Simpay Reviews & Complaints

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3.8
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How did they treat you? ▼

Overview

In this article, we provide an in-depth review of Simpay, a merchant account provider renowned for servicing over 15,000 locations since its 2000 launch and 2017 rebranding from Alpha Card Services. Our focus will be on Simpay's diverse payment processing services, including mobile payments, Point-of-Sale systems, payroll services, and gift and loyalty card programs. We'll also critically examine Simpay's contract terms, rates, fees, and customer feedback, highlighting common complaints and legal challenges. We also explore Simpay's marketing strategies, employee experiences, and industry ratings, giving you a comprehensive overview to inform your decision-making about their services.

About Simpay

Founded in 2000, Simpay is a nationwide merchant account provider that serves most standard-risk business types. The company is simply a rebranding of Alpha Card Services, which changed its name in 2017. Simpay claims that it currently supplies equipment and services to over 15,000 merchant locations throughout the United States.

In 2022, Simpay partnered with Fee Navigator.

Simpay Payment Processing

Simpay processes all major debit and credit cards for most business types. Their services include EMV card readers and swipers, POS solutions, mobile payments, e-commerce solutions, gift cards, cash advances, and employee management tools.

Mobile Payments

With the increasing use of mobile devices in business transactions, Simpay offers mobile payment solutions. This enables businesses to process transactions anywhere using mobile devices, providing added flexibility for businesses with mobile or remote operations.

Point-of-Sale Systems

Simpay provides point-of-sale (POS) systems, which facilitate sales transactions at physical locations. These systems not only process payments but also provide additional features that can aid in inventory management, sales tracking, and customer relationship management.

Payroll Services

In addition to payment processing, Simpay offers payroll services. This allows businesses to streamline their payroll processes, including wage calculation, tax deductions, and paycheck distribution.

Gift and Loyalty Card Programs

Simpay offers services related to the implementation and management of gift and loyalty card programs. These services can aid businesses in retaining customers and encouraging repeat transactions.

Location & Ownership

Simpay is a registered ISO of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., Concord, CA. Simpay maintains its corporate headquarters at 1210 Northbrook Dr #475 Feasterville-Trevose, Pennsylvania 19053. Lazaros Kalemis is the CEO and co-owner of Simpay.

Pros & Cons
Pros: Cons:
Zero setup fee Early termination fees apply
User-friendly products Requires three year contract
Payroll processing tools available Independent sales agents used
Business development technology included Non-disclosed public pricing
Domestic phone support Important terms not always clear

Simpay Customer Reviews

Here's What Their Clients Say

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

Varied Complaint Volume

Over 15 negative reviews of Simpay have come to light, with some customers labeling the company as a ripoff or scam. The predominant grievances in these reviews center around reports of deceptive or aggressive behaviors by independent sales agents, undisclosed fees and contract terms, and issues with unresponsive or inefficient customer support. If you have your own feedback or review regarding Simpay, we encourage you to share it in the comments section below.

Legal Incidents and Financial Penalties

As per our review, there have been no significant class-action lawsuits or complaints lodged with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) against Simpay. Clients seeking alternative channels to address concerns with the company are advised to report such issues to the relevant oversight bodies.

Customer Support Services Provided by Simpay

On Simpay’s website, a customer support email address and contact number are listed; however, details about the services offered through the phone line are currently unclear.

Customer Service Contacts for Simpay:

  • Toll-Free Customer Support: (866) 253-2227
  • Customer Service Email Address: [email protected]

While assessing customer support options, Simpay receives a “B” rating as the existing offerings do not align with the anticipated standards of top-rated customer service processors.

Simpay Online Ratings

Here's How They Rate Online

Online Ratings Summary
BBB Reports 6

Clean Complaint Record

Simpay has an “A+” rating with the Better Business Bureau and has been BBB accredited since 2011. The company has received 6 complaints in the past three years. Only 4 of these 6 complaints was resolved by the company to the satisfaction of the merchant.

What Merchants Say

Simpay has received no reviews in the last 36 months on its profile. A previous review details describe trouble terminating accounts:

This situation begins at the recruitment level when *** recruited us..*** to sell credit card processing to our current merchants that we have ATM business through and is our core business. We were promised and sold on the premise idea that *** understood that all of our customers were from our current ATM porfolio and we had to have the ability to cancel our customers from card processing without penalty or fee, at anytime for any reason. We only made this request because our core business is the ATM customer. *** agreed 100% and promised us that we had complete constrol over all fees and if to charge them or not. This has proven to be false. ***, now SIMPAY continues to charge our former customers fees even though they no longer process with SIMPAY and have all expressed in writing their desire to cancel

Businesses can potentially avoid situations like this by canceling their merchant account without paying a fee.

An “A” Performance

Given the company’s low complaint total, we agree with the BBB’s rating at this time. If its complaint total increases, however, we will lower it.

Simpay Fees, Rates & Costs

A Closer Look at The Contract

Cost & Fees Summary
Cancellation Penalties Yes
Monthly & Annual Fees Yes
Processing Rates 1.00% - 4.99%
Equipment Leasing Yes

Simpay Contract Terms

According to the Simpay program guide (available below), the standard Simpay contract is a five-year agreement that renews automatically for one-year terms following its expiration. Alpha Card Services’ standard contract included an $89.99 annual membership fee, a $35 monthly minimum fee, a $10 statement fee, a $19.99 quarterly regulatory compliance fee (which may be a PCI compliance fee), a $40 monthly PCI noncompliance fee, a $35 chargeback fee, and a tiered pricing schedule.

