. i understand they are being sued by several companies right now , i would sue them and have legal grounds to do so but the cost to sue them would be more than i could get from them and they realize that

I strongly advise not to do business with this company. We made a huge mistake switching to them. Shortly after signing on we started getting false declines and had several customers that double paid. Called First Data and they blamed the consumer or user error which was an easy cop out. I could see that on one false decline but 5 in one day out of a total of 40 transactions? We made a mistake of ordering a second terminal which we realized we wouldn’t need after. They refused to take it back and gave some BS answer on how it was programmed for our business. These guys are crooks, they see nothing as their fault. DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THEM PERIOD.

Worst company EVER! do not do business with them. they take random amounts of money out of your account and they cant even explain WHY!

Their chargeback process is a headache and one first data agent says one thing and another says different. useless

This post will help: How to Fight Chargebacks and Win

The backend is not easy to use. FD makes deposits each day for each different style of card that was batched meaning more deposits meaning higher bank fees. Cancellation fees are very high.Basically this company is horrible if you are a small to mid size company.

This post will help: Cancelling a Merchant Account Without Paying a Fee

-Phillip

I used the clover flex for an event. it worked well.. until it was time to receive my funds!!

They decided to freeze more than 100,000$ in sales without any reason. it brings me lot of consequences, stress and troubles with my clients.

the team at first data did not answer my emails, my calls, etc. the service was awefull from the begginning to the end (i’m still waiting for my funds!)

I wish that any business owners and entrepreneurs will have to ever deal with a company that freeze his own money without any good reason.

Olivier P.

This post will help: How to Make Your Payment Processor Release Your Money

Warning!!! Stay away from using the services of First Data. My company have been without a working credit/debit machine for over a week. Their customer for resolving issues is absolutely horrible. Numerous times they promised to call or email back but didn’t. Over a four day period we were left on hold for anywhere from 20 minutes to 2 hours with no resolution. It has been a frustrating fight costing us time and dollars.

This post will help: Best EMV Terminals

I have been with first data since 2015. It has been the worst business experience I have ever had. I have been counting down the days until I could cancel this contract. It started with a contract where I had no annual fee. Now I am being billed $200 a year. When my husband was ill and had open heart surgery, I put our business on hold and therefor had no transactions for a few months. That cost me $175 a month. Every time I call customer service, I get a different story. For example I called this morning to finally cancel this and buy out the lease contract. The rep told me he will send me an email confirmation it is done. Additionally, I advised him the address was not correct on the account and to please update. His response was that it did not need update, they send no mail. I then called back after I hung up, discussed the cancelation again, the new rep advised me I need to send it in writing. I asked about the annual fee and was advised the fee was for 2018, not 2019. Since my contract says no annual fee, I am not sure how these people get away with this. Oh, I know, I am a very small merchant. Affording a lawyer is far more than bending over. Between the people that sold me this service ‘Prestige‘ and First Data Services and the First Data Leasing – I have been ripped off since early 2015. I am so excited that I am almost done with this company, I just wish I could stop them from taking advantage of any more small businesses.

From The Editor
This Post Might Help: Cancelling a Merchant Account Without Paying a Fee

Do not go with these people!! Not only did they overcharge us grossly but when I cancelled they claimed they never received the cancellation letter and three months after I cancelled started pulling money out of my account for over $350! When I called them they just said they could do that! I disputed the charges and the bank reversed them and they had the nerve to send me to collections over it after I had repeatedly called them to discuss the charges never getting a call back. Disgusting business practices.

From The Editor
This Post Might Help: Cancelling a Merchant Account Without Paying a Fee

Please please please heed the reviews if you are thinking of joining First Data as your merchant services provider. They are an absolute disgrace. The salesman will promise you the world probably including Amazon vouchers. You’ll never see them and after you put pen to paper you will never see him, he won’t answer your calls either.

You’ll also get great rates which will soon be doubled (or more). The real kicker though is that you’ll sign up for the terminal lease for 4 years but it turns out the terminals only work with First Data.

This means that when the inevitable fee hike occurs, you’ll have 2 choices a) accept the new fees or b) pay a huge terminal cancellation cost.

In a nutshell if you’re thinking of joining them DO NOT DO IT, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Do not use First a data. I was told when I signed up I could cancel at anytime (I did not want to sign a contract longer than a year & they falsely verbalized I could cancel if the business closes down).
Business closed down, first data told me I have to pay the remained of the four year lease that they are not responsible for what the sales people say to get the business. I did not pay remainder and they dinged my credit score. Look elsewhere for credit card processing.

Tom was the best sales person ever. He went the extra mile trying to get this account to work for me. That is the best thing about my FD experience. The people in the office that actually work with the accounts and place all the charges are HORRIBLE! I received so many charges it was unbelievable. The only monthly charge I was supposed to be charged was 4.95, so Tom said. I couldn’t handle or keep up with all the charges that were added to my account. Every week it was something new and none of it was substantiated. There was never any explanation or itemization. All my bank would tell me is that the charges came from First Data. I talked to them about my account and even sent statements and was told on several occasions that the situation would be rectified, to no avail. My only hope at this point is to get out and have all of those fees reversed so that my business can be back on it’s feet. I’m going back to square.

DO NOT USE THE COMPANY There Coustmer Service Sucks

I would never recommend this company. As a new company We was sold a POS system 4 years ago that was already old as the hills. Once we sign the lease we found out that this company had up to date POS systems that they neglected to give us. Not once over the past 4 years did they offer to update our equipment or do anything to make us happy. Put us on the hook for a 48 months lease at 235.00(over 11k for a relic), I know we didnt know any better. All I can say is shame on 1st Data for treating any company the way we have been treated.

Horrible company. We switched to them in 2013 only to find out recently that they never closed an account we had with them since 2002 (so they have been charging us for 2 accounts!). Both accounts have now been closed and we will never be doing business with them again (thankfully).

I bought a restaurant in Addison, Tx. 10/2015 I contact First Data as a bad recommendation of Carlos Escobar, in that moment he was working for BBVA in the Woodlands, Houston , Tx. This person insisted to send me a First Data person simply to guide about the POS and the service that they offer. This person push me to buy the equipment, he recommended something that I really don’t need based in the specifications of my sales and the type of restaurant. I called him, like 5 times, to say I changed my mind, I want the negociatiation back I said it was not what I need, but he said “Sorry you signed and no way back with the purchase” 12/2015 . Since that time to now 12/2017, I talked with First Data customer service, BBVA managers, First Data sales, and no One can give an answer and my money back! First Data simply took $7,300 from my business account and the equipment. Is this a robbery? This has been a nightmare!

