Rapidly Increasing Complaint Total
As of our previous review, we were able to locate at least 10 T1 Payments complaints, a couple of which describe the company as a scam or ripoff. However, as of July 2021, we have uncovered a huge influx of negative T1 Payments reviews. Most of these claim that the company is an outright fraud, taking thousands of dollars from companies and closing accounts without providing services. Some complainants allege that they were given short (two days or less) notice about the company suddenly being no longer able to process their payments and then had their accounts closed with large amounts of money withheld. There are T1 Payments complaints that claim that the company can no longer be contacted, including one that even claims to have tried Donald Kasdon’s personal cellphone and found it blocking calls and voicemails. These complaints seem very clearly tied to the lawsuits the company is currently embroiled in. Other issues cited by complainants include higher-than-quoted fees, exorbitant termination fees, poor (even rude) customer service, and withheld funds. One T1 Payments complaint has received a rebuttal from company representatives, who insist that the merchant in question was engaging in excessively high-risk sales conduct. If you have your own T1 Payments review to make, please do so below.
High-Risk Merchant Concerns
In general, there seem to be two drastically different versions of events offered by T1 Payments and the high-risk merchants who complain about the company. Without full access to the details of each situation, we cannot speak authoritatively about what occurred, except to note that the company’s overall complaint total is rapidly increasing and concerning for a provider of any size. T1 Payments will receive a slightly lowered rating in this section until more definitive information is available.
T1 Payments Lawsuits and Fines
T1 Payments was both a plaintiff and a defendant in two 2016 lawsuits involving a now inactive company called Dermaktive, LLC. Dermaktive’s complaint against T1 Payments alleged that the company intentionally conspired to steal millions of dollars from Dermaktive, while T1’s lawsuit alleged that Dermaktive breached its merchant processing contract by intentionally defrauding consumers. T1 Payments also was involved in a 2017 lawsuit in which an undisclosed complaint against the company was filed by credit card processor Vantiv. Only the most recent of the three legal actions appears to have been resolved, but the available documentation does reveal that T1 Payments is a sub-ISO of Atlantic-Pacific Processing Systems.
2020-2022 saw a bevy of lawsuits brought against T1 Payments in an extremely concerning trend. These lawsuits include:
- Vida Divina suing T1 over $233,424 in termination fees. Vida Divina appears to be an “MLM”-style company.
- Diamond CBD suing “for violations of federal and state law including fraud, conversion, theft, breach of contract, breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, unjust enrichment and declaratory relief (the “Complaint”).” This appears to be related to T1 suddenly getting out of the Kratom business, and is in part over $649,311.73 in withheld funds.
- Onyx + Rose suing over alleged breach of contract and withheld funds in the amounts of $204,859.51. Onyx + Rose is also a CBD retailer, which appears to fit the information about T1 shifting its focus and allegedly leaving merchants in its former high-risk categories in the lurch. This lawsuit appears to have been settled out of court.
- A massive international lawsuit involving Dutch company Payvision (who is known to have processed payments for organized crime in Europe) and MLM company Beyond Wealth. According to a report from FinTelegram News: “Payvision is not allowed to act as acquirer in the U.S. due to regulatory and card network restrictions. Therefore, T1 Payments LLC established TGlobal Services Ltd in the UK which entered into a merchant agreement with Payvision already in 2015/2016. In addition, T1 Payments told all its US high-risk-merchants to also set up UK shell companies (conveniently T1 Payments offered a corporation building service). The U.S. business thus metamorphosized into EU business. Consequently, Payvision was able to do the payment processing for its U.S. merchant (a/k/a payment processor) T1 Payments LLC.T1 Payments (www.t1payments.com) apparently represented itself as a registered payment facilitator when it entered into a payment processor agreement with the U.S. MLM scheme operator Beyond Wealth Pte LLC, Utah, in May 2020. T1 Payments offered to process the customer payments for the MLM scheme. In reality, however, T1 Payments was not at all registered with any card network as a payment facilitator. Beyond Wealth learned later on that Payvision in Amsterdam actually processed all their business transactions. Payvision handled all transactions of Beyond Wealth as acquiring company via a sub-merchant account for Beyond Wealth under T1 Payments´ master merchant account. There was no agreement signed between Beyond Wealth and Payvision which transferred Beyond Wealth‘s incoming payments to the T1 Payments bank account with the U.S. Atlantic Capital Bank. T1 Payments paid it out to Beyond Wealth´s bank in Utah. At least this was the plan. A few weeks after entering into the agreement with Beyond Wealth, T1 Payments then did what many high-risk payment processors do – they terminated their high-risk merchant (being all of the sudden surprised about the high-risk of the merchant!), and retained a $4 million balance. Surprisingly, Beyond Wealth wanted to get its money and claimed that T1 Payments and its alleged co-conspirator in the theft, Payvision, have colluded and are fraudsters.”
- Ibuumerang, LLC., an MLM company from Houston, sued T1 Payments in 2022 over the same Payvision issue as mentioned above.
