A Rapidly Growing Payment Processor
Also known as Paysafe Group, Paysafe is a UK-based merchant account provider that has acquired multiple large payment processing subsidiaries during the past five years. The company was formed in 2015 as a rebranding of Optimal Payments, and it was subsequently acquired in August 2017 by 2 private equity firms called The Blackstone Group and CVC Capital Partners. Its major acquisitions under both the Optimal Payments and Paysafe brands include Skrill, Meritus Payment Solutions, MeritCard Solutions, Merchants’ Choice Payment Solutions, and, most recently, iPayment. In 2020, Paysafe announced a partnership with US-based sports-betting platform FOX Bet as well as one with the Microsoft Store. In 2021 Paysafe expanded into cryptocurrency with a partnership with transcoin.me.
Paysafe Payment Processing
Paysafe processes all major credit and debit cards for most business types. Their services include online cash, digital wallets, integrated payments, e-commerce solutions, point-of-sale solutions, and a publishers marketplace.
Paysafe Location & Ownership
Paysafe is a registered ISO/MSP of Deutsche Bank AG, New York, NY; PNC Bank, N.A., Pittsburgh, PA; Wells Fargo, N.A., Concord, CA; Woodforest National Bank, Houston, TX; BMO Harris Bank, N.A, Chicago, IL; Fifth Third Bank, N.A. ,Cincinnati, OH, USA; and Merrick Bank, South Jordan, UT. The company is headquartered at 27th Floor, 25 Canada Square, London E14 5LQ, UK. Philip McHugh is the CEO of Paysafe. Joel Leonoff, who has also served as the CEO of Skrill, founded the company in 1997.
Video Summary
Paysafe Review Table of Contents
- Costs & Contract: Offers variable pricing terms among its many products, services, and…
- Complaints & Service: Has received more than 100 public complaints regarding…
- BBB Rating: The US branch of Paysafe has a rating of “A+” with the BBB but has had 219 complaints and 37 reviews in regards to…
- Sales & Marketing: Maintains different sales practices at each of its subsidiary organizations and has…
42 Responses
This is a scam company they approved merchant soon as I ran about $4300 getting paid through my clients they closed my account and telling me they are gonna hold my funds for 180 days and no charge backs. I called risk management and talked to Ginny (prejudice as hell) didn’t want to hear me out and hang up the phone called back spoke to supervisor David of the department and hang up on me. They are disgusting and founds out they are a scam company they have a class action law suit against them do not do business with them and I contacted the fbi and atty general about them. I want my money you thieves !!!
The worst company ever, stay away from them, charge you fees and won’t refund them, froze account for a while and wouldn’t unfreeze it for a while leaving us without credit card processing for two weeks .
none of the guys working there was able to resolve stuff for a while, Jay was especially useless , thanks a lot Jay !!!
Got new merchant account already, never again with them!!
Had service since 2016! Have been charged $147.40 for last 3 years with $0.00 sales. Paysafe said we called and canceled business but was told they did not receive a signed letter. I hope Ken Paxton attorney general for state of Texas looks into Paysafe business practices! I am sure I’m not the only small business being robbed monthly! Also after I was sent contact to email signed cancellation, the email has been Denied!
As an end user…I never met such incompetents people…through their Branches, Skrill and Neteller, managed from uk with headquarter in isle of man…tried to open accounts, made me 10 days (may3rd to may 14th) filled usd and euro balance on skrill with difficulties (rejected my MasterCard three times with no reason)…I tried to use my balances to pay merchants (numbers time via Skrill twenty five ones from may 14th to june 4th) never worked…saying on the merchant applet that balance is unavailable….contacter Skrill through their stupid VA…”it’s the merchant fault”…I tried to call, I had someone who just repeat or read the report on his screen, no solution…I made it short of course, and cherry on the cake, one minute later, I received an email from Skrill that they have decide to close my account for non compliance…30 seconds later I received same mail from Neteller…the cousin of the first one ;)…teeling the same.
Well, I do not know which rules I broke…I just know that I will be refunded of my euro balance…I don’t know when…and I don’t know what about the refund of my dollars balance either.