We changed our card terminal and First Data arranged to collect the old one which they did. Weeks later I got a letter stating that I hadn’t returned the terminal despite the fact that they collected it! I phoned to discuss and it was agreed that everything would be put on hold to allow investigation, 3 days later almost £900 was taken from our business account for “lost terminal”.
01/11 – I called First Data, they were unable to answer why the money had been taken and promised a call back – it didn’t happen.
03/11 – I called again was told the money would be refunded in 10 days.
15/11 – no money in our account I called again, was told they would look into it and call me back – it didn’t happen.
23/11 – still no calls back, still no money back in our account so I called again, was told refund had been authorised, I asked for the complaints procedure and was promised a call back – it didn’t happen.
29/11 – still no calls back, still no money back in our account so I called again, was advised that the refund had been raised on 24/11, not 3/11 as previously advised! I asked for complaints procedure and was advised that I would receive a call back from a senior who would instigate the complaints procedure – that didn’t happen.
01/12 – still no money, still no call back from First Data so I called again, was passed through to the person who had told me on the 02/11 that the refund was being processed who now stated that it was processed not on the 02/11 nor the 24/11 as I had been previously advised but on the 29/11! Was promised a call back – that didn’t happen.
06/12 – still no calls back, still no refund so I called again to specifically ask for contact details of the complaints team. After 15 minutes on the phone and having given security details and contact numbers at least 3 times I was told that it was not possible to give me the contact details of the complaints department as it was only available internally. I have now given them 1 hour before I contact the FCA and report them as FCA website states that members must have a complaints procedure!
All in all I have made 7 calls to this organisation totalling 94 minutes of my time and to date since the money was erroneously taken from our account on 03/10/2017, I have not received the refund an apology or a call back!

Worst ever! I was young n dumb n they ripped me off! It was all legal and I was dumb for signing but they at the worst company I’ve ever done business with in my 15 years of running a business. Spent over 5000.00 more than I should have

They are scammers and deceitful. I signed up with a pos company and they messed up big time and it was too much of a hassle to stay with them so they let us cancel everything and even said they would take care of the contract with first data since we never used their system. Well we thought everything was fine and all of a sudden I get a call from the collections agency wanting 1100.00 for cancelling their contract. I was seriously thinking they got the wrong person but nope. They said even though we cancelled with the pos system service we signed a contract saying we cannot terminate this contract for 48 months. I was flipping furious because no one ever told me nor did I see that anywhere in the contract. So everyone needs to be careful of this and I will for sure publicize this matter and make sure the merchant services verbally explain what will haplen even if there is a 30 day money back guarantee that you are still stuck with the credit processor first data that demands a 48 month contract.

They are a horrible company DO NOT do business with them they will get you in a contract where u have to $4500. For a ridiculous little machine that is worth $300. They suck

Run! Do not do business with this company. Fees are the worst.

I’ve been in processing business for more than 15 years and all you need when opening a merchant account is an honest account manager/ sales rep.

Most people think when it comes to their money, they need a big reputable company like their bank or someone who also processes for big brands like 7-11 or shell etc..

Your sales rep has the power of put you on the best rate plan with no cancellation fees and free equipment OR the worst plan with NON-CANCELLABLE contract and charge you 100 times more than what the equipment is worth and you can not do anything because this industry is non-regulated.

You can be on the best plan with First Data or on the worst plan with Heartland.

Stop blaming the processors and if you have a rep who treats you well and does honest business, introduce her/him to your fellow business owners.

Want to know how to tell if your sales rep is honest?
Here are a few steps that will help you make a better decision although it won’t guarantee anything but at least you’re doing your due diligence.

1. Ask the rep to leave the paperwork for you to read and come back tomorrow, if they say they can’t for WHATEVER REASON, don’t sign up with them.

2. An equipment lease, never benefits the merchant but always benefits the rep.
The rep may quit the company tomorrow but you’ll be locked into that lease for 4-5 years.

3.they can always give you good rates with no lease or contract.

4.there are never special rates for 4th of July weekend or today or this week or this month. All rates are always available.

5. Ask your rep to give you a list of reference who are his/her current merchants.
You don’t have to call them but if the rep gives you the list, she is probably being honest.

6. READ YOUR CONTRACT, READ YOUR CONTRACT, READ YOUR CONTRACT.

you don’t need to know big, legal, non understandable terms.

Just look for the words “cancellation” “termination” “early” “penalty” “years” and “months”

There are more indications that can get too technical but the best way still is to find a guy who you can trust (not by instinct but by logic)
The good ones work really hard.

F

Worst customer service I have ever experienced!!!

Been with this company about 5 years and found out they were raising prices for swipes without letting me know. So decide to go with different company and come to find out the First Data has there own encryption that other companies cannot erase .When asked for first data to take off soft ware and certificate so new company could download. They refused saying we were not with company anymore and they could not help! Glad to be leaving this company! Horrible customer service! Good news is new company giving us a terminal for free! and will be saving 8% each month!

Awful company .Nice machine/terminal but everything else is just bad .Lying salesman ,promised cashback then denied and other things have had to go to Financial ombudsman in uk about them ,Beware of them

My account with first data has been terminated for over 2 years. I don’t use their services for anything. Both devices have been sent back over 2 years ago. But i am still getting billed by ignite. Was on the phone with a rep about 20 minutes ago and she noticed that i haven’t been using their services, but I’m still getting billed. On top of that there’s a cancellation fee for a service I’m not using. This is outrageous!!! Do not use first data that company sucks ASS!!!

I was first told by the sales agent that the charges would be cheaper than paypal and i-zettle. Even with the terminal rental my small business sole trader account would end up ‘evens’ with charges with the advantage of being able to take money anywhere with the machine. It is true the machine works anywhere and is accurate and the support is good. But the cost of taking about £4,000 per annum is 4.7% for the card processing costs and a massive 12% in total including the machine rental. The contract small print is complex, and it is for 4 years. I think this is mis-sellng and deemed to be unfair contract terms being imposed upon the small business user. I will never use them again.

I forgot to mention in my earlier complain about First Data that the rude girl in the risk management dept told me in addition to saying she would close my account if I returned my customers money and if I had my customers push a chargeback through ( * because First Data was holding over $7000 and NOT depositing into my account) she also told me after I asked to speak to her manager in which she REFUSED to do so, that if I did speak to a manager that she would also close my account because SHE is the one who approves merchant accounts. This little girls name is Crystal Donaldson ( last name was unclear and that’s what I was able to get out of her.)
Either way DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH FIRST DATA UNLESS YOU WANT DAMAGE DONE TO YOUR BUSINESS AND LOSE CUSTOMERS AND SPEND HOURS ON THE PHONE WITH THESE MORONS trying to get something fixed that they will NEVER be able to do.

Dealing with this company (Sam Merchants, First
Data, has been nothing short of a nightmare. I processed a credit card on Dec. 16, 2016, the funds were supposed to have been deposited in my account within 48 hours. I waited 3 days and finally call Sam Merchants aka First Data. and was told my funds were in risk management being handled by Aurelia Auguste. I call risk management and got an answering machine. I waited 2 day with no reply from Aurelia Auguste. After 3 more days i got an email from this woman, telling me to correspond through email. I tried the email she gave me and it wasn’t functioning. Long story made short these people kept my customers money and tried to go into my bank account and take money out. I saw the name Sam’s on the web and thought they were a reputable company, not so they are a rip-off.

