Overview
Vantiv (vantiv.com) is the merchant services and credit card processing division of Fifth Third Bank. The company is one of the largest payment processors in the United States and is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under “VNTV.” Vantiv entered the merchant services industry in 1991 under the name of Midwest Payment Systems, then changed its name to Fifth Third Processing Solutions in 2003, and then again changed its name in 2011 to Vantiv.
Since its founding, the company has acquired several other credit card processors and ISOs, including ACI Merchant Services, Card Management Corporation (CMC), TNB Card Services, National Processing Company (NPC), Mercury Payment Systems, “>Element Payment Services, and, most recently, WorldPay. Mercury and Element Payment Services have since been combined and rebranded to create Vantiv Integrated Payments. Vantiv is a direct processor sponsored by Fifth Third Bank. The company’s corporate headquarters is located at 8500 Governors Hill Dr., Cincinnati, Ohio 54249, but Vantiv also has offices in Illinois, Indiana, and Texas. Vantiv’s CEO is Charles D. Drucker.
Key Points
- Sales & Marketing: Vantiv hires independent sales agents and has received a low-to-moderate number of complaints about its sales practices.
- Costs & Contract: Vantiv offers a three-year standard contract with a $495 early termination fee.
- Complaints & Service: Vantiv has received more than 200 public complaints.
- BBB Rating: Vantiv has a “B-” rating with the Better Business Bureau and has received 265 complaints in the past three years.
- Rates & Fees: How Merchants Got The Best Rates With Vantiv
Response from Vantiv
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Vantiv Bottom Line
For Vantiv’s size and time in business, the company appears to be performing at an average level in terms of overall merchant satisfaction. The factors that lower the company’s rating are extensive use of sub-ISOs, resellers, and subsidiaries (a tactic which makes measurement of merchant satisfaction difficult to quantify), reports of poor customer service, and reports of nondisclosure of the early termination fee prior to setting up accounts. Additionally, a few of Vantiv’s sub-ISOs and subsidiaries have numerous complaints, for which Vantiv may or may not bear some responsibility.
About Phillip Parker
Hi, I’m Phillip Parker and I believe that the merchant account industry has been overrun by people who engage in fraud and deception in order to steal from hard working business owners. I created this website to help you avoid the bad players, save money on fees, and get peace of mind with your merchant account. If you would like to help support my work, check out my cost analysis service. I can evaluate your statement and tell you exactly how much you're overpaying for your merchant account. Get more information here.
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All I get is a runaround with Vantive.They took all my credit card payments and put nothing into my account. I called them and they said the account was closed. Yet they were able to collect there fees. I had 10 charge backs at a cost of $360.00.I finally got paid ,but not the penalties . This has been going on since early March. I wish I could talk to someone who speaks English . My account was never closed . A lot of BS
Their customer service is deplorable. When we needed to change the main contact address and name for our company, we had to call back three times due to no changes or incorrect changes being made. Any emails I have sent to any of the addresses their tech support gives me don’t get responses for weeks–unbecoming of a world financial company who promotes their products and services as ensuring their clients’ efficiency. On my most recent call to their tech support after their website redirect changes for VTP, I was upfront lied to regarding getting the website behavior changed. I have currently been in their chat queue for “approximately one minute” for 2 hours now. This is ridiculous.
I agree. I just signed up for Access IQ, a site they designed to respond to chargebacks. After emailing them directly to inquire about system errors on their website, Access IQ emailed me back, telling me to call Merchant Services directly.
????
Apparently, emailing them directly per the email they provide on their Access IQ website is pointless. So I call, and I get one of the most inept people I’ve ever talked to. I actually felt bad for him, he was so inept. I had to repeat my question three times until he finally answered it. I ended the call. Couldn’t stand talking to them anymore. This isn’t an isolated incident, either…..had another inept person in Merch. Services the other day, couldn’t explain anything clearly, and he WAS THE SUPERVISOR! smh
It is a SCAM!! Do not use VANTIV worse company Ever !! High Fee’s, unexplainable Fee’s, Awful Service!! Unorganized, NO customer service. They are all about the money!!! STAY AWAY !!!
Vanity recently took over BMO Harris Bank. They are the worse. Keep charging us for prior Moneris chargebacks. You call Moneris and they disconnect you. Terrible, big business service. Leaving next week and leaving the bank for agreeing to handle all merchant accounts through these clowns.
F rating
Vantiv has been a nightmare to deal with. They have owed us $76000 for over a month and have claimed multiple times to having sent the funds, despite nothing arriving here.
The customer service rep we spoke to “Elizabeth” suddenly stopped replying to emails once we had sent a letter from the bank with our confirmed bank information.
AVOID VANTIV! They are a horribly run company.
Be very cautious of this company. Extremely poor service, long wait times, sub-par technology, and excessive fees and a complicated process to cancel service with them.
Note: When you try to cancel service with them they will force you to fax in a cancelation request. First off, very inconvenient in this modern digital age we are in, who still uses a fax machine. Most importantly, be sure you call and confirm, I made the mistake of thinking my account was canceled and they continued to charge me fees for months after I had faxed in my paperwork.
Vantiv, bordering on being crooks. Was charged for things that do not even have a name in the industry, they make it VERY hard to get information. Being a small business saved well over $800.00 per month getting away from Vantiv. When they were Mercury they were okay, now they are crooks. STAY AWAY
We owned a small business and had unfortunately worked with Vantiv, STAY AWAY from this company, find a good merchant for your small business. Vantiv will only give you financial distress and headaches. Sending a link.
If you have a complaint against vantiv, file your complaint also to CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau). It is a government entity to protect consumers from deceptive acts.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/durangoherald.com/amp/177758-vantiv-could-settle-classaction-lawsuit-for-52m
Stay away from this company – total rip off and customer service is terrible. their sales person will promise you everything – do not believe them. Your best bet is to use Square
Vantiv is the most hostile card processing that I had to deal with for the las 3 years, no customer service manners, they are false and deceptive
We recently switched to Cayan only to find 1000+ gift cards we have out would not wotk on Cayan which should have been told to us! Now Vantiv tell us it will cost $$^)) and $90 and hour to get our liability list.
Terrible company to work with!!! I was having trouble speaking to someone about fees going up AGAIN, and no one returned call until weeks later after it was time to decide before the new year to make a change. Wanted to charge $495 to cancel when they didn’t respond to me reaching out to save the account. TERRIBLE! If you deal with this company, watch your FEES… they are constantly going up.. when I calculated last time to discuss, just ball park taking the total sales and figuring out the percentage, I was at 5%!
I have a small restaurant and have used Mercury as CC processor for 5 years until VANTIV took over. We canceled w them and thats when the trouble started.
We switched our old POS ( w the help of NATIONAL SYSTEMS was set up w/ Mercury, because their POS unit was inly compatible with) to Square. We canceled w Vantiv and thought everything was fine. A week later we got a call from Vantiv and was told we made an early termination of contract & breach a contract w them. The rep said there was 18 months of the contract left and we owe Vantiv $9,000.00…wth. They never mentioned anything to us about this at the time of cancellation. How is it an early termination?
Well we found out that there is an auto renewal which we had no idea about. We were never told by our original set agent w Mercury. The monthly fees went up every month when we had them too. This was the reason we chose to leave them. They hired collections to harrass us and now a law office has called us…we cant afford this fee let alone just trying to keep our heads above water everyday.
Is there anyone else who are going through this or have gone through this that can offer advice? We are in dire need of help.
Thank you.
Terri
Ken here
I’m going through the same thing with them!
Not sure what to do!
Collection just started calling
If you find any info please pass forward
We tried to use Vantiv for three years and had to deal with everything from new fees being added to outright forged documents. It was impossible to tell what we were actually paying for a transaction. I filed two cases with them over issues and never received a response. Do yourself a huge favor and use Square. You may think, and they may tell you, that you will pay more but when you total all of Vantiv’s fees you will pay less with Square and you will know exactly where you stand with no hidden fees and get paid quicker. Processing should be easy. With Vantiv it is awful.
Worst company ever. I was I introduced by my Henry Schein rep. He lied about the fees being charged. Very dishonest company. When I showed them all the e mails from the salesperson they did not care!!?
Be careful with Vantiv Integrated Payments ( aka Mercury ) , Their contracts are completely one sided in their favor.
You should lookout for:
1) Liquidation Damages
2) Three year contract
3) their contracts give them the rite to increase prices whenever they want
4) They surcharge above IC markup – meaning they add a second level of charges above
Avoid this company at all cost. Their sales people will tell you interchange plus is your fee. Then they pad amounts above and beyond the interchange. When you call them on this they say read the fine print, they can do that if they want. They also add other little nickle and dimes that add up.
Do not sign a contract longer than 1 year with these people, don’t accept anything they say as truth.
This company does not operate in a transparent way and no small business should deal with them.
