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Park Central Company Review

Name: Park Central Company
Item: Park Central Company
Rating: 1
Author: Phillip Parker

Author: Phillip Parker

Updated: June 23, 2024

Maintained Since: October 24, 2011

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We take our role in providing guidance and education regarding the card payment industry very seriously. At our own expense, we have vigorously defended our right to continue expose unethical and predatory practices in the industry, successfully defeating every attempt to silence us. However, fending off frivolous lawsuits is costly. To sustain these efforts, one of the ways we generate revenue is through affiliate partnerships with ethical providers. This means that some of our outgoing links connect business owners to trustworthy, low-cost payment processors, which is what most of our readers seek. We see this revenue channel as a win-win-win for everyone involved. Business owners find good processors, processors get good clients, and we are able to continue to provide a valuable service to the small business community. We also recommend and link to many services that do not compensate us. Our priority is to guide you to the best solutions for your needs, regardless of potential revenue. If you have questions, please feel free to contact us.

All mentions of rate and fee costs are estimations based on publicly available information and client feedback. Actual costs may vary based on a variety of factors unique to your business.

Park Central Company

Rating

1/5

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UPDATE 3/4/2019: The website for Park Central Company (parkcentralcompany.com) is no longer active and it appears that both Crescent Processing and Park Central Company have been rebranded as Talus Payments. See our Talus Payments review for current information about this company. Park Central Company (parkcentralcompany.com) appeared to be a sales arm of Crescent Processing Company that was started in late 2010 or early 2011. As of June 2014, Crescent Processing has also launched another DBA called Future Payment Technologies that has absorbed the other two companies. In all likelihood, Park Central was intended as a re-branding that allowed Crescent to continue marketing its services under a new, unsoiled Better Business Bureau profile and online reputation. Future Payment Technologies may fulfill that role now. All of these companies have the same address in Dallas, Texas, and both Crescent and Park Central formerly used mid-level celebrities on their homepage as a marketing tactic. Do not confuse the use of celebrities as a mark of credibility. Since Park Central Company is essentially the same company as Future Payment Technologies, Park Central will share the same rating as Future Payment Technologies until new evidence suggests that it operates completely separately. Chad Smith is listed as the president and CEO of Future Payment Technologies. Please see the Future Payment Technologies review for more details.

Customer Reviews & Sentiment

Park Central seems to have more complaints from former resellers than Crescent does; however, the companies share many identical complaints. More information can be found in the Future Payment Technologies review.

Summary:

Crescent has a high number of complaints.
Numerous complaints of hidden fees, higher-than-quoted processing fees, and non-disclosure of the ETF and auto-renewal clause of the contract.
Several merchants also reported receiving poor customer service.

Industry Scores & User Ratings

Note: We have adjusted this company’s BBB rating according to our own standards. To better understand why we adjust BBB ratings, please see our Rating Criteria.

Park Central Company no longer has a dedicated BBB profile, as the BBB appears to have combined Crescent, Park Central, and Future Payment Technologies in the same profile. As of this update, the company has 259 complaints filed against it in the past 36 months and is showing an “A-” rating overall. Given the complaint total vs. the company’s size, we have adjusted the company’s BBB rating to a “D.” A full breakdown of the company’s BBB report can be found in the Crescent Processing and Future Payment Technologies reviews.

Processing Rates & Fees

This section is covered in the Future Payment Technologies review.

Summary:

Standard contract appears to be a four-year contract that automatically renews for one year periods and includes a $495 Early Termination Penalty (ETF).
Agents appear to receive commissions for signing merchants up for equipment leases that can be very expensive and include long, non-cancellable lease terms.

Park Central Company Competitors

Compare Park Central Company to competitors that earned top marks.

Pricing

Bottom Line

Park Central Company appears to be nothing more than a DBA of Future Payment Technologies. As a result, we have assigned it the same grades as Future Payment Technologies. The company’s score suffers from its deceptive sales tactics, costly contracts, and poor BBB performance. A full assessment is available in our Future Payment Technologies review.

About Us

CardPaymentOptions.com

Established 2009

My name is Phillip Parker, and I started this website back in 2009 as a simple blog to call out shady credit card processors that were taking advantage of small business owners. At the time, I had no idea this side project would grow into a leading voice pushing for transparency and integrity in the payment processing industry. I also didn't anticipate just how far some of these companies' owners would go to try to silence me.

I was recruited out of college for a sales role with a credit card processor. At the time, I didn't realize the “training” was really about tricking me... into selling business owners expensive processing with hidden fees and long-term service agreements. In my first few sales, I unknowingly cost friends and family thousands of dollars after they trusted me to switch their services. When it finally clicked that something was seriously wrong, I was furious. I quit immediately and made a promise to expose that company and any others operating the same way. That promise is what led to the creation of this website.

As I wrote about these processors, their tactics, and the people behind them, the articles started to spread among business owners. News organizations picked up the stories, readers shared them online, and traffic to the blog took off. Unsurprisingly, that also caught the attention of the companies and individuals I was exposing.

Over the last 17 years, I've received several anonymous death threats and defeated four lawsuits meant to intimidate me into taking my blog down. Their efforts to muzzle me only made my determination to expose them even stronger, leading me to work with state authorities to help shutdown some of the worst offenders.

I'm proud to say that of the millions of people who have read my work, thousands have taken the time to write and thank me for helping them narrowly avoid a very costly mistake. This blog has played a small role in pushing the industry toward more ethical practices - but there are still bad actors out there, which means the work isn't done.

If I can offer one piece of advice, it's this: get every promise in writing, and take the time to review contracts carefully. Tools like ChatGPT can help surface red flags and uncover expensive surprises buried in the fine print.

If you've made it this far, thank you for reading. I truly appreciate you being here, and I wish you every success with your business.

Our Research Methodology

Pricing & Fees

We analyze all costs including rate structures (interchange-plus, tiered, flat-rate, etc), monthly fees, equipment costs, early termination fees, and hidden charges. This data is gathered from service agreements, statements and client feedback.

Features & Technology

Evaluation of POS systems, e-commerce integrations, mobile capabilities, reporting tools, recurring billing..., and developer resources. When possible, we directly test services and hardware. Otherwise, we rely on client feedback and public information.

Customer Support

We evaluate availability across phone, email, chat, and social channels. Measuring hold times, night and weekend availability, and client feedback regarding effectiveness, professionalism, and resolution rates.

Contract Terms & Conditions

We review service agreements and equipment contracts for reasonability, transparency, and fairness. We focus on uncovering any predatory clauses, such as unjustified early termination fees, hidden costs, and unclear cancellation policies.

User Experience

We comb the internet and interview current and former clients to evaluate the overall user experience and identify any common pain points that may impact the user experience.

Sales & Marketing Practices

We evaluate sales tactics, marketing materials, and client feedback to determine the level of transparency and ethical nature of the provider's approach. Does the provider publicly disclose pricing? Do they use teaser rates? We score based on these and other factors.

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