Absolutely horrible! Their errors cost me business. Their inability to provide a machine that could function on a digital phone line is just an example of how inept and unwilling they were to do their job correctly. Lots of talk and they take no ownership of their errors.
Too expensive to get the worst customer service and consumer protection!

DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!! HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE. PLEASE READ!

In October 2016 a young gentleman came into my office promising lower rates, a fancy equipment with no rental fees, no setup fees, and a 30 free trial. On my first bank statement. I saw that they took out $100.00 for setup fee and $87.00 for the rental of the equipment? I called the office to complain and they do not recall offering those promotions. Oh and the 30-day free trial ? non-existant on their books. I spoke to a manager that not only he was rude but he didn’t want to give me the information of the salesman that came to my office. It is 1/13/2017 and I am still being charged $87 for an equipment we don’t use.

If you have any question on how bad this company is, contact me. I will gladly tell you about my experience 202-630-8740

If you need a merchant account to accept credit cards for your business – DO NOT USE FIRST DATA. They are such crooks and make it expensive to stop doing business with them. They suck you into a long-term contract and then when you try to break the contract, they play whack-o-mole with you. If you call one minute before the contract expires, you get hit with a $500 early termination penalty. If you call one minute after the contract expires, you get automatically renewed and they hit you with another month’s fee. Unbelievable. And, every time you call, plan on 45 minutes to wait on hold, be transferred, wait on hold, be transferred. All their customer people know how to say is I’m sorry, I apologize, I’m sorry. But, they can’t solve any of your problems. Some of the sorriest people I’ve ever talked to.

Unfortunately I have been a client of first data for less than 1 year and have no option but to pay a penalty or stick with them until my contract is up. I will most definitely cancel as soon as possible. If I were to rate the company’s customer service on a scale of 1-10, I would score them at -15. They are the worst payment processor I have ever worked with. Recently they have lost a rather large sum from a settlement I made on Dec 19, 2016. I informed them of this error on Dec20, I have the Visa slip with the authorization, from a large corporation that I have done business with for several years and have successfully used that card on several occasions. When the settlement was completed it showed successful, but again as I have stated the funds have some how been lost. They have responded with a standard “we will review and have an answer in 3 – 5 business days”. That put us into Christmas so we know that it will be closer to a week or more. I have been told by the companies support that there is not a hold, then I have been told there is a security issue, and then i have been told there is no security issue…so I am lost. Whenever you try to contact some one from corporate you keep getting sent back to the service center…talk about being stonewalled…..I am going to make it my personal goal in lifer to advise every business owner I meet to STAY AWAY FROM FIRST DATA. I belong to a few business groups in my community and get the opportunity to meet on a regular basis. Please if you read this STAY AWAY FROM FIRST DATA

The people I speak with in customer service are rude, and couldn’t care less that this is causing a major problem for my small business, when I stress that point, I get the standard “our policy is 3 – 5 days and you will just have to wait. This company has the WORST…by far customer service that I have EVER been subjected to. They are absolutely HORRIBLE, and every number you call takes you back to the same service center. I am left with only one alternative and that is to drive to head office and sit in the lobby and wait until some one in senior management sees me…..I will wait all day if I have to!!

Once again DO NOT USE FIRST DATA!!!

First Data has to to the worse customer service and attitude from a company ever.

Trying to cancel my contract after 3 years due to having to start trading as a limited company. I was looking to take a new terminal out as the same time but had to cancel my sole trader one first. I spent hours on the phone explaining, they said I need to give 30day notice and just send an emai. so I send the email with correct info…. only to get a reply back a few day later saying “becuase the email address don’t and may name in it they cannot acknowledge the cancellation request due to data protection, (the same email I have used with them since day one). I then phone up to explain to them that it is a valid email fro me and my company, but I was met with constant stupid lies about data protection, yet the confirmed all my details over the phone to pass data protections.. yet another company trying to hold on to customer using scams and causing the contract to roll into another months billing period. The staff lack basic common sense in my opinion.
If toy are looking to use cardnet or first data then please take my advice and avoid them at all costs.
You can see they are a poor company just by looking on the search engines for 1000s of cases of bad feedback.

All I can say is Kirsty Miller Developing Senior you have lost a new customer for 2017, I have signed up with your competitors via my bank. I little customer service and common sense is all that is needed in life.

Developing Senior
First Data Global Leasing,
Jupiter House, Paycocke Road,Basildon
Essex, SS14 3HX

Lately every time I wake up in the middle of the night or in the morning, I am thinking about how badly I was cheated and lied to by Richard West of Santa Barbara, a rep from Truly 360. First Data is a Truly 360s partnering company. They use Truly360 as a front man so to speak. Richard West of Truly360 came in our jewelry store and made lots of promises, like, there is only a $500.00 fee for stopping whenever you like. And it is mixed with promises of getting you at the top of google search and guaranteed to increase business by a lot.
It’s been over two months and my store does not come up on search and they basically get you to sign and then you don’t see them anymore. So at $200.00 per month for nothing I decided to cancel and go ahead and pay the $500.00 penalty. Then I find out that I can’t get out of it period without paying $9599.52. So I’m screwed. Don’t use Richard West from Santa Barbara as your agent and don’t use Truly360 the so called trusted company. And I believe First data knows exactly what is happening.

This company is predatory and should be avoided at all costs.

DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH FIRST DATA!! They will rip you off in any possible way that they can. Although I clearly closed my account with them and paid high cancellation fees, they continue to debit my bank account on a monthly basis. Their business practices are unethical and revolting. Their “customer service” is terrible. Please take your business elsewhere. Try Square, for instance.

I have an online health food supplement shop. The payments over the weekend have not been processed by First Data as they have not confirmed my merchant number with Realex, and Realex emailed the information request to FD on the 3rd. The WORST part is that I, the business owner, CANNOT SPEAK with a human at FD, that can help me with this problem, they refer me back to Realex. WHY NO CONTACT TELEPHONE NUMBER…. it is a pathetic way to treat their customers, in this day of technology.

We wanted to change providers and found out that we had an UNCANCELABLE contract. NO BUY OUT. Trying to talk with them was a nightmare. They were super quick to ding your credit and take you to collections. Now they have sent me to collections again saying that i have another contract with them. I do not know for what, i am just a very small business.

I made the mistake of signing up with First Data for my business.When I went to check on the deposit for the first day I couldn’t access my account with my phone like I had the day before.

Calling customer service was a long painful process that resulted in my being told that the representative couldn’t help me and that I’d need to talk with someone else. I quit using their service then and got a bill for $80 to process a $45 charge. When I called the local rep to cancel my service I asked if there was something he could do about the bill. A few days later I get an email from him saying I’d have to call customer service to cancel and called customer service again.

Another long call resulted in a representative telling me they couldn’t help me either with the rep asking for a time and number to reach me to discuss getting a refund. 1:00 – 4:00 was the timeframe I gave them, and they left a message before 10:00 this morning saying I couldn’t return the reader since I’d had it for over 60 days. I’ve actually only had it 58 days, and when I asked how they came up with 61 days was told that they included the time the reader was being shipped in determining the 61 days. When I asked about the delay in hearing from the local rep and having to leave a message because no one was available to help me the day before I was told that wasn’t their problem.