Had been doing business with Vantiv for 4 years and was never thrilled with their service or fees or just the overall experience. We changed processing companies 4 months ago and terminated our contract with them in writing and they still kept taking large amount of money from my account. Called them and filed termination agreements with them 2 more times. Got case #’s and assurances that they will stop and they still keep taking money out. Finally I had to get my bank involved because they are the ones who recommended them to have this stopped. They owe me well over $1,000.00 and I doubt that I will ever get my money back. I highly recommend you stay away from these people.
I am a small e commerce business. Worked with Vantiv for over 15 years. I discovered I had been double billed for almost a year in august 2017.
I called and spoke with so many people. No one really knew what to do. I was ready to give up until I found a new supervisor— willing to help. I got my money back.
Now I am looking for a new company. Never again will I put up with such careless and poor customer services.
Henry schein teamed up with Vantiv. The price they quoted me was off by over 40% be careful
This has to be the worst company to do business with. After 3 years and following the termination provisions they still charged me the termination fee of $295. They said they lost my fax…but I kept a record to prove it. Took another month to get that refunded and was very frustrating. They still have access to your bank account so watch them closely. If you are considering them for a low processing rate…don’t. My effective rate ended up being 3.6% by the time I left…it would edge up each month and if you do lots of credit cards that is a sizable number. There all kinds of hidden fees with them so the rate they tell you is not you all in price. Also as others have noted, you will get signed up for all kinds of protection and shield plans without consent. There is fine print that says they can do this unless you notify them to cancel. If you don’t check your statements for these misc charges you’ll pay for them long before you realize it. They just don’t do business the right way. Try Fattmerchant!!! Good experience with them thus far.
Vantiv added a new charge to my bill call BizShield for $19.99 per month. I never asked for this service yet was told by them that I was automatically subscribed. for the service.Crooks!
Terrible Customer Service. Also I cancelled 3 months ago because of the bad service, and they are still charging me monthly fees. I called for the 7th time today, and after waiting on hold for 30 minutes was told I would have to call back in three days to see if my refund was approved! They have taken $204.36 from me since they verified my cancellation, and I have to call back in three days to see if they will refund what they stole! Really?
This is the WORST payment processor of all time. They have the absolute worst customer service — I have actually been yelled at by a representative before. I’ve put in dozens of calls to people, only to never be called back. Every month, they add new fees — a $20 automatic payment for “protection”, then a $35 “minimum charge”, and now a $169 “annual fee” that was taken off of our original contract but appears every year anyway. I have hated every moment of being tied down in a contract with this HORRIFIC company and can hardly wait to submit my account closure form. Save yourself some hassle, headache, and stress and stay as FAR AWAY from Vantiv as you can.
BE WARNED – after 17 years with Vantive/Mercury Pay we cancelled and still got charged $295 early termination (outside of our contract) and a final bill or $258 of BS fees even though we had NO processing during that final month. As a small business I feel this is being taken advantage of a “contract” even though we were more than three years outside of any contractual agreement for services.
This is THE ABSOLUTE WORST merchant services company out there. I have been a business manager for 10 years and business owner for 4, my partner has been a business owner for over 25 years and we have never dealt with a more poorly ran company. Their rates are Extremely high, they gave us extremely short notice to switch companies because of a service we provided in my business (even though we were told that we could offer that service) and their customer service department is a joke! DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND DO NOT GO WITH THESE GUYS!!!!
Mercury Payment Systems was fantastic for the several years I worked with them, but when they got bought out by Vantiv Integrated Payments everything went to hell. It’s been one issue after another plus extensive fees for various things. As a business owner the last thing you need to be spending your time on or worried about is your processing company screwing you each month. There are MUCH better companies out there
The initial low rate they give you is only good for a few months. I found out the hard way.
.Terms and Conditions Page 5, section 12E, under miscellaneous:We may amend this Agreement or change fees, charges, and/or rates at any time. You do not have the same right. We will provide notice of changes in accordance with the Notice Section of this Agreement. If you continue to process transactions after, or fail to notify us that you contest a change within seven days of actual or construction notice, you will be deemed to have accepted that change.
asked they to correct 1099-k amount for me, which they made wrong, they ask me to call to irs, let irs to correct me. Are you serious?
Entirely too complicated. A simple Merchant Month end statement might as well require the WWII German “ENIGMA” Decoder to capture. Same with miscellaneous Monthly one time charges. Who designed this feckless CC processing University extension course for gathering Information website??
I have been trying to provide written notice to cancel my contract for the last month – first 4 times by email (only reply was to try to get me to stay) and now have sent a certified letter to the Colorado address for Mercury Payments (acquired by Vantiv some time ago, but it was the address on my contract). Has anyone had success cancelling their contract? Do you mind sharing how?
Worst mistake ever. Vantiv are liars and con artist. offered us a 3% rate and they would take 8%. Fees, Fees and more fees. raised rates 3 times in 6 months. On phone for over an hour. Customer service is rude.wanted $350.00 to hey threatened to take us to collections if not paid. Agreed to pay $750.00 and they agreed. got it in writing. they took the money out that day then 3 days later took out another $350.00. Called them back and we had to fax them a copy of the agreement. They said man who agreed to do that is on vacation. Been over 2 weeks and still have not received our money back. Been with the Square and couldnt be happier.
AVOID THIS CARD PROCESSOR AT ALL COST!
I just opened a small business (food truck) and decided to get a card reader to add the potential of accepting cards with necessary and they were recommended by my point of sale. WORST MISTAKE EVER! They lied to me about the fees that were associated with the contract and now that I want to cancel they are still trying to charge me fees and wont allow me to return the equipment. I have been trying to two weeks to get in contact with a supervisor and have yet to receive a return phone call. The New Account Specialist are liars and will omit terms that may sway you to use another card processing service. Go with square they are 1,000,000 more reliable and don’t have any small print. STAY AWAY FROM VANTIV!!!
I have been a customer of Vantiv since June 20, 2017. I have to admit before switching from Chase Paymentech to Vantiv I was very nervous and skeptical. Vantiv is integrated with my POS system which is In Touch POS in California. To my delight, Vantiv, so far has been totally amazing. From next day deposit, to customer service, and just all-around great company to deal with. Every department has an expert who is very knowledgeable. I highly recommend Vantiv for your business credit card processing.
These people are scammers!!! They can not get my machine working properly. I am no longer under contract with them yet they say they will charge me $4000.00 for potential money they would loose by letting me out. They have access to my bank account so I know they will rob me. Do not take them on as a credit card processor.
They are crooks. We have used Vantiv processing for three years, the term of our contract, and at the end of the term, followed the contract’s written notice provisions to terminate. That did not stop Vantiv from withdrawing a quarterly fee for no activity and then once we called them on that and pointed out the error, they withdrew an early termination fee. We are now fighting to have our money returned and whenever we call customer service, the money will be “refunded by next Friday.” This is apparently how Vantiv makes a significant amount of money, ignoring their own contract provisions, and illegally tapping into clients’ bank accounts. If you terminate your Vantiv contract, notify your bank that no further withdrawals are allowed from them. Your bank might back you up. Ours did not.
DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!!! I have been on hold for 45 minuets and I am loosing business as we speak. They are crooks, scammers and lie about everything. Stay away!!!
Been a long time Mercury customer. Time to change…good luck getting any answers: you are either bounced from one department to another, placed on infinite hold, or told to leave a callback number which can take days to return. You need to shop around to get a better deal.
Horrible company. Customer service is terrible. The employees don’t have a clue how to help you and barely speak broken English. Also they have charged my customers 200 plus dollars and will not deposit it to my account. They are a bunch of crooks and fruads. My recommendation. Do Not Use Vantiv or any company associated with them.
Now on my May statement, they have additional information at the end;
“Effective July 1, 2017, you will be assessed a $7.50 monthly chargeback service level fee. You will no longer be charged for chargebacks per occurrence. Your fee is subject to periodic review…”
I’ve NEVER had any chargebacks in the whole time I’ve been with these guys, about 5 years. Now I get to pay $7.50/mn to cover other people who get chargebacks. So I’m paying $90/yr now and get nothing but the possibility of it increasing.
Every month Vantiv is trying out some new scam to charge me for or auto opt me into something. Best scam on the planet, and they get away with it!!
Take $7.50 times the number of their customers and that’s how much extra money they’re going to get monthly as of July 1st.
DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THEM. Stay away! Even their own employees are told of the “Liquidated Damages”. They tried to gouge me for $7,348, then backed down to $5,000, then $1,700 then $1,100 and only if I removed any mention from them from Social Media. It feels like paying a ransom.
I am in a similar boat. Been with Mercury/Vantiv for 10 years. I cancelled the contract and switched processors because they kept moving our negotiated rates up and adding in extra fees. They now want $21,000 in liquidated damages for 2 locations.
