Signed up for pivotal when they had a good deal on. Asked about the cancellation fees, was told it would only cost $300 to cancel. seemed reasonable. Found out it would be close to $2200 to cancel. Was misled by the sales agent.
Wasn't even told about the fact that they use a third party company for their terminals, who also has a contract, that is over a thousand dollars to cancel...
Yearly fees just being taken out of my account without permission. Terminal kills wireless card in machine if not used for a specific period of time, costing me time and money to replace.
Finally found someone to take my account over, was told they cannot take over the lease on the machine and to just return it. Found out that they could have taken the machine, and now am facing a Early Termination fee.
Long hold times. Uneducated tech staff that never have an answer to even the most basic questions.
Overall, I wouldn't wish this company on my worst enemy, I told the guy who took it over all of the problems with them, but he got duped by the monthly cost. And he only has a small remainder of the contract.
Is there a lawsuit out there, or someone doing a story on this type of company? I don't think these early termination fees are legal. if so, there are some serious issues. Contracts are the worst.
My complaints about Pivotal Payments have no end. Just complete misleading from the get-go. Read every single word in that contract before you do anything. Save yourself some money.
This is the level of frustration that i am writing something bad the first time about Pivotal payments as No one is there to help. except reporting about this company who is trying to make consumers hard money very easily. I have no contracts what so ever as originally when i signed up was POS card systems and I have in writing from that Managing director Brian Anderson of POS card systems says " No contracts, NO annual fees, No cancellation fees. and i am using the Pos card systems processor since last 6 years when this company Pivotal Payments came in this picture, took over this company POS card systems last year and i was under impression that everything remains the same.
Now when i want to get out of this processor i called to cancel the Dedication dept first i talk to Katherine oh my she was so rude saying you can't cancel you are under contract and cancelling will be over $3000 and i said i have no contract she said fax that copy and we will waive the cancellation fees and next day i talked to Jesse her supervisor and faxed that copy of that previous POS card systems and Jesse says its not valid and he also said stop calling our office and you can complain anywhere you want we really don't care. there was another shocked NEWS i was so fustrated i went on the internet and researched about this company and I saw all this bad reviews that made me aware that this company is trying to make easy money out of everyone and the other day i called Daniel Aitken the managing Director of Pivotal payments. he apologize and said will get back to me soon.
Never call back and I reported to BBB and writing this ON RIP OFF.COM and will spread this everywhere as i can. everytime you call Dedication dept have different answers so i have a feeling they have trained their employees to not to care about their customers. I am really not satisfied with this treatment and taking our money away.. open ROBBERY, CHEATERS, LIERS AND I AM SURE PIVOTALPAYMENTS WILL END SOON AS GOD WILL TAKE OF INNOCENT CUSTOMERS. No one in this company is willing to help looks like you are in Jail for 3 years.
Most Unethical company ever created. Money stolen from your account months after you terminated your contract terminating any right to your bank account? Did you sign an application that looked nothing like the contract they have online and never receive a copy? Did they keep your money for 8 days not depositing a cent into your bank account, collecting interest on their end while your vendors and suppliers checks bounced? Ya, me too. FIGHT BACK!
Contact your local Dept. of Justice and Atty Generals office. Contact Delaware Sec. of State where they are Incorporated. PLEASE!
I discovered the first of many LAWSUITS started. Please see businessandelectionlaw.com and select blog. Guatam Dutta is the Atty. If you know anything about him...he is no joke!
Started with small company which was bought out by Pivotal which I did not contract with. Filled out all the paperwork required by new laws with the new company, Pivotal.
I called due to the monthly charges with are almost double what they used to be. I don't use the account very often so I called about canceling. I get transferred to an account specialist who informs me that I am under contract until May and if I cancel before May I will have a $400.00 cancelation fee. I say fine I will not cancel before my contract is up. DO NOT CANCEL ME. She says are you going to use the account anytime between now and May. I say no. The account is used for workshops and there are no workshops scheduled. So the answer is no.
Thepivotal employee says then I am gong to cancel your account and you will have to pay the fee. I say again NO do not cancel my account. She then informs me I have to give them sixty days notice so I say I will give you sixty days notice. BUT DO NOT CANCEL ACCOUNT UNTIL I GIVE THAT SIXTY DAYS NOTICE.