If they would have refunded me the costs of getting the reader and the minimum monthly charge amount I would have been satisfied and not found our about the class action lawsuit.

But since they didn’t do that I’m going to join the lawsuit as well as telling others about it so they don’t make the same mistake I did.

Stay away from this company. We were mislead and told we had to take 3 credit card machines for a $387 lease fee and we only needed 1. Credit card processing fees were higher than we were told. Said we could get out of contract. Stay away from them we were lied to on just about everything. F rating

Stay away! the fees are high and they take an extra $20 a month for doing nothing.

Have this device for a year. Good thing is easy to use but insecure for business owner. Received several chargeback and the clover company can’t solve the issue or even willing to assist business owner. Not recommended if you are business owner.

Worst experience ever,did not do what they promised after 6 weeks. I canceled my service, also MANY more fees from credit cards on top of 2.4% promised.They offered Sams club renewal to use their services & after 6 wks they told me to send copy of letter stating this & they would think about it. Really?

First Data
MUST be avoided they are Cowboys We weren’t happy with their terminal and cancelled the contract within 48 hours. We have spoken to numerous different departments but they still keep sending demands and even though we did not use the terminal and cancelled immediately they are now demanding over £600

Stay away from them

Let me start by providing a bit of my background, I am a web developer for a digital marketing firm. We have done countless merchant processing integrations for our clients using a wide variety of services from Authorize.net to PayPal to Stripe and nearly everything in between.
Recently I have encountered a handful of clients using First Data that wish to accept payments on their web sites. Normally this would be done through some kind of in house API and is fairly straightforward. This is not the case for First Data. Instead they have a 3rd party called Payeezy that has built and maintains their API. What this means for my clients is that support is basically non-existent.
Even just creating the connection between my developer account and their merchant account has been terribly trying and almost always involves a string of emails (sometimes dozens of them) between me, my client, Payeezy and First Data. In one of these exchanges the First Data people requested that I no longer speak to the Payeezy people but it was ultimately the Payeezy people that solved the issue.
In my most recent encounter my client was asked by First Data to have me call a number and speak to someone about getting them hooked up. The person I spoke to started the conversation by telling me that I called the wrong help desk number (even though I called the number my client gave me). She then argued with me for 15 minutes about what I was trying to do and finally told me I had to email someone else.
In 15 minutes I could have set my client up with a totally different API and by now the client would be watching the online payments coming instead we are still waiting on a response from the email I sent. How disappointing.

Our company has had the FirstData FD130 duo for about 2 weeks now. Out of this time the equipment has not worked for 4 days. I call support and Habib tells me it must be our internet provider’s fault. I call the internet provider and confirm it is the FirstData equipment that has the issue. I call FirstData back and a different person who barely speaks English tells me (I think) that it must be our internet provider “for the FD130 is functioning properly”. NO IT IS NOT. I can’t use it to make a sale and forget about getting a voice authorization! I was on hold for 3 minutes waiting for an authorization on a $5 sale. Customer walked out. FirstData is not concerned with customer service, they are concerned with getting YOUR money into THEIR collective pocket. Awful, awful, AWFUL!!!

I have a lease through First Date set up through the processing company – United Card Solutions. United Card Solutions is a company you definitely need to stay away from and First Data is a totally difficult lease company to deal with – I have been hung up on, they had my address wrong which was a 6 call fiasco to fix and they don’t care how much your processing company lied to you – they will not try to make things right.
I would not use equipment from them / right now mine is in a drawer and I’m trying to get things straightened out – which is not making much progress. Telecheck is just as bad –
Just an all around horrible experience.

First Data is a group of thieves. Their customer service is sucks, they increase the price without you being away until you find out by reading the details in the statement.
Stay away

The representative lied to get our business then refused to accept our calls. We were told certain charges would be waived and we can cancel within 90days wirh no charge. That was a lie. Although we returned the equipment because of incompatiblity and called numerous times they continued to charge us. POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE.

eric young is awful!! i wouldn’t recommend this company to anyone! he signed us up and is charging us when he said it wouldn’t be a charge!! he is totally fraud!!!!!!!!beware!!!!!!he wont even answer the phone what a phony i will contact bbb also and give them the news! he doesn’t even have the owner of the company on the lease or paperwork! what a douche!!fraud fraud fraud beware!!!

Worst customer service ever. Disgustingly rude! Take your business elsewhere FYI. Most expensive too.

My first credit card transaction was deposited in my bank in under 48 hours. The next several over a few days where never deposited, but yet they took out the fees per transaction everyday. Long story short, after much complaining with no answer I emailed [email protected] and threatened to take them to court and call the police. They jumped and begged me to stay a client and promised to have the money in my bank it 24-48 hours. I never should have done that. I did get my money in 5 days, but the transactions after that I have never received, yet again they take out the fees daily. They will no longer talk to me. If I call their so called security department they say my merchant id is no good and can not talk to me without my merchant id!

This is the worst processing company I have ever experienced. I had two merchant accounts without knowing and got charged monthly fees for both. After trying for over a year to get refunds I canceled both accounts. They promise to call back but never do. They charged me non PCI compliance fees (on both accounts) although I am PCI compliant.
Do not use this company.

I signed up with First Data via Ignite Payments. It went smoothly initially, and I was happy till I started integrated Payeezy. When I found out there was going to be some work to get it up and running — as payeezy supports limited number of languages. The payeezy support team’s response was less than adequate (that’s when they responded at all).

I decided to cancel my First Data account. The agreed cancellation fee was $20 – but the threatening letters from their collection department started showing up merely 4 days after I cancelled the account. The cancellation fee now is in the hundreds of dollars (we never processed a thing with them). And if I don’t pay, this will impact “my personal credit score”.

What did I really get into? And who are these people?

The collection department is impossible to reach. I spent my Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday just trying to talk to someone (pfff the time wasted on that).

And when I got through to someone at First Data — the person at the other end said – I “should be charged only $20” but someone has put in a different amount in the “comments section”. And she would call me back in 24 hours. She never did. Three days later, I called back, and a different person managed to reach the collection department on my behalf. The collection department agreed to settle for the original cancellation fee $20. They never apologized or explained the fees.

Based on their transactions, I have seen on my bank account — I’m now cancelling my bank account to get rid of them.

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I tried to cancel Telecheck because my company doesn’t accept checks. Telecheck has been debiting my account $30 per month. After asking me all this personal information, they finally said my Federal Tax ID number doesn’t match their records so they can’t cancel it. We’ve had the same tax id number for nearly 30 years. I am going to the back and stop their ACHs. Very unprofessional organization.

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First Data is the worst company I have ever dealt with in all my 55 years. Absolutely no customer service what-so-ever. When and “if” you can get to a person they tell you to call the branch of my bank – Citibank. On 02-10-16 (evening on the east coast) the site was down again.
I can never log in. The site is down often. The site never accepts my user name and password. I swear they change it ever time I log out so the next time I need something I have to spend 45 minutes on the phone trying to figure out how to log back in again. It’s like pulling teeth. I hate First Data and the ridiculous way they run their Client line website.