What was your resolution for this? I am in the same boat right now. They had an attorney calling us now.
I’m trying to cancel my Vantiv this month. I’m worried about Vantiv automatically withdrawing thousands $$ for liquidated damages so I contacted my bank to block any new withdrawals from them. I’m a small business with a family to support.
This sucks. When I signed up the representative showed me there was no Early Deconversion Fee on my application, but failed to tell me about liquidated damages.
Were you able to resolve this issue? I’m in the same situation.
BE AWARE OF VANTIVE
53 bank branch in Michigan referred to me Vantive as a merchant service provider. I thought it will be a very honest and legit company because my bank mentioned that the services are through 53 bank. After talking to the sales rep and told him that the only way I will go with them if there is no contract and if the fees are reasonable. Vantive uses nothing scams, lies and ripoff, I found out that we are under contract, mid qualified rates are totally different than what was sent to me in the e-mail, got charged to transactions that were canceled the same day and never closed them and the sales rep told me you will never get charged for transactions that will be canceled the same day as long as you don’t close it. I filed a complaint with BBB and waiting to hear back.
Have you heard anythinh? Since Mercury was bought out by vantiv I have been chasing chargebacks, fees, trustwave fees etc. They are awful
Mercury was the original processor I used. I never had much contact until one of their swipers broke off inside of my IPAD. I took it into the apple store and was unable to fix it. I had to talk to multiple people at Mercury just to get a new swiper free of charge. I was down $400. About a month later I received a letter saying a customer disputed a cc charge. We had a signed copy of the receipt on file but due to the fact that we didn’t use a chip reader they were unable to cover our damages. We were charged the cost of the bill, a charge back fee, and some other fee as well. The incident set us back over $100.
These are the reasons I called Mercury (now Vantiv) in January. I wanted to change to a chip reader. I was misinformed that the swipers were the only option. I was given a better rate and signed a document agreeing to that but let the rep know I would still be looking for anew company. A month later I switched over and paid 30 days worth of fees with Vantiv during a month where I did not use there services. I then called and let them know, again, that I would be switching companies.
A week ago I was charged a cancellation fee of $600. This fee is for not giving written notice. After multiple conversations informing them I was looking for and, eventually, had found another company not one rep advised me to write in. Notice was given, I was ill informed that verbal notice would be sufficient. $600 nearly overdrafted my account. This is a manipulative way for a cc processing company to take money from small businesses. Over the past year I paid Vantiv/Mercury thousands in cc processing and hundreds in damages caused by there equipment.
Without consent (and with notice given only in a small-print, 3rd footnote in a marketing email message) Vantiv recently added a $19.99-per-month service called “BizShield” to our merchant account. When I called Vantiv to ask about this, the first two CSRs did not know what was going on, the third one informed me that the service had indeed been added to our account without our permission. Apparently, they have unilaterally added this fee-based service to all merchants without our consent. Upon complaint, they told me we could opt out of the service.
I learned this because we received a telemarketing call from a business called Womply (who run the underlying BizShield service), attempting to upsell us. When he called, the Womply representative quoted us our Vantiv merchant account number and our last month’s transaction volume (to the penny).
So, in addition to forcing an unwanted fee-based service onto our account, Vantiv is sharing our business’s private financial data with third-parties.
If you are a Vantiv customer, look out for these practices.
Horrible Horrible Horrible… when signing up, the are great and very supportive.. When you ask if we are locked into a contract, they tell you that you can cancel at any time. They forget to tell you that there is a $490.00 cancellation fee.. Horrible, Horrible, Horrible.
Our software has been integrated with credit cards for various types of sales and payments for more than 20 years. We were forced by the credit card industry to be PCI compliant a few years back. The first time it cost us $10K. Then 3 years later we were supposed to pay $15K to re-certify. We decided to go the route of using tokens and Vantiv was basically the only processor that was willing to assist us to develop a new interface. They were absolutely awesome to work with and still are today. Most of our clients use them and we have not heard any complaints. So I don’t know what all the negative is about.
We used Icverify for 20 years. It had a few different owners but was owned by First Data when it eas “shut down” last year. We, as a developer, were not even notified. We were forwarded an email that one of clients got from them in March or April of 2016.
They were no longer going to sell Icverify and support would end on July 31, 2016. I May 2017 we got our first wave of Windows update calls that prevented Icverify from processing. Icverify was helpful that month. The same thing happened in June only this time NO ONE was answering the phone at Icverify (aka First Data). First Data cut off support and dropped the ball on anyone using Icverify before their own published date! And why did they only give a 4 month notice? Anyway every month since then Windows updates have stopped Icverify from working. Thanks First Data for nothing!
At this same time we were finishing our token interface and have been installing it since last fall. Our clients have a choice of processors to use. Out of the dozens of client upgrades we have done to the token interface, 5 have chosen to use First Data. EVERY single one of those has been nothing short of a headache for the client and us.
First Data is rude and all they do is want to blame someone else for their mistakes.
Vanitv is so much better to work with. First Data gets my vote for the worst processor to work with.
Hi Linda,
Please reply to this comment with your business name and location in order to authenticate your testimonial. Thanks!
Absolutely the worst processor EVER, if any lawyer wants to start aclass action I would agree.
been processing since 2009 with them and they never disclosed they were charging 100% fees for the returns, so htey kept the interchange on the sale and if i processed the return they would charge me the same as if it was asale. total greed, total unethical behavoor by these lying crooks at VANTIV, sorry for the spelling mbut its that angry and disappointed i am about these crooks. I’m OUTRAGED that a company this horrible is part of our US.
I’m so upset. Vanviv was integrated into a softwear that I used and I was never told that it was a 3 year contract and now they want over $3000 to close the account…my business is closed and small business owners don’t have money. I do believe a class action law suit is very important so they can’t prey on small business owners.
– Very bad,, lier , ignore customers, canceled 4 month ago they keep charging my account every month $88.00 for four month plus they charge me 495.00 , I called they ignore calls . they ignore VM specially when you leave a VM that you want to cancel . rip off rip off .
To tell you the truth I don’t see how your still in business, wait times, lies, deceptions, false charges false paperwork , I don’t blame you for doing business over the phone because I wouldn’t want to be you if a CUSTOMER ever did meet you face to face, best of luck in the future!! Might have you for now but nothing says we have to use your turd company!!
What a crock of BS this “company” is. Lies and more lies and no answers about questions and when you do get an answer it takes forever to receive it. I have never done business with a company so poorly run and I am sure it is not run out of the United States and it is running out of another country as you cannot hardly understand the people that you finally are able to speak with. I would never do business with 5/3 Vantiv processing. Class action lawsuit is definitely in my thoughts. We have been so overcharged by this company it’s unbelievable. Currently with Transnational and our fees are anywhere between $1000 and $2000 less a month than with Vantiv.
Run like hell, they have overcharged me thousands and have done nothing to make it right. They claim that it is PCI’s problem and once you get into the PCI phone swamp, there is no accountability. You will get a different person giving you the same non answers every time with mystery supervisors that are always busy and never call back if they even exist. Every operator sees the error and agrees that i need a refund but every request is denied for (Get this) because the operator has not provided accurate data. So its not even something you can fix. Their answer? Submit a new request and round and round we go with nothing resolved and know one owning it.
Bottom line, they can can over charge you for thousands and you will never get to anyone that cares.
A 25 year customer of mine from the Philippines just purchased $2922.09 worth of dental supplies from my company. For the last 25 years I never even once had a problem billing my customers credit card. I was with Paymentech through Chase Bank.
Having switched banks in January I last Friday needed to process a credit card sale for my good customer with my new account at People’s United Banks with Vantiv terminal.The terminal would not process a good credit card. The same card was used last November 2016 and processed with no problem with Chase Paymentech. The Vantiv terminal refused this card that my customer said had adequate credit limit on it. They confirmed with their bank. We tried to process the card many times as the bank in The Philippines said to my customer their card was good to keep trying it. We then did a manual authorization which went through but was then denied again the next morning. And this same customer not once had a denial in 25 years doing business with me when we used Paymentech terminal. Today is Wednesday, Five days later and my customer still is without his order because Vantiv terminals are Fort Knox. The think I am a fraudelant vendor. This stinks. If this problem is not solved later today I will terminate my new agreement with Vantiv. Paymentech from Chase never had this problem. If you do lots of overseas business be warned Vantiv terminals sucks.
Horrible experience. Very, very sensitive and therefore it’s actually too risky to use this processor. They put funding holds without a heads up for very minor, minor issues. I do not recommend using them.
I’m an employee of a highly rated credit card processor.
For those battling continuing fees or Liquidated Damges, most state DOJ’s will gladly help business owners negotiate a good deal for you. Most of the time “no charge” will be Vantiv’s reply.
