Sometimes, a salesperson will tell you anything to get your business. We’ve seen it. We’ve had a few of those salespeople (and we’ve fired them). Most merchant processors employ their own salespeople, and many also employ agents – people who are authorized to represent the merchant processor who get a commission if they sell to you. This is a common practice in our industry.

While we do our best to hire ethical people to represent our company, and we provide training and resources to help them, we can’t always know how they’ll act when they’re in the field without supervision. Unfortunately, we (and others in our business) have had salespeople and/or agents who have done things like quoting the lowest rate possible and representing that as the rate for everything, or promising free this or that, or creating expectations in one way or another that just aren’t realistic.

When that has happened to us, we have fired the salesperson or de-authorized the agent to represent us, and we’ve done our best to work with each customer impacted. We won’t put up with it, because it puts YOU in a bad place.

We’ve also put safeguards in place through our Customer Service team so that, when you become an EPS merchant, we walk through your contract and your statement with you so you know everything – first hand, from us. If it’s not what you signed up for, or you feel like you got tricked by a salesperson or an agent, we’ll make it right before things ever get started.

If this ever occurs, please contact our Customer Service team, and we will investigate the issue immediately. We don’t take this issue lightly.

If you were to carefully read every complaint – on any merchant processor – you would find that many of them have to do with the customer getting the funds from their transactions (your money). The credit card associations (i.e. VISA, MasterCard, Discover, etc.) lay out rules and policies about what a transaction can consist of and how it can be done.  For example, the associations do not want to allow transactions to go through for goods and/or services that are not received by the cardholder, or for any product that is illegal.  On occasion, transactions are “flagged” for review.  This happens via some automated processes (random checks) or based on specific criteria laid out by the Sponsoring Bank, or simply a transaction that seems “out of the norm” for the customer.  This is done to protect everyone, merchant and card holder alike.  We had an instance where a deli employee inadvertently charged a customer $9,950.00 for a sandwich order when in reality the transaction was to be $9.95.  The employee was very busy and just pushed too many buttons.  We were able to identify the obvious error and get the transaction corrected prior to impacting the card holder and merchant.  This saved a lot of aggravation on the part of the cardholder and a lot of fees and embarrassment to the merchant.  Transaction reviews are typically completed on the same day the transaction occurs but at times it takes a bit longer to sort through the issue.  In those instances, the flow of funds is held to insure the integrity of the system and the validity of the transaction.  If the transaction is valid, or needs to be corrected like in the example above, the funds flow promptly after the review is completed.

As we discuss elsewhere on this site, there are several parties involved in every credit card transaction. Any burp along the way can cause a customer to get frustrated. Since we (and our fellow merchant processors) are the ones whose name is on top of your statement, we get complaints even when it’s not something we can jump into and resolve.

What we WILL do is work with you to find out what the issue is and get it addressed as promptly as possible. And, if it’s OUR issue, we’ll get it addressed even faster.

As we discuss elsewhere on this site, there are several charges and fees that appear on your monthly statement, some of which are controlled by other parties to the credit card processing process. Every six months, the credit card associations publish their interchange fee schedules. These fees are iron-clad and cannot be altered by anyone but the credit card associations.  Rates can be raised or lowered depending on how the credit card associations perceive the market and/or current market risks.

The newly published schedules advise the credit card network of any changes in fees or new fees, and when they will take effect. We alert our customers as early as possible about these changes.

If you see a change in your statement that causes you concern, we welcome your call – and we’ll get to the bottom of it with you.

Occasionally, we get complaints that revolve around documents we should have received – documents that would compel us to take some sort of action, i.e. cancel an account, review a fee, or revise a contract. Many times, after digging into the facts, we find that documents were sent to the wrong company, the wrong person within our company, or to a general fax number without a cover sheet. In most instances, this results in a minor inconvenience for you.

For major actions, like cancelling or revising your contract, we highly recommend that you send critical documents two ways – electronically (email or fax) and through the postal service. For emails, request an acknowledgement from our staff. For faxes, keep your fax transmittal record. For mail sent through the postal service, send it with delivery confirmation.

If you keep your records and can provide them to us when requested, we’ll be in a much better position to address whatever issue you’re having, promptly and professionally.

Unfortunately, mistakes are part of the human condition, and from time to time human error does occur. Please rest assured that if an error occurs, EPS will be expeditious in correcting the problem and will go to the furthest extent to correct the issue. We’re committed to you.

The credit card associations have each established strict guidelines for various aspects of the credit card transaction lifecycle. These policies frequently impose strict time and performance requirements on merchant processors (like EPS) and merchants (like you).

An example of this might be a piece of documentation, like a sales receipt, that is required to be submitted within a specific number of days. While we realize that merchants frequently work twelve or more hours a day in their businesses, these requests are not something that can be ignored until a convenient time (because we all know that there’s never a convenient time when you’re running a business). Failure to comply within specified deadlines could cost you fines, fees, and potentially even the loss of proceeds from a sale.

These penalties could be a one-time occurrence or on-going, as in the case of PCI compliance.

We sometimes get calls from irate merchants who have lost the proceeds from a sale, or who have seen a large fine or fee show up on their statement. If it’s a case where a credit card association deadline was missed, we’re unable to do anything to help. But sometimes we get blamed anyway.

Pay attention to every communication you receive from Mastercard, Visa, Discover, etc., and us. It could mean a huge difference to your business.

When you’re switching providers, it’s critical that you tell your new provider every detail about your old system. Once you’ve made the change to a new provider, it’s important to notify your old provider immediately. The best way to cancel is to have the principal of the business notify the old provider in writing by sending a cancellation by mail, as well as a copy through email and/or fax.  We have had situations where merchants thought they canceled their old provider but were still being charged. If you are not clear, be sure and give us a call, and we’ll be glad to help you out.

Visa, Mastercard, Discover, AmEx – they all have their own separate and distinct fee structures. While they’ve made an attempt to make their requirements as similar as possible, they still have their own naming conventions and codes. You may never see some of these fees, and some you’ll only see once in a great while – and some could be newly implemented by one or more of the credit card associations.

We can understand your frustration with trying to decipher the fees that are on your statement. That’s why our Customer Service team is available to help you. It’s also why we’ve published an ebook – The ABCs of Fees, a downloadable resource for you to keep, as well as an online glossary of terms to assist you.

These fees may well be covered in your merchant services agreement, but when merchants don’t have that in front of them, it’s easy to think that we’re tacking on a fee ourselves. We’re not.

You can see it in our BBB reviews, and it happens even more than those reviews represent. Here’s the thing: the financial services industry, of which we are a part, is all about privacy. If Bob is the guarantor and/or the person who signed the contract with us, and Mary calls with a contract issue, we can’t talk to Mary! It’s just that simple. Have Bob call us, and we’ll get that contract issue handled.

Once you are an EPS customer, call Customer Service with questions, issues, or complaints. Don’t call your salesperson or your agent; you may get a voicemail and not get a return call as promptly as you would like. Our US-based customer service team mans our call center 24/7/365. A live person answers the phone, and that person will be dedicated to working with you.