Innovative Merchant Solutions reviews and complaints
The good, the bad, and the ugly - discover what customers are saying about Innovative Merchant Solutions
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abusive practices against merchants
Don't deal with this company if you own a small business. There are plenty of other vendors. We signed up with them (I think through QuickBooks) to take credit cards. They pull my credit report - in duplicate - on a recurring basis (not a new account). They managed to drop my score from 774 to 764. Unless you want to give up 10 FICO points regularly, I would shop elsewhere.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Questionable Business Practices
This company has the worst customer service I have ever experienced and I am more and more convinced they are operating some kind of scam. Through my use of Intuit Quickbooks I was referred to an offer to get a free merchant account called Intuit GoPayment that turns out to be run by this company which is a division of Intuit. The offer (through an Intuit website) was for a no-monthly-fee merchant account with a free card reader to use with iPhone. The processing fees were competitive and it seemed to be a good deal. I signed up and promptly got a charge of $60 on my bank account. After numerous calls wherein their people professed to no knowledge of the web offer I got to a supervisor who, when informed I had a copy of the web page including the offer and small print, admitted they had had problems with the launch of the offer and refunded the fee and sent me my free reader (which was something else they hadn't done). The next month I was again charged a fee - this time stated as my monthly merchant fee. I called and emailed numerous times and was eventually told they had made a mistake and processed my account as a full merchant account. They closed the account and promised to refund the fees charged. This was six weeks ago and I still have no refund after numerous calls and emails. DO NOT BE TAKEN IN BY Innovative Merchant Solutions or Inuit GoPayment. Either they are so poorly organized they don't have a clue what they are doing or they are banking on people not noticing the fees they apply to free accounts. Either way IMHO they are not to be trusted with any financial arrangement.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
fees
Sales person put in writing that there would be no back end fees, no hidden charges only a monthly fee of $7.99. I was charged 24.95 per month plus $75.00 annual fee and when I questioned their charges and filed a complaint with The Better Business Bureau, they closed my account and charged me $295.00. I can't believe that Intuit is part of this, I always thought Quick Books was a good business, but QB is Intuit and Intuit is the one that Innovative Merchant Solutions is saying they represent.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Stole money from me
Innovate Merchant Solutions has 2000 dollars from a stolen machine that wasn't batched and refuses to give me my money. I will be taking them to court! On top of that, they charged me fees after I went bankrupt and faxed them their required paper work saying I was out of business. They just claimed they never received it and continued to send me bills for years. If you want to take credit cards, I wouldn't go with this company. They have horrible service and inflated fees. Please do yourself a favor and look elsewhere
Good luck with this company, I faxed and sent certified letters -- they claim that they never received any of them.
Bad service
Incredible! this is one awful company.. We made a charge the charge went through on the customer's end. Innovative Solutions is still withholding our funds. When asked why they say they want our customer to call them.. Our customer is traveling and is not even from the U.S. The charge was accepted by Amex but is being held.. Why? because this is our first charge? Huh? I cant even get anyone to assist me. I assume they prefer to keep the money for as long as they can. So, now we might lose this sale. I have called everywhere and no one at that company even cares. They all sound like they are either uneducated or just plain arrogant.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Steals money
This company has the worst and the most unqualified customer service ever. This includes basically all departments. I think they are all high school dropouts. The dumbest people I’ve ever had to deal with. It is sad that company like Intuit doesn’t want to do anything about it. Unfortunately if you are merchant you may suffer financially because of that poor service. In my case, first time when I ran into trouble was when they withheld my deposit the first time. Here is what happened. I process online orders in Quick Books. I need to obtain AVS and CVV match in order to protect myself from chargebacks. Unfortunately many customers don’t know the difference between billing and shipping address and sometimes when I run the credit card payment, AVS comes back with “no match” but the payment is still approved. Under QB you can’t use risk tools to block transaction when AVS returns “no match”. Innovative Merchant Solutions doesn’t give you this popular tool. So when AVS comes back with no match, I would have to void transaction, call customer, obtain correct address and run transaction again. I know it is a little technical here, but hopefully some of you know what I mean. The problem is that even if I void first transaction, authorization has been already placed on customer credit card. It will take 7 business days for this authorization to disappear. So in case when customer has limited funds, my other attempt of sale would be declined. Simply there is not enough available credit to put another authorization. Keep in mind that my sales are on average 1000-2000USD. So I called Innovative Merchant customer service. First lady didn’t know what AVS was. When I told her that transaction with AVS match are subject to discounted rates (2.4% instead of 3.1% with no AVS match) she said she had never heard about it and transferred me to another person. She probably has never seen statement that Innovative sends to me every month. So here is another genius. He knows something about AVS. Good, so I asked him how can I run sale again without putting new authorization. Is there a way to cancel or use old authorization. He said yes, just run sale and enter authorization number from previous transaction. Great, so I did it with 2 transactions the very next day. It didn’t take long, few hours later I received phone call from Innovative Merchant Risk Department. The guy says that I ran two sales without valid authorization and I need to refund it right away. On the top of it he withheld two of my most recent batches. When I told him, that it was their mistake and they are responsible for misinforming me, he said that he has no record of me calling them the day before and basically called me a liar. So I refunded money, run transaction again, this time like I did it before, by obtaining new authorization. Thank god customers had enough available credit to cover it. But now my account is locked. The deposits stopped coming to my checking account. Of course when I call Risk Management, every person would have something different to say. In other words no one could explain me when I would start receiving deposits again. It took me 3 weeks of phone calls and emails. Finally I ran into some more intelligent person. Maybe she even had high school diploma. Anyways, she looked at my account and said: “I see no reason for you not receiving deposits, let me fix it”. Two days later money started coming to my account. For 3 weeks my business had been shut down, since I ran out of funds and wasn’t able to accept new orders. But Intuit doesn’t care. So here I am year later. One of my customer made a big purchase. I checked everything about him. Company is legit corporation, and the guy is a president of it. AVS, CVV matches. Billing address matching shipping address. Order placed from company server, company email etc. Everything perfect. So I took the order, send them invoice and few days later they called me with credit card to pay for it. I ran authorization. It went through no problem. Next day we shipped the order and by the end of the day I ran charge. Sale was approved. Great. Next day, Saturday I received an email from Innovative Merchant (I thought they were closed on weekends) requesting invoice for that order, shipping information and customer information. It said that IMS Risk Analyst was reviewing that transaction. I faxed documentation right away. 15 minutes later there is another email informing me that my batch was withheld for time of investigation. This time they refer to Article V section 5.01 of Merchant agreement and requested: bank statement, contract, invoice, shipping documentation. Just like that with no details. What bank statement? So I faxed invoice and shipping documentation again, there was no contract just standard term and condition we have for online sales, and I asked what bank statement they needed. I also referred to Merchant Agreement and article V. Well, it says about accepting checks from customers and method of verifying them. None of this had anything to do with my case. I guess they thought I would never read Merchant Agreement. Of course I email my Analyst about it. No answer of course. But she did specify what bank statement she needed. She says “I need 6 months of your business bank statement summary page only”. Well now you talking. So I faxed her summary pages from last six of my monthly statements. 2 days later I received another email. No “Hello” or anything like that in those emails, just plain text all in lower case. Just like a text message from the phone. It said: “I need 6 month business bank statement summary page only”. OK, I called my bank and ask them about 6 month bank statement. They said: “we can give you 6 months of your monthly statements. We do not produce 6 month statements. If you need some specific information from last 6 months like average daily balance etc. we can get it for you too. What information do you need?” I said “I don’t know, it’s not for me and my analyst wasn’t very detailed. So I emailed my analyst again telling the story. Never heard from her again. When I call her, voice mail kicks in right away and phone calls are not being returned. I emailed her again requesting status of my case. No answer. It is only 11 thousand dollars they hold hostage and no one can tell me when and if ever I will receive that money. I’ve already sent products so I have no money and no products at this point. Also I’ve read in Merchant agreement that they can set limit for transaction on your account without informing you about it. If you go over that limit they will charge you penalties 5%. In my case it may be over $500 in addition to over $300 they will charge as processing fee. This is Ripp Off. I will barely get profit from this transaction. My advice, if you planning on growing your business and make sales of more than $500 stay away from Innovative Merchant Solution. How can you be punished for having more sales than you originally estimated in merchant application? This is what they do. If you go over estimated monthly limit you entered in your merchant application, they will charge you 5%. Just read Merchant Agreement. They simply don’t want your business to grow. And the customer service…. Oh please. How can you be more ignorant and more unprofessional. They do not care about your business. In fact they treat you as a criminal and punish you in advance. It reminds me PayPal. I guess they are not far from that. Although PayPal did improve. If there is anyone there who can help me with my situation, please let me know. Do I have any legal rights I can use in case like this. Just now I received email that my bank statements do not support...(they did not say what) and transaction may be reversed. Great, so I will end up with no product and no money. Letters they emailed me did not say anything about that. They said that deposit may be delayed, but returning money to the customer without any reason for that?
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Unprofessional service, withelding funds
I've been with Innovative Merchant Solutions for 18 months now. This company has the worst and the most unqualified customer service ever. This includes basically all departments. I think they are all high school dropouts. The dumbest people I’ve ever had to deal with. It is sad that company like Intuit doesn’t want to do anything about it. Unfortunately if you are merchant you may suffer financially because of that poor service. In my case, first time when I ran into trouble was when they withheld my deposit the first time. Here is what happened. I process online orders in Quick Books. I need to obtain AVS and CVV match in order to protect myself from chargebacks. Unfortunately many customers don’t know the difference between billing and shipping address and sometimes when I run the credit card payment, AVS comes back with “no match” but the payment is still approved. Under QB you can’t use risk tools to black transaction when AVS returns “no match”. Innovative Merchant Solutions doesn’t give you this popular tool. So when AVS comes back with no match, I would have to void transaction, call customer, obtain correct address and run transaction again. I know it is a little technical here, but hopefully some of you know what I mean. The problem is that even if I void first transaction, authorization has been already placed on customer credit card. It will take 7 business days for this authorization to disappear. So in case when customer has limited funds, my other attempt of sale would be declined. Simply there is not enough available credit to put another authorization. Keep in mind that my sales are on average 1000-2000USD. So I called Innovative Merchant customer service. First lady didn’t know what AVS was. When I told her that transaction with AVS match are subject to discounted rates (2.4% instead of 3.1% with no AVS match) she said she had never heard about it and transferred me to another person. She probably has never seen statement that Innovative sends to me every month. So here is another genius. He knows something about AVS. Good, so I asked him how can I run sale again without putting new authorization. Is there a way to cancel or use old authorization. He said yes, just run sale and enter authorization number from previous transaction. Great, so I did it with 2 transactions the very next day. It didn’t take long, few hours later I received phone call from Innovative Merchant Risk Department. The guy says that I ran two sales without valid authorization and I need to refund it right away. On the top of it he withheld two of my most recent batches. When I told him, that it was their mistake and they are responsible for misinforming me, he said that he has no record of me calling them the day before and basically called me a liar. So I refunded money, run transaction again, this time like I did it before, by obtaining new authorization. Thank god customers had enough available credit to cover it. But now my account is locked. The deposits stopped coming to my checking account. Of course when I call Risk Management, every person would have something different to say. In other words no one could explain me when I would start receiving deposits again. It took me 3 weeks of phone calls and emails. Finally I ran into some more intelligent person. Maybe she even had high school diploma. Anyways, she looked at my account and said: “I see no reason for you not receiving deposits, let me fix it”. Two days later money started coming to my account. For 3 weeks my business had been shut down, since I ran out of funds and wasn’t able to accept new orders. But Intuit doesn’t care. So here I am year later. One of my customer made a big purchase. I checked everything about him. Company is legit corporation, and the guy is a president of it. AVS, CVV matches. Billing address matching shipping address. Order placed from company server, company email etc. Everything perfect. So I took the order, send them invoice and few days later they called me with credit card to pay for it. I ran authorization. It went through no problem. Next day we shipped the order and by the end of the day I ran charge. Sale was approved. Great. Next day, Saturday I received an email from Innovative Merchant (I thought they were closed on weekends) requesting invoice for that order, shipping information and customer information. It said that IMS Risk Analyst was reviewing that transaction. I faxed documentation right away. 15 minutes later there is another email informing me that my batch was withheld for time of investigation. This time they refer to Article V section 5.01 of Merchant agreement and requested: bank statement, contract, invoice, shipping documentation. Just like that with no details. What bank statement? So I faxed invoice and shipping documentation again, there was no contract just standard term and condition we have for online sales, and I asked what bank statement they needed. I also referred to Merchant Agreement and article V. Well, it says about accepting checks from customers and method of verifying them. None of this had anything to do with my case. I guess they thought I would never read Merchant Agreement. Of course I email my Analyst about it. No answer of course. But she did specify what bank statement she needed. She says “I need 6 months of your business bank statement summary page only”. Well now you talking. So I faxed her summary pages from last six of my monthly statements. 2 days later I received another email. No “Hello” or anything like that in those emails, just plain text all in lower case. Just like a text message from the phone. It said: “I need 6 month business bank statement summary page only”. OK, I called my bank and ask them about 6 month bank statement. They said: “we can give you 6 months of your monthly statements. We do not produce 6 month statements. If you need some specific information from last 6 months like average daily balance etc. we can get it for you too. What information do you need?” I said “I don’t know, it’s not for me and my analyst wasn’t very detailed. So I emailed my analyst again telling the story. Never heard from her again. When I call her, voice mail kicks in right away and phone calls are not being returned. I emailed her again requesting status of my case. No answer. It is only 11 thousand dollars they hold hostage and no one can tell me when and if ever I will receive that money. I’ve already sent products so I have no money and no products at this point. Also I’ve read in Merchant agreement that they can set limit for transaction on your account without informing you about it. If you go over that limit they will charge you penalties 5%. In my case it may be over $500 in addition to over $300 they will charge as processing fee. This is Ripp Off. I will barely get profit from this transaction. My advice, if you planning on growing your business and make sales of more than $500 stay away from Innovative Merchant Solution. How can you be punished for having more sales than you originally estimated in merchant application? This is what they do. If you go over estimated monthly limit you entered in your merchant application, they will charge you 5%. Just read Merchant Agreement. They simply don’t want your business to grow. And the customer service…. Oh please. How can you be more ignorant and more unprofessional. They do not care about your business. In fact they treat you as a criminal and punish you in advance. It remind me PayPal. I guess they are not far from that. Although PayPal did improve. If there is anyone there who can help me with my situation, please let me know. Do I have any legal rights I can use in case like this.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Have you complained to the Department of Banking in your state? Ask IMS for a copy of their Money Transmitter or similar license.