If you would like to use me as a resource without worrying about me soliciting you, reply through this forum.
I too, want to clean up my industry!
how do we do this? Just contact hte CA DOJ? I need to do this against VANTIV they hav ebeen ripping us off since 2009!
Go to your states DOJ site. There should be a place for you to make a formal complaint. Try to keep it factual and less emotional. I know it’s hard but they have a tendency to read factual complaints over emotional complaints. Have any documentation and dates ready to send with complaint. Make sure you put the amount, if any, in where it asks for what your willing to settle for.
Hope this helps!
I have been a Vantiv customer since 2005 when I opened a commercial account with Fifth Third Bank in Southfield, MI. About a year ago, I was looking at ways to cut costs and started going through my account statements in detail (something I should have done earlier). To my shock, I found that the transaction fees that I was being charged added up to much higher percentages than I was originally quoted. Some months, the fees represented more than 10% of the card transactions that were processed! Since I don’t process a lot of credit cards (my customers mostly pay by check), it never occurred to me to analyze these costs before. I am so glad I did because it made me research the market to find more cost-effective alternatives. You really need to be aware of all the other fees that they charge, beside the straight discount rate. On top of the discount rate they were charging me $65 to $95 per month in flat fees, as well as an annual fee that was supposed to be only $45.00 but is now $169.00! Furthermore, when I closed the account, they charged me a $300.00 “early-closing” fee! “Early-Closing”!?!? I’ve had this account for over 11 years! I know that there are worse merchant services providers out there, but I haven’t met any. This industry is so competitive now, I cannot believe that it took me so long to cancel my account with them. They might have been a good company 11 years ago, but they aren’t anymore.
Hi,
Purchased a software for my site, Booker.com. Through this software I was to get Vantiv’s Services and a card processor. I never received the processor and cancelled the software within two months. Booker neglected to inform me that I would need to cancel services through Vantiv Communications as well. I never did and this company has continued charging for a service that has never been utilized. I contacted them and explained the situation and they refused to reimburse me. Stating that they have no means of showing I never used their service. Really!!! They have never had a transaction under my account, how could they not see I never used their service. This is completely unacceptable business practice. I feel robbed and taken advantage by a company that can clearly afford to refund monies they’ve taken without providing a service in return.
If anyone has some advice please help!
Make a formal complaint through your state DOJ.
Company does not use the new terminals uses old-fashioned technology does not even use the pin chip option… Impossible to get a hold of them… Do not use
ABSOLUTELY the WORST customer service EVER. You will NOT speak to someone based in the US. Even if you ask the off-shore call center for the phone number (866) 655-5353 BTW. I have now been on the phone for 47 minutes trying to work out a DOUBLE charge…off-shore CANNOT help…PERIOD!
I am Brad Johnson owner of Johonson Tree service. We have been using this company for 15 years. The first thing they did was charge us over 1000.00 for a machine lease. The bank informed us later that we could have purchased it for 200.00 from them. Then they charged us a fee for paying early. Several years later we tried to switch companys and Fith Third Bank told us they would close are accounts if we did. We started out paying 5.00 per month, now its 50.00. We called to close the account today. They informed me that after 15 years we are being charged 295.00 for closing account early. They also said because we did’nt cancel before the 25th of the month the account won’t be closed till the end of the next month and monthly fees apply. They also charge a anual fee, They also charge for yearly compliance. Their rates are high and they charge extra for non qualifying cards. Our new company has a much lower flat rate for all cards we except. They charge 25.00 per month that covers all extra fees, The machine is free. and theres no contract. With out a doubt this is one of the worst companys we have ever delt with. Good riddance.
They have some of the worst customer service. I have on many occasions waited for 30+ minutes to speak to a live person. As I am typing this I have been on hold waiting “in que” for 16 minutes after being told the wait time would be about a minute. They have gone down hill since Vantiv took over and they were pretty low to begin with. This is just an awful company to do business with from a customer service stand point. I would highly recommend trying to find someone else. They are the Comcast of the card processing world.
I have worked with Vantiv (Mercury Credit Card system) for over 8 eight and always had the best Customer Service and Pricing. I would recommend then to anybody looking for a great Credit Card processor.
To authenticate your testimonial, please reply to this comment with your business name, location, and/or website.
That is BS. I just called VANTIV today. Total 2 calls not to mention several calls from last few months. Each call took about a good 30 minutes in order for me to have someone working on the issue. Level 1 can not solve the issue, blame back to my POS, blame the VANTIV system …. I asked for level 2 or 3 or supervisor, going no where. All they do is wasting your time on the phone even with different departments. They even laugh at me when I asked for supervisor. Promised to call me back on the issues but never until I called back and ask for it and still only 1 call me back.
I wish that I do a little more research and read all negative comments in here and other sites before signed up with VANTIV. They never fulfill their promised. Salesman promised me a subsidy $500 cover the terminal cost but now they are not honor. We have to stuck with them 2.5 yrs. Don’t go with VANTIV. If you have their promised, put them on the contract before sign it. Email between you and salesman not good enough.
Stay away from VANTIV if you can. Run away from them.
Company has terrible customer service. Does not answer phone and does not return messages. Although I have cancelled services, they continue to charge me a monthly fee. I have requested a refund and still have not heard from them. Terrible company to deal with. Do not use under any circumstances.
I have not processed for over three years and now since I have contacted them three months ago, my rate increased 77.40 per month and they just took out $216.40 plus the monthly rate. I would never ever recommend to anyone to do business with Fifth Third Bank!
I cancelled by service after doing business with this company since 2007. Without any warning, $295 was taken from my bank account ( they called it early termination penalty). This is ridiculous as I was way pass my contractual obligation of 3 years. Warning! Don’t use this company for your credit card processing. They rip you off with excessive fees and penalties. Very bad customer service trying to resolve any issues.
really? I’m just looking into signing up and checking out all reviews before doing this.
Our company had signed with Global Mercury payments in 2011 and never had problems. We were completely unaware that Vantiv had taken over and when the point of sale machine became obsolete, we were contacted by Vantiv; but they never sent us a new one and they have not allowed us to close our account with them. Despite several phone calls (good luck getting an actual rep to speak with) letters and emails since March 2016, they have not responded. We tried to stop them from taking funds from our bank account, but were unsuccessful; the bank says we have to cancel our contract with Vantiv – how can we cancel when they won’t respond to us?? Very shady, dishonest way of doing business and they should be shut down.
Do not do business with this company. they have held back my money for several days and I just spoke with a rep and his response was ” I don’t know”…………..I will be changing services immediately
I recently switched to Vantiv because the sales rep said that my business would save between $50 to $100 each month, which would have been a big help in my small start ups budget. Well, my first month’s fee was twice what I was paying previously. When I contacted the ales rep so she could fix the mistake she said that someone in the company told her that we have to be customers of Vantiv for a year to be eligible for a rate review. We emailed back and forth for over ten days and only when I realized that she was misrepresenting facts in every single email she sent, did I decide to cancel my contract. There was nothing of good faith in her dealings with me and the contract I signed did not at all provide for any savings whatsoever that she had said we would see. When I said I wanted to cancel my contract she indicated that she would make significant changes to my contract and that she could ‘match’ what we had been paying before and that she would request a refund for the previous months fees based on the new numbers in my contract. I had trouble believing that she would do that and besides, that was not what I had signed up for…matching rates. I cancelled my contract asking for the proposed refund and a waiver of the early termination fee which was $375. I did not receive the refund and my bank account was debited the $375. I filed a complaint with the BBB of Louisville, KY. The first response that Vantiv sent was that they spoke with my rep and that she told them that she had been trying to make everything right and they said that they could not help me because I had ended my contract. I responded that she had not been trying to make it right but had been stalling, delaying and even contradicting herself and I sent copies of the emails to prove it. They came back with the same response as before and the BBB closed the case and labeled it as Answered. Unbelievable!!!
I got an annual fee of $89.00 last year and this year 10/07/16 it went up to $169.00. Almost 100 % increase so I called them and here is what they said. It is because of the complexity of processing the credit cards. Does that make any sense ? The complexity of processing cards ? Total BS
These people – like many young people these days – are unscrupulous. READ YOUR CONTRACT BEFORE YOU SIGN ANYTHING. Watch everything and expect no explanations as to the abuse that come your way unless you are EXTREMELY attentive. You won’t even receive a return phone call about your questions if you are calling them out.
I have been with vantiv for seven years. I signed a three-year contract. They have been raising my rates and charging me Annual fees PCI compliance fees so I decided to go with another company. I just called to cancel my service and they told me that I would have to pay $175 cancellation fee even though I have not signed another contract after the 3 years because they told me after the 3 years your contract automatically renews. I have to call back March 31st to cancel my contract they just took $129 annual fee out of my account. I am absolutely Furious. I never signed another contract with them after the 3 years I should be able to go to whoever I want. I am a small business owner I do not have this kind of money. The company I went to is actually saving me more than half of what vantiv has been charging me
This is the worst company I have ever dealt with! They will try to sign you up for a 3 year contract, never do this! They want over $3,000 just to cancel the contract. They have horrible customer service and are a huge pain to deal with.