They are just what I call go-between, poor in knowledge and in consumer relation management but…greedy for profits and dishonest … in short … useless companies dubbed by a banking system which is inexorably moving away from its core business.
I am dealing with this company and their fraudulent activities, which including pilfering my business account without authorization.
I did file with the FTC ask for Nick at 877-382-4357 as they need all complaints. My bank has initiated fraud charges as well and I’m filing with the State Attorney General, SO, and the US Dept of Justice Civil Rights Division.
There is a case from 2002 that mirrors mine and many of the reports made here are stated by the same thing, as if these culprits are moving from one location to another, changing names and continuing their practices.
I am going to the media next because if they’re willing to rip off a disabled small woman owned business owner that is a widow, they’re willing to do it to anyone!
This group goes by many names; Merchant Services, MobilePay, PaySafe, Flagship and even BBVA which as of yesterday 5/14/2021, they informed me that they are NOT affiliated with them, and when I pressed if they had in the past, I was told, “We no longer have anything to do with them.” Outside of that, no one will talk to you.
I signed up for a simple swipe, they charge you for a merchant account for a website and an online gateways that you never use! Also other fees are taken for another company that is either a willing association or unaware but if nothing has ever been used in any way, they know it and so do I as a Coding Engineer and Web Developer. I have no use for those as I get all business from the phone and I service properties!
I have suffered greatly from this, emotionally, financially and my business as well because of the countless hours I’ve spent trying to get them to stop, trying to find anyone be to assist me to read due to visual impairment, and then almost daily trips to travel to the bank to file documents, close my account, get new cards, checks, and contacting all businesses that are set up with auto payments.
They were taking triple payments even though I was clear about the upcoming multiple eye operations and temporary closure of my business.
This company and all individuals affiliated with them will tell you to contact one of their other numbers and then they tell you someone different. Bottom line, no one will help stop the pilfering of your funds. It took 6 months to finally get a cancellation form which has no mention of previous funds taken or prior dates. You are only allowed to fax, yet their method is email. I sent by USPS and they claim they never got it. They finally sent another in April, and I’m still calling demanding they cease and desist but they don’t!
I’m out hundreds of dollars, and on top of that, more fees because while I’m having eye surgeries and believe they stopped and funds were there for my living expenses, they were continuing to pilfer the account!
Derek Schleer the salesman told me this would be less than Square. Lie! So many hidden fees I’m learning now and I stated I couldn’t read due to my inability to see and asked him to read it all back, and he took full advantage, just as the other employees that I have full record of. He conveniently omitted his contact information.
File your case with the FTC! They do take down these individuals but only if enough people file. My case mirrors FTC File No: 012-3193. Just look up:
FTC FILES COMPLAINT CONCERNING CREDIT CARD MERCHANT ACCOUNT SALES AND BILLING PRACTICES
“Unauthorized Fees Allegedly Withdrawn from Small Businesses’ Bank Accounts The Commission’s Allegations Relief Sought”
We need to fight together, not alone!
In April 2020, our total revenue dropped to $419.67 but Paysafe/Bankcard charged us $3,072.68!!! And when I mentioned those charges, no one reply to my email! A total scam.
Paysafe Payment Processing is connected to National Bankcard and will be referred to as from this point on. National Bankcard/Paysafe’s processing entity risk department closed our account without warning. Two days worth of processed payment transactions (Batch receipts for 9.01.2020 = $578 & 9.02.2020 = $170) totaling $748 were never received into our bank account. I called National Bankcard and their processing entity (Paysafe) numerous times and was told our credit card processing account was closed by their risk department. They said that since the account was closed, the $748 was just returned to our customers. That means that therapeutic services we provided were not paid for because National Bankcard/Paysafe gave the money that was paid to us through credit cards ($748) was given back to these customers. There is no way for us to recover that money. We view this as theft on the part of National Bankcard/Paysafe.
Theft of income from our business – any help with we can do
DO NOT under any circumstances work with this company.
I’ve been with them for nearly 2 years. The sales rep quoted a fixed rate and set up my terminal. He did not abide by a fixed rate. They have been charging me 4%!
The terminal was set up to batch at a “non-qualified rate” that has cost me thousands of dollars. They set it up this way.
