Independent Sales Team
Challas Group primarily markets its merchant services through a combination of telemarketing and independently contracted sales agents. This sales approach is also used by Datalink Bankcard Services, Tier 1 Processing, and Main Street Processing, and it tends to generate a high number of negative Challas Group reviews from business owners. Challas Group is no exception, as we have found more than 30 Challas Group reviews that describe unwanted phone calls, nondisclosure of fees, a negative work environment for agents, misrepresentation of rates, unprofessional conduct, and, most alarmingly, “slamming.” This does not compare favorably to our list of best credit card processors.
Slamming Allegations
“Slamming” is the practice of calling businesses and posing as their current processor in order to trick them into signing a contract or equipment lease with your company. A representative Challas Group complaint is detailed here:
They called to say they are a 3rd party auditing firm and saw a red flag on my merchant service account. They tricked one of my employees into sending them one of our statements. Challas ( calling themselves Wholesale Bank) said I was being overcharged and they were going to call my current provider to tell them they are in trouble for over charging me and that Wholesale Bank will be taking over my account and giving me “cost” on my processing. Marci ( probably not her real name)that I was speaking with even got off the phone with me to “call my local sales office to yell at them”. She also said I qualified for a class action law suit because I had been being over charged and she would sign me up for that as well. She had me going until she wanted me to sign a lease for a credit card terminal. NEVER LEASE A TERMINAL. She wanted me to pay $95 a month for 4 years! Terminals are about $200 all over the internet. She said the one I had was not compliant and that my current company was charging me $256 a month for non compliant. Not true.
This Challas Group complaint is typical of the complaints we have seen about Challas Group and Wholesale Banc, and it is identical to the feedback we have previously seen about Datalink Bankcard-affiliated companies. The practice of slamming is highly unethical and has resulted in legal action being taken against some credit card processors. Challas Group not only appears to mimic Datalink Bankcard in its sales approach but also in its use of multiple DBAs to spread client complaints out across several brands.
No Misleading Quotes
The Challas Group, Bankcard Analytics, and Wholesale Banc websites do not display misleading rate quotes on visible or archived pages. This lone bright spot is not enough to overcome the company’s large number of consistent Challas Group complaints from employees and clients about its sales practices. If you suspect that you have been misled by a Challas Group agent, you can double-check your monthly bill with a third-party statement audit.