I have been dealing with Vantiv for 6 years and have updated my rates with them on three different occassions only to find out that my rates were never lowered. I left them and am saving over 100k in my 2 restaurants. Vanity wants me to pay a fee of 60k for leaving them even though they didn’t hold up there end of the contract. The fees they charge are outrageous and almost impossible for the average person to understand on their statements. I called Vantiv and asked them to explain my fees and could never get a straight answer.
I would be very cautious dealing with them.
This company has the worst customer service and policies. It has just cost us $350 to CANCEL our account. DO NOT USE THEM! There are many other alternatives that are cheaper and much more responsive.
Vantiv is a criminal, incompetent company. I changed providers after 10 years of being with Vantiv (including several years with a company they bought out). I called to cancel my account with them on 7/12/2016. I was never able to get through to anyone after trying for an hour. Finally I left a voicemail with their “loyalty” department, explaining that I am cancelling effective today and that I need someone to call me back as soon as possible to confirm. I gave them 3 days. I never got a call back from them.
I called them on 7/15/2016 to try again to get the cancel processed/confirmed. After 4 and a half hours on the phone, getting the runaround, I finally emailed the required Request Close Form to the customer service department. They were so incompetent that they said they were not able to send me an email reply confirming that they received it. I told them I was not hanging up the phone until I had something in writing stating that my account was canceled. I told them I needed this because I did not want to have to call back in a month when they drop the ball and have to dispute any future charges. They assured me they got it, finally sent me an email from [email protected] stating “Email received with close letter attached.”
I did everything I could to cancel the account and even got a confirmation number 04408848 for the cancelation call. The agent said I could call back with that number if I had any trouble with future charges.
Well, guess what? My 7/31/2016 statement came in the mail and they charged me $189, including a brand new $169 annual fee for the next year!
Today on 8/17/2016, I called them again. Over an hour on the phone with another incompetent agent, she says there is no record of my “Request Close Form” and they have no record of the email confirmation they sent from [email protected] (which I have a printed copy of), and my account is still listed as Active. She asked me to hold, came back with the same thing that she did not see my email or request close account. I told her I didn’t care and that I needed my money back now or I was going to the police to file a report and then to my bank to report the fraud. After a long time of trying to get through to her that the account was already canceled and I wanted my money returned to me now, I told her she has 8 minutes to figure it out or I was hanging up and heading to the police department. She came back after 2 more minutes and said the same thing that she could not find my close request form. I told her she was out of time, told her off, and hung up on her.
I then went directly to the police station and filed a fraud report against them. From there I went to my bank (Chase) and filed a fraud report with them. I showed them my evidence, which they did not collect, and paid $30 more to put a stop on Vantiv’s future ACH transactions. I informed Chase that if they side with Vantiv, I will be closing all business and personal accounts, which I have held there for over 10 years.
Now, my wife is on the phone with Vantiv telling the same story and still getting nowhere with them.
My advice – do not use this company, they are crooks and it is impossible to cancel. They are incompetent and unable to help when you need them. Plus they add ridiculous fees constantly which is why I left them in the first place.
I tried to cancel this yesterday assuming the fee would be about $400.00 to $500.00, no problem. The guy named (Tim Fugua) said, we would owe him $22,000.00 because we still have 17 months left on contract. He was nice and said he would reduce it to $16,000.00 to cancel the account, (nice guy lol) which was ridiculous, and then he became rude to us. I can’t believe this company still operates like this and gets away with legal extortion, I thought lawyers only did this. I’ll see where this takes us in the next few days. I’ve been in business since “74” never seen anything like this. BEWARE
@Florents Malo. Please let me know about the result, if you’re able to resolve your case with them. We both have the same case.Mine is still in the process and we just exchange emails, so we’ll see what will happen the next few days. My account is now closed and charged my account a termination fees of $295 and yet they still claimed that I owe them $$$$ for some damages for cancelling the contract. What a rip off! Always check the reviews before signing up with any Merchants. Almost all of VANTIV REVIEWS ARE BAD!!!
I did not cancel until it expires, I’m not proccessing any cards, costs me around $50.00 per month better than $16,000.00. I even went to 5/3 CEO/President and Board explaining this suck ass company. Got now where.
I was billed for Omnishield Assure ($24.95) my first two months using their credit card processing service, while page 2 of my contract with them states $0.00. I still have not been refunded for those amounts. I revised my contract on 4/26/16 to remove the Omnishield Assure fees, then without notice I got billed in June for $169.00 PCI COMPLIANCE and $79.50 REGULATORY COMPLIANCE FEE. Nether fees were made aware to me, and especially with the REGULATORY COMPLIANCE FEE they alerted me on my bill statement that closed on June 30, 2016 that “Effective June 2016, you will be assessed a semi-annual Regulator Compliance Fee of up to $79.50. This fee will be assessed each year in May and November.” Quite plainly, they charged me then let me know afterwards. I’ve contacted customer service and they refuse accountability in the initial contract error ($0.00 Omnishield Assure versus the $24.95 they charged) and refuse to offer a refund. I was told that a manager, Ned, will get in touch but he has not. They’re only offer to me is to cancel the contract, at no penalty….. no penalty except the nearly $300 that I am now out.
I hear ya, man. It’s just what they do.
I just noticed the fee on my statement too. Labeled as “ASSURE BUNDLE”. I just revised my contract a few weeks ago, and I had just recently purchased an EMV reader from them too.
You have to watch EVERY statement you get from them EVERY month. They like to make extra money from forcing everyone into these plans. There’s a plan for almost anything, and they seem to always auto opt-in you into it. There are so many of their plans which I don’t need/want and I always have to call them or fill out forms and fax back to opt-out.
I think this is how they actually make their money, by “auto opt-in” everybody and see who notices and cancels. I feel sorry for the people who don’t watch their statement every month. I’m sure they’re paying way more than what they should be each month, and probably have about 3-4 plans they don’t need.
So again they have held a large transaction and it is impossible to get through on their phone line. The website has a feature wehre you can leave your number for them to call you back. You probably have better luck waitibg for Santa Clause. I used to be with Mercury and pretty happy with them. Vantiv have been a nightmare and so far I have also had no luck trying to cancel the account.
I’m surprised this site gave Vantiv 2.9 rating. We had a large online transaction last month Vantiv has hold the fund and not releasing it, even they confirmed transaction with our customer.
I been calling them for last few weeks now they even don’t answers my phone calls.
I tried to refund the customer but this time this transaction went straight to my bank.
DO NOT USE VANTIV.
Massive junk fee and un disclosed protection fees!
Will sign you up on their security and protection plan without your consent, then will charge you directly from your checking account their annual fee for termination!!! unless if you continue with their merchant services. Big scammers. BEWARE!!!
Do not signup with these guys.
Horrible company, policy and procedures failed. Tim on 7/4/16 was so rude he ended up hanging up on me as I was trying to respond to my credit card alert. You never should be asked for your full credit card number over the phone and Tim was pissed that I wouldn’t which made me wonder is this company a SCAM. Charles Drucker CEO has no idea what he is doing and hires incompetent people paying them minimum wages with a high turn-over and putting millions of card member at risk for fraud of a company suppose to be protecting the card member. I am demanding my bank to stop doing business with Vantiv or I will leave my bank. It is not safe to do business with companies like this.
Small businesses beware!!!!
I have been using this company for years. In reality we did start off with a different company that was bought out by Vantiv.
In the past couple years the rates have skyrocketed. I recently switched to a new company (Square) was VERY HAPPY and cancelled with Vantiv. Or should I say attempted to?! I did the normal thing and called customer service to speak to them and let them know we want to cancel. I called at least two dozen times and never got through. I waited on hold anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour. When I finally spoke to someone they told me I had to fill out a form and fax it in to cancel. It took me a month to get this information. We never processed one card during that time and I was charged over $200 for processing nothing! What a rip off! Also my service was not canceled. About a month later I got a letter back saying the wrong person filled out the paperwork and the account holder had to fill out the paperwork to cancel, when the paperwork clearly stated it was the person on the statement that mean the cancel (me). I started all over again and have my husband fill it out and fax it in. Here I am four months later $1200 plus stolen from my bank account and it’s still not canceled! What does it take to get rid of these people? Maybe a lawyer? That’s what we’re doing tomorrow. We have processed over $8 million with these people and this is the thanks I get. I’ve never written a bad review but today’s the day.