Simpay Cancellation Fee

There is also an early termination fee associated with most Simpay contracts that begins at $250 but can include the remaining months of a contract. This Simpay fee is a liquidated damages fee, which has the potential to increase a merchant’s overall termination fee by a significant and unpredictable amount. Clients are advised to read the small print of any contract they are given to ensure that they will not be held accountable for more than the $250 cancellation fee (and even this fee is often negotiable).

Industry-Average Terms

We have found some Simpay complaints related to its contract terms, which we feel merit a “D” in this category. We do not believe that Simpay’s contract terms are competitive with the cheapest merchant accounts. See the standard Simpay program guide. We also encourage business owners to check out our list of the providers of the best merchant services.

Simpay Employee Reviews & Sales Tacitcs

Should You Work For Them?

Jobs & Marketing Summary
Uses Independent Resellers Yes
Telemarketing Likely
Misleading Marketing No
Discloses All Important Terms No

Inside/Outside Sales Team

Simpay appears to hire both direct sales representatives and independently contracted sales agents across the country to market its services. We have found several reports in the comment section of our Alpha Card Services review and on other consumer protection websites describing encounters with Simpay agents who failed to disclose important contract terms at the point of signing. These Simpay reviews do not compare favorably to our list of best credit card processors. A company representative has stated, however, that it is standard policy for all businesses to be provided with a summary sheet disclosing all fees before signing, and follow-up calls are then made to the client at two-week and then quarterly intervals.

No Deceptive Quotes

To its credit, Simpay does not appear to use any deceptive marketing tactics on its website. If you suspect that Simpay is overcharging you, we recommend seeking a third-party statement audit.

Our Simpay Review Summary

Our Final Thoughts

Simpay rates as an average credit card processing provider according to our criteria. The company uses independent sales agents to market its products, and its contract terms are roughly average for the industry. To its credit, it does claim to make an effort to inform businesses of the fees they will encounter. Additionally, it seems possible that something resembling a liquidated damages fee is included in some Simpay contracts. Business owners can obtain the best possible rates by comparing Simpay’s pricing to that offered by top-rated payment processors.

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Which is Most Important for You?

If you had to pick one, which quality would you say will be the most important with your next credit card processor? Tap or click your selection to register your vote:

  1. Low Transaction Fees
  2. No Monthly Fees
  3. No Contract
  4. Reliable Customer Support
  5. Quick Signup

Testimonials & Complaints

How Did Simpay Treat You?

6 User Reviews

  • Fidelity K9

    If you don’t have a complete POS already in place you can’t use this company it is just for cheap processing that’s it. Not for a small business. I can’t believe it’s considered “Low to Moderate complaint”! After spending hours just trying to get it set up I find out the mobile processing is a joke. You can’t pick items from your inventory on a device and add it to a ticket. What else is a POS supposed to do?!!
    You get a keypad and you enter an amount of sale it calculates tax and you run a card. If I was running a garage sale it would work but not a business. Completely useless! I ended up having to go to my bank and cancel my card and file for my money back. I wasted hours of time and never processed a single card.

  • Angry merchant!

    Do not use this company at all!!! This is the worst card process company!!! We’ve had issues with them since day one! And their support is useless!! Not even trained properly! And now the EBT feature does not work on the machine even they assured me is working!!! My business loss thousands of dollars per day just waiting for their useless people to fix their error!!!! Fk this company!!! Don’t ever use this company!!!

  • Vicky

    My company switched to another card processing company and was willing to pay the penalty to break our contract. Too bad our reseller is impossible to contact. 2 years of him refusing to take give us a straight answer (and 2 years of paying monthly fees) I finally call the comonay, and their customer support always says someone will “call me back.”

    “Customer service is gone for the day and will give you a call tomorrow morning.”

    They don’t call me back, so I call back. Now Ally in cancelation “will call me back tomorrow.”

    No one calls me back, so I call back and ask for cancelation department.

    “No one is available right now. They’ll call you back.”

    Still waiting for a call back.

    • Lazaros Kalemis

      hi, Vicky please reach out to me, one of my Success advocates will contact you. My email is [email protected]. I can’t tell from here who you are or I wouldn’t have you complete extra steps to resolve the issue. Please remember our guarantee, if we caused you an issue we couldn’t fix we would never hold you to a contract.

  • Matthew Tae

    Simpay is a payroll processor. THEY FAILED TO FILE / REPORT OUR TAXES on multiple occasions in a timely manner. They filed our taxes with incorrect EIN’s, incorrect addresses, incorrect names, incorrect account numbers…. over just one year. It was a complete SH*T SHOW!

    We currently have assessed late filing penalties & interest charges for which SIMPAY has refused to compensate us for even when their client services agreement says they will pay for fines & interest arising from their errors. Despite months of asking and showing PROOF from the tax regulators saying definitively that these penalties are valid… SIMPAY has refused to compensate us saying “we’re investigating it”. This has been going on for about 6 months or more now. “We’re investigating it”… basically means, “F*CK YOU, sue us for the $600 in penalties & interest”…

    UNETHICAL & INCOMPETENT COMPANY. DO NOT TRUST THEM TO FILE / REMIT YOUR TAXES!!!

    • Lazaros Kalemis

      Mathew if we caused the issue we would never say that. If Laura and the Payroll team are investigating they will get to the bottom of it. In many cases customers forget to update us on info they get from the tax authorities and we don’t know of filing date changes. You can reach out to our COO Phil Leone [email protected] and he will get this resolved.

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