Plus, the sales guy told me I could get out of the contract month by month and then signed me up for 3 years.
THEY TOTALLY LIED TO ME.
Would never recommend or use this company again!! They wasn’t depositing my funds and when I asked the representative (Ginny) from The Woodlands location about it, she became very disrespectful. I asked for a supervisor and was not only denied, but she had my funds held for over 180 days because of it. Not only that, somehow a lot of my batches mysteriously “vanished “ from their system, but their still in my terminal. I had to report them to the FTC and file an IC3 against them. I hope that they all get prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law!! Getting over on their customers especially at a time like this?? Straight heartless!!
Very dissatisfied with Paysafe customer service or lack of. We have had funds held for months with no helpful responses after many attempts to resolve or minimally, talk to someone.
Joan,
We have a guide put together to help PayPal users get their funds released.
I just paysafe zero star review I’d like to start by introducing myself on Nathan with above and beyond renovations Inc and I’ve had nothing but a horrible experience with this company I quite possibly think that they might be scamming small businesses they have a contract that doesn’t even have my signature on it but I have a copy of my contract with them and it does have my signature in our contracts do not look the same now for the last two months I’ve been trying to pay the $495 fee that I wasn’t aware of when I signed up with paysafe to cancel their services and they’re refusing to take the payment in a timely fashion and in turn I’m inquiring extra monthly fees while I’m waiting for them to cancel my contract with them I would absolutely not recommend this company to anyone on this planet or therefore in the milky way galaxy thank you very much and have a nice day pay safe will be lucky if they don’t hear from my attorney
Nathan,
This article may help: How to cancel a merchant account without paying a fee.
-Phillip
This review is for Paysafe Merchant Service provider. The company is an absolute SCAM.
1. They charge you much more that you agreed, you will be buried in hidden and unexpected fees.
2. They constant lie, starting with the sales rep, ending with every call center representative. I caught them so many times on lies.
3. They unlawfully withheld some of my transactions, not paying them out to me, telling lies about the reason why (I have proof).
4. They signed me up for a bunch of services that they call free, and guess what, I started to get billed monthly by all of them shortly after.
5. You will spend hours and hours on hold with their support, who would NEVER SOLVE ANYTHING over the phone. They always say they need to contact some other department and they will get back to you within the next 24-4 hours. And they never do, as the issues are never solved either.
The easiest way to get out of all this mess is to close your bank account.
The are holding over $130k in funds due to 4% chargebacks. Do the math, its incredible they can destroy a business over something like this. WORST F****** COMPANY I HAVE EVER WORKED WITH IN 20 YEARS.
stay away from this processing company I cancelled and keep charging fees my only option will be to close my bank account
This is not a good choice when it comes to merchant services. I would not recommend them to anyone. I faxed and emailed closure form in the beginning of October yet they say they did not close the account until Oct 31. So this is their reasoning for charging my account due to me not wanting to continue services with them. I told the man when he called to set it up “I have read reviews on the service you plan to put me with and I do not want to continue this account”. All of a sudden a charge on my account. This was in September. Do not use Paysafe. They are not safe.
To my opinion, trust score for this company should be ZERO. The company’s unethical practices brought me financial losses.
The relationship started with a few unauthorized charges that nobody from Paysafe could ever explain or refund.
They continued by me finding out that NOT ALL settled transaction are paid out. So Paysafe receives my customer’s money but not paying it out to me. Tried to resolve this issues in the course of a few weeks, spent over 6 hours on the phone with support who straight up lied. Every representative would come up with a different excuse and try to brush me off saying that they will resolve the issue within 48 hours and will contact me back. As you may have guess, nobody ever resolved the issues or contacted me.
Support would admit the issue over the phone but refuse to email me a written affirmation admitting the issue has happened. The whole situation looks extremely shady and practices employed resemble scammers. My month-long collaboration with this company resulted in a financial loss.
Trust score should be ZERO. The company’s unethical practices brought me financial losses.
The relationship started with a few unauthorized charges that nobody from Paysafe could ever explain or refund.