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Steals $19.95 every month…Hate Hate Hate these theives!!! Going to sue!

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This place is a nightmare, I’ve been working with them for 8+ years, and its because people like me, they continue to get away with the crap. I just kept procrastinating on finding another merchant because it was gunna take too much time. But after 8 years and thousands of dollars later, I am drawing a line in the sand for myself and for anyone who is considering FirstData. On top of overpriced, they have the worst customer service and doesn’t seem to have many call centers in the US, the country that made them a giant to begin with. The people are like robots when you call in and you always end up mad, please beware of this company, don’t be a fool like I did and stayed with them for so many years. We must as a people, stand up, and make a change for companies that prey on the weakness of the American public.

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This is in reference to their rental of credit card processing machines through First Data and In my case involves CPN too. I was totally ripped off by both of them. I am paying for years on a machine that can not even be used. CPN refused to update it so that is my beef with them. First Data continues to charge me for it even though I don’t have the machine any more. On top of that FIrst Data overcharged me on this machine by about $1000.00 and then makes me and every one else pay a fee that they claim they send to your State as property tax every year. The tax that is charged to you is based on a average amount instead of what your state actually charges. How illegal is that? So you know they aren’t sending the money to the State. Where does that money go? Of course I was stupid enough to sign a contract with them. The terms are there. I can’t decide who is worse CPN or First Data both rip offs and possibly illegal actions.

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Horrible service, bad documentation, cryptic website, clueless technical support. dont do it!

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Terminal quit working for no visible reason. Everything is plugged in. It worked fine last night. I’m losing money. So sorry we ever got involved with First Data.

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I own my machine and my fees were 300.00 per month. I have a small business and 2 employees so I do not use the machine on a daily basis. I am trying to get compliant for the new credit cars with chips. Most banks that have clients using their machines are providing upgrades at no cost. When a sales rep called me they quoted me 1700 for a new chip enabled machine. When I tried to cancel I was told I could lease a key pad for 9.99 per month for the next 48 months. When I said I was not interested and asked to have it canceled the woman became rude and told me it was the wrong department then hung up on me. I called Oct 5th 2015 and was on hold for over 3 hours trying to cancel my account. When I finally reach a real person, I was told that other companies are lying to me and my rates will triple. “First Data has the best rates anywhere. I told this woman I just wanted to cancel and she kept saying if I don’t keep it professional she will hang up on me. I was professional. Next she asked me “security questions” as “Name the businesses in your neighborhood. We live in a small town without any traffic lights nor do we have cell service here and there is only a handful of businesses in this town. When I gave her the names of the businesses she told me I was wrong and she was going to hang up. I ask her to ask me another question and apparently I got that right. She then switched me to someone else and I had to go through another grueling session to cancel. I would never do business with them again, and god forbid if you ask them about your statements..you are ALWAYS WRONG.

This is the worse company any small business can deal with. The sales people claim a lot of things but none are true. Long story short their machine sucks, and the reps are non responsive when you have a problem. I cannot run a business when their machine is not reliable. I have lost sales on my busiest day of the year because their machine took down my router! Worse yet, there is no back up because they claim their machine does not support digital lines…what era do we live in?? They promised the problem will be resolved, and sadly it’s past the 3 month trial, and they keep promising I will get a backup but it’s been 6 months and nothing! Also their payment schedule changes all the time. Sales posted on Thursday, friday, and the weekend do not get paid until the following Tuesday! Worse yet, their own sales people don’t even know how to read the monthly statements.
Lies, lies, lies! Worse mistake I have ever made in the 10 years I have been in business. People – do your homework and don’t scammed by Firstdata. I have opted to go with another company but keep first data’s contract because 500 dollars is too much for cancellation, but I am stuck with the machine lease for 5 years! I am so done with FirstData I just want out!

With our small Cafe, we also have been fooled into a non-cancelable 48 months contract by a pleasing Wells Fargo Consultant. Now, I am stack with this stupid contract and have to pay for the lease of a machine that costs a mere fraction of these expenses. What a fraud. They use a behavioral physiology very well, when you are in a process of opening a business you tend to forget to read the fine prints and trust your bank’s consultants and they use it to their advantage. I cannot believe that after so many complaints nothing can be done about these practices. Another lesson learned for hard earned cash. Each time I fail to do my research on-line and trust those “specialist professionals” who suppose to help you, I tend to regret. Too bad a lot of other new operators will fall into this trap before they get to reading these complaints.

Oh how I wish I knew these things before I got involved with EMPS First Data! Being a first time small business owner, I went to my bank for card processing. They were connected to First Data at the time. I trusted them and their representative and signed up. Eventually their name was no longer associated to First Data but EMPS was. My representative was no longer available either (his phone number had been disconnected). I closed my cash-suffering business in April and tried to close my account with First Data. They informed me that I had a contract until January 1 and the only way to not incur the $500 fee for ending the contract early was to pay the statement fee of $5.95 each month. I decided to not fight it since I didn’t read the fine print of my contract and just paid the $5.95 per month. I called Monday, January 4 and cancelled my account. In the meantime I was charged 99.95 in November for the Annual Compliance Fee and when I brought it up to Salvadore he said there was no way it could be waived because I was still under my contract with them (which they won’t let you get out of). Then I was charged another $5.95 January 5 so I called again. Amber’s reason for that was because it was for an earlier statement and I would probably incur a couple more charges of $5.95. I again asked if the $99.95 could be waived because there was nothing I needed to “comply” with since the business was closed (and incidentally they were informed of that fact back in April). Again, she said no. So in other words, I couldn’t get out of my contract, and I have to accept a charge (without my consent) for something that I won’t be using. I haven’t even completed a compliance document that I usually have to complete and submit so I’m still not sure how they can charge me for that. I feel like I have been ripped off by a bad, bad company.

I joined first Data early last year, 2014 with rates that sounded competitive. However, there were hidden fees that showed up within 30 days which nearly broke me. I am talking an extra thousand or so over the normal rate per month. I switched after about 4 months which meant I had to buy all new POS equipment as well. I just paid their hidden $500 fee for early cancellation and will never deal with this horrible dishonest company again. they are very dishonest and hard.

Doug Olsen (owner of First Data, FirstData, CardService International) is an exztremely rude individual that is emailing own customers with rude comments and insults including wirtds such as “stupid”. Here’s his latest response to my request after in the recent past they refused to send me a copy of our Contract:

Doug
Not again……

On Nov 21, 2014, at 6:48 AM, [email protected]> wrote:

> Hallo,
>
> Please urgently email me a copy of my CONTRACT with CardServiceInternational. I lost my copy and need it to see what I signed up for over a decade ago. You are charging me accordingly to the CONTRACT we signed thus you must provide me a copy of the Contract upon my request. Do so without any delay. Send it via email in response to this email.
> Thank you.
>
> Regards,
>
> XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
> Merchant # XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

First data is ridiculous merchant service. I have been doing business for several years but this merchant service is useless and scam. First the agent was in hurry to sign me the contract and told me, you can terminate your contract anytime but my business is already closed and now they are telling us that it is not cancelable and made us to pay 48 months money. They already report my credit to my credit bureaus which is affecting my credit.