I have similar story. Right now they are withholding $9000.00 Min 90 days and max 270 days andy they closed my account without any reason. I told them one amount with I first opened account with intuit and I went over the limit. Is there any way we could file for class action law suite.
fraud
You must stay away from Innovative Merchant Solutions.
Innovative Merchant Solutions is a bunch of scammers. We tried to make a minor change to our account with them six months ago and ran into red tape and poor customer service that was beyond belief.
Finally after hours on the phone and multiple faxes, they handled our problem.
Then a friend suggested a new person to handle our credit card processing needs and so we accepted (that was in November or December) and we faxed Innovative a sheet of paper declaring our intention to leave them (after spending hours on the phone determining the correct means of doing that). They ignored our first fax request. I called them back a month later and found out they had pretended not to receive the first request--I faxed another request according to their instructions and was informed that the account would be canceled.
Lo and behold, four months later we are still getting bills on the account, for about $50 a month. I called them today and they told me that the account was not canceled because the request to cancel the account was not signed. Amazing, because I was looking at a copy of the signed faxed request while I was on the phone. She even told me she personally had tried to reach my boss to cancel my account, but that unfortunately his voice mailbox had been full. Which is also remarkable.
I faxed another request to them today. Why should it take five or six months to close an account? How do they have the gall to keep charging us every month when we have explained three or four times in writing that we want to cancel the account?
If we just stop paying them they will hit our credit. ###.
They are a bunch of liars.
Another quick note: Their "customer retention" department is designed to retain customers by ignoring phone calls. Every time you call that number you have to wait on the phone at least 15 minutes.
Stay away from this company AT ALL COSTS.
Here are a couple of sites to help get enough people to see this issue in a broader audience. If they are enough people to voice their personal situation with this company perhaps there is a chance they might chance their questionable business practices.
Here are links already posted to these sites, you can comment or created your own individual posting.
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-420919
http://clarkhoward.com/p/boards/ch/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=clarkhowardripoffs&Number=1306119&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&part=
Fraudulent company
I became a customer of Innovative Merchant Solutions in July of 2007 when I took over an existing small business. It happened fairly quickly so I didn't take the time I should have in searching for a credit card processor. The previous owner used Quickbooks Point of Sale and also used Quickbook's credit card processor, which is IMS in disguise.
After going through the application process which took about 2 weeks, I was informed that due to my lack of credit history and since I was a new business owner, that they required a deposit amount equal to my projected monthly credit card sales. That came out to about $9, 000 US for us at the time so I dipped into my start up funds and sent them a certified check. I was informed over the phone that after a few months of being a customer that they would release these funds back to me. Let me just stress now...get that in writing! I was in a rush to open on time and needed a credit card processor so I made some very stupid decisions which IMS took advantage of.
Approximately five months into being a customer I filed a request to have my deposit at least partially refunded. I was promptly denied and told to re-apply the next month when I would have been a customer for half a year. This didn't seem entirely unreasonable so I resubmitted a request a month later. Again I was promptly denied with no reason other than...we can hold your deposit for as long as we want.
This month I did more research and discovered that all the other credit card processors out there don't usually require a deposit and I quickly switched to one of these processors. They set me up in less than 3 days and I immediately notified IMS that I was canceling my account and requested my deposit to be returned. This too was promptly denied and was told they would hold my money for 270 days OR MORE per a contract I signed. When asked for a copy of this contract with my signature the agent got very aggressive saying there was no reason they should send me a copy. I did some digging and unfortunately realized I did sign that after the account is terminated IMS does have the right to hold the deposit for 180 DAYS. I'm resigned to that fact, but I then got a nasty voicemail from one of their service reps.
She said once again it was 270 days or more and to mark my calender and call back to RE-APPLY for my deposit which I'm sure takes several months. She stated that my customers have the right to dispute a statement up to 9 months after the initial transaction. Which is a blatant lie since consumers have 60 days in most circumstances to challenge a purchase. But this being said, our business has always worked hard for customer satisfaction and have absolutely no disputed charges or chargebacks in our history.
Also she chastised me for doing over $9, 000 in credit card sales the last few months and said that was another reason they were holding my deposit. Yet I never received a notice that this was a problem or even a limit mentioned in my monthly statements. I looked at the contract and while it does state they can set limits, I never received notice I was on a limit. Even if I had the contract says nothing about holding your deposit. It only states 'If Merchant exceeds the limit established by this Agreement, IMS may suspend processing, charge over limit fees, hold the funds over the cap and/or return all Sales Drafts evidencing funds over the cap to Merchant.' It never raised any concerns about my increased sales or held any of the credit card transactions processed. Nowhere does it say they can hold a deposit for an extended period of time. But apparently you're penalized for being a growing business by IMS.
For all prospective customers of IMS, I urge you to look elsewhere. They are not worth the trouble and their contracts really place you in a headlock. Also they are the only processor that works directly with Quickbooks, but this is not a license to stomp all over their customers. The other service I now have worked just fine and melds nicely with the Quickbooks POS software. There are a lot more reasonable and business oriented services out there. IMS is not one of these. They make you fight for any sort of customer service and treat you with absolute disrespect. I was a customer for a year with very strong sales and never had a chargeback or any other dispute. Yet they still treat me like some second rate criminal, when all I'm trying to do is get my deposit back. I'm waiting the 180 days like I agreed to per the contract, but after that I'll be filing legal action.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Innovative is holding $18k of our money also as we apparently processed too much money. Who knew we would be penalized. I am really glad we found another processor.. I echo the statement to stay away from Innovative as there customer service is atrocious and the account managers are downright rude. Ya Martin, you know what and who Im talking about! Lesson learned on my part, expensive one too...
I am having the same issue with my business, I have spoken with "Renee" and "Stephin" as well as "Sharak" and it seems to me that there all very disrespectful crooks that think there doing you a favor when nin fact we PAY them every month. I am canceling my acct on Monday and they did an Indeminety for every charge we ever made on the quickbooks which is $27, 000 so they froze my bank acct and I could not make pay roll. I wish I would have done my research on this company before we signed up for it. These people are the most disrespectful bunch of telephone sales/customer service agents I have ever comne across. I would like to know about the 180 days or the 270 days where they have to by law to release the funds?
THIS COMPANY IS A COMPANY HAS FELONS WORKING THERE!
I WOULD NOT SUGGEST THIS COMNPANY TO MY WORST ENEMY.. LOOK ELSE WHERE CONSUMER
Joseph
Unauthorized charges
This company has quite a scam to hold other peoples money. They are holding up several of my clients funds by doing a bogus fraud investigation. My clients purchases were verified by their own credit card companies. Both my clients, my clients credit card companies, and myself has authorized the transactions. Innovative Merchant Solutions has taken the money from my clients and refuses to give the funds to me (the vendor) despite authentication and verification by my clients own credit card companies.
I would highly recommend NEVER doing business with these crooks. They threatened to hold the funds for 270 days! This cant be legal.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
I would highly recommend not using this company for any credit card processing. I recently had a charge back to my account. I have been in the process of disputng the charge back. I talked to IMS this morning @ 9:30 am and they told me I needed more documnetation to dispute the charge back. We hung uP and by 11:30 am they debited the full amount out of my account. This unauthorized debit put my account into the negative as well as charged me extra fees through my bank. I called right away, and they responded with, "Let me be honest, we are not reversing the charge, you need to deal with your bank" So I did, I filed a claim with my bank to have the funds reversed because they never had authorization to debit from this particular account. DO NOT USE THS SERVICE! THEY TREAT THEIR CLIENTS HORRIBLY!
A salesman came in my store one day in Sept 2007 and said I could try out his credit card processing company. Said their rates were cheaper than BAC and I should just sigh up and it costs nothing, no risk.. well they called back and programed my card processing machine October 1st 930am 2007.to start their processing my cards. Well on October 7th I got a charge for September when I was with another company BAC. Of course there were no transactions, so they charged me $35.00. I called them back and said they made a mistake, and they couldnt care less. So I canceled that day, after 7 days, and I got a termination fee of $295 and growing. Will never pay and would love to be involved in a class action suit...
Here are a couple of sites to help get enough people to see this issue in a broader audience. If they are enough people to voice their personal situation with this company perhaps there is a change they might chance their questionable business practices.
Here are links already posted to these sites, you can comment or created your own individual posting.
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-420919
http://clarkhoward.com/p/boards/ch/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=clarkhowardripoffs&Number=1306119&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&part=
IMS accepts the liability for these sales on behalf of the merchant and will accept the loss from the card issuing bank in the event that the merchant does not have sufficient funds to cover the loss. The associations also dictate the types of investigations that IMS must complete and they are driven by unusual or exceptional activity such as a very large sale. Therefore if you usually accept credit card sale for $100 and you process a sale for $2000, the industry requires that this sale be investigated. IMS is just one member of the entire system that all bankcard issuers and acquirers (processors) are a part of. Some banks may knowingly choose to disregard the liability that they share in this process, but this is usually on the basis of other banking relationships, such as large deposits, that they hold with that customer. Because we allow our merchants to hold their bank account wherever they like, we cannot benefit from such a relationship.
poor service
I have read the reviews and I have to agree with them. Quickbooks Merchant Service- run by Innovative Merchant Solutions in my opinion, is a complete joke.