They continued by me finding out that NOT ALL settled transaction are paid out. So Paysafe receives my customer’s money but not paying it out to me. Tried to resolve this issues in the course of a few weeks, spent over 6 hours on the phone with support who straight up lied. Every representative would come up with a different excuse and try to brush me off saying that they will resolve the issue within 48 hours and will contact me back. As you may have guess, nobody ever resolved the issues or contacted me.
Support would admit the issue over the phone but refuse to email me a written affirmation admitting the issue has happened. The whole situation looks extremely shady and practices employed resemble scammers. My month-long collaboration with this company resulted in a financial loss.
Allowed me to deposit funds when i did not have enough to cover the amount..in the past they would deny my deposit..this caused me to incur a overdraaft charge.
The worst experience! Never trust this company! They will charge tons of money after telling you about FREE service. Even after cancelling their service they still charging money! Horrible!
This post will help: Cancelling a Merchant Account Without Paying a Fee
-Phillip
Stay Far Away From Them, Worst Customer Service!!!!!!! I have been calling for 4 months to get this company to stop charging me there fees. I signed up in May 2019 and immediately changed my mind called my rep to cancel and to this day I am still being charged. I don’t and have never even had they terminal to process cards. The first couple of months of calling I was told only your rep can close your account and they will call you back within 24 to 48 hours. which never happens. Then when you call and ask for a supervisor they just run through a script and put you on hold for ever. Finally earlier this month I talk to someone named Eric and he said he could close my account I just had to fill out a form and send it back and within 7 – 10 business days my account would be closed and I would have my refund.Just got off the phone with them again 12 business days since sending in my paperwork and this time I am being told they have numerous accounts being closed and mine was in the stack but they now have noted my account closure as urgent and I am stuck with another reference number yet again and now being told it could take another month to close my account. If I ran my business this way I would be bankrupt, but wait they will not go bankrupt because apparently from what I have seen now they are ripping each and everyone of us off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This post will help: Cancelling a Merchant Account Without Paying a Fee
-Phillip
Horrible company!!!! 1st class crooks!!!
They took money out my account for a chargeback on more than one occasion and after calling over 50 times well over a month I keep being told a supervisor has to approve the refund and that they can never get a supervisor on the phone. Each call takes over 2 hours and the collections department closes at 5 so they will either deliberately hang up on you or keep you on hold and wast your time just to say they are going to send an email so the supervisor can call you back and they never call back. Never use this company because they are a scam and they charge a lot more than they claim to charge on processing fees.
This post will help: Best Payment Processors for Great Customer Service
-Phillip
First of all, they lure you in telling you no early termination penalty, no monthly fees, yadayadayada. It’s all false. After looking into the small amount of information they give you, in order to sign up you have to give your account information then they send you a document online to sign. Well, make sure you read all terms and conditions for every little thing. There is an early termination fee and there are all kinds of extra monthly fees you agree to if you sign up. I called them and said I did not want to go through with the service. When they asked why I mention early termination and extra fees. They then sent me an “Adendum” that stated no early termination fees- Hum, I wonder how many people they got away with not sending that adendum to. I still cancelled of course. Never even received any processing equipment or set up my online account. But the monthly charges to my account began the following month. They did allow me to cancel the service the same day after I requested to speak to management. Its been 2 months and I have had 3 fraudulent charges to my account. The first 2 charges it took a few phone calls and emails to get them reimbursed. I’m typing this as I have just now discovered the third fraudulent charge and I’m currently waiting on refund.
Stay away, stay far away from these thieves.
This post will help: 5 Places Where Processors Hide Fees In Your Contract
-Phillip
After 2 months of not using their services, I attempted to cancel by sending in a cancellation document. They claim it wasn’t sent properly and proceeded to charge me over $700 over the course of a year instead of contacting me. I will be doing whatever it takes to get my my money back.
