Paynet Systems Merchant Services 2023: Reviews & Complaints

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Paynet Systems
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Paynet Systems

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PhonePhone(800) 809-1989 View Pricing

Company Overview

Paynet Systems is a small to mid-size merchant account provider based in Alpharetta, Georgia. Founded in 1999, the company was bought by Pipeline Data in 2006 but continues to operate as its own brand. Unfortunately for Paynet Systems, Pipeline was one of the poorest-rated processors in the credit card processing industry before its dissolution. With that said, it appears that Paynet may have shielded itself from Pipeline’s reputation and has since been able to operate independently of Pipeline. For this reason, we will treat Paynet as its own company for the purposes of this review. It should be noted that Paynet Systems is not the same company as Paynet Systems, LLC.

Paynet Systems Payment Processing

The company offers payment processing and credit card processing support for all sizes of businesses. Their systems support keyed-in transactions and credit/debit card processing. They also offer free virtual point of sale for online processing and a free webstore to merchants.

Paynet Systems’ Point of Sale Systems

The company provides point-of-sale (POS) systems that enable businesses to manage in-person transactions efficiently. These systems can track sales, manage inventory, and generate reports, providing valuable insights into business performance.

eCommerce Solutions from Paynet Systems

Paynet Systems offers solutions for businesses that operate online. They provide a secure platform for eCommerce transactions, ensuring safe and reliable online sales.

Mobile Payment Processing by Paynet Systems

Mobile payment processing is another service offered by Paynet Systems. This service allows businesses to accept card payments on mobile devices, providing flexibility and convenience for businesses operating on-the-go or at remote locations.

Paynet Systems’ Merchant Cash Advance

Paynet Systems also offers a merchant cash advance service. This service provides businesses with access to funds by purchasing a portion of their future sales. This can offer a valuable cash flow solution for businesses needing immediate capital.

Location & Ownership

Paynet Systems, located at 5955 Shiloh Rd #100, Alpharetta, Georgia 30005, is a registered ISO/MSP of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., Walnut Creek, California, and of Synovus Bank, Columbus, Georgia. Jack Chevalier is listed as the president of Paynet Systems.

Table of Contents

Paynet Systems Customer Complaints & Reviews

Here's What Users Think

Complaint Summary

Total Online Complaints
15+
Live Customer Support
Yes
Most Common Complaint
Hidden Fees
Recent Lawsuits
No

Low-Moderate Complaint Total

There are more than 15 negative Paynet Systems reviews on this and other consumer protection websites. It should be noted, though, that because Paynet Systems, LLC. has an almost identical name, it may be that reviews for the two companies are getting mixed together. Compared to providers of similar sizes, this is an average amount. Although most of the Paynet Systems reviews are not overly alarming, there is a theme of clients complaining of unexpected fees, improper billing, poor customer support, and difficulty canceling service. Paynet has responded to a few of these complaints, but not many, although the company’s responses are usually professional in tone. if you have your own Paynet Systems review to make, please do so in the comments below.

Paynet Systems Lawsuits and Fines

We have not found any outstanding class-action lawsuits or FTC complaints filed against Paynet Systems. Dissatisfied clients who wish to pursue a non-litigious course of action against the company should consider reporting it to the relevant supervisory organizations.

Paynet Systems Customer Support Options

The Paynet Systems website lists a single phone support numbers for its clients as well as offering a contact form. These channels, regardless, were not sufficient to qualify the company as a quality payment processor for customer service.

Paynet Systems Customer Service Number

  • (800) 809-1989 – General Support

Other Support Options

  • Support form

Paynet Systems BBB Rating and Report

Our Better Business Bureau Profile Assessment

BBB Summary

BBB Reports
0

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.

No BBB Complaints

As of this review, the Better Business Bureau is showing Paynet Systems as not approved under its accreditation program. The BBB is reporting a rating of an “A+” based upon 0 complaints filed within the last 36 months, which is a significant decline in complaints since our last review.

An “A” Rating

Given the company’s clean complaint record, we agree with the BBB’s rating at this time. Business owners should be aware, however, that there are definite reasons to be skeptical of the BBB’s information.