I have been a small business owner for over 13 years and have tried several different services. The lure for me was the convenience of having payments processed from within Quickbooks at the click of a mouse. BEWARE, it comes at a very steep price. Not only are the rates high, the funding time is super-slow and if you need help, forget it. No one there really cares how your business is affected by their mistakes or their "procedures".
If you have any intention of "growing your business", be careful of the limit you can process monthly, which they don't tell you up front. Knowing this before hand, I had asked and was told "There really is no limit as to what you can process". Now it's a whole different story.
We basically were processing more each month and that became a problem. Our account went into review in their "Risk management". I didn't have a problem with that...I've been there before.
What I did have a problem with is the lack of interest in resolving my account issue. Mind you, they basically "hold" your account and you may not receive any deposits from your credit card batches until they say so. For a small business in this economy, this is potentially a slow and agonizing death. Well, 8 days later, 15 unreturned phone calls and countless aspirin, still no one at IMS wants to get this resolved. On day 9, I got a hold of the supervisor, explained how things were handled and basically got a "I'll call you back". Did he call back you ask? No, but one of the repsdid to explain they were going to hold onto my last batch of $9800.00 as a "security deposit" indefinitely. I was shocked...there was absolutely no reason they could give me but to say "read the contract". I asked what would happen if I cancel my account and they said they would not release that batch for 9 months according to their "policies". Needless to say, that hurts a small business like mine and I'm not sure how to make up for that kind of money.
When it comes down to it, this was the absolute most expensive and most frustrating experience I've had with a merchant processor since the day I first opened my doors. I hope this helps future business owners to make a informed choice as to who they decide to use for their merchant service. As for me, I'm movin' on.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
You're right about this being a joke. I can't tell you how many times I've tried to build a rapport with a customer service representative, but when asking for the same person by name is pointless. "Oh, I'm sorry. That person is in a meeting... yes all day... and is going on vacation for a month starting tomorrow." I'm exaggerating of course, but I always got the run around. Then the new representative wasn't familiar enough with my on going problem(and they were all on going) so I couldn't get sufficient help. After checking more customer reviews, I've realized that there are barely any positive things for anyone to say about Innovative Merchant Solutions. Don't use them. Plain and simple.
We tried to do business with Intuit Merchant Service because we pay a few thousand each year for quickbooks, but our account would go into "review" by the risk department every-time we would try to use it.
After 3 months of unreturned phone calls, we were told the account is closed due to " numerous suspicious transactions."
This seemed odd as we have not even used it yet, so we called to speak with the risk department and spoke to a manager to ask which transactions were "suspicious" and he stated that there are no transactions on the account. I asked "How can this account have suspicious transactions, when there have never been any transactions?" He was quiet, then hung up.
I called back and was told that he was "not in the office, nor any other manager."
We decided that Intuit is a bunch of monkeys with telephones/computers and left them alone.
A few days later, they started doing hard credit pulls from the owner of the company. They pulled his credit 13 times in 10 days. We began calling them again to find out why they are causing trouble and we were able to speak to John (a manager) and he stated "Intuit can do whatever it pleases and if they pulled your credit report 100 times, you cant do anything about it, so stop calling to waste my time" (Exact words from recorded conversation)
We have since hired 3 separate law firms to bring multiple lawsuits against intuit.
Thanks John, Martin, and the other reps of Intuit.
These guys don't give a crap about your business! Their rates are bad. Their service is awful. It takes for ever for the money to reach your account. Ever any problem and they hold all your transactions until the one problem is resolved. I get sent to risk management every time I run a transaction larger than a few hundred bucks ( of course, with ALL my funds held until it's resolved. Working with them has been a complete nightmare, as their customer service is aimed at dodging your issue rather than addressing it. I'm switching on monday. I suggest you save yuorself the headache and use your local bank.
I have a small business. Got the nice ad in my Quickbooks software for merchant solutions through Innovative. OH MY G**** What a mistake! Been a nightmare since May. I just faxed my request to close the account. I expect it will take them 3 weeks to get that done. AVOID AVOID AVOID. PLEASE EVERYONE AVOID! Save yourself the headache and pay the extra fees. Use someone else. I've spent 8-10 hours of my time trying to resolve issues over one charge. It sounded too good to be true and it was. I was foolish and foolhardy. I should have listened to my banker. They talk the talk but do not walk the walk at Innovative. Don't believe anything they say until their actions back their words.
innovative is a bunch of scammers.
IMS takes care to describe merchant obligations in clear and unambiguous terms in its application and merchant agreement. It encourages and expects that merchants entering into such an important relationship take appropriate time to understand their obligations under the relationship. The issues of holding funds, approved monthly volume and chargebacks are also clearly covered in the Merchant Agreement. Visa, MasterCard and Discover Network outline the policies and procedures for the dispute and chargeback of sales for their customers. These dispute regulations are by no means arbitrary and are not a product of anything IMS can or has ever done. They are created by the bankcard industry for the benefit of the cardholders and the card issuers.
IMS accepts the liability for these sales on behalf of the merchant and will accept the loss from the card issuing bank in the event that the merchant does not have sufficient funds to cover the loss. The associations also dictate the types of investigations that IMS must complete and they are driven by unusual or exceptional activity such as a very large sale. Therefore if you usually accept credit card sale for $100 and you process a sale for $2000, the industry requires that this sale be investigated. IMS is just one member of the entire system that all bankcard issuers and acquirers (processors) are a part of. Some banks may knowingly choose to disregard the liability that they share in this process, but this is usually on the basis of other banking relationships, such as large deposits, that they hold with that customer. Because we allow our merchants to hold their bank account wherever they like, we cannot benefit from such a relationship.
Customer Service
Innovative Merchant Solution's customer service skills are horrible, and this is evidenced by the fact that their employees are not allowed to present their names (not even their first names) upon request. Instead, they refer to themselves by department, like “IMS Customer Service” and “IMS Underwriting” aka “Underwriting Department”.
After I decided to choose another service provider, I asked IMS to erase my application, which included sensitive information, like my bank account and routing number, and my social security number, etc. They flat-out refused and were very, very rude about it, too. This is not an isolated case. There are others who have experience the same problem, and many more that went through more unnecessary suffering because they actually signed up for an account.
You will find many more complains about IMS on this website, as well as other report sites.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
You are required to be licensed by the individual state's Department of Banking.
To everyone reading, ask IMS for a copy of their Money Transmitter or similar license. If they refuse then make inquiries with your state Department of Banking.
The Agent Bank for Innovative Merchant Solutions is JP Morgan Chase. These merchant accounts go through a bank that is not only FDIC insured but also must comply with very strict PCI compliance rules to protect data. We are required to keep records of those merchants who apply for credit card processing whether the account is ultimately used or not. However, you can be assured that the data is secure per industry standards and that Innovative Merchant Solutions is by no means a scam. We have been in business for nearly 10 years and have had to comply with stringent industry standards and scrutiny. You state there are "others who have the same problem". The truth is, in my 21 years in the bankcard industry I may have had a request to delete data perhaps a dozen times. Most people understand that businesses just don't operate that way. When you close a credit card, or a bank account you can't ask them to delete your information. Banks have requirements for not only retaining data but also protecting it. The data is not utilized for any other purpose.
Fraud and Scam
It is unfortunate that another small business owner had to fall pray to the deceiving tactics of two Innovative Merchant Solutions (IMS), an INTUIT (R) Company. Two unassuming representatives pressured a merchant to sign two "Applications" for the purchase of two ATM machines. The merchant continuously stated that there was no interest in purchasing the machines and therefore would not be interested in signing a contract. Preying on a merchant with a limited understanding of contractual agreements and reading the English language, continued their "sales pitch" in an effort to convince the merchant that signing the "Application" would only secure availability of a future purchase if the merchant so desired. Therefore, the remarks made clearly expressed that there would be no contract signed and therefore no liability placed upon the merchant. In demonstrating their lack of personal moral and professional ethical principals, the two individuals convinced the merchant to sign two applications explaining that they would receive payment for simply "completing the applications." Within five days the IMS representatives had processed the fraudulent "deal" and had two ATM machines shipped to the merchant. Upon receipt of the machines, the merchant contacted the representatives and as the typical shady salesmen, did not answer or return the call.
The merchant then contacted the customer service line and was told that the problem would be resolved easily by simply faxing the representatives a statement explaining that, as stated previously, there had been no interest in purchasing the machines. Again, there was no response. Instead, they began billing the merchant for use of the machines that the merchant was not interested in owning or even able to cover. When the merchant refused to make the payment, a series of intimidation tactics began to be employed. On one occasion one of the merchants walked by the small business, taking pictures of the location and the employees inside. When confronted by the merchant, the salesman threatened the merchant with legal action and taking the merchant to collections. Then, in an extreme effort of continued harassment, the salesman drove by the business several times, changing cars after the third drive through with male passengers inside; as to express a direct threat against the merchant and the employees.
Clearly, IMS is either a company run amuck by shady sales people who have no regard for ethical business principals or they intentionally train their sales force to employ such vile tactics in an effort to turn a profit. As for Intuit, the holding company of IMS which was acquired in 2003, and provider of reputable products and services such as QuickBooks (R), Quicken (R), and TurboTax (R), is either complicit in these frauds by approving of and or providing the necessary training, or lack of oversight of their $116 million investment.
Check it out for yourself: http://web.intuit.com/about_intuit/press_releases/2003/09-02b.html
Don’t be taken! If you hear IMS just say NO!
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Most merchants are crybabies who don't have the common sense or the brains to understand ahead of time what they will be charged. If it is not in writing DON'T SIGN IT YOU ###S! I work in this industry. If my merchants want something in writing that I truly cannot provide then I tell them up front. There are a lot of fees and costs involved in credit card processing REGARDLESS of who you choose to do business with. Do I lose sales because I am upfront and honest? YOU BET I DO! But the majority of the merchants out there appreciate the fact that I am upfront and honest and that I am there to put them in a better financial situration. I am not there for the "FAST SALE". Are there "bad apple sales reps out there? Sure there are. But use your heads and stop signing agreements and contracts without first understanding the fine print. Don't sign just because the sales rep says "it is so". If you don't clearly understand what your monthly fees and percentages will be then DON'T SIGN! And STOP YOUR WHINING AND COMPLAINING ABOUT GETTING RIPPED OFF OR LIED TO! Maybe I will start whining and complaining about all of the small business owners out there in the world that don't HAVE A CLUE HOW TO CONDUCT EVERYDAY BUSINESS. How do all you complainers survive in this dog eat dog business world if you can't even take the time to read something before you sign it?!?!?! Need honest and upfront information about credit card processing (FULL DISCLOSURE!)? My e-mail is dhines444@gmail.com
I had same experience.
Do not belive salesperson and innovative merchant solutions.
How these companies still exist in U.S.?
IMS will not hesistate to breach verbal agreements. They thrive on deceit and double talk. They had agreed to waive annual and termination fees when trying to keep me from switching from them to PNC bank to handle my credit card services. When my business closed, I cancelled my account with them, they made no mention of the termination fee and then they sneakily deducted it from my bank account. To make matters worse, I see hoards of complaints against them on the Better Business Bureau website for similar issues. IMS claims they do not charge termination fee when businesses close, this is a total lie! Bottom line, don't use IMS, it is not worth wading through their double talk, hidden fees and breached verbal promises!
The simple fact IMS will holds funds for 270 days, when most other vendors do not, and is very resistant to release them, even when provided with documented proof and a customers phone number for verification, clearly outlines their less than honest position.
"There are better deals to be had, and there are worse deals out there too. The bottom line is what is right for you? "
I couldn't have said it any better, there ARE better deals to be had...so keep on looking past IMS (Quickbooks), they are NOT on your side.