Again the pivotal employee says I am canceling your account today and charging you a $400.00 dollar cancellation fee. Again I say DO NOT CLOSE THE ACCOUNT. I do not have $400.00 so therefore do not close the account.
Again the assistant says she is closing the account is it not her problem.
I repeatedly told Pivotal not to close the account and that I would be giving them sixty days notice.
I signed up to Pivotal Payments unknowingly through Charge National back in August of 2011. They promised me great rates, low fees - sign up today to take advantage of discounted offer for a hypercom Terminal.
The agreed price was $1350 for the terminal, to be paid in 4 payments. I was also to get a $250 cash back bonus which to date has never occurred. The payments were $500 deposit, then $288 + change to pay the terminal off - no lease, out right buy. First payment went ok of $500.
In the meantime, I was using the terminal for the first couple of months and waiting to get some sort of statement so I could balance my books. Nothing! After 2 or so months I called them up and waited on hold for the entire day - nobody answers their phones there! Second day i found different phone numbers to call and eventually got through. They told me I should have received a welcome email to which I never did. Guy said he would email me that day. I called back a few weeks later and got ahold of someone else who actually did email me the very late 'welcome letter'. Brutal service to begin.
Big problems occur when I found all these reports about Pivotal Payments in the meantime - very unsettling as I truly did not now I was signing up with Pivotal Payments. I was still under the impression I had signed up with Charge National - not through Charge National!
They tried to take the second payment of the terminal out of my credit card as agreed. Payment did not go through, but instead of calling me up to discuss it and for me to arrange alternative payment for it right away, they just helped themselves to my checking account! Completely unauthorized! There is a check box you fill out for them to be authorized to either 'Pre-Authorize Debit' or withdraw funds from my credit card. It is clearly marked as only the 'credit card' as being authorized - to which it is marked with an 'x' by a computer and to which I have the original copy. They literally helped themselves to my bank account and withdrew the $288+change - completely illegal and what is can only be described as FRAUD!!!
I called to complain and their response is well we tried you credit card and it didn't go through so we just took it out of your checking account. Pivotal Payments - you are NOT authorized to go into my bank account illegally! You call me first and we work out a solution!
I asked to cancel my account because I am quite unsettled they would go into my bank account illegally, have terrible reviews online. I was informed I signed a 3 year contract and would have to pay almost $1,700 CDN to cancel. Where does it say I agreed to a 3 year term??? Oh, in the small print, saying to go online and look up their "Terms of Service'. BURIED in the terms of service it says in not very plain english you are signing up for a 3 year term and essentially if you are ever want to cancel they are pretty much locking in that they can charge some sort of outrageous fee which is not even explained to what it will exactly be except it is by their calculation only.
I told them I'll send the terminal back, it is in perfect condition. Keep the almost $800 I've paid for the stupid thing and call it even. All they say is "we'll get back to you next week as we have to discuss it with our supervisor to see what happened here".
I'll tell you what is happening here. I'm so pissed off at this stupid so-called 'company' that I will take it as far as I can to press charges or the fraud they have committed. There is no way I'm paying any more fees for a terrible service, terrible customer service to a company that outright commits fraud and wants ME to pay THEM to cancel!
I was completely deceived by Charge National to begin with and Pivotal Payments on the other side. I was NEVER ONCE told I was siging up for a 3 year term. That is not something you hide when you ask someone to sign up. If you can't be forthright and honest in your dealings with people then you should not be in business. Pivotal Payments has clearly not beginning with never ensuring I got statements until I called about it, stealing money from my bank account, never once told I was signing up for a 3 year contract and then expected to read and completely understand all the lawyer jargon on the terms of service page.
And its my fault? All I ever wanted was a fair merchant services rate - not to be screwed by a lousy company that makes a fortune off the backs of hard, honest small businesses and then tells us where to stuff it!