Can somebody help me to get rid of this big mess situation?
I can’t pay that much money which i never owe.

When First Data makes a mistake it is the merchant who pays the price.

First Data customers may be familiar with the term: Courtesy Processing. For those who aren’t, a courtesy processing is a credit card transaction that is handled over the telephone manually, with the assistance of a First Data customer service representative. There are several reasons why a courtesy processing may be needed. If a merchant’s credit card terminal is not performing properly, if a merchant is having problems with the telephone line connected to their terminal or they are in an area where a connection is not possible, the merchant may need to process the charge over the phone.

With that as a preface, let me advise all merchants who use First Data as their credit card processor to carefully inspect each and every charge, either via their online merchant account or on their printed statement. If a merchant detects a charge that they do not understand or they suspect is in error, question the charge’s authenticity with First Data as soon as possible. Merchants may need to devote an inordinate amount of time to get answers to their questions or to resolve the issue but it will more than likely result in a lesson well learned.

A few days following a courtesy processing, I noticed a strange debit to my bank account. When I contacted someone from First Data about the charge they indicated it was a result of something that had to do with my terminal. I knew this was in error because my terminal wasn’t used to process this particular charge. A First Data employee handled the full amount of the sale, entirely over the phone. As soon as I explained to the First Data representative that my terminal was never utilized and that the transaction was performed through a courtesy processing, she opened up a case and sent the matter was turned over to one of First Data’s account specialists. Eight days later I received a call from a representative at First Data. This person said the charge was generated by American Express and suggested I call AmEx. I suspected it was an attempt by First Data to pass the buck. First Data does shirk their responsibilities routinely. Each time I called American Express and they looked up my merchant account, AmEx told me that because my contract was with First Data and my account was categorized as a “one-point processor” American Express could not look into my account. Therefore, they could not provide any information. I expended time and effort to ask American Express some general questions and each answer I received pinned the blame onto First Data.

As a researched the matter further, it was disclosed to me that First Data’s account specialist should have taken the time to initiate a conference call between First Data, American Express and myself. That is the only way American Express can peer into a one-point account to see the charges and debits. Later, through the helpfulness of an American Express merchant service representative, I found out there is another way. It does not involve wasting time and further frustration having to deal with complacent First Data employees. More on this process a bit later.

I called First Data, went through the usual hoop jumping and dozen or so keypad selections in order to be connected to a live (and I use the term loosely) customer service representative. I asked to speak with a supervisor and got connected to one after a considerable time on-hold. I explained the situation to the supervisor. Initially, he operated under the assumption that I was the one who would initiate the conference call with American Express. I responded by telling him it was my understanding that First Data should handle the communication. After many more minutes on hold I was finally told that American Express was on the line. Unfortunately, the supervisor from First Data wasn’t. He either dropped out of the conversation through error or deliberately. Regardless, there was never any attempt by this First Data supervisor to call me back. I proceeded with my conversation, one-on-one with the representative from American Express. I received a wealth of information.

American Express told me the surcharge was generated because of two, non-compliance error codes. Without going into technical detail about the actual codes, after explaining to the representative from AmEx the method by which First Data handles over-the-phone processing, he said all the signs pointed back to errors (either human or computer) by First Data. This directly resulted in the charge to my account. Since my terminal was never a part of the transaction process, First Data was solely responsible for any approval codes or transaction identifiers generated during the courtesy processing sequence.

The American Express representative confirmed that if First Data had bothered to contact American Express, they would have been told about the errors that in all likelihood caused the problem. The American Express representative tracked the problem to a First Data employee or a computer fault. First Data could not have been bothered to investigate their own oversights. As a First Data customer for many years, I can attest that First Data’s unwillingness to acknowledge their mistakes is systemic, not isolated.

After hearing the circumstances that resulted in the surcharge to my account, the American Express representative took the necessary steps to begin the refund process. This responsibility initially belonged to First Data, who chose to avoid their obligation. The American Express representative instructed me to contact First Data, provide them with the error codes and inform them that a mistake was made.

Now I will share with merchants who accept American Express the little known way for AmEx to look into your merchant transactions and fees without having to go through First Data. When a merchant contacts American Express merchant services, provide the AmEx phone representative with what is known as your “entitlement number”. Then, wait to see if AmEx can see the transactions within your one-point processor account. If AmEx tells you they cannot access your account tell the representative that a specialty group at American Express known as the ESSU department needs to be contacted. This department can look at a merchant’s American Express transaction history without having to involve the less than customer service oriented staff at First Data.

If First Data owes you money because of an error on their part, don’t give up the fight. Go up the chain of command until you reach a First Data employee who will take ownership of your issue and resolve the problem. Keep stirring the pot until you get the matter is remedied to your satisfaction.

I am furious

I have just found out that they are keep charging me for an open account.
before I cancelled they services, months before, I only asked to change the pricing schedule
the account manager sent me papers to sign on
now i see that it was to open a new account where they could charge me a monthly fee of $37.5

what is going on?

We have been trying to cancel with them for 8 months ! Their debit processing stopped working for 8 weeks so we finally had to tell them we had to cancel. I have talked to over a dozen people with various hold times ranging from 45min to 2 hours. Each time I am told that I am important and that everything is taken care of. We keep getting bills. We sent the cancel form 3 times now. And now after nearly a year, they want to send me a bill for 500 for early cancellation. What a joke !

First Data THE MOST DISGUSTING COMPANY on this planet with rude/unprofessional employees. BIG scam- their agents/resellers like Bank of America get you into a contract stating there is absolutely no commitment and later you will find out that you are on HOOK for 5 years. I have there JUNK CC machine that I used only few months of my business and when I called them to close this account I was surprised that you can close the account but you cannot get red-off the equipment lease and I will have to pay the lease for 5 years. I do not have that business and I am not processing anything on that machine BUT I have been paying for that piece of junk First Data equipment for last 3 years. They take money from my account without letting me for other craps like fee/tax which I never heard. PLEASE if you hear the word FIRST DATA run as fast as you can and NEVER do any business with them or their resellers. You will be doing yourself a huge favor. First Data Go to HELL you will be bank corrupt one day.

First Data and EMPS work together to scam people and small businesses that can barely make it. I am a victim of that scam and continue to be charged outrageous fees every month, they enrolled me in Platinum Service Programs without my knowledge which they charge even more for then their undisclosed fees that are already too high. They do not send monthly statements until I have to go through a 20 minute phone call, they have not separated credit and debits on my bank account. The list goes on and on.

First Data is nothing but a scam with the Merchant Processors. Their customer service is TERRIBLE!!!!! 20 minute hold times?! Are you kidding me! There processors are out dated and often do not process cards in the proper category thus resulting in higher fees (premium, debit, reward cards etc…) They are fraudulent and do not disclose all fees. I was thinking about passing on the lease to the buyer of my business but I would still be held accountable for the remaining 2 years of the contract. To buy the contract out is over $2000. They have Wee Small Business by the balls. I am going to cancel and start filing complaints like Kathy Channing stated in this thread. First Data and other like them need to be stopped.