First and foremost, the people who are out on the street selling are NOT employees of IMS. They are independent sales representatives who answer to the owner of in independent office. That is how the credit card industry is set up. Very rarely will you actually see an employee of a credit card processing company selling the services. This is just how the industry is structured. Next, the Merchant Application and Agreement, accepted at the time the customer applies, is very clear about any termination fees. IMS is committed to transparency of pricing and fees, including termination fees. The application language quoted in the report regarding termination fees is printed in bold and is located immediately above the applicant's signature line to help draw attention to the fact that termination fees apply. The Merchant Agreement, which is an important part of defining the obligations of the parties under the relationship, clearly describes the standard termination fee. IMS takes care to describe merchant obligations in clear and unambiguous terms in its application and merchant agreement. It encourages and expects that merchants entering into such an important relationship take appropriate time to understand their obligations under the relationship. Finally, the issues of holding funds and chargebacks are also clearly covered in the Merchant Agreement. Visa, MasterCard and Discover Network outline the policies and procedures for the dispute and chargeback of sales for their customers. These dispute regulations are by no means arbitrary and are not a product of anything IMS can or has ever done. They are created by the bankcard industry for the benefit of the cardholders and the card issuers. IMS accepts the liability for these sales on behalf of the merchant and will accept the loss from the card issuing bank in the event that the merchant does not have sufficient funds to cover the loss. The associations also dictate the types of investigations that IMS must complete and they are driven by unusual or exceptional activity such as a very large sale. Therefore if you usually accept credit card sale for $100 and you process a sale for $2000, the industry requires that this sale be investigated. IMS is just one member of the entire system that all bankcard issuers and acquirers (processors) are a part of. Some banks may knowingly choose to disregard the liability that they share in this process, but this is usually on the basis of other banking relationships, such as large deposits, that they hold with that customer. Because we allow our merchants to hold their bank account wherever they like, we cannot benefit from such a relationship. Additionally, we cannot dictate whether a customer will dispute a sale. The associations make the rules as to how and when a cardholder can dispute a credit card sale. We are obliged to accept the chargeback if the card issuing bank follows all the rules as set forth by the associations. Unfortunately there are some cardholders who take advantage of that system. But it is their card issuing bank's responsibility to determine when they feel their customer is manipulating the system. Almost every consumer advocate in the world will tell you to use a credit card for a large purchase because it's easier to dispute the sale. As a cardholder you have those same benefits, but as a merchant, you can become a victim of that same system that protects you. Sadly it cannot go both ways and protect you on both ends. But again, this is not a system that IMS has created, it is merely one that we are subject to and work with. Anyone who complains about the Merchant Agreement or the feels is simply under informed, and it is not because IMS is any type of scam. We have been in business for 10 years and will be here for another 10. If you own a business and intend on entering in a business contract we strongly suggest that you do your research and enter into the contract that is right for you. There are better deals to be had, and there are worse deals out there too. The bottom line is what is right for you? Our phones are answered by live operators and you can talk to a real person. We don't hide behind voice mail or telephone recordings that are impossible to navigate. This is not the sign of a scam or a company that is trying to hide.
Intuit Merchant Solutions
These people srew you in the small print. They have just told me that they intend to keep my money for 270 because i would reveal details of the customers home telephone when i am in the middle of an investigation whcih could cause all sorts of problems for the client if i was to reveal it. in fact I dont even ask for home phone numbers so that i dont call them by mistake. The credit card was provided to me in good faith, there is nothing wrong with either the client's or my credit. So what the big deal. They can keep your money, the longer you refuse the more money they make. My beef is that they dont tell you this inadvance. if i had known that i wouldn't bother with a merchant such as this. I just wish i had read these blogs beforehand. Seems like its just one nonsense after another.
Harassment
I started a Web only retail business thru GoDaddy and signed up with Innovative Merchant Solutions under a 'Web Only' program that did not have all the fees of other accounts. After my first bank statement, I noticed fee's where being charged that I did not agree to. I contacted Innovative Merchant Solutions, who got GoDaddy on the phone in a three way call and I was informed there was a mistake and I was signed up for a full blown account with POS for a retail location and the whole works.
I reminded them of the package I signed up for and the gladly offered to change to web only package, only that program ended a week before and was no longer available. The only solution Innovative Merchant Solutions could come up with is that my small, out of my livingroom, web only business, now pay $149 per month for their card service, forever and ever and ever.
I notified Innovative Merchant Solutions and GoDaddy at that exact moment that I was stopping all business with them because of their Breach of Contract for Services. GoDaddy's representative said, 'I don't blame you one bit, ' and processed my cancellation.
Innovative Merchant Solutions said I had to fax a cancellation notice. I did and they did not process it. For three months, they continued to attempt to charge my account. After the first month, I notified them with a fax and a Certified Letter.
The next month, I canceled the card at my bank's suggestion. Innovative then did the unthinkable and contacted Paypal and started processing payments because paypal was directly linked to my bank account, not by card number, but by account number.
I contacted Paypal and they requested Overdraft Fees that eventually, after 10 hours of explaining on the phone and in email, they released and did not charge.
My bank account suffered so many fraudulent charges and fee's, the total is well over $1000. I had to close the account because Innovative Merchant Solutions continued efforts to electronically steal money from me.
I tried to work with them about this. Innovative Merchant Solutions admits they have received a fax from me on two occasions but never closed the account. They say the fax's were sent upside down and could not be processed. They blame me, like I don't know how to use a fax machine.
Now I receive harassing phone calls from Bill Collectors who are collecting from Innovative Merchant Solutions. I try to tell the collectors and everyone else that will listen that Innovative merchant Solutions failed to cancel my contract and have me signed up for another contract, at their own admission of mistake, and have since tried to steal money, and it is documented by Paypal, AFTRA SAG Federal Credit Union, GoDaddy, and the Los Angeles Police Department.
The only answer I get from IMS is that I should pay over $500 for their mistakes or they will never leave me alone. Just two days ago, they called to tell me that the economy is not always going to be bad and I should pay this off so it does not haunt me later. I tell them I don't owe the money. They know from the documentation this is true, and they don't care this is ALL their fault. They insist on stealing $500 more and it is the only way to stop this nightmare.
Please do not do business with Innovative Merchant Solutions. If you are a lawyer, or know one, I would be interested in a class action lawsuit.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
Here are a couple of sites to help get enough people to see this issue in a broader audience. If they are enough people to voice their personal situation with this company perhaps there is a change they might chance their questionable business practices.
Here are links already posted to these sites, you can comment or created your own individual posting.
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-420919
http://clarkhoward.com/p/boards/ch/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=clarkhowardripoffs&Number=1306119&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&part=
I am looking for a merchant account and we seriously considering this company, but there are loads of complaints.
Years ago I had trouble with LeaseComm and now research before I sign.
The only decent option I see is MerchantExpress, but they have a $495 cancelation fee with a recurring two year contract. So, if you get through the first two years, then a new contract begins and you still get the $495 cancellation fee if you bail before that term is over. Makes no sense.
Why are all these credit card companies blood suckers? Is there no decency left in the finance industry?
Witholding monies for weeks
We are an art gallery based in Florida doing a lot of art fairs and most of them in Europe.
Last March we were participating at an art fair in London, and of course trying to sell the art.
We sold approx 30 pieces and we processed the cards on their website.
So far so good !
When we were back, Innovative Merchant Solutions contacted us stated that they have to verify 2 transactions, and we just need to send a copy of the invoice. No problem !
The same we sent copy of the invoice + copy of the debit authorization where client's name, address, phone number and email are mentioned.
The following day, IMS contacted us saying that they have to verify three more transcations, and they need the invoices.
Total for the 5 transcations: approx $18, 000.
Since we never heard of them since we've sent the fax, we called them, of course they said never have received the faxes ! So easy.
We faxed them again, and emailed them.
After one week, still no money, IMS were still witholding the money.
We contacted Ms Jepersen who forwarded our email to the Risk Dpt Manager and she said they will resolve the problem very soon.
Finally, that manager fwd the email to Martin Hernandez who was very rude and explained us that doing art fairs is not a way of doing business, that he thinks our company is just a shell and we fraud from A to Z ... And he based that on the fact that ONE day we did not picked up the phone.
Since that date we've tried to contact them several times, and they never bothered to reply to us consequently they are withholding $18, 000 because they want to check with the bank + clients.
As Martin Hernandez refused to do his job, I have to contact myself the client and they ALL told me that the money was debited from their account plus the bank has faxed IMS all the necessary documentation in order to have this issue straighten.
Meaning IMS has taken money from my clients, and playing with their monies in order to made some more I imagine.
At this point, no one replies to us.
At this point we have $18, 000 withheld
At this point, we have hired an attorney determined to sue them.
Innovative Merchant Solutions are just Liar, Thieves ...
Hope they won't be able to do business anymore
C,
IMS has reversed all the transactions stated on their letter
"As previously advised, we were unable to verify the transactions that you processed via your merchant account with their subsequent card issuing banks despite repeated attempts via telephone and fax.
Additionally, as product had not been delivered to the cardholders and as the product was not actually property of A, we did not feel comfortable releasing funds."
Now we have to contact indivudually the client to get paid (hoping so).
This "joke" costs hundreds of $ on phone calls, registered letters plus bank fees not mentioning that we are discredited against our clients !
And they have closed our account without let us know !
I am 100% for a class action lawsuit
I had the worst experience with them hidden fees, annual fee undisclosed to me. I was not at all happy worst processor I work with.
all of you [censored]es better learn the ropes about credit card processing! i use innovative merchant solutions for my small businesses, and they are by far the best company out there. i have used first data, global, merchant lynx, heartland, and a few banks. ims, by far, has the lowest overall rates. all of your transactions go straight into your quickbooks account, at the touch of a button at the end of the day, to save you hours of manual entry. of course if there is a charge back they are going to hold your funds! every processor does! do you expect them to front you the money? you should have checked the id of the sketchy customer you took the card from, or used thier 0% debit(no chance of a charge back). and every credit card processing company has a termination fee. theirs is only $295! they have to pay the reps that went out and sold you, the shipping on terminals, the data enrty people, and many other people for each account! if you cancel within a month or two are they supposed to lose money? you fools are just bitter because your businesses probably suck. "lets go on a message board and bash a great company because i have nothing better to do." go run your bussinesses and i hope you idiots switch to first data with their 600 dollar term fee and high rates... losers
I also switched from a trusted credit card processor to IMS because they were integrated with Quickbooks which I have been using since 1990. As soon as RISK MANAGEMENT took 2700 dollars out of my account to cover possible future chargebacks, I closed my account with them and switched to PayPal for processing cards. They held my money for 270 days!
Theoretically they can hold money foy ninety days after your last transaction because that's the limit for a buyer to request a chargeback. The 270 days was a criminal act.
They claim that they put the money, (the many millions of dollars they take each year) in a non-interest earning account.
Yeah, sure and the representative was sincere as he read from the playlist.
"We probably will not hold the money for that whole time"
Thy had the good cop and the bad cop. They were so full of ###...
Anyway, after 260-something-days my $2750 (approx) was paid back, $150 short, they have a processing fee...
I caught double billing on my bank statement and made them correct it buy I do not trust them and recommend that we get the word out about Innovative Merchants Solution and Quickbooks.
Hi, I'm going through the same issue as everybody else (funds withheld) and i'm a small business owner/startup that is new to the account. In response to LeAnne, who seems to be a representative of the company, It doesn't relieve a lot of the anxiety when the voicemail from risk management says that they will do a call back the next day if calls are received before a certain time. I've been moved through 2 different risk account managers and never had a call back. I've faxed over the necessary documentation the same day of the request, I've verified that they have received my documentation and that it was in a batch they were running that day. this is a timeline of of almost 10 days now and i've confirmed that the clients funds have been transfered and IMS has the funds in a " no interest- bearing account" ( a rep assured me) but there is no timeline. I was told within 24 hours of being part of a batch. but that was 5 days ago. I think the IMS risk management department needs to provide its customers with timelines of when they can expect their funds at the very least instead of imposing an almost tyrannical hold on the information that business owners feel like they are victims. And of course in this type of economy where everybody is supposed to be working together, the customer service is not knowledgeable enough to assuade our fears. It's frustrating to hear" call back in an hour because Asia (risk account manager) is trying to free up some verifications, and to call back leave a voice mail which get no call back ( this is 10am pst) then they close at 4pm. Its that unknown timeline is the worst, when you know that on the clients side the funds have left and nobody can tell you when funds will be available. I as well associated IMS because of Quickbooks but am now unsure of my choice. I do appreciate that I can get a live amicable person on the phone, that is a plus on the IMS end. I can understand that IMS does not want to be held accountable for fraudulent charges but it can at the very least have a status of when their customers funds will be available. Especially when receivables can make or break a company.
www.ballardoutdoor.com.