Paynet Systems Fees and Rates

A Closer Look at the Contract

Cost Summary

Cancellation Penalties
Yes
Monthly & Annual Fees
Yes
Processing Rates
3.50% + $0.30
Equipment Lease Terms
Undisclosed Monthly Fee

Variable Pricing

As mentioned earlier, Paynet Systems quoted the qualified rate tiers in prominent positions on its website and only mentioned its non-qualified, card-not-present rate in fine print:

  1. “Swiped” rate requires the Paynet Systems card reader and applies to qualified swiped
    Visa/MC/Discover network transactions. Most rewards, corporate, government and international card types are considered non-qualified transactions and merchant will be charged the non-qualified rate.
  2. “Manually Keyed Rate” will be charged on all qualified manually keyed Visa/MC/Discover Network transactions that have verified addresses and CVV2 information. Any Visa/MC/Discover network transaction that does not meet the requirements for swiped and/or manually keyed rates will be charged a non-qualified rate of 3.50% and $0.30.

Due to this fact, clients should be aware that Paynet Systems’ rates and fees will vary from business to business based on a variety of factors. Businesses being charged the non-qualified rate by the company could be charged as high as 3.50% plus $0.30 for both swiped and keyed-in transactions. Several clients have reported a variety of other monthly fees that were either unexpected or higher than originally quoted. It is unclear at the time of this review if the company charges a PCI compliance fee of any kind. The company’s merchant agreement also includes a clause that assesses a monthly leasing fee of any credit card terminal. One version of Paynet’s terms and conditions can be found here.

Virtual Terminal and Payment Gateway Pricing

In addition to its storefront payment processing services, Paynet Systems also dedicates a portion of its website to advertising its virtual terminal and payment gateway services. However, pricing is not disclosed on either of those services. Additional rates and fees, including gateway fees, technical support fees, batch fees, and additional transaction rates typically apply to these e-commerce services.

Paynet Systems Contract Terms

On a positive note, Paynet offers short-term service agreements that appear to vary from three to six months with a $75 early cancellation fee, which is far less than the industry average. The company enforces a variable monthly minimum fee depending on which service a client uses. Businesses processing up to $5,000 annually are also afforded the option of paying a $9 monthly fee without any transaction fees. However, charges exceeding that threshold are charged a non-qualified rate of 3.50% plus $0.30.

Additionally, the company offers a smartphone processing service that reportedly waives a $10 monthly service fee for the first six months. Business owners should compare Paynet Systems’ terms to those of cheap merchant account providers and are highly encouraged to review all contract terms and request any relevant information regarding pricing structures in order to avoid unexpected fees.

We also encourage business owners to check out our list of the providers of the best merchant accounts.

Paynet Systems Jobs and Employment

Hiring Standards and Ethical Marketing Assessment

Key Points

Uses Independent Resellers
No
Telemarketing
No
Misleading Marketing
Yes
Discloses All Important Terms
No

Misleading Rate Quotes

Paynet Systems has received an average rating in this section because it formerly promoted misleading rates and fee quotes on its website. It did this by prominently quoting the “Qualified” transaction rate and making no mention of the more expensive “Mid-Qualified” and “Non-Qualified” rates that 50-80% of a client’s transactions will experience, except in minuscule font far below the Qualified quote. Additionally, Paynet does not disclose other ancillary fees such as batch fees, statement fees, AVS fees, etc.

This does not compare favorably to our list of best credit card processors.

Sales Complaints

Aside from the misleading quotes, we found no other use of deceptive marketing or sales tactics, other than a few Paynet Systems reviews from businesses reporting that company representatives failed to disclose full pricing prior to account setup. The company appears to market primarily through partnerships, affiliates, and an inside sales staff. If you suspect that you are being charged undisclosed Paynet Systems fees, we recommend seeking a third-party statement audit to find and eliminate hidden charges.