- A further 2022 suit was brought against the company by Gaia Ethnobotanical, LLC, though it is unclear what the suit concerns.
Obviously, these are all extremely concerning and appear to be part of a pattern of unethical and potentially downright criminal behavior on the part of T1. Considering the timing, the shutdown of the T1 website around the same time as this battery of lawsuits coming to light does not seem coincidental. We strongly advise all merchants currently with T1 to follow these developments closely, as there is talk on public complaint sites of a class-action suit. At the very least, we do not recommend any merchant sign up with T1 at least until the dust settles.
T1 Payments Customer Service Options
The company’s website offers an email address for customer support but does not specify a dedicated phone number, live chat, or any other options.
We have located multiple T1 Payments customer service numbers:
(866) 518-2216 – Toll-Free General Customer Service
(888) 209-3169 – Fax
We have also located two T1 Payments customer service email addresses:
[email protected] – Sales
[email protected] – Support
The lack of multiple customer service options is far from the quality offered by top merchant accounts for customer service.
Jeff
We used this company for a over a year. They retained a % of the funds received as “reserves” but after closing our account, they said it would take approximately 10 months to receive our final payment. After waiting and checking on it, they never responded and after researching and reading many reviews, it appears they went out of business and kept the “reserves” for many company’s accounts. Our thousands of dollars were lost but you can avoid T1 if you don’t want to be a victim of the same unlawful activity.
megan FRIEL
BEWARE OF THIS COMPANY, THEY UP AND SHUT DOWN ON THOUSANDS OF VENDORS AND LEFT US HIGH AND DRY FOR OUR FUNDS, THEY STATRED PAYING BACK 10% of what was owed monthly. As of the 15th of November when I should have received my next 10% it never came. Have been emailing their “legal” department with no answer. They owe myself along with a lot of friends of mine that used them HUNDERDS OF thousands of dollars and we feel they are just ghosting us at this point, like they gave us a little bit to shut us up and that was it! BEWARE YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!!STAY AWAY FROM ANYTHING T1!
AS OF THIS WRITING WE ARE STILL OWED 10K WITH NO WAY TO CONTACT ANYONE AND FIND OUT WHERE OUR DEPOSITS ARE!
James
Same here!!! They won’t respond now I know why.
They owe us money, and I guess that’s that. Goodbye reserve money goodbye… And we have zero recourse???
Michael Stockhammer
I found T1 Payments via EMB (E Merchant Broker).
They had me sign contract that would allow me to integrate a payment gateway to accept Visa and Mastercard on my Shopify store.
The funds would be collected via PinWheel.
The funds would be then deposited via PinWheel to my designated account, in this case my Wise Business (formerly Transfer Wise) US account.
The funds would be deposited with 7 business days in arrears and 5% being held as a reserve.
The company T1 Payments notice of closure on my account and what seems like all of their customers’ accounts stated the reason for the closure was T1 Payments acquirer … PayVision.
I am in the process of proceeding with legal action toward whom it may concern. So far we have sent a letter of demand as our first step.
I am only one of many businesses that seem to be taking the same action.
This wasn’t our only payment gateway so I’m glad the funds held are relatively little but still substantial enough to go after (Approximately $17,000USD).
Other businesses have upwards of $500,000 being held.
One or more companies are at fault in regards to not only me but many other businesses.
T1 Payments sent A couple of emails after the notice of closure, one expressing that funds and statements would be released on 15 June then another email expressing funds and statements will be released on 15 July. Around 16 July I received less than $1000 with an email expressing that future releases will be monitored.
I would just like to get to the solution and hopefully resolve this amicably.
Even if many of the other businesses had another way to process funds, majority if not all funds for businesses cash flow are tied up which for any business is extremely detrimental.
Sister Kate
We just put up a GoFundMe to recover $35K that they stole from us in 2019. We tried the peaceful route, to get our money out of them. We tried asking nicely. We tried waiting patiently. Then we tried with an attorney. Every avenue ends up a big ‘f u’. They have our money and they intend to keep it. Don’t let them have yours, please. You will only see a portion rightly returned to you and when you leave them, they keep it all!
John Nash
T1 are crooks. Do not do business with them, they will keep all of your money.
Once we signed with them we processed roughly 5k through them and waited the 10 days as per the agreement, however, over a month a half later and we still have yet to receive any of our funds from them.
They are incredibly rude when you call them, they also stop answering the phone when they realize you’re onto their scam.
They will never call you back, don’t ever wait for a call. Ultimately it is better to not do business than work with these snakes.
You will lose your money. They will screw you over. There is nothing trustworthy about these degenerates.
We also saw a significant reduction in sales after opening their gateway on our site. Due to the UK based bank, no AMEX and a loss of 30%-40% in sales.
You have other options, don’t settle for t1 and their shady practices, head these warnings.