. Visa, MasterCard and Discover Network outline the policies and procedures for the dispute and chargeback of sales for their customers. These dispute regulations are by no means arbitrary and are not a product of anything IMS can or has ever done. They are created by the bankcard industry for the benefit of the cardholders and the card issuers. IMS accepts the liability for these sales on behalf of the merchant and will accept the loss from the card issuing bank in the event that the merchant does not have sufficient funds to cover the loss. The associations also dictate the types of investigations that IMS must complete and they are driven by unusual or exceptional activity such as a very large sale. Therefore if you usually accept credit card sale for $100 and you process a sale for $2000, the industry requires that this sale be investigated. IMS is just one member of the entire system that all bankcard issuers and acquirers (processors) are a part of. Some banks may knowingly choose to disregard the liability that they share in this process, but this is usually on the basis of other banking relationships, such as large deposits, that they hold with that customer. Because we allow our merchants to hold their bank account wherever they like, we cannot benefit from such a relationship. Additionally, we cannot dictate whether a customer will dispute a sale. The associations make the rules as to how and when a cardholder can dispute a credit card sale. We are obliged to accept the chargeback if the card issuing bank follows all the rules as set forth by the associations. Unfortunately there are some cardholders who take advantage of that system. But it is their card issuing bank's responsibility to determine when they feel their customer is manipulating the system. Almost every consumer advocate in the world will tell you to use a credit card for a large purchase because it's easier to dispute the sale. As a cardholder you have those same benefits, but as a merchant, you can become a victim of that same system that protects you. Sadly it cannot go both ways and protect you on both ends. But again, this is not a system that IMS has created, it is merely one that we are subject to and work with. Anyone who complains about the Merchant Agreement or the feels is simply under informed, and it is not because IMS is any type of scam. We have been in business for 10 years and will be here for another 10. If you own a business and intend on entering in a business contract we strongly suggest that you do your research and enter into the contract that is right for you. There are better deals to be had, and there are worse deals out there too. The bottom line is what is right for you? Our phones are answered by live operators and you can talk to a real person. We don't hide behind voice mail or telephone recordings that are impossible to navigate. This is not the sign of a scam or a company that is trying to hide.
I am having the same problems with IMS. They decided to withhold funding b/c a charge we submitted was more than the usual amount. Well, sorry for trying to sell our product and service and succeeding. After blowing up their phones for days trying to get resolution to my $10, 000 transaction they finally agreed to release half the amount. Stated they would release it on a Friday but didn't. Called on Monday and it was still in review. I complained more to a Lead tech Gus and he tried to help even though his manager Martin Hernandez never bothered to return my call but was not able to wire the money correctly so it didn't arrive. I called on Tues and they assured me it had been done but no surprise it made it in after my bank cut off time. Funny how I can wire money and it appears within an hour but they do it and it takes 48hrs. After all of this they are withholding the next batch of credit cards I ran though. If you call and ask to speak to a manager they refuse to talk to you until after 10am PT. So if you are in CT or ET you can forget getting help in the am. I will never use this company again! I wish I had a business where customer service wasn't apart of having to do business! I am all for a class action law suit. In this economy it is hard enough to run a small business without these people holding your much needed money! IMS is the absolute worst! I can't remember the last time I was this angry about the treatment I have received from a business that I am a customer of (not for long)!
I have the same issue here, they charged me back and I have all the documentation that this person did purchase a product. The client has my product and they have my money! Phone calls are not returned and so on, what do I do now? Let me know if you all are doing the class action lawsuit because I will join!
IM HAVING THE SAME PROBLEM!
I signed up with Innovative Merchant voluntarilly because we use quickbooks for our accounting software. They advertise how simple and easy it is to process cards through them because it integrates everything through our software.
The first transaction we ran since switching with them is now being held in their "Risk" department for suspicion of fraud. They said that they have to go through a verification process to confirm that it is a valid charge, but It has been two weeks and we have had no progress. I have e-mailed and faxed invoices and given them all of our customer's information. The people in the risk department do not return my calls or emails, I have spoken to several people and a supervisor and no one can help me. Our poor customer is now involved with this, she has been trying to call in to verify that she authorized the charge, but no one will speak to her or return her calls. When I call the company, they say that they are trying to reach our customer and that is what is taking so long, but our customer has received no phone calls from them.
I have filed a complaint with Quickbooks and I am filing a complaint with Intuit's Main office as well. Needless to say, I am switching back to my old merchant provider. Instead of this being a much simpler and easier way to run credit cards, I have lost several hours of my time on the phone with Innovative Merchant, Quickbooks and our customer to try to resolve this and we still have not received our payment for the work we performed for our customer. HORRIBLE COMPANY! DO NOT USE THEM FOR MERCHANT SERVICES!
These people at Innovative Solutions are the worst most rude people I have come acrross in business to date and I have had to deal with some nasty companies over the years. Every time we speak to a rep we get a different story.I cannot believe that Quickbooks Inuit is letting this happen. We opened up an account with these people( Innovative Merchant Solutions a Quickbooks Intuit Company) and they could not even get simple data collection correct. Incorrect social security number, incorrect address with more than one error. Anyway we made the horrible mistake of doing our first and absolutely last batch with this company (Innovative Merchant Solutions a Quickbooks Intuit Company). Thousands of dollars withheld. Wanted invoices for relatively small amounts. We supplied them. We did one better.. these credit cards were cards we had run with a bigger company previously so we supplied documentation of previous successful transactions.. (We didnt close our account with the previous company and we are doing business as usual) Still no reply and no money from this company (Innovative Merchant Solutions a Quickbooks Intuit Company).We could not get hold of this person Dianne [protected] extension 60861. We left message after message for her to contact us back. No response. Nothing. She was supposed to be doing the "investigation" into possible fraud concerning our batch. They noticed "unusual activity". The ONLY unusual activity was that they had debit the money from our customers accounts and were holding onto it. For what? Then we get this bogus letter from Innovative Merchant Solutions a Quickbooks Intuit Company and I quote " Merchant agrees that a security processing fee not to exceed 110% of the unusual Transaction(s) may be assessed. " This is so insane and to think that they would do this to a NEW customer makes my stomach turn. I wonder what the total dollar amount is that they with withhold every month. Truth be told, I would pay double in processing fees to be with a more honest company than to stick with this ( Innovative Merchant Solutions a Quickbooks Intuit Company). I got hold of a customer rep Mary Beth Costales... I asked her why they are doing this to us.. She said not because of possible fraud but because we were new to Innovative Merchant and they need to get to know me first. I told her that I had sent 3 months of statements from my previous Merchant Company... no response.
P.S If someone files a class action against ( Innovative Merchant Solutions a Quickbooks Intuit Company )I am on board even if I have to fly to another State to testify.
I am facing the same problem. I did the same things, sent invoices and all kind of supporting documents and they have no intention to deposit the fund to my account. I lost thousand of dollars and I feel so hopeless and miserable. Lawsuit is the only option that I can think of. I really hope all the victims can stand together and work together to file a formal class action lawsuit.
Scam and rip off!
On March 10th, 2008 I regrettably became another victim of Innovative Merchants Solutions. The first batch approximately $23, 000 was composed of several transactions. After being contacted by the incredibly rude and unhelpful risk management department, they told me they were unable to verify these transactions and I needed to fax over all the invoices and my customers' information (sounds like a familiar scenario).
I complied with all their demands for data. (I was advised that I had to fax over every invoice when I accept credit card payments so this would not happen again.) Risk Management told me they were not able to contact any of my customers (once again, sounds like a familiar scenario).
I took the pleasure doing their job while they were charging me and contacted my customers to have them verify these transactions with their card issuing banks in case they had flagged them for fraud. 9 days later, after a letter from an attorney who has been practicing for 35 years in the San Fernando Valley, they released the full amount of funds.
2 days later, after the funds were in my account, I was notified by my bank (Bank of America) that they had been looking on my account for fraudulent activities and noted that IMS is trying to reverse the credit to my account. One of BofA's fraud analysts immediately stopped their transaction and flagged it for fraud (thank you Jackie), thereby keeping my money in my account. I contacted IMS the same day and spoke to Crystal in regards to the reversal. Crystal stated that my new transactions (in the amount of $25, 000 over several days) are being held and will not be released until I let the reversal go through. My new income was being held hostage until I gave them my earlier income! Being a former FDNY Paramedic at 9/11, we all have horrible memories of that tragic day where our country was attacked by cowards.
IMS has made me feel in the past 2 weeks, the exact same way as I did on that day. Being a Paramedic and a veteran I believe we all can agree that by attacking the finance of so many small businesses, IMS is equal to those cowards who attacked our country. Therefore, I have retained an attorney to file suit in the Los Angeles Superior Court.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
I put together a list of all the customers and tracking numbers showing delivery and emailed it to Innovative and next day I received a phone call from security department (very nice lady) who promised me that my merchant accounts will be re-opened and money released to me. If this is true, I will continue my business with Innovative. I guess Jennifer went little overboard and thought that I am trying to commit fraud. After all I am willing to give Innovative a try one more time.
Georgiy Kharchenko
ShopPharmacyCounter.com
SupplementsToWeightLoss.com
It's been 2 weeks since my issue with innovative and so far no chargeback and no promised paperwork with chargeback information arrived. Everything about chargeback’s was 100% lie. I have every single customer list here with shipping tracking numbers showing delivery (I sent it to Innovative without any replies). No complains and no “anticipated” chargeback’s at all. Out of 100 transactions – 0 complains, yet Innovative is keeping my hard earned cash! Not only I lost money, I lost product – my investment because I trusted these ###s! WHO THE F*** THEY THINK THEY ARE?
I will not humiliate myself and start begging them for my money. People at Innovative customer service are so ridiculously scripted that it is not even worth a second of my time to call and ask questions. I can't believe that Chase is behind all that. No wonder how their CEO's were getting bonuses. Part of it was money scammed from merchants like us!
Class action is so needed here.
I am in touch with CA senators, CA governor office, White House, FOX and CNN.
I will not let it go and you people who got scammed by Innovative should do the same!
SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM SCAM - INNOVIATIVE STOLE MY MONEY - THEY DID STEAL MY MONEY THIS IS REAL STORY AND WHOEVER SAYS THAT THEY ARE NOT STEALING - B***### STAY AWAY FROM INNOVATIVE SCAMMING SOLUTIONS!
Innoviative merchant Solutions – the most sophisticated and innovative way to scam merchants.
Before I started processing with innovative merchant solutions, I red so many [redacted]s, complains about innovative merchant solutions where people say that innovative merchant solutions stealing their money and I thought that because a lot of people do not understand technology they get banned by the processing companies and that they get attacked by hackers using fake credit cards etc…
I thought that I am different, I understand security and probably others get banned due to hackers. I thought that I will sign up with innovative merchant solutions and give them a shot.
I am web developer with many years of experience developing credit card security systems. In the past I worked for major banks worldwide and I know security from programming perspective like nobody else. I don't even use security mechanisms provided by gateways and implement my own custom way in my code. It proved to work. I got about 1 chargeback (over 8 months) at $100, 000 processed with linkpoint and chargeback was because customer was not able to recognize transaction. My system makes phone call during checkout to customers and does not allow transaction to go through unless they enter pin number they are given over the phone. I use other tools by maxmind, tools that verify address and location of the IP address to billing address etc… and a lot more.