Paynet Systems Review Summary

Our Final Thoughts and Opinions

Paynet Systems appears to be an average merchant services provider within the credit card processing industry. As a former subsidiary of Pipeline Data, it is difficult to say if Pipeline’s poorly rated business practices have had an influence on Paynet. The company could improve its rating in this review by removing its misleading rate and fee quotes from its website, reducing/eliminating future complaints, removing or reducing its early cancellation fee and six-month service agreement, and resolving a higher percentage of BBB complaints to the clients’ satisfaction. For now, business owners should consider selecting a top-rated credit card processor to obtain the best deal.


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Customer & Employee Reviews

What Others Are Saying About Paynet Systems

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16 Responses

  • Steve Westin

    I would LOVE to know if Paynet is still processing credit card sales for Zombaio.com Zombaio is a crooked credit card processor that literally “keeps” your proceeds from credit card sales you make online . I didn’t even know this was legal, as it seems they are doing business with no monitoring by any bank or financial institution. They are hiding in Sweden and are not scared by any threats or lawsuits from people in the “States.” There are hundreds of website owners that Zombaio is “holding” their funds and refusing to release. Do not do business with Zombaio. At this point I do not know what to do. I can’t find their acquiring bank. I think Paynet is behind this. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

  • Dave

    Keep looking. They raised the rate without permission and stuck me for almost $275 when I refunded a fraudulent transaction.
    Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

  • Michael

    STAY AWAY AT ALL COSTS. Deceptive practices unless they’ve changed in the last four months

  • Diane

    Highly disappointed with the customer service I have been receiving. Experiencing a lot of double talk and condesending remarks from the sales rep and manager who have handled my account. All is fine with Paynet until you have a problem. Good luck getting a word in edgewise when you try to talk to them.

  • Dan

    This company is unethical in there practices. Stay away or regret ever being involved with them. They take money out even after you cancel them. Then once i told my bank to deny them, they sent me a letter of non payment added late charges then threatened me with collections which they did do. This company is the most unethical company i have ever had to deal with. Stay away with every fiber of your being.

  • Robin

    Folks the only thing you can do now is go to your bank and put a stop to any payments going to Pay Net. I joined up with THAT company several years ago and that was the only way to end them continuing to take funds from me. I would say dont waste your time and energy getting them out of your pocket by phone calls to them and filling out their forms. They wont go away. It just prolongs their ability to take your money. Someone really needs to close them down. Surprised and saddened that this hasnt happened yet.

  • Travis Bouchey

    If shady business practice is your thing get 2 accounts!! Beware of miscellaneous withdrawals and hidden fees.. One star is an over rating

  • Pam Whorton

    I, too, am having issues with this company. I filled out an application for them and once approved I received an email stating that I had to pay $10 for the card reader for shipping. Um, that’s not free, which is what their advertisement states. So I went with PayPal instead. They did not charge me a fee for ANYTHING to receive their card reader. I just checked my bank account online and noticed a $17.95 charge from Paynet. For WHAT?! I was told I signed a contract, which I was not aware of, and there are monthly fees, which I was not aware of that either! So NOW I’m having to fill out all these forms to stop this company from withdrawing funds from my account. When I called the company to complain, I was told I would get charged a $75 fee for breaking the contract. I just received an email from them to fill out a form, and my contract would still be intact unless I filled it out and mailed it back. Not doing it. I sent a reply saying I’m refusing to fill that out since I never signed a contract to begin with. So I have a feeling I’m gonna be dealing with this company for months ahead. Beware of them! False advertisement and hidden fees and charges!!!