I should mention I have spent over 12 hours on hold at this point trying to get through to customer support and speaking to no one. They do not answer ever!!
a local food co op here in Cambridge NY uses this company i discovered a double charge…resolution is not as swift as taking of my money twice was…still waiting 15 days so far…
Do not use Vantiv. Just DON’T. You will regret it. There are so many other smaller companies that will appreciate, respect, and work for your business….this company takes the word “exploitation” to another level. I’ve tried to close my account for 3 months, still unsuccessful. I hate them. Simply hate.
This company is the WORST! Has been stealing money from my business account for months and they wouldn’t cancel the account the business’s former owner had set up. Beware!!!!! Fees and Auto Renew and lengthy contracts.
This company is a fraud and a scam. Their PCI DSS report is a fraud. They will charge you non compliance fees for months before they inform you of a report that a small, new business owner may not know about. I had two other credit card companies before Platinum Choice Bancard who is associated with Vantiv. Never did I have an issue with any non compliance fees. These two companies charged me for equipment fees that I already owned, and regulatory and non compliance fees of a report I was never informed about. No one in charge will return my calls, and when I call back with my case #s I am told the refund is denied. Scam, Scam Scam. SMALL BUSINESS BEWARE
This company is awful. I used them to process my credit cards for 8 years. In this time my rates kept going up. Upon finding another company that cut my rates in half, they would not match them so I preceded to cancel my service with them. After 8 years they wanted to charge me $250.00 because I was in an automatic renewal period. So I’ve been paying $16.95 a month for 9 months now. I called again today and the lady was rude telling me that every company does this. No they don’t! This company charges higher rates and will not let you get out of your contract. I have 2 businesses and have had them since 1994 and have never wrote a negative review in my life, they’re that bad.
I have also never written a negative review. I have been charged 4 months of fees when I cancelled already. I have proof!! $1200 in fees so far and I don’t know what to do anymore. They are disgusting. Fraudulent monsters.
BEWARE!!!!!!!! DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!! I would not wish this company on my worst enemy!. This company started out by sending me a W9 which I filled out incorrectly. (Filled in Tax ID number when they wanted SS#. ) This in turn sent my company into a tail spin. Vanitv started garnishing my credit card daily deposits by 28%!!!! When called customer service no one at Vantiv could understand or figure out why this was happening?? it took over a month for my bookkeeper and I to get a answer of what we need to do to fix what was happening. After all said and done they took out $30,000 out of my account and gave it to the IRS. When I went to cancel Vantiv as my credit card processor. I was first told that the credit card reader was still in a lease and that I need to pay $550 to pay that off. Now I am receiving phone calls that I had closed my account early and that I owe them $9000!!!!! It is time to get a attorney. THIS COMPANY IS RUN BY BLOOD SUCKING PEOPLE! AND ARE PREDATORY CREDIT PROCESSORS!
I had no problems with Vantiv so far. It seems to be solving my issues if I have any. So far so good.
Hi Pam,
Please reply to this comment with your business name and location in order to authenticate your testimonial. Thanks!
Shelbi, they did the same thing to me!!! Did you get your money back and if you did how did you go about it? It’s been over a year and I still cant get me 11,000 back!!!!
Do NOT use Vantiv under any circumstances. They are a big dumb company that move extremely slow and rarely fixes their issues. I was a customer for over a year processing around $6,000,000 with them. Their platform goes down constantly and they do not respond to emails or voicemails. You would be doing your business a disservice by utilizing their service. Use Stripe, Paypal Payments or any other processor… event Auth.net – and they are horrible too.
DO NOT USE VANTIV UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.
Years of horrible customer service, and more than 200 hours logged on hold. FINALLY we were able to change to a new processor and focus on growing the business. For the record, we have $60,000 worth of old CC deposits still at Vantiv – to release they are requiring a signature from an employee that has passed away. After 3 1/2 months of being on hold, faxing forms, and arguing we decided to eat the 60K just to get away from Vantiv. And, it was worth every penny!
Every company manages to hire a few idiots, and normally if you get bad service you can just call back. Somehow Vantiv has been able to exclusively hire idiots and/or convert normal human beings into idiots. This skill is their one and only competency.
Anyway, finally free from Vantiv!
I had a small business and used Vantiv for processing. This is a warning, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCE use Vantiv. Vantiv uses an another merchant that is called Lease Finance Group out of New York. Lease Finance Group leases the credit card machine and when you sign up with Vantiv. With Vantiv you will be signing a 48 month lease for the credit card machine which cannot be canceled and will cost you THOUSANDS of dollars. In addition, the Customer service for Vantiv/ Lease Finance Group is Horrible. The salesman of course does not let you know you are signing up for this machine through another company during the the paperwork. Avoid being ripped off and do not do business with Vantiv or Lease Finance Group. The contract doesn’t even go over all the terms and conditions of the lease for the credit card machine.
DO NOT USE VANTIV/ LEASE FINANCE GROUP FOR YOUR CREDIT CARD PROCESSING AT ALL COST FELLOW BUSINESS OWNERS!
Ohh and Lease Finance Group was sued for multi million dollar suit and lost for DECEIVING small business owners and withdrawing mone AFTER their accounts were closed. Of course the salesman for Vantiv would not tell you this because they need their commission. You have bee forewarned!
HORRIBLE customer service. I’ve had an account with them for about two years now. Every single time that I call in, I am on hold for hours. It does not matter if it is a small problem or a big problem. The wait times are especially long if you are transfered to a Level 2 support team.
One time it was so bad that I had to drive to the branch (while on hold) and have the branch manager call an internal phone number to get assistance with my problem. Vantiv is horrible!!!!!
Worst credit company.
Please be careful with “liquidated damages” and the 295.00 early termination fees.
Horrible customer service.
I change 6 business to another credit card company and they try to get @ 10K in liquidated damages from me.
I DO NOT RECOMMEND vantiv AT ALL.
What did you do to get out of the liquidated damages. They are trying to say that I owe then $9000! because I closed the account 7 months early…. You can read my post farther down.
I’m having the same issue here. We have no idea how to resolve this. Dealing w Vantiv got us nowhere.
No happy with the service or lack there of I received about fees on a machine I never used. I requested $7.50 of the $52.50 in fees I has incurred and it was denied. My suggestion is to find a different company to use. This one will nickel and dime you to death.
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I have been a customer of this company for so many years, I can’t remember ever not being their customer. We have been ope for 27 years. We run our business with the utmost integrity and am just stunned by the way we have been treated by this company. I purchased a credit machine last September when we were all told we had to change to the new technology. Then the troubles began. The machine did not work properly which led to me having to contact Vantiv numerous times. Each time I had to sit on hold for at least an hour, sometimes 2 – 3 times a week. Then the rude comments started coming by one of their *sales executives* John Mills. He even at one point said I didn’t own my own machine and I had to prove him wrong. I finally had all I could take and changed companies. I sent them a letter cancelling their service. They locked my credit card machine. Which remains locked to this day since the first week of January 2016. My next move will be to hire an attorney, as well as educating as many people as I can to their unethical business practices. If you are considering a credit card processing company, do your homework. Check them out. Some of them are not worthy of your business.
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This review is from the standpoint of a 5/3 customer. Since 5/3 pawns off their “fraud detection” to this department/company and it hasn’t been reviewed, I will be happy to be the first. This company has successfully frustrated me to the point that their very name makes me angry. I’m normally a very patient person but these guys definitely don’t have their act together. I run a successful IT business that is very security conscience without any credit card transaction issues, yet somehow these guys seem to think it’s ok to continually block my card after simple transactions from the Apple Store or any other 3rd party I try to make purchases from. Long story shortened (I know too late right?) After 8 attempts (the first 3 times I was nice, the last 5 I will admit I was downright nasty but for obvious reasons) and a visit to my home branch to resolve the problem it still never got resolved. I will be moving my money away from 5/3 this week because enough is enough. It’s enough to make a customer feel personally discriminated against and if I could bill Vantiv for all the problems they have caused me it’s would be $3200.