I too have fallen victim to First Data and their shady business practices. I was never able to process even 1 credit card through there system and they continue to charge me every month for what they say is a fee for the debt they incurred, I have gained nothing and I don’t understand what this debt they incurred is. I called their customer service and I got a lecture about if I bought a car it would be the same as my debt with them. Where is the car, the asset I would have to offset the loan. What are they even talking about they are the worst at customer service. This month they sent me a property tax charge even thought I don’t have their equipment any more and only had it for a month. I too will close my account and let this go to collections I have no other choice other then giving them money every month for no reason what so ever.

I thought I was done with First Data Global Leasing? I’d recently wrote and told you all of how you can report First Data to your State Department (commerce, Attorney General, etc., where ever you can get your complaint heard and get some assistance), anyway, I thought I was done with them. I gave my bank copies of the letter stating that my contract had been rescinded and it is signed by FDGL senior legal analyst. I’d also told my bank that this company was not to remove funds from my account.
The other day when looking thru my account, I see First Data removed funds and the bank allowed it!!! Might be time to go above the State and see who else is going to listen.
Can you imagine what would happen to any one of us, if we removed funds from another account? I am sick to my stomach with this bank and FDGL. There is no doubt they both stand to gain on my losses!
Stay away from First Data and tell your friends to stay away from them too!

I signed up with Firstdata, wit intentions of using their card reader device for a seasonal food truck business in Wisconsin. The account opened in Nov of 2012 and this account was not used until I’d opened my business in April of 2013, but my bank statement shows debits for card swipes and FirsData actually removed these charges from my account. I explained that I was not open and they have not resolved this problem to date (October 2013). So they take from your account even if you are not using their service.
In fact, this card reading instrument turned out to be a broken piece of equipment. So when I opened my food truck, my customers could not use the credit card swipe (unless it by chance worked) and the word spread that I could not take credit cards. This caused an undetermined amount of damage and loss to my business as this is a very small city and the word spread. I closed my business on five separate days (loss of income) and sat at the bank with the branch manager to try to resolve the problems I was having with FirstData. (The five days does not include total loss of time, this is documented time loss with the bank on record). Anyway, the bank branch manager and I finally got it thru to FirstData that the device was broken. They sent a new one and charged me $140.00 for everything to open a new account all over again in early July. While sitting with the banks branch manager, he realized how non-helpful the tech support at FirstData is. I had tech’s that were eating crunchy things and telling me not to worry their system would be up and running again in a couple of weeks, tech’s yelling at me for asking training questions, tech’s hanging up on me, and on and on. Very unprofessional, unwilling to help, and an exceptionally horrible experience with this service. Note, you will be on the phone for hours trying to get your machine to work and/ or at least one hour to get a question answered. I’ve lost more than a weeks of time on the phone trying to get help from their service.
Anyway, I received the new card reader and my identity gets stolen. So I had to close the account fearing for my customers identities.
When I had called about some charges that had occurred, I asked the tech for an itemized listing of explanations concerning these charges. The tech replied that I should be able to see the charges on the information they had sent to my email. The problem is, FirstData had been sending this BANK information tot he wrong email! Yes, my identity stolen and my bank info sent tot he wrong email!!! The tech also had said, that I had closed out my account because ‘”the card reader was stolen.”‘ I can produce all FOUR FirstDatacard readers I’ve had since opening my business in April of 2013.
So I get the closed account statements now but they are all $0.00. yes, this is because I’d closed the account and it is inactive. I do not get the new account statements tough, they must be still going to another email? I have called at least five or six times to correct this but still have yet to see a new account statement.
Back to my identity being stolen and the account closing…the bank finally finds a FirstData rep for me and tells me to deal with him because they are not trained for this. So July 1st, I meet a rep. I explain all that I have gone thru and this rep tells me, “You have to pay 500.00 or resign with us.” I still can’t believe that corrosion is allowed as practice in a bank? However, as dumb and stupid as I am, I resigned. I now have a rep that falls under every single complaint filed against FirstData for deceptive practices by their reps. I m in a 5 year contract, never given any otped amount of time. The signature on the contract is not mine. My business will be filing bankruptcy because of all the charges FirsData is charging me, all the time I have to close my business due to problems of signal loss, card readers not working(then I end up giving the meal away-so loss on products), loss after loss. Charge after charge…FirstData does not hold up their end of the contract. I am paying for a service that does not even work, does not help you, and now my customers do not want to use their credit cards because of knowing how bad the service is. What do I need to do? I have vocal records, papers records, and dates, times, bank records, etc. to show how terrible my experience has been…anyone where do I go to dissolve this contract and be done with FirsData? Please help. I filed with BBB, but they closed my case because I would not put my identifiable information online. This identifiable information is my new bank and merchant account information. The BBB even say not to put this info online? PLEASE HELP. Thank you, The Ratical Frye (Kathy)

This is a bad company, opened a ecommerce account when we opened our website, all was good until two weeks later, they just shut it down, could not get a explaination on why. My husband spoke with the security area they coiuld not tell him why. He just sat on the phone and my husband had to ask several times are you still there. The only thing he could tell us is that we had to wait until we recieve the letter they wrote us. My husband asked him again you work in the area that sent the letter and you can not tell me why it is shut down the guy said once again we had to wait until they sent us a letter, the letter did not explain why. The person who opened the account for us could tell us why. He tried to reopen the account and they shut it down the second time. He told my husband that we would not be able to get an account anywhere since we had this bad mark on our record. Still don’t know why but they are the really making people look bad. Not professional at all. I guess they really don’t know what they are doing but from what I have read, I feel lucky.

I will look elsewhere for a ecommerce account and avoid them and other companies like them. Do your research.

Has anyone had any experience with McCarthy, Burgess and Wolfe? (collection company, affiliated with First Data)
They are threatening to get a judgement against me for owing them $$$ for canceling my contract.

has anyone managed to get out the contract without paying the 200 fee.
im not talking about the 190 fee of getting and reconditioning the terminal im talking baout an extra 200 which they did not mention till i wanted to cancel

What a horrible company!!!!
First, my small town local bank introduced us. I was presented a “Program guide” (45 pages long) and signed the last 2 pages presented as the contract. Unbeknownst to me, the whole 45 pages were a contract!
Talk about deceptive practice.
Things went downhill from day one and I experienced many of the problems others have reported on this site. Dipping into my other accounts to take out unexplained fees was one of the most shocking.