  • Leon Slack

    I have become very very frustrated with their service. I initially enjoyed their service, which seemed to be professional. However, when I attempted to cancel their service, their cancellation process seems to be set up to take as much money from their customers as they can.
    Here is what happened to me: I stopped using their service back in July of 2013. I might have missed small print in their contract about charging $44.95 for nonuse of the account. I was charged more for non-use than when I was using it! Anyway, when I found this out in October, they had charged several months already. I called to cancel the account. The rep looked up my account and then said, “Okay, it is cancelled, bye” , and hung up before I could ask any questions. But I didn’t worry about it any more. Months later, I find out that I am still being charged in December of last year, to an account I have quit using, and am getting bank overdraft charges. I call and found out that the rep had sent me an email with a cancellation form to mail in!! I get a lot of emails, a lot of it junk and advertising, I think they know that their email can be missed, if no one tells client it is coming. So I missed the email, and was charged for another couple of months.
    I was very frustrated, so I made complaint to Better Business Bureau, because I rightfully felt that I was defrauded by secretly sending me an email without telling me about it. It might be some kind of business legal thing they can get away with.
    Anyway, Paynetsystems responded to my complaint, repeating that I received an email with a form to fill out, and said that they will close the account as of January 10th, and I allowed the complaint to close out. I didn’t feel like fighting the fraud I felt happened about the emailed cancellation form, even though I felt seriously defrauded.

    I recently found out that they are STILL CHARGING ME $44.95 FOR AN ACCOUNT I HAVE STOPPED USING BACK IN JULY!!! Even after they said that the account was closed. They must be hard up for customers and need money bad, because they are still resorting to whatever tactic they can get away with to keep charging past customers.

    I would NOT recommend anyone signing up with them. To treat customers like that suggest that they are not about customer satisfaction, but for whatever they can get from them, even after they try to leave their service.

    Leon

  • Mary Brown

    Disappointed! they are not upfront about the fees they “take” from your checking acct. They make it very difficult to cancel their services. They will e-mail you a cancellation form and then you have to mail it back to some address they give you. then who knows how long it will take from there to complete the cancellation process!
    Why can’t you just e-mail it back to them? They intentionally make it hard for you to cancel. Their customer service is not the greatest either. I don’t know if they are a member of the BBB, but I am getting ready to find out!
    I haven’t even used their services for 2 months and they are still charging me fees! A company like this one won’t be around for long! All the good reviews you see for pay net systems, on the app store, I have heard are wrote from people that work for the company. they put all the “real” reviews are way down at the bottom, and it’s not easy to find them, but their there! I use “Squared” now and they are upfront about all their charges! They only charge a per swipe fee and as far as I know, that’s it! I don’t mind paying a little more, as long as it’s competitive and they are honest about what they’re fees and charges are!
    So sorry I gave this company a try!

  • Debbie Upchurch

    What a bunch of hacks. Seriously, these guys are in a league of their own.

    All their advertising shows 25¢ & 1.59% along with a “FREE” card reader. I asked about these rates and was told everything was on the ‘site’. After downloading and trying the app I received e-mails welcoming me to Paynet Systems. Okay, how bad can it be, (never mind their customer reviews or BBB ratings).

    A week goes by and still no “FREE” card reader. I questioned the sales rep about it and she said “The company that makes it, sells it for $69.95 and it is free, but you have to pay $24.50. … It is a state of the art encrypted reader.” I informed her that most all readers these days are encrypted and that they offered a “FREE” reader everywhere you looked, paying $24.50 it isn’t free at all. Still no card reader as I refuse to pay for it.

    Although, I made it clear that in all my history of using Merchant Processing that when the “card was not present” and the merchant manually entered the numbers, we typically have to pay MORE not LESS. Falling on deaf ears by now.

    Week two I had a customer that wanted to run a card so I decided to try the app anyhow. (Andriod on AT&T) Found that the app is fairly unstable and opens often in “demo mode” and also crashes. The only way to get it to work is rebooting the phone and hoping next time it opens that it is NOT in “demo mode”.

    In any event, ran the customers card manually and got approval. Now we’re 4 days later and it looks like it’ll clear my account tonight at midnight. Strange thing though is the fee is MUCH MORE than their advertised rate of 25¢ & 1.59%. The rate (if the per swipe fee is still at 25¢) is 2.0275% PLUS 25¢. Makes it much cheaper to just go elsewhere.

    PayPal even has a fee free Credit card with 1% cash back that makes your ‘net-net’ 1.7% (as advertised). Although I fear using a *real* card processing service is a better option, perhaps through a supply agreement as with Costco. The providers have been well vetted and offer extremely competitive rates, much less than your usual internet site rates.

    I will start the cancellation process today!