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We opened 4 cellphones stores in April. The POS system we signed up with only integrated with Mercury so we opened up an account with them. Their Customer Service Agent was wonderful and provides with everything we needed, sent me the terminals I needed without charging me. We had even had an issue a couple months in with one of the terminals and they shipped it out next day at no charge to me. Everything was great up until around beginning of October. I noticed that my accounts got debited an oddly large amount. Knowing what each store was producing, I looked at the recent statement that we had received for the month of September. Low and behold I saw a charge of $169 per each of my stores under the Fees portion listed as Data Security. I called it a little irate because I had just been debited $676 out of my account since I had 4 stores with 4 merchant accounts set up. I immediately called in do discuss and the person in charge of discussing this told me that this was a PCI Compliance and that there was nothing she could do. I informed her that not only were we not notified properly but that $169 per location was a little apsurd. She said that the only way to avoid that charge I could sign up for a monthly compliance of $39.95 per month. I told her that it was crazy that I would be signing up for a monthly charge x the 4 locations I had. I told her that I wanted to cancel immediately at the end of the month since I was already mid month. They send me an email with the RMA to return the terminals. I replied to that email and informed them that I would send the terminals at the end of the month. At the beginning of November I sent by their terminals. I waited a couple weeks to inquire about whether everything was completed and how I could go about getting those $676 refunded since I had cancelled because of them. The same person I spoke with when I called to complain told me plain and simple that I was not going to receive that refund. They never cancelled my account at the end of October as they were suppose to and didn’t cancel my account till December 12th when they finally sent me the paperwork to fill out. Therefore I was charged for the month of November all of their fees plus 79.50 for some Reg Comp. 79.50x 4 locations is another $318 plus all the fees for that month of November that I should not have been charged for. This company seems to be great on the forefront but they are scammers and charge you all kinds of hidden fees and then claim they can’t give you back your money. I will never do business with this company again and it’s a real shame. Not only did them manage to loose my business since I recently opened another store, making that 5 locations but I am well vested in the industry I am in and I will make sure nobody that I work with or any of my colleagues every use this company again. They owe me $1216.
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I would not recommend this company to anybody. Our credit card machine has not worked in a week. We have spent over 6 hours on the phone with customer service and tech support only to be transferred from 1 person to another with no resolution to our issue, They do not provide the service we pay them for.
The worst company I have ever dealt with in 30 plus years of business, 29 minutes on hold and counting and three employees on hold at the same time here, we are trying to get through. It is the same thing every time. You and I would be out of business if we treated our VALUED customers like this. They should close up shop & go out of business because they are so horrible. My fees are 2.85 % for MC, 2.84 for Visa, 3.50 for Amex & 2.84 for Discover so all will know.
ALL we wanted to do was add more of the mobile swipe devices for our people in the field so we were going to give them more business and this is how they treat you! I’m not big on excuses, if they say “they must have been busy” unusual call volume, whatever they try to say to make an excuse it will not be acceptable. DO NOT do business with this organization unless you want to deal with a lot of grief, waste a lot of time and have NO CUSTOMER SERVICE. NOTE EVERY SINGLE REVIEW IS BAD. I would bet that I could write a book while on hold here about how horrible of an experience this has been. I will stop doing business with them when they pick up we are cancelling. We actually have already called & scheduled for our banker to come by and he will be here in the morning to review all. He also said he will bring the customer service number for us to call so we can see how they do things there! (great idea) . So now its 38 plus minutes on hold . DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH VANTIV
I love how all of these people who comment about the contract and own or run a business, DIDN’T READ THE CONTRACT! I used Vantiv for a few years until I sold my business and I let the contract lapse, no fees or problems. I have a few problems over the years with outages or things that break, which I figured happens. I never waited as long as anyone else did for support, 5 or 10 minutes maybe. The fees were cheaper in the long run then other processors. Overall I’d say I was happy with them, if I ran another business I’d give them a shot while comparing them to the competition.
C’mon people, learn to read the contract. Read the whole thing, every line and mark it up with questions and ask. If you don’t do your due diligence then its YOUR fault. Take some responsibility for your actions.
Hi Mike,
Please respond with your former business name and location in order to authenticate your testimonial. Thanks!
As another post said…I wish I had seen these reviews, which is why I have made it a goal to find at least 1-2 review sites every week to post our negative experience. Hopefully it will help others avoid the bad experience.
As stated by others, Vantiv is NOT the company you want to use for processing. We had a bad experience from the start with being sent the wrong equipment. We later experienced problems with multiple charges, overcharges, and failing equipment. Anytime my manager attempted to call support he was put on 20-30min or longer holds and if he did get someone on the phone, they would shuffle him to someone else for another hold time.
When we finally had enough and wanted to cancel, we explained to Vantiv that we did not expect a cancellation fee. They said they would look into it. They then charged our account a $500 termination fee, although the termination fee was stated to be $295. When asked (a phone call that took over an hour to get through) they said our complaints held no merit and that the other $205 was for processing the $295 termination fee!!
There are decent processing companies out there….Vantiv is NOT one of them. Do your business a favor and stay clear.
In June, 2013 I opened two credit card processing accounts with Vantiv, one for retail and one for online. I understood them to be one-year contracts (but they turned out to be 3 years), and the sales agent didn’t mention an early termination fee.
I closed my Vantiv accounts in April 2015, and the first week of May, Vantiv took $750 out of my bank account for early termination fees.
I talked with various folks at Vantiv on April 30th and asked for the $750 to be refunded. One person said they will look into it, and that I should call back in 3 to 5 days to check on the status. When I called back on May 5th, the person I talked to had no information on my request, and transferred me to the “Loyalty Department.” The man there said there was no way I can get the fee back, as it is in my signed contract. I asked to be transferred to his supervisor, and he refused.
I also called Vantiv on May 1st, and asked for the $750 to be refunded. That person said she would have it looked into and someone from Vantiv would call me back within 48 hours. They never called me back.
I filed a complaint with the BBB yesterday.
NOTE: I will admit that I had good results with Vantiv until I closed my accounts. Vantiv did save me some money compared to the previous CC processing accounts I had with another company.
So how do we start a class action suite. They never deposited some money in my account and it’s taking month for them to investigate!
Worst processing company I have ever dealt with. Rude agents, if your lucky enough to get anyone at all on the phone!
I wish I had read these reviews. UGH. We are in a living nightmare with VANTIV. We are a small grass roots paralegal assn. Not much in budget. We wanted credit card processing as an aide to our members and vendors. Our bank rep recommended Vantiv. Not knowing anything about this side of the business we sought their assistance. The monthly fees are way too high and practically depleted our reserves. We cancelled our agreement with them in March 2014. I called repeatedly asking them to stop sucking $100 from our account for their credit card processing fees when nothing had been charged. I’ve been calling and writing, and getting no where. Finaly today (Dec 2014) I was informed that we signed a 4 year non-cancellable lease and that I’m personally liable as guarantor to the tune of $1350. Money which I don’t have personally and our small association doesn’t have either. The Vantive rep didn’t care and threatened to sue our organization. We are closing our bank account to stop the bloodsuckers from accessing our tiny reserves (believe me we have less than $100 in our bank account). Apparently we still have 3 years left on this contract. No worries, they won’t see another dime from our organization but I’m sure they’ll be calling and harrassing us and me personally. We’re going to have to hire an attorney to see how we can break this contract since we want out and don’t have money. Best advice I can share: Don’t use VANTIV period.
DO NOT EVER work with this company!!
This is a very dishonest company!! actually the worst I have ever worked with.
They kept taking money by “mistake” from my account. Every single time a “mistake” happened I had to call this company to get reimbursed and argue about it for hours!
The sales person also lied about many things before selling her products, after the sale never answered the phone anymore.
I will have to close my business account to stop these thieves from taking my money.
Do not read it and think it is just one more complaint from a frustrated customer and that this is not gonna happen with you. It will!
TERRIBLE COMPANY TO DO BUSINESS WITH! do not recommend to anyone!
I have been told that VANTIV is owned by VISA. Anyone have any info. I do not find it in anything I’ve seen.
Do not do business with Vantiv! You will regret it! Have been trying to cancel service now for weeks, and am just getting the run-around. Despite faxing the close request form from multiple Fifth Third Branches, they keep claiming different parts of the form are being cut-off. Oh, and the only way I found that out is because I called them. They did not call me to say I needed to re-fax the form. They just charged more fees. They refuse to accept the form via email, and they refuse to give me any kind of confirmation in writing that account is closed. We are no longer under contract. Wish I had read all of the negative reviews before signing on with them. Last time I called customer service the rep, Victoria, refused to transfer me to a supervisor, refused to wait on the phone while I attempted yet another re-fax, and then hung up on me.
This company is the most dishonest company I have ever encountered and policy that obviously caters to them. I have replaced the original contract signer and so he obviously is no longer with the company. NPC tells me they cannot deal with me or with the owner of the company that they only can deal with the individual that signed the original contract. I guess there isn’t a clause within the document for that.
Also, I have tried to follow procedure outlined in the original contract but hey that’s not the way they do it anymore. The phone numbers have since changed, etc. Wow, really. And guess what, monies are still coming out of the account, because even though I have documentation that I sent to terminate the contract timely, it was somehow not received. Hmmmm…now the contract can continue says the tiny print at the bottom and your locked in and monies continue to come out of your account. I believe this to be fraud. There must be a clause within any contract in the case that the signor is no longer capable to serve that position. I was told that a fax was needed to terminate the contract from the original signor so I did find him and he kindly obliged. Now I’m told that he would need to delegate someone to take his place by yet another fax.
I’ve been yelled at by this company, hung up on and I just want to end the contract and stop them from taking our hard earned monies that they are not authorized to take.