I only gave Innovative Merchant Solutions about 10% of my processing to see how it goes. First few weeks it was great. One major issue was authorize.net stupid security tools. When authorize.net can't verify address, it places temporary authorization yet returning decline status and when customer looks at the statement, they see these authorizations every time they try to process new transaction. You know when you tell customer transaction is declined; they try it again and again (at least 3 times). Try to explain that process to customer….. When I called authorize.net and asked why they are doing it, I was told that they do it just in case if you want to process that particular transaction later, you can do so manually. So they expect me to tell every web customer – “if your transaction declined – don't worry I will process it later or I am sorry you have 10 temp. authorizations on your statement"…. STUPID. In any case it probably raised flag and some customer called innovative merchant bank and complained.
Without letting me know, innovative held all of my deposits and when I called them to find out, I was told that there no hold and I can keep processing. Next day I called and I heard same story and I was even told to call my bank and find out why there no deposits. Innovative reps were trying to postpone telling me that there is a problem so they can steal more money from my processing. When I called for the 3rd time, I was told that there some kind of hold and it was removed (!?!?!?!?), but it was not removed. Innovative was trying to make me process as much as possible so they can hold all that money – Lying to me!
I told customer service rep. that I will not process a single transaction and I was told that some lady by name Jennifer in security department is holding money and that she will call me.
When she called, she told me that there is a chargeback (1 chargeback) that came recently (most likely b/c customer is confused about that authorize.net temporary auth.) and when I asked her about the name of the customer or why chargeback came, she said that she don't know (!?!?!?) and that later I will receive it in the mail. I told her that I process with First Data and that the only reason why I need their merchant account is to save money is to pay less % in fees, she automatically told me that they don't like dual processing and that it's better if I were to process with First Data. I could not believe what I heard! Next she said that if I want to keep processing with innovative, she will need to place 15% rolling reserve or if I decide to close merchant account she will hold all of the funds for 6-9 months because they anticipate more chargeback's.
Sure I closed merchant account as I will not deal with such dumb way of handling the situation (if any). Sure I will NEVER NEVER even come close to innovative for processing and if there a lawsuit against them I will be the first one to participate.
As of now I am so tired of dealing with idiots and I switched my business to Google checkout 100% as Google checkout is the best and most legit processing business I ever came across. Thanks to Google checkout and I hope that these idiots at innoviative who think they are in control go down, get fired and innoviative will lose its business!
I don't understand where US congress is looking at? This is 100% monopoly. These processing companies don't care about small business and they do everything possible to steal money from them promoting larger enterprises. This is perfect example why USA economy is in deep [censored]!
Listen people,
I used to work for this company. Here's how it works... VISA/MasterCard approve transactions on behalf of the customer. IMS deposits those funds into your account on your behalf. If there is a risky transaction, they hold the funds until verified. if the bank says their client isn't verifying the transaction, they hold the money. Once they get verification they will release the money to you. It would be illegal otherwise. Just because you don't like them holding your money doesn't mean they don't have the right to do so. The best thing to do is ask for a partial release of funds that are not in question. Sometimes your account is risky and the dollar amount going through cannot be supported by YOUR credit, business type, history etc... Basically, if they put the money in your account and then the customer claims fraud... guess what? IMS has to get the money from you to give back to VISA/MC/AMEX to pay back their client. Should IMS pay for that? No way! Its your business, your risk. They have to cover themselves so you don't close your account and leave them holding the bag for your losses.
And it is absolutely their business what the transaction is for... you are required to sell only what you are set up to sell... like you can't sell computers if you are setup as a nail salon. It matters. The risk factor is different. Sometimes I can't believe how ignorant people can be. How do you run a business if you can't understand risk and don't even bother reading the contract or at least asking a question. These are reasonable people... I know... I used to work for them before I moved on to a completely different line of work.
The annual fee, termination fee and merchant club are a completely different story. That I can't help with but the holding of funds is definitely legal and within their rights to do. Not only is it within their rights, it is reasonable since they are assuming alot of risk on your behalf.
Suck it up people. Pay more attention and really research something before you bad mouth a company and threaten a class action law suit.
They are holding $12, 500 of my money now. Going on second week. Class action lawsuit is in order here. Obviously, if they are going to do this then they should not approve the transaction in the first place. Asking for copies of invoices, just like in other cases on this site. It is none of their business what the transaction is for. Their job is to approve or decline the transaction, at the TIME of the transaction, not later. Have already cancelled service and been charged the $295 fee. These people are crooks and cannot be allowed to continue. Anybody else out there ready for a class action? Let me know.
Hi,
IMS has hold funds for 6 weeks telling that they have to verify the transactions (invoices + cardholders info).
After repeated phone calls, fax and emails IMS finally (3 days ago) decided to reverse all the funds to our clients!
Now we have to contact each clients and hoping they will have pay us ...
Moreover they closed our account without let us know ...
I assume a class action lawsuit will be the best solution.
I am one of the victims, they hold my fund and keep giving me excuses of reviewing my paperworks. I've read all the complaints and I believe they have the intention to hold my fund forever. I hope all the victims and stand up and have a demonstration and strike in front of their office at 26541 Agoura Road
Calabasas, California. We can come up with a date and have everybody gather in front of their office and take back what we suppose to get.
We should all meet up and file a lawsuit against Innovative Merchant Solution.
Unafair business practises!
Beware of Innovative Merchant Solutions, they never show your agreement unless it's time for your business to close and when you cancel the account they will charge you a termination fee $395.00, even though your business close. I singed up with IMS through Auction Teacher and they said that its great and the agreement they gave me does not show anything about the termination fee.
There are several other credit card companies out there and Innovative Merchant Solutions is not the company you should do business with. I read several other complaints about this company and we all agree.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
This is a scamming company. I signed up in 2002 and tried to cancel my account when I got recalled into the military for Operation Iraqi Freedom...they kept charging me the monthly fees even though I was no longer accepting credit cards. The only way to get them off your back is to CLOSE YOUR BANK ACCOUNT!
The FTC I would love to hear more about this outfit...perhaps they will! hint hint
We enrolled with IMS on the MIVA Merchant website which "highly recommends" IMS.: http://www.mivamerchant.com/services/payment/index.mv We fell into a major SCAM. After 2 transactions of our creditworthy account for the past 12 years using their virtual online access IMS showed the transactions as APPROVED. Almost a week later, after we shipped their orders, we were contacted by IMS telling us that the account is a HIGH risk. IMS asked us for another credit card from our customer which was again submitted. The 2 initial transactions became 6 transations based each on 2.39% + $.20 fees. IMS final charge was $185, and no one at IMS can come up with an explanation. They told us they will refund us, they never did.IMS is charging electronically your bank account without you knowing until you receive the bank statement. IMS are crooks, we lost a lot of money with them and they NEVER paid us the funds they put on hold for the 2 transactions, each time IMS charge 2.39% when they asked us to credit and debit 6 times the same transaction! STAY AWAY from them, there are other (honest) gateways. It is amazing that they can stay in business and no one complaints to a higher level. Enrolling with them will make you loose money and their advertised 2.39% becomes nearly 12% commission, and no guarantee they will transfer the funds in your bank account.
all of you [censored]es better learn the ropes about credit card processing! i use innovative merchant solutions for my small businesses, and they are by far the best company out there. i have used first data, global, merchant lynx, heartland, and a few banks. ims, by far, has the lowest overall rates. all of your transactions go straight into your quickbooks account, at the touch of a button at the end of the day, to save you hours of manual entry. of course if there is a charge back they are going to hold your funds! every processor does! do you expect them to front you the money? you should have checked the id of the sketchy customer you took the card from, or used thier 0% debit(no chance of a charge back). and every credit card processing company has a termination fee. theirs is only $295! they have to pay the reps that went out and sold you, the shipping on terminals, the data enrty people, and many other people for each account! if you cancel within a month or two are they supposed to lose money? you fools are just bitter because your businesses probably suck. "lets go on a message board and bash a great company because i have nothing better to do." go run your bussinesses and i hope you idiots switch to first data with their 600 dollar term fee and high rates... losers
Innovative Merchant Solutions is probably THE most unethical group I have ever had to deal with. They have been withholding funds from credit card sales since last summer! As a result of a couple chargebacks, they claim that my merchant account raised red flags and took action to create a "reserve" to cover any forthcoming chargebacks. Never mind the fact that I won the disputes with those particular unscrupulous customers. And to top it off, I had a handful of customers cancel their orders and request a refund. When IMS credited the funds back to each customer, they immediately debited my checking account. Understandable under normal circumstances. But when you factor in that those transactions were being held by IMS and the funds had NEVER BEEN CREDITED to my bank account, you have to start questioning the legality of their business practices. In essence, they stole from me. When I questioned them on this, I got the runaround and was told they would look into it. When they realized their mistake (they should have deducted those amounts from the "reserve") they told me they would credit my account-- but not until after I faxed them copies of my bank statements to prove that they really did make the mistake. Afterwards, they informed me that because my bank account was overdrawn, they would not put the money back in. I pointed out that the only reason it was overdrawn was because they mistakenly debited the account. Apparently they are strangers to reason, because they still have that money 6 months later. According to the all illusive contract, IMS can hold funds UP TO 270 DAYS! How on earth is a small business supposed to make ends meet (especially in this economy) when its credit card processor is holding over $10, 000.00 of its hard earned money?
Here are a couple of sites to help get enough people to see this issue in a broader audience. If they are enough people to voice their personal situation with this company perhaps there is a chance they might chance their questionable business practices.
Here are links already posted to these sites, you can comment or created your own individual posting.
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-420919
http://clarkhoward.com/p/boards/ch/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=clarkhowardripoffs&Number=1306119&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&part=
INNOVATIVE MERCHANT SOLUTIONS IS A SCAM - THEY STEAL MONEY FROM SMALL BUSINESES KNOWING THAT THEY WILL NOT SUE THEM 100% SCAM. OBAMA ADMINISTRATION NEED TO PAY ATTENTION TO THESE SCAM PROCESSING COMPANIES AND BRING THEM DOWN!
Innoviative merchant Solutions – the most sophisticated and innovative way to scam merchants.
Before I started processing with innovative merchant solutions, I red so many [redacted]s, complains about innovative merchant solutions where people say that innovative merchant solutions stealing their money and I thought that because a lot of people do not understand technology they get banned by the processing companies and that they get attacked by hackers using fake credit cards etc…
I thought that I am different, I understand security and probably others get banned due to hackers. I thought that I will sign up with innovative merchant solutions and give them a shot.
I am web developer with many years of experience developing credit card security systems. In the past I worked for major banks worldwide and I know security from programming perspective like nobody else. I don't even use security mechanisms provided by gateways and implement my own custom way in my code. It proved to work. I got about 1 chargeback (over 8 months) at $100, 000 processed with linkpoint and chargeback was because customer was not able to recognize transaction. My system makes phone call during checkout to customers and does not allow transaction to go through unless they enter pin number they are given over the phone. I use other tools by maxmind, tools that verify address and location of the IP address to billing address etc… and a lot more.
I only gave Innovative Merchant Solutions about 10% of my processing to see how it goes. First few weeks it was great. One major issue was authorize.net stupid security tools. When authorize.net can't verify address, it places temporary authorization yet returning decline status and when customer looks at the statement, they see these authorizations every time they try to process new transaction. You know when you tell customer transaction is declined; they try it again and again (at least 3 times). Try to explain that process to customer….. When I called authorize.net and asked why they are doing it, I was told that they do it just in case if you want to process that particular transaction later, you can do so manually. So they expect me to tell every web customer – “if your transaction declined – don't worry I will process it later or I am sorry you have 10 temp. authorizations on your statement"…. STUPID. In any case it probably raised flag and some customer called innovative merchant bank and complained.