Lisa
I am in the process of signing up with them. I just found this review. They seem very nice so far. If not them Who would you recommend instead? We have a cbd store. Thanks,
Lisa
CPO
Lisa,
You may find this article helpful: Best CBD Merchant Accounts.
-Phillip
mary marcus
Don’t go into business with them – they are despicable and will steal every cent they can from you. They take a reserve and then refuse to give it back. I don’t know how they are still in business –
Dustin Hothan
The WORST merchant company I have ever had the displeasure of working with. We are a small, 1 store company and were forced to use them for our e-commerce solution as we were considered high risk and there weren’t many options available. In the brief time we used them, we sent out over $3500 in product and received less than $1000 of that from T1. We were told upon cancellation that we had to wait 9 months in case of charge backs in order to receive the rest of the funds. Guess what, we waited 9 months and now I’m told that actually, they only owed us about $1000 (not sure where the other $1500 disappeared to), and that they were also charging us a fee monthly since cancellation, so in fact, we actually would owe T1 money! Biggest scam artists I’ve ever seen and honestly have no idea how they haven’t been sued multiple times. DO NOT USE THEM AT ALL COSTS!
This post will help: Best High Risk Merchant Accounts
-Phillip
Nicole DiMonda
By far the most UNPROFESSIONAL and FRAUDULENT company I have encountered.
Setting up a payment processing account at this point in time should not render the type of confusion this comapny will cause. They lied about onboarding fees, caused a waiting period whereby we could not launch our site, costing us a substatial amount of money, which was incredibly detrimental. They also required a $250 fee taken every month, AFTER we signed our contract, and then launched our site without informing us.
When speaking with their reps, they are scripted, rude, and have a complete lack of knowledge regarding financials of their own company. Their recourse is to say they need to contact their legal department, which they did after a series of unpleasantries, including discovery of all hiden fees the sales rep never indicated, which never occurred because the legal team after several weeks never contact us, afetre several inquiries were made. The company is a farce.
There is no legal department as far as we are concerned, and after arguing on the phone, the rep hanging up, we tried to phone back, and each diviison of the company failed to answer the phone.
Imagine for a moment a company of such poor calibur being made respnsible for your businesses financial transactions!!!! One would need a bottle of Zoloft to cope with such horrors.
Please, I implore you as a well seasoned business owner, (we have several other businesses running since the 90’s successfully), they are horrendous.
This post will help: Find and Eliminate Hidden Fees From your Monthly Bill
-Phillip
Customer
2/5 star review
This processing company has provided inconsistent processing service, terrible customer service (they are only prompt and helpful if the issue doesn’t impact them as a business), and finally they are not transparent about their terms, the fees are through the roof.
Overall there are many competitors that provide a better service for a cheaper price. I suggest doing your research and asking questions.
This post will help: Top-Rated Merchant Account Providers
-Phillip
Adam Madi
They are hands down the worst company I have ever used. We entrusted them with our business and TWICE they “accidentally” disable our account on a Friday. The kicker is that they aren’t open till Monday. How would that affect your business?
This post will help: Top-Rated Merchant Account Providers
-Phillip
Bill Rogers
Scam company. They make up bogus claims to keep ahold of your funds. Still waiting on 50K for them to release. They adjust their rates monthly! Horrible company current lawsuit is pending. Stay Away, I wish I would have read these reviews sooner.
From The Editor
This Post Might Help: How to Make Your Payment Processor Release Your Money
Christine bristow
Stay away. We signed up in June of 2018, they held funds in reserve and then cancelled our account 6 weeks later without cause and would not give a reason. They are still holding those reserves 6 months later. We keep having to write [email protected] and are sent back responses to just keep asking them for it.
Reserves are generally held for 120 days which is the length of time that a chargeback can be initiated this has now been nearly 6 months.
From The Editor
This Post Might Help: How to Make Your Payment Processor Release Your Money
T1 Ruined My Business
T1 over promises and under delivers in a big way. I have done high risk billing for 15 years and have never encountered a company that is so bad at what they do. We processed over $100k and never saw a dime. When we got around the “10 business day” mark we called daily just to be ran around the ringer again and again about how our payment should “be in there tonight”. As soon as we stopped sending sales to them the terminated our account. Never and I mean never trust T1 payments. I don’t want to say it’s a scam, but if it looks like a scam and sounds like a scam chances are it’s a scam. So in my opinion T1 Payments is a scam.
From The Editor
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a former agent
Beware. The contract is all one sided. Ask the owner of the company how he got his Lamborghini! Find out where they hold your reserves.
Do a deep dive before you sign! Check the Court House in Clark County Nevada and other lawsuits filed and pending.
Oh yes, when merchants leave you are never compensated the money that was in arrears.
From The Editor
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Customer
Where do I start. They have rediculous web compliance procedures. Have you change your website and remove photos which hurt branding and sales. Removing ANY links to third party sites. 30% of sales get declined due to overseas merchant processing. Poor customer service. Rude employees.
They also charge 10% transaction fee. THIS COMPANY SUCKS. USE ANYONE ELSE.