Yes, I am a bit frustrated as this has cost me many man hours of research and being on the phone, etc.
If I close the bank account maybe then I will get resolution.
Worst choice ever! If you value your money and business. Never, ever choose Vantiv! ACH Compliance Fees…Non-Regulatory Fees, Hosting Fees…..and many, many more hidden charges you are never told about up front and then told by Vantiv it was my fault for not knowing. I feel like is was legally robbed by Vantiv.
How their license hasn’t been pulled by the SEC is beyond me. They hired a new manger from the now defunct Icon, then Axiom, and finally Oracle (Sean Mecham – look him up) who was wanted by the SEC (and currently sits in jail) without vetting him first. I had the displeasure of meeting this crook. If Vantiv can’t hire the right people, stand behind their word, or stop deceiving consumers, they are going to be a has been organization with a lot more people sitting behind bars.
He’s a little something from the Phoenix Business Journal. This is the type of people who are employed by Vantiv and I’ve had many of the following examples happen to me in less than a year of Vantiv services. I am currently cancelling all present and future dealings with this organization and I would urge everyone to try someone else other than Vantiv. I hope you read this in it’s entirety. It’s from 2013.
The proprietors of Valley credit card payment processing companies have been indicted on money laundering and wire fraud charges by a federal grand jury in Phoenix.
Sean Clinton Mecham, 36, Ashley Brisbin Mecham, 27, Jonathan L. Cannon, 31, and Jake Brisbin, 26, were indicted on various charges this month. They were executives and employees at Icon Payment Solutions, Axiom Merchant Services and Oracle Payment Services, according to court documents.
Prosecutors allege the Mechams deposited $2.9 million worth of ill-gotten gains into accounts they controlled and used the money to buy a luxury boat, Mercedes and Maserati cars and off-road trucks for racing.
Their companies processed credit card payments for retailers and other businesses. The indictment charges the quartet with misleading customers into signing leases for credit card machines and forging as many as 200 business owners and managers signatures.
They also were charged with changing contract terms after business clients signed other agreements. Sales prospects were told they would pay lower credit card fees if they signed up with the defendants’ companies.
The Better Business Bureau and other consumer websites also list complaints against the company and the executives. One consumer complaint says there may be some family link between Sean Mecham and deceased former Arizona governor Evan Mecham.
Ashley Mecham and Jake Brisbin were arraigned on charges Nov. 7 in Los Angeles and were released. Cannon was arraigned in Phoenix on Nov. 12, according to prosecutors. Sean Mecham is still in custody pending trial, according to prosecutors. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for Arizona want Sean Mecham held arguing he is a flight risk, skipped court hearings for civil complaints against his companies and has previously withdrawn large amounts of cash. Court documents also show prosecutors claiming Sean Mecham threatening employees, family members and others from talking about his business dealings.
Mecham and other defendants could not be reached for comment. David Eisenberg, a Phoenix white-collar defense attorney, could end up representing Sean Mechem. Eisenberg said he has not yet been assigned to the case and declined further comment.
The numbers of that business in the investigation have been disconnected or are no longer in service.
As you see…things can change when greedy executives get their hands on your money. As of today…Vantiv won’t give me all the money we agreed upon like they said they would.
Good Luck and don’t ever say I didn’t tell you so.
Ripoff I tried to cancel this agreement after 9 years and wad help hostage by Mitch Gross. worst company to do business with ..charged my account $700. cancellation fee.
I am contacting the Better business bureau to get this vulture out of the credit card scam
Vantiv charged us an early termination fee even though we only had a 1 year term and we closed our account after 2 years. We’ll be filing complaints with the FTC and our state AG as well as taking legal action. And their customer service was the worst of any company we’ve ever dealt with. Someone should file a class action against them.
DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. They are a rip off. They have taken money from our account without authorization. The Customer Service pretends like they care, BUT THEY DON’T! I am still fighting to get our money back that they say are credible charges. Oh how I regret ever working with this company.
I signed up with 5/3 processing (Vantiv) as a brand new business owner. I had had accounts with 5/3 for years, and had been happy with them, so after being inundated with merchant service providers and not understanding much about it, I signed with someone I thought would be fair. Big mistake. The fees are an average of 2-3 times what many other providers offer. The contract is 3 years, and automatically renews unless sufficient written notice is given–fine, I can do written notice.There is an early termination fee of $295, again, that is fine. I would gladly pay that to get out from under them. But hidden midway through a very lengthy contract is the liquidated damages clause. As I apply this to my own situation, this could run $6000 to $10000, and I am a very small, very new business. This kind of charge would bankrupt me in an instant. So I am on the hook to this company for exorbitant fees for about another year, and see no way out.
As an additional bonus they required me to lease a terminal for $45 per month for 4 years ($2160). The terminal new would cost about $200.
DO NOT DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY…. I have never sign a contract with this company but somehow they worked their way into our system from taking over the previous company that I have used Novus. I have asked with verbal and written confirmation to terminate our contract, even though I don’t have one. It took me a year to finally closed out the contract, but recently they debit and annual due of 89.00 out of my account without my permission. They refused to refund back to my account. Their fees area outrageous!!! Can you guys help to bring this company to justice!!
Cancelled with them due to massive fees, and then they deducted $250 from my bank account for early termination (after 4 years!). This fee was not mentioned when I signed up and I asked and wrote down every fee that they did admit to, nor was it mentioned when I cancelled. Really scammy.
DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY.
This company is scam. i sat down with the sales representative and discuses about my current credit card processing company how they are charging extra fees and their rates are much higher than theirs’; they promised me that i will save money by signing up with them, so i did. what a biggest mistake i made.
Right after i sign up the contract, this sales person changed my contract rate that he quoted me without me knowing, i am now paying more fees and higher rate than i have ever did. I call Vantiv about this and they admits the wrong doing and send me the refund. however, a month after the refund of the extra fee, all my rate went up. i call them once more and this time i was told this is want i will be paying. i required to have the contract cancelled, which stated on the contract that i can do so, but i got rejected.
Do not do business with this company. They charge excessive fees and when you try to cancel they will charge you a $295.00 early termination fee plus liquidated damages which would be in the thousands according to Virginia a customer service rep. They are also charging us a $500.00 PCI compliance fee that other companies don’t charge along with a $139.50 monthly breach assistance fee per location, this is also a fee no other company seems to have. I was a customer of Fifth Third Bank and mistakenly trusted them when they approached us about using them as our credit card processor (BIG MISTAKE). I spoke with Jason at FTPS and he was little to no help and now he doesn’t even bother to respond to my e-mails. I will be contacting the BBB to file a complaint along with FTC and E-commerce.
Do yourself a big favor and find another company to do business with Vantiv is the worst.
My experience with Vantiv has not been positive. The sales rep did not disclose a $5 per ticket “pass through” fee that made it prohibitively expensive to use their service. They have twice imposed fees without notifying me and after I have addressed the issue with them. The different departments are isolated from each other, and I have received three different sets of instructions and information about how to close my account. I would not do business with them again, knowing what I know now.
Caution; Vantiv fees are excessive, inquire with intuit solutions or any other carrier for better value. Upon discovery of the excessive fees that Vantiv had been charging us, we cancelled with them in writing. 15 days later they continued to access our bank account(without authorization) deducting additional charges for early termination fees. In addition, they charged us another 179.00 for annual fees for the next year that we are’nt using, and refuse to refund even a prorated refund. I would caution anyone from doing business with or allowing access to any accounts with Vantiv as they have shown unlawful and dirty business practices.
Our lawyer informed us that they lost automatic deduction authorization the minute we cancelled in writing and additional charges should have been invoiced by mail as a final explanation of charges. We are going to start proceedings against Vantiv with our bank, the Federal Trade Commission, and then in court after steps 1 & 2 have been fulfilled .
Save yourself this trouble and don’t use Vantiv.
Richard Clos
Poor customer service and long wait times at Vantiv. Disputed a charge I specifically had a confirmation number for my call on in which I was told I wouldn’t be seeing any further charges. Had to call yet again when I did in fact see further charges. Spent over 90 minutes in runaround calls to be told I was wrongfully informed and my fees would not be removed. TERRIBLE COMPANY TO DO BUSINESS WITH!
This is a review that was left about our business thanks to Vantivs aweful service…..very frustrating!!!!
“My dog was happy and they seemed nice enough. She is a runner, and did not get away, so that’s always good.
I get a bad feeling about their billing practices though. They charged my credit card twice. FIRST time I called them, they said to wait to see if it was a repeat transaction. SECOND time, they said wait 7-10 days, as it was the credit card company’s fault, and it will be refunded. THIRD time, they said 1-3 business days. 2.5 weeks later, I finally have my money back, but who wants to go through all that mess, especially after what was supposed to be a relaxing vacation??
Bottom line….cash is always better at small businesses, for you and for them.”