This post will help: Cancelling a Merchant Account Without Paying a Fee
-Phillip
Paysafe has been taking money out of my business account for 2 months. I don’t have an account, processor or recieve any services from them. For the past 3 days. They keep telling me they can’t get a hold of anyone in the department to close the account. The representative said there is no supervisor to talk to. This all happened because I was inquiring about there services
This post will help: Cancelling a Merchant Account Without Paying a Fee
-Phillip
Some how this company has gotten my information & starting charging my account for services never received. Never signed up for this company as I use Square! Called this company June 4,2019 to cancel services I never used because they charged my bank account. They said it was canceled then a couple weeks later June 24, 2019 this company charged my account AGAIN! This time charging $139. I have canceled this again! I’ve never heard of this company & would just like for them to cancel whatever it is & stop charging my account.
This post will help: Cancelling a Merchant Account Without Paying a Fee
Just finished my third call to Paysafe. They are holding over $4,500.00 of our money and half of it is from May 2019. They promise the issue is resolved, however, we still don’t receive our money. Would never recommend this company to anyone!
This post will help: How to Make Your Payment Processor Release Your Money
-Phillip
Never signed up with this company and they have been taking money out of business account for a year. Contacted them and they cannot produce contract because I never signed one. They have taken over 1000.00 out of my account. They need to be shut down and going to do everything I can do make them pay me back my money they stole from me.
This post will help: Cancelling a Merchant Account Without Paying a Fee
-Phillip
Rotten customer service. They’re a credit card processing company alright, and that’s about all they seem capable of doing.
Whenever we have a chargeback, we are presented with roughly 2 to three entire business days to respond, and for them to address our response before we are out of time and have to eat the fraudulent chargeback. They have no care for us as customers and will happily let anyone place a chargeback without giving us suitable time to respond with the information of the sale.
Their phone customer service is terrible as well. We recently got a new machine as our old one was printing poorly. When asking for the new machine, the woman on the phone asked me the time we want our batch closed. I told her, but when the machine arrived, it was set to a totally different time, not even close to what I told her.
As we are unable to change the batch closeout time on the machine itself, we need to call their customer service number to get someone to do it for us. So far, I have had to call and wait on hold twice today, as the first time I was asked for our merchant ID (which I had) and Tax ID (which I did not have and needed to get from the business owner) – I was NOT asked for further information.
The second time, I was asked for Merchant ID, Tax ID, and the last four of our bank account (which is a piece of information they have never asked for and which I did not have, and had to again ask the owner for). So, now I get to wait in line again to see if they decide to add any NEW stipulations on what information is needed. All to change the batch time which they set improperly in the first place.
I just want the darn machine working properly, there’s no good reason for this to be such a hassle and it’s cut into my morning work. It’s a shame every card processing company is awful, it’s not like we have other good choices. What a shame. Terrible customer service every time we contact them throughout the years, they are just consistently unhelpful.
This post will help: Best Payment Processors for Great Customer Service
-Phillip
The are the worst!. Have been trying to resolve Merchant Account and scanner never working for over a month now.
Quick to withdraw their fees from your bank account regardless that your merchant account never worked. A plethora of Ticket #’s and false promises that you will be contacted or refunded. Wait time is 1½ hr with no resolution. STAY CLEAR OF THIS COMPANY!
This post will help: Best Merchant Accounts for Great Customer Service
-Phillip
I just found out that my account was over drown and with out me knowing. I called them and I was on hold for along time after talking to a sails rep she switch me to the people that suppose to stop the account, but know one answer the phone.
This post will help: Best Merchant Accounts for Great Customer Service
-Phillip
We went to this credit card processing company based on what we thought was a cutting edge company with a staff to support it. I have never in my life dealt with such incompetent people. The contact number on the invoice just keeps ringing, so we tried another number from their website and found out we were talking to someone in the Carbbean! They could not find our account. Really? They found it to keep taking funds out. Something needs to be done to stop them. Any ideas?
This post will help: Best Merchant Accounts for Great Customer Service
-Phillip
Thanks for all the positive feedback I’ll definitely give them a shot.
This company is a total rip off a scam. I never used them to process any payment and they charged a bunch of fees that I was not aware of. After we finally found out who was debiting my account, I ask the service rep about these fees and I wanted my money back. He told me that i signed a contract which I do not remember and basically told me tuff luck. The total fees for not using this service were $3200, automatically deducted from my checking account over the past year. Hidden in my transactions. I am a very small business and this kind of fraud is very devastating to my bottom line. These guys are a bunch of crooks. Be very aware.