I really think we need to do more than complain on a website. I have reported my complaint to the Federal Trade Commission. They don’t intervene for individuals, but they do track complaints and have a legal department to follow up on trends. Their contact information is : FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
(FTC.GOV) 877-382-4357. If all of us would register our complaints with them, maybe we would start getting questions asked by people who have the ability to change things.
I have found the BBB to be worthless, and the Consumer Protection Services only deals with complaints by individuals, not businesses. I live in MA, so it may be different in different states.
My next plan is to write to Elizabeth Warren who just won the Senate seat in MA. She has worked for years to expose and control bad banking practices. (No I didn’t work on her campaign). Unfortunately, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau she set up doesn’t deal with this particular problem. I have not been able to find her new contact information yet. May need to wait until she is sworn in to the Senate.
Finally, can we bring a class action suit? I have no training in the law, but would be interested in input from anyone who does.
I am not an activist, just a veterinarian with a small business who, like the rest of you, recognizes when something is wrong and needs to be changed!
Sue Ellen Mowcomber, DVM

Wow, I am shocked by the number of bad reviews on this company. Wish I would have read before I signed up. I found First Data through FeeFighters.com, which had nothing but glowing reviews about First Data. I was sold by Karen Gallo, who did a side-by-side comparison of what our company would pay with them versus our existing provider.

When the First Data bills started coming in, they did not even resemble the rates quoted by Karen – they were significantly higher than what we had been paying previously. I was very disappointed especially since we had changed our internal procedures in order to move the processing over to First Data.

I have had no luck with either Karen or First Data to set things right. To me, this is an obvious case of deceptive selling.

Don’t do business with them.

I have to add to the list of people who will try to warn you never to get involved with this company or their affiliates. Unfortunately, Sam’s Club is selling it, and it makes them look like criminals too. maybe they are. all I know is that they will definitely rip you off. And you won’t even see it coming. Months after I cancelled the service I start noticing fingers still in my bank account taking $150 at a time for what they call a “re-stocking fee” which was never mentioned before the service is cancelled. I’ve also confirmed from FD that it is not mentioned anywhere in the contract. If you give Sam’s club and FD access to your bank account, you will be amazed at how many different entities are withdrawing money for things that were never mentioned by anyone. You will spend hours on the phone trying to keep your own money. and just when you think you are done with them, they’ll just take some more. very devious and sneaky. There is no way they should be rated anywhere near where they are!

Just one more horrible review on this awful company! Everything written is absolutely TRUE!! Run like hell if approached by these people. They lie and say whatever it takes to sign you up and then you are screwed. Our little con man is named Gianni Macias with Payment Systems. Do not do business with this person. Or First Data.

DON’T DO BUSINESS WITH FIRST DATA! You will regret it. They were recommended to me by my bank, when I opened my new business account in March of 2011. My bank is a trusted local bank in the St. Augustine, FL area. I trusted them, therefore I trusted that First Data would be a good merchant services company to work with. WRONG. They have ALL KINDS OF HIDDEN FEES, large yearly fees, and will make you jump through hoops to get improper charges/ fees removed (if at all). They will change your “contract” midstream and there is nothing you can do about it. My monthly customer service fee has gone up by 150% since I started and they say I can’t do anything about it. A “contract” means nothing if it can be changed at will. FIRST DATA is no better than any of the large credit card companies…they lie, cheat and steal. There are so many other options out there (ie. SQUARE) now with no monthly fees that I don’t know why any small business owner would choose a standard credit card processing company. It’s just not worth the extra fees.

I have worked for First Data for nearly four years. I don’t work on the merchant side, but the banking side. I wouldn’t know about merchant issues at all. It is a very large company with over 25,000 employees. A lot of large stores and banks use them as a card processor and terminal processor.

Anyway, First Data was bought out by a private equity firm 5 years ago called KKR. They took First Data off the stock market and made it a private company. They bought us as an investment. KKR usually buys a company then sells it, gutting it first. They laid off many employees, hired idiots to take their place, many deparments are really short staffed, but they let in some hiring again. We were not so lousy before this. We have and are losing a lot of banks. I don’t blame them, I wouldn’t do business with us. I could say a lot, but it would take too much time, KKR must be evil, or someone lower in the ranks.

With such short staffs, ludicrous management that make up crazy rules ( we are owned by people who know nothing about the business, and some upper managers are about money and not quality). The culture is awful. I like a lot of the people in my own department, but some of the other departments have some really lazy, bad attitude, weaseling to get out of work. It’s like being a dentist pulling teeth to get them to do their job. They are always saying it’s someone else’s job, or the other departments job, then you call that “other” department and they say it was the other department’s job. It’s so hard to get any help there. I’m trying to find work elsewhere. Maybe KKR will finally sell First Data to someone who is not so retarded.

For anyone that is using an FD100 terminal, have you ever gotten the error message Host Response? We’ve been having problems with this for a year and First Data says it is our fault. They tried to blame the phone equipment, they sent out a new machine and we have done three software downloads and we are still having the problem. The phone line was replaced and it is a dedicated line that doesn’t go through our business phone system…just comes in from the pole so to speak and is connected to the FD100 terminal. This is the same line and machine we’ve had for over two years before this problem started then they sent us the new machine but that didn’t fix it. I had searched for this error message for hours at a time on the Internet and can’t find it. Thing is, First Data is clueless as to what it is and can’t tell us why we are getting the message. After we clear it out and run the card again, it charges the customer twice which has had me apologizing way too much to a lot of customers plus the endless hours we seem to be spending on the phone with First Data getting the customer’s accounts fixed. It is a nightmare for sure. They just sent us another machine this morning and another software download. So we’ll see how long before we get another Host Response error message. I would appreciate hearing from anyone that may have had this problem or is having it right now.

after reading the BAD reviews about first data- it only sets in stone the same problems I have experienced with this “company”!!
the first terminal they sent was defective- the unit was supposed to have been tested prior to sending it out- that was BS!! it did NOT work- after several calls and more more lies than I can count I received another terminal and it doesnt work either!!!
but the kicker of it is- I was told No contract- low fees- no hidden fees- all lies- my contract was sent to me in an email but they wouldnt give me a password to get in and read the contract until after I spoke with a “rep” named KATIE- she said sign here- sign here- and only AFTER the contract was run thru would she allow me to see the darn thing- and there it was “a 3 year contract” and alot of hidden fees _ REALLY!!??
and the company rep is about as much help as teets on a boar hog when it comes to being able to get anything resolved- they are taking money out of my bank acct every month- even though I cant use the terminal and have not processed any sales thru this company-
How can a “company” like this be able to stay in business? Free enterprise??!!?? but at whose expense??
I am a new start up business and I cant afford rip offs like this-
I am totally disgusted with the total experience with First Data

I should have looked at this before signing up for this horrible service 2years and11 months ago. We were paying extremely high rates and processing fees for all credit card transactions. We found a more reasonable company. When we went to cancel (20days shy of our 3 year contract.) no one told us that we would have to pay a hefty termination fee, tried to find out why we were switching, etc. Their customer service was very unhelpful, unwilling to work with us as small business. Furthermore their PCI compliance was a very difficulty challenge for small businesses. Within one hour we would get conflicting emails that we were certified not certified. Our IT side could not keep up with their constant barrage of questionnaires and it was getting expensive for us to keep having to pay IT to to this. Overall think about the hidden cost of business such as rates, processing fees, termination fees, PCI compliance and IT cost when signing up for them. Do not recommend them