Update 3/4/2019: The PaymentMax website is currently unavailable, and we are unable to determine how long it has been down. We cannot find any evidence that the company has gone out of business or changed its name, so we will assume for the time being that this is a temporary outage. If you have any information about the current status of PaymentMax, please share it in the comment section below this review.
PaymentMax Overview
Founded in 2004, PaymentMax (paymentmax.com) is a small to mid-size merchant services provider. The company’s website states that PaymentMax is “powered” by First Data, which means that PaymentMax either is a reseller of First Data merchant accounts or relies on First Data for its e-commerce merchant services.
Multiple California Locations
PaymentMax is headquartered in Thousand Oaks at P.O box 3847, California 91359, with an additional listed address found at 600 Hampshire Road #120, Westlake Village, California 91361. PaymentMax states that it is a registered ISO/MSP of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. Walnut Creek, California. Tony Shap is the founder and CEO of PaymentMax.
Customer Reviews & Sentiment
PaymentMax Customer Support Options
PaymentMax appears to offer support only via e-mail. Perhaps as a result of this policy, the predominant theme among complainants is an inability to reach a sales or customer service representative in a timely fashion, which often results in additional problems for the merchant. Some merchants report never actually establishing an account with or using the services of PaymentMax, yet still being charged as if they had.
Low Complaint Total
Strangely, there are very few PaymentMax reviews on other consumer protection websites, but the comment section of this review has been fairly active with complaints. One complaint compares PaymentMax’s customer support unfavorably to that of Square, which provides virtually no customer support. This supports our decision not to include PaymentMax in our list of the best-rated merchant accounts for customer support. Overall, it appears that PaymentMax does not make itself readily available to many of its clients.
Client Satisfaction Ratings
| Product & Service Complaints | 0 |
|---|---|
| Billing & Collection Complaints | 0 |
| Advertising & Sales Complaints | 0 |
| Guarantee & Warranty Complaints | 0 |
| Delivery Complaints | 0 |
Clean Complaint Record
As of this review, PaymentMax has an “A+” with the Better Business Bureau is not an accredited business of the BBB. The company has not received any complaints in the past three years. It also has not received any informal reviews.
An “A” Performance Overall
We will not adjust the BBB’s rating at this time. Merchants should be aware, however, that there are reasons to be skeptical of the BBB’s ratings in general.
Card Processing Rates & Fees
Variable Contract Terms
Because PaymentMax is “powered” by First Data, it is likely that the standard PaymentMax contract is similar to the standard First Data contract. Complainants have reported a discrepancy between the rates and fees they agree to pay and those they are actually charged, and the minimal live customer support at PaymentMax seems to be ineffective at resolving these complaints in a timely fashion. As a result, there is a lot of mixed and outdated information available about possible contract terms offered by PaymentMax.
Possible PCI Compliance Fee
One complaint mentions a $149 PCI compliance service that PaymentMax describes as “optional”; the merchant in this case opted out and was charged for the service anyway. Because of this and other incidents, we award PaymentMax an average score of “C” in this section. We do not expect the company’s standard pricing to compete with the cheapest merchant accounts. If you have any knowledge about PaymentMax’s contract terms, please leave that information in the comment section below.
Bottom Line
A Substandard Option for Most Merchants
PaymentMax rates as a below-average merchant account provider according to our rating system. The company’s rating mostly suffers from an apparent lack of quality customer support as well as a refusal to respond to BBB complaints. PaymentMax could improve its rating by providing clearer paths of communication for its clients. Merchant feedback about PaymentMax has slowed down in the last few years, which could indicate that the company is winding down operations. Given PaymentMax’s reputation, we would encourage most merchants to compare the company’s pricing to top-rated merchant account providers before signing up.
PaymentMax Rating