Without letting me know, innovative held all of my deposits and when I called them to find out, I was told that there no hold and I can keep processing. Next day I called and I heard same story and I was even told to call my bank and find out why there no deposits. Innovative reps were trying to postpone telling me that there is a problem so they can steal more money from my processing. When I called for the 3rd time, I was told that there some kind of hold and it was removed (!?!?!?!?), but it was not removed. Innovative was trying to make me process as much as possible so they can hold all that money – Lying to me!
I told customer service rep. that I will not process a single transaction and I was told that some lady by name Jennifer in security department is holding money and that she will call me.
When she called, she told me that there is a chargeback (1 chargeback) that came recently (most likely b/c customer is confused about that authorize.net temporary auth.) and when I asked her about the name of the customer or why chargeback came, she said that she don't know (!?!?!?) and that later I will receive it in the mail. I told her that I process with First Data and that the only reason why I need their merchant account is to save money is to pay less % in fees, she automatically told me that they don't like dual processing and that it's better if I were to process with First Data. I could not believe what I heard! Next she said that if I want to keep processing with innovative, she will need to place 15% rolling reserve or if I decide to close merchant account she will hold all of the funds for 6-9 months because they anticipate more chargeback's.
Sure I closed merchant account as I will not deal with such dumb way of handling the situation (if any). Sure I will NEVER NEVER even come close to innovative for processing and if there a lawsuit against them I will be the first one to participate.
As of now I am so tired of dealing with idiots and I switched my business to Google checkout 100% as Google checkout is the best and most legit processing business I ever came across. Thanks to Google checkout and I hope that these idiots at innoviative who think they are in control go down, get fired and innoviative will lose its business!
I don't understand where US congress is looking at? This is 100% monopoly. These processing companies don't care about small business and they do everything possible to steal money from them promoting larger enterprises. This is perfect example why USA economy is in deep [censored]!
IMS is committed to transparency of pricing and fees, including termination fees. The application language quoted in the report regarding termination fees is printed in bold and is located immediately above the applicant's signature line to help draw attention to the fact that termination fees apply. The Merchant Agreement, which is an important part of defining the obligations of the parties under the relationship, clearly describes the standard termination fee. IMS takes care to describe merchant obligations in clear and unambiguous terms in its application and merchant agreement. It encourages and expects that merchants entering into such an important relationship take appropriate time to understand their obligations under the relationship.
AVOID Intuit and its Innovative Merchant Solutions!
The following are FACTS related to my experience with them:
1) They play sneakery with contract terms. They have a merchant agreement that makes reference to a website document that is loaded with secondary terms. This website document is completely in their control and you have no way to lock in a frozen copy showing terms at the time you sign up with them as you NEVER specifically SIGN a copy of the website document.
2) included in the sneaky secondary terms not called out in the main document that you sign is a termination fee that they claim they can charge you no matter how long you have been using their services when you decide to end services with them even if you go out of business.
3) They agreed to waive the termination fee when trying to keep my business away from a competitor and they breached this agreement when I terminated services. When I contacted them to end services, they never made any mention that I would be charged a fee, they merely asked for me to fax my request to end services so I assumed they were honoring their verbal agreement to waive termination fee. Instead, they sneakily deducted it from my bank account.
4) They created duplicate accounts for me resulting in double bills and it took several months and several rounds of my contacting them to get this rectified and they offered nothing for my time an energy spent on this issue that was 100% their fault only.
5) They like to charge you fees that are NOT disclosed in your monthly statement, you only find them as deductions on your bank statment. This prevented me from even having an invoice from them showing the charge for my accounting records. I only had the sneaky band deduction to show the charge.
I found an annual fee this way. I had no knowledge an annual fee even existed. They waived this when they agreed to waive termination fees.
Due to the above, I advise the following:
a) check the standard contract laws in your state to see if terms such as the ones IMS likes to hide in its website addendum can be null and void due to their being deal breakers(meaning had IMS specifically covered the term with you, you would have NOT signed up for them).
b) never accept any verbal confirmations from IMS. Get it in writing as they seem to have a habit of breaching verbal agreements per my own experience with them and per the complaints I viewed on the BBB website.
c) strongly consider doing business with someone else for credit card services as it appears there are many out there with better rates and handle discussion of fees in a much more upfront honest manner.
All of the above are FACTS that I experienced DIRECTLY and have since learned there are many others with similar experiences in reviewing BBB complaints and the ripoffs website.
Signed up for their credit card clearing and specifically asked the saleman if there was an early termination fee. He said only in the first year. Three years later as I want to switch to a more reasonable rate and fees, they inform me that in the small print of their forms is a termination fee ,forever ,at $295.00. Shame on me for not having my attorney spend two hours reading their forms. STAY AWAY FORM THIER SCAM! The industry has many firms that will do better and not have the termination fees.
This is just one of their "Normal" business practices in the interest of customer service? These people must laugh all the way to "Hell" with the unethical practices they employ!
Salesman misrepresentation!
On June 5, 2007 a sales representive of Innovative Merchant Solutions by the name of PAOLO FIDUCIA came into my shop. He was selling a merchant credit card service. At first, my husband and I told him we weren't interested as we had an online service that we were quite happy with. Mr. Fiducia was not deterred by this. He pointed out that his company had...
Read full review of Innovative Merchant Solutions and 40 commentsLost $6,530.06, a whole days credit card transactions
For the sake of brevity I have noted the key points of problems which is followed by the full text of a letter that I sent IMS.
*...misrepresentation by your sales agent George Bylvas of the monthly savings that we would realize...
* A whole days transactions... vanished. $6,530.06 had not deposited to our checking account
* ...the monthly merchant statement and summary of deposits. They are extremely difficult to interpret, thus making necessary a subscription (for an additional fee) to your online statement.
* ...start up time of check authorization services
* Your company incorrectly identified our Tranz 360 as being compatable...we then had to purchase a Nurit 2085 terminal (at a fee of $195.00) from you
*In summary I have found my relationship with Innovative Merchant Solutions to be extremely frustrating, time consuming, and of no financial benefit.
TEXT OF LETTER:
March 15, 2007
Dale Dunning
Innovative Merchant Solutions
1655 Palm Beach Boulevard Suite 102
Palm Beach Florida 33401
Mr. Dunning,
I request immediate termination of our Merchant services with your company. However, I reserve the right to claim and accept reimbursement of any funds that your company may still owe our company. Our first day of business with your company was October 2, 2006. We stopped using your merchant services February 15,2007.
The reason for this expectation is an incident in which a whole day’s transactions that we batched at the end of the day vanished. The total transactions from the business day, October 20, 2006 for $6530.06 had not deposited in our account ¬, as they should have been. It was only after numerous hours of accounting to reconcile your poorly devised statement that my accountant and I were able to determine the origin of the shortfall. I have since then contacted American Express and three of their customers for that business day to have $1,745.43 of funds that they charged to their accounts, re-entered into the system so that our checking account would be credited. Furthermore, I requested that your Linda, (ext 60907) in records and reports, re-key the other 12 transactions for VISA, Master Card, Debit and Discover in the total amount of $4,784.63 and credit them to our checking account. Once I reconcile your January and February 2007 statements with my checking account statement, I will know if my company has received all the funds due from your company.
Another problem I have with your company is the misrepresentation by your sales agent, George Bylvas, of the savings that we would realize in the approximate amount of $197.00 a month ($2,372 annual savings) if we were to transfer our merchant services from Bank of America to Innovative Merchant services. Those savings we never realized. See attached work-up notes written by George on our June 2006 Bank of America Merchant Services statement.
A further problem with your company is the monthly Merchant Statement and Summary of Deposits. It is extremely difficult to interpret, thus making necessary a subscription (for which there is an additional fee) to your online statement with an expanded monetary batch summary and batch transaction details. It was only with this subscription service that I was able to locate the October 20, 2006, $6,530.06 non-payment to my company’s checking account. So that you might see how much struggle there has been to interpret your statement I am also attaching my work up sheets for reconciliation.
An additional problem with your company is the start up time of check authorization services. Because your company incorrectly identified our Tranz 360 terminal as compatible with your check cashing service, we could not use it when we transferred over to your service. We then had to purchase a Nurit 2085 terminal (at a fee of $195.00) from you, which we received Oct 13. Your company left us without check authorization service for eleven business days. When we did receive the newly programmed terminal there were no instructions for how to use it for credit cards or checks. After much complaining on our part we were finally faxed a nearly illegible sheet detailing operation. It was barely adequate.
In summary, I have found my relationship with Innovative Merchant Services to be extremely frustrating, time consuming, expensive and of no financial benefit. I would not recommend your service to any other merchant and would encourage them to look elsewhere.
Cordially
Mr. Kaplan and Mr. Jochner no longer own Innovative Merchant Solutions, but that does not mean that we don't still subscribe to the customer service that IMS was orginally founded on. And IMS does not own Homestead. Obviously there are a few shortcomings in the research applied to this post.
Since this company's inception in 1999, Innovative Merchant Solutions has made hugh inroads into the credit card processing area. I must say that the Owners Mr. Joe Kaplan and Tim Jochner are great fiancial architects who may have started a company with good intentions of customer service, but that concept must have been abandoned after the first or second million! It was brillent to enter into an large volume, high dollar unregulated financial arena! It goes something like this, smile and dance for your client tell them what they want to hear, then give them the 45 page fine print contract, hold them hostage, charge the heck out them and be unabashfully rude to them. After all, they have their hands so far into your account and with that leave no hostage standing bravdo customer service, they are free and clear to play "Pac Man" with your hard earned money. Of course, at that own discreation! I have recently, discovered that they have a new company named "Homestead" it is a on-line web company that you can quickly set up an attractive Web Site...Thank God I'm still in my 30 day trial. I will be canceling tomorrow, hopefully if I am "allowed". Whew...I gotta get out of bed with these people...I'm getting financially RAPED!
Bleeding in Atlanta, GA
Charged my account without permission!
On August 22, 2006, I purchased a credit card authorization machine package from the company called Innovative Merchant Solutions through Randy Judd, the agent from Auction Teacher Seminar. The agent promised me the world including getting me the machine within 2 to 3 weeks. However, after waiting for over 2 months with numerous calls, the machine or any other device never arrived to my address. Although I did not have the machine, this company charged me monthly minimum fees through my bank account without my permission. I finally canceled the purchase after numerous calls asking for my machine and the refund of the charges. As soon as I terminated the purchase, Innovative Merchant Solutions again dipped into my bank account and charged me another $395 for a termination fee. Fortunately, I was able to get the $395 termination refunded to me from my bank. When I called up Ms. Alice Kimbrough, the rude and impolite Innovative's agent, she told me that regardless whether I receive the machine or not I am liable to the termination fee because I signed the contract. I am not liable for the termination fee because I have given them enough time to send me the machine that I needed for my business and they have failed to do their part. Since then Ms. Alice Kimbrough has been harassing me for this charge. I believe that Innovative Merchant Solutions is out there to exploit the innocent consumer. Its agent is out there making false representation to lure the customers into signing the contract and then keep on charging the customers’ account as soon as the Innovative Merchant Solutions gets the information of the customers’ bank accounts. I have filed a complaint regarding this case to the California Attorney General. I also asked them for help to stop their action to prevent more innocent people to fall into their trap. If any one has the same or similar problem with Innovative Merchant Solutions please report them and file a complaint to the Office of the Attorney General, California Department of Justice, Edmund G. Brown, Jr., Attorney General. Their web address and telephone are: http://www.caag.state.ca.us/ and [protected]. You can even file a complaint through an email in this website. We live in a great country and these things should not be happening.
I have the same problem as Carmen M. Rios. I got an email advertising
Monthly Customer Service Fee - $9.95
Transaction fee $0.20 Debit Cards are $0.20 Flat
Ingenico 5100 C.C. Machine $599 VALUE----FREE
QuickBooks Pro 2009 $295 Value------FREE
Set up and Application Fee $195 Value ----FREE
Then it said "Once you have completed the application and your account has been approved you will receive a
welcome email which includes instructions to begin processing." It also said "Free terminal and free Quickbooks
software with approved merchant account."