This post will help: Cancelling a Merchant Account Without Paying a Fee
-Phillip
Skrill moneybookers is owned by paysafe , I deposited funds last year November 2018 into my skrill account 9 days later the funds had not reflected so I contacted skrill ([email protected]) I received a case number and the soon thereafter the funds reflected. In March 2019 I made another deposit this time the amount was much more than the previous 16 days later no funds reflected I once again contacted skrill and explained I followed exact same procedure as last time and no funds reflect, I received an inquiry number and then nothing after that. No funds have reflected and zero communication from them. I have even provided them with the Bank transaction statement.
This post will help: How to Make Your Payment Processor Release Your Money
-Phillip
Company has been holding all processed credits and refunds. This has been ongoing from November 2018 to February 2019. Then they closed our account. November 26, 2018 through February 4 2019 Pay save has not deposited credits or refunds for our credit cards charged. They have closed our account and our holding our funds. I have been trying since February to get the funds released. I have talked to Mohammed 800-549-4631, Patrice Stampp 800-327-0093 and Brenda 800-549-4631. Patrice gave me a reference number 42178586. Mohammed said funds would be deposited almost a month ago. Brenda said today she is waiting for Gina from collections to release our money. I have asked many times for a manager to call us or to speak to a manager. They will not let me talk to a manager. A manager has never called. I believe this credit card processing company business practices are illegal. Do not use them.
This post will help: How to Make Your Payment Processor Release Your Money
-Phillip
Paysafe staff is stupid, and the service is the worst. Their message recording system is cheating. There is an early termination fee for 500 bucks. Don’t use paysafe!
This post will help: Cancelling a Merchant Account Without Paying a Fee
-Phillip
they keep taking money out even though im not using their service,i put a stop on them and they changed their name twice and put it througjh,i finally had to close my account and open under new number.called paysafe after 25 minutes i hung up
This post will help: Cancelling a Merchant Account Without Paying a Fee
-Phillip
Hi there
I would like to make a formal complain about this agent named: ALEXANDER SERFES who actually signed me up for the contract with PAYSAFE.
We had all the conversation and discussion before I signed up for the contract, he sent me an online form and told me everything was as per what we discussed and there was a time limit for the online contract and so I have to sign it quick. I trusted him and signed it and I was supposed to get the device FREE with ONE YEAR ADDENDUM.
However, I was charged USD180.26 since NOVEMBER 2018. I called the customer service and they informed me that I must speak to the agent. So, I called Alexander multiple times, and he assured me that all paper work was submitted for the refund, and I should be receiving them soon. However, it didn’t happen. I called him many times, I hardly could reach him and he hardly return calls or answering my emails. And by early JANUARY, he told me I would receive the refund before 15th of January after his confirmation with the manager, and again, this never happened.
And on Jan 24, he sent me a document for me to sign, I was kind of shock as he mentioned all paper work for the refund was submitted before, however, i signed and hoping I will get the refund soon.
And again, numerous calls were made to Alex, no answer at all. I sent emails to him as well, and again, no reply.
Today, I spoke to the Customer service, and Nicoleen mentioned to me that there wasn’t any request submitted for the refund.
I am not sure if there was a misunderstanding, but however, I am truly disappointed of the service from ALEXANDER SERFES which was so irresponsible as in not returning calls, giving empty promises, ignoring emails.
I hope someone will answer to this issue. I actually read all the good reviews about PAYSAFE before, and decided to go with PAYSAFE instead of other MERCHANT services, but I am so disappointed because of this agent. It is such a small issue at first, but it took 5 MONTHS, and yet I am not receiving any update or answer.
I hope someone will answer to this.
Regards
Gene Phillips
This post will help: Best Payment Processors for Great Customer Service
-Phillip
PAYSAFE? More like waste your time on hold for more than 30 min. at a time. Beware local rep released all my bank information without my authorization and I am having hell trying to get a refund for which I did NOT give my consent I am writing this review and have been on hold for the last 48 min…What A JOKE!!!!!
This post will help: Best Payment Processors for Great Customer Service
– Phillip