  • Stacey Reece

    Paynet Systems is absolutely a waste of time, money, and breath. Customer service is non-existent. Fees are hidden, requests for new swiper devices due to malfunctioning ones are ignored. I am totally disgusted with the services, quality of product, and customer service. I rate this company a 0 of 10.

  • Cristy

    This company is terrible! Do not use paynet systems to process cards. They cannot be trusted with your money. They got our company confused with another company with a similar name that had a lein on their account and sent our money to the IRS. We did eventually get the money back but only after a great hassle. They then would not let us cancel our account because we did not return the “free” swiper they sent us that didn’t even work. The only way this company gets any good reviews is because the send you a “free” swiper when you write one.

  • Bonnie

    I am very disappointed in this company… and sorry that I didn’t find Square about 30 days sooner! Beware that once you join, they don’t exactly tell you that you can’t cancel for 6 months — and when you try to cancel, they are vague about HOW you can cancel! I’ve done everything they’ve asked and they are now charging me $25 month instead of the $9.95 a month and telling me they have not received a PROPER cancellation from me and until they do they will continue to charge me basically whatever they chose to. I’m going to have to cancel my credit card so they don’t have my current info on file. They are not accommodating to their customers, they are dishonest and basically cheating people and I would not recommend them to anyone!

  • Robin Neumeier

    I thought this was a good answer to accepting credit cards at my new office. My business did not take off as I had hoped and I never used the processor. I was told on the phone that the swiper that fits on my phone/Ipad would be given free with my 3 month commitment. I was also told on the phone that I would be charged a total of $25.00 per month (plus a small percentage of each transaction that I made). In actuality my bank account was charged $34.95 per month, then they added an additional $7.95 for American express (I didn’t want or need this). I was also charged another $1.00 per month for a “privacy guard”. After 3 months I wanted to cancel the service. They said it was a 6 month commitment and if I returned the swiper and paid a $75.00 cancellation fee that I knew nothing about, I would be out of the contract. They refused to even drop the American Express from the charges. But I decided to wait out this contract anyway, and now I am 2 weeks away from being eligible to terminate the contract with no cancellation fee. I still haven’t used it. I received an email today stating that I must return the free swiper or pay them $69 for it. The writer of the email even called it my “free” swiper! I called and asked them to fax me a copy of the contract with my signature on it. (I don’t remember signing one) She faxed a copy of a contract that I have not seen before and my signature is not on it. Be very wary of this company.

  • Kochira Kawaii

    Disappointed with service and fees associated with this account. Was very difficult to cancel the service. Was unaware of $75.00 cancellation fee. Never had to sign any contract. In fact under age child set up the account with smart phone. No verification of anything was required but when I called to cancel the account I had to sign a document and mail it back to the company and was then told there was a $75.00 early cancellation fee. That a “signed contract ” stated. I was billed for three months for no usage also.

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We are committed to ensuring the accountability of credit card processors by bringing transparency to their business practices. Our primary objective is to safeguard North American businesses from unscrupulous processors that impose substantial rate markups, unjustifiable fees, and exploitative contracts that result in annual losses of billions of dollars for small business owners.

We have been in operation since 2009, diligently conducting comprehensive research, publishing extensive reviews, and monitoring more than 1,000 payment processors. Our expertise in the merchant services industry has garnered recognition from esteemed publications such as the Los Angeles Times, INC Magazine, The Atlantic, and the Miami Herald, among others.

How We Score Processors

Please note that our rating system was overhauled on April 26th, 2023. Reviews dated before this date may not score in accordance with the following.

Star Rating Criteria:

At the start of our research, all processors are awarded five stars. We deduct stars if the processor engages in any of the following business practices:

– One star deduction if the processor has any junk fees.

– One star deduction if the processor does not post its pricing clearly on its website.

– One Star deduction if the processor is suffering from moderate client complaints.

– Multiple Star deductions if a processor is suffering from severe complaints, imposes unjust cancellation fees, markets non-cancellable equipment leases, engages in predatory rate pricing, or may be engaged in illegal activities.

Get all of the details regarding out rating criteria here.

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