I called the Sr account executive and went through the application. There is nothing in there about any terms or agreement. I had to put in my information such as drivers license and SSN and bank account number.
Then he sent me a form that I had to sign for the terms for getting the terminal such as if I discontinued I had to send it back. That was expected but I didn't like how they advertised it as a free terminal when it was really a free loan or lease of one. I had set the form aside and a few weeks later I got a statement from them for processing for $34.95. Min monthly fee of $25 + $9.95 for processing. I was not aware of a minimum and I did not want any processing to start especially since I did not have a terminal yet. I called them but on a Friday night the person was no help. She said that when the application was approved the statement started. I told them that I was going to dispute it with the bank and to cancel everything. I sent in a fax instructing that.
Then they charged me $395 for a termination fee. I talked to the customer service rep, Colt Curtis and he said to send in the form for the terminal and re-open the account. I faxed those in but they did not do anything. Then I read reports on the BBB and [redacted] and see how many others have had problems.
Seeing that I had never received anything saying my account was approved, never received a
welcome email and I never signed anything, and did not receive a Free terminal and free Quickbooks
software with approved merchant account, that must mean that my account was not approved. Thus they have no basis for charging me anything. Any other card processor sends the app in a pdf with all info up front.
I don't want to deal with them but I filed a complaint with the BBB there and will do so with the attorney general.
I went to my bank and filed a dispute with them for the fees.
First and foremost, the people who are out on the street selling are NOT employees of IMS. They are independent sales representatives who answer to the owner of in independent office. That is how the credit card industry is set up. Very rarely will you actually see an employee of a credit card processing company selling the services. This is just how the industry is structured. Next, the Merchant Application and Agreement, accepted at the time the customer applies, is very clear about any termination fees. IMS is committed to transparency of pricing and fees, including termination fees. The application language quoted in the report regarding termination fees is printed in bold and is located immediately above the applicant's signature line to help draw attention to the fact that termination fees apply. The Merchant Agreement, which is an important part of defining the obligations of the parties under the relationship, clearly describes the standard termination fee. IMS takes care to describe merchant obligations in clear and unambiguous terms in its application and merchant agreement. It encourages and expects that merchants entering into such an important relationship take appropriate time to understand their obligations under the relationship. Finally, the issues of holding funds and chargebacks are also clearly covered in the Merchant Agreement. Visa, MasterCard and Discover Network outline the policies and procedures for the dispute and chargeback of sales for their customers. These dispute regulations are by no means arbitrary and are not a product of anything IMS can or has ever done. They are created by the bankcard industry for the benefit of the cardholders and the card issuers. IMS accepts the liability for these sales on behalf of the merchant and will accept the loss from the card issuing bank in the event that the merchant does not have sufficient funds to cover the loss. The associations also dictate the types of investigations that IMS must complete and they are driven by unusual or exceptional activity such as a very large sale. Therefore if you usually accept credit card sale for $100 and you process a sale for $2000, the industry requires that this sale be investigated. IMS is just one member of the entire system that all bankcard issuers and acquirers (processors) are a part of. Some banks may knowingly choose to disregard the liability that they share in this process, but this is usually on the basis of other banking relationships, such as large deposits, that they hold with that customer. Because we allow our merchants to hold their bank account wherever they like, we cannot benefit from such a relationship. Additionally, we cannot dictate whether a customer will dispute a sale. The associations make the rules as to how and when a cardholder can dispute a credit card sale. We are obliged to accept the chargeback if the card issuing bank follows all the rules as set forth by the associations. Unfortunately there are some cardholders who take advantage of that system. But it is their card issuing bank's responsibility to determine when they feel their customer is manipulating the system. Almost every consumer advocate in the world will tell you to use a credit card for a large purchase because it's easier to dispute the sale. As a cardholder you have those same benefits, but as a merchant, you can become a victim of that same system that protects you. Sadly it cannot go both ways and protect you on both ends. But again, this is not a system that IMS has created, it is merely one that we are subject to and work with. Anyone who complains about the Merchant Agreement or the feels is simply under informed, and it is not because IMS is any type of scam. We have been in business for 10 years and will be here for another 10. If you own a business and intend on entering in a business contract we strongly suggest that you do your research and enter into the contract that is right for you. There are better deals to be had, and there are worse deals out there too. The bottom line is what is right for you? Our phones are answered by live operators and you can talk to a real person. We don't hide behind voice mail or telephone recordings that are impossible to navigate. This is not the sign of a scam or a company that is trying to hide.
These people are probably still in business and there are more victims out there not only merchants but the young sales people they train who are completely brain washed that they are part of something that destroys the economic foundation of every entrepreneur has built. Yeah I got ripped off but I kinda want to egg them on to keep trying to get money from me or threaten my credit score cause I know it cost money to do that and thats one of the only way I could get even. I never paid the cancellation fee but its pretty scary that they can still take money out from your new checking account after youve already closed to one they are milking from. My theory is that It got so bad in California that they sent agents to attack the east coast and now the whole country is in debt. These people should go bankrupt or why don't we hire more people to create more jobs to finally milk these IMS people like lets say IRS taking a percentage from their robbery and giving us a tax break from getting ripped off. There should be like a website where I can file that I got ripped off like this one and get every penny back from what they took. These people are still out looking for me. There should be a law when any merchant signs up for a contract and asked their social security number and a voided check that companies like IMS should give you that information from their side as well. If they have a website on all their fees and legal stuff that is not written on their contract which by the way looks more like a job application then can't we merchants and business people have some sort of website for us to protect us from these scams. We have the internet and they have agents dressed up like the bad people from matrix and we should do the same. The business next door from us really gave them hell and screamed for these agents to get out of his store. This merchant runs a Quick Shop and he is from India or pakistan. IMS employs agents who targets the merchant of the same nationality and its sick how far they have gotten. This is something really serious on whats wrong with the whole country and lawyer fees should not discourage us to fight back. For now I'll take the loss but isn't a crime also to let this keep going on to more victims to come? Its sad enough that all business are struggling in this reccession and to fall victim to these people in this time makes me sad and angry. Innovative Merchant Solutions should soon be charge with Deception, racial profiling, theft, and go as far as Al Queda anti capitalist training camp. These people are a serious threat to our economy and should be replaced with good companies with goodwill and a real desire to change people's mind in how they view America and American companies.
Dido on the cancellation fee scam. We have had an account for nearly 5 years with Innovative and recently cancelled. The customer service rep just said "send us a fax with the reason for cancelling and you are all set." A week later our account was debited for $295 for the "Termniation Fee". This was nowhere on my contract and I was assured by our sales rep Steve Ryan that we would not be charged a cancellation fee as long as we kept the account open for 6 months or longer.
They also charged us $15 a month(beyond the normal $20 minimum charge) for 3 years and could only identify the charge after we stopped payment on the charges. It turns we had been automatically enrolled in their "Merchant Supplies Discount Program" when we signed up. Again nothing in the contract and it took countless hours of digging to find out why they kept charging this fee. Mind you WE DO ALL OUR TRANSACTION ONLINE and have no credit card terminal that would even need supplies!
These people are criminals and Intuit should be ashamed to own such a shady and deceptive outfit. Shame on Innovative Merchant Solutions.
I opened an account with Innovated Merchant two weeks before my business was up and running. I sell hardwood floors and had not yet establish a cliental but wanted to be ready with a credit card machine. I told the rep that I would activate the machine as soon as I need to. About a month later an unauthorized debit from my business checking in the amount of $55.00 was debited and a month after that another $55.00 was debited again. I called them and asked why I was been charged if the machine was not activated. I was very angry and I cancel.
I was told that all I had to do was to send back the credit card machine; I was never told that I had to pay cancellation fee or tax fee on the credit card machine that I returned unused and never activated. It is totally a rip off to have to pay for something that I did not use or to pay tax on something that I do not have.
I refused to pay for it and now a collection agency is call me I either pay or my credit will be ruined. I too will definitely join in if anyone of you wants to file a lawsuit.
I will definitely join in if anyone of you want to file a lawsuit. They hold my $5, 500 and have no intention to deposit to my checking. This is a total scam and I want justice and my money back.
I had / have an account with Innovated Merchant solutions.
They are liars and deceptive. I went out of business and they debited my checking account for $295.00 for a service fee that I was never told about and they had no consent to take it out of my business account or should of asked or notify me first either on the phone or mail before doing so.. I was tricked to sign an agreement where they did not emphasise that this would happen if i went out of busness. They say I signed somehting stating on page two. "I don't remember that at all else I would of questioned that, and I was never told that verbally . They just told me how much money I would save and thier was only a $10.00 charge after 6 months and there was no mention of a disconnect fee of $295.00?. The debit''s are over drafting my checking account and I am being charged $35.00 for the over draft fee's per occurance. I owe the bank $295.00? on top of that? The rep at Innovated Merchant didn't tell me when I called to cancel that they would charge me. He sounded like a high school kid. And the female customer service spoke to when I cancelled sounded like she was in grammer school and negleted to tell me about the discontinue service fee of $295.00.
There was no attempt at all by any of their rep's or their retention department either to try to prevent this or conatcting me at all prior to the surprise chatge a month after I close?. It would be cheaper to pay the $10.00 a month fee then to pay $295.00 right now. Else I would of made sure there was enough money in the account or used a credit card for the unauthorized debit from my business checking of $295.00. Now they continue to draw a $10.00 service fee even while my account is closed . This is creating more $35.00 over draft fee's. They keep charging a closed account?. I closed up my business in March and they are still debiting my account a $10.00 fee without my consent also? What is wrong with these people? Legal Thieves. Lets see what a class action will do! Or just a small claims for $5, 000 or get an attorney and sue them for $100, 000 or more to teach them a lesson.
I had a real nightmare with this company. I had 4000.00 in transactions in June of last year from one customer. I send all my transactions through my quickbooks, innovative okayed the credit cards. 4 months later they raped my bank account of 4000.00 then 3 weeks later I got a letter saying the cards were fraudulent. Since then I closed the service, closed the account and opened a new bank account. Last week my bank statement arrived and low and behold they had somehow got the account number and taken more money out of the account.
This is theft pure and true. I am filing with the attorney general in California and also in Oregon as that is where I live.
This company needs to be stopped.
Innovative Merchant Solutions=Dressed up Gangsters, behind an LLC. If ever there is a large class action suit please count me in! We should not have to pay to be lied to, financially hi-jacked and then have to deal with their uppity self righteous customer service! I will tell everyone I know of this band of thieves until I leave the plant earth!
Pissed on for Now---But They will get theirs!
I am replying to a Mike Delgado, who wrote to me, but the email he gave was not correct.
No I have not received a resolution yet! They are absolute crooks! The parent company "Intuit" deny responsibility because they say that Innovative is required to make their own decisions...even the president's office couldn't do anything and kept referring me back to Innovative.
Then I received a phone call from the sales office offering to provide me with the training I need to get up and running and if, after I've used it for a month and I can prove that it's not satisfactory, they will cancel my account and refund my whole deposit.
Well you know a dime and a cup of coffee is worth more than that useless piece of cr**p! They will find some way to get out of giving me my $295, because they know I will cancel immediately the 30 days are up.
If they won't do anything after I have explained all my problems and that I was mislead by their salesman (which, by the way, the Connecticut Attorney General says is illegal), they are not ever going to refund my money.
The CT AG says if I sue them, they will back me up...yeah right...and there goes my $295 and more in atty fees.
They know when they have you over a barrell!
Want to form an allegiance and take out a class action suit? I wonder how many other people are out there with the same problem as you and me!
Glad to hear from you...not that it makes anything better, but nice to know I'm not alone!
Best wishes,
Deirdre
Deirdre J. Miller, Owner
A2Z Embroidery
577 Route 12
Groton, CT 06340
[protected]
http://www.a2zembroidery.net
support@a2zembroidery.net
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