Failed to provide service for several months then is charging for service as well as fee for contract termination. I was using Pivitol payment to process debit transations for my home renovation business. I had trouble with the terminal that they provided and after several calles they had replaced the terminal twice to try and fix the problem. This still did not fix the problem and I had no ability to use debit or credit cards. Calls and email go unanswered and they kept billing me for service. After over a year of no contact, (other than bills that I was paying for no service being provided) I stopped paying the bills. I send countless emails to the service people with no response. I then received letters from the collections people about the outstanding fee of now more that $1000.00. Again emails were send to the collections department with no response. Very poor customer service for a company in the customer service industy. I have no way to resolve the matter as they are refusing to even acknowledge me other than to send letters threatening legal proceedings.
I signed up w/ Pivotal in jan 2012. No online credit card payment option was installed. Almost 3 mos into the service, after requesting this be added to the program so we can track client payments, the rep could not install.
We reverted to the prior credit card company and have since done well. I received a phone call from Pivotal stating that they were going to charge my bank account for the incurred lost earnings for the next 3 years since I quit early. No mention of this in the original contract, by the way.
I questioned this policy since the original contract states nothing of the sort.
I have yet to hear from the management office - based in Montreal, Canada.
DO NOT open a merchant account with Pivotal Payments. They hide large amounts of fees in small print. Their partner Cynergy Data has filed for bankruptsy. The bankruptsy has tied up merchant reserve accounts. And, if you try to close your merchant account in order to get your reserve back, they hit you with early termination fees that are absolutely OUTRAGEOUS. Pivotal's business practices are deceptive and misleading. PIVOTAL has KEPT hundreds of merchant reserves for small businesses. Small businesses have gone out of business because of the reserves. It's impossible to get them to return a call. Their enitre operation is nothing but a way to rip off money from their clients. DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH PIVOTAL. DO NOT GIVE THEM YOUR BANK INFORMATION.
DON'T TRUST PIVOTAL. SHAME ON GOLDMAN SACHS!!!!! Figures it would be a GOLDMAN SACHS company. How many more people is GOLDMAN going to rip-off?
In response to the people from St. Catherines, Ontario, I too was led down the garden path by their Sales Rep's constant calls. Initially, I told him I would have nothing to do with them UNLESS they got a mobile unit. To which they did, 6 months down the path, so I gave him the opportunity to quote me on how much they could save me.
He was great up until I signed, then he completely disappeared off the face of the earth. He had answered all my questions about the extra card fees for all the various types of cards in the world but he never mentioned that there would be extra charges due to the fact that they were going to be treating my 3 machines as 3 separate accounts! AND that there were minimum fees that would be due on each machine because they expected each machine to produce certain levels of income from the cards.
I didn't find out until I got my statements at the end of the first month, that the real reason my machines would NOT bundle into one batch at the end of my business day.... I had called them the first time I went to complete a batch but the people on the Help Line told me that they were unable to process my machines this way, that they 'couldn't' perform this function. The couldn't because they wouldn't - due to the fact that they were going to be scamming me for an extra 2 accounts!
So now, quite enraged, I called again. Now it was too late to get out of the contract and it would cost me $20,000. or more to get out of my 5 year contract. I asked to speak to a Manager...they said none were available. I asked them to transfer me to another department....they said that a Manager would just tell me the same thing that they were....and that I should tone it down if I wanted to keep talking to them. I asked them to give me a Manager's telephone number and they wouldn't.
Another 6 months go by and I've had lots of dropped transactions, replaced the Mobile Unit twice and then was charged an extra $1500.00 for a Mobile Unit that was not returned. I called them about the fee and they told me that I hadn't returned it. I agreed. It was still in my office because altho they had included the return mailer, they had forgotten to advise Fedex to come & pick it up. I called Fedex and they refused to come & pick it up because 1) I had no account with them and 2) they don't normally come to Merritt unless they have a delivery. Fedex advised me to send it back to Pivotal via Canada Post and then get the money back from them after they received it. I have found that the Help Line Staff was generall all French and hard to understand. This has created many delays in solving problems.
When there is an error in their deposits to my bank, they insist on me sending them copies of my Statements - 1 week prior to the error or missing deposit AND 1 week after - so they can see that I'm not making it up. This is rediculous & very time consuming.
So if you are thinking about using this company, be on your guard. They don't save you a nickel in fact they cost you more.........and I haven't even mentioned anything about the LFG fees....that's another story.
Scammed by pivatol telemarketer, that misled office staff by misrepresenting himself, stating he needed more information for our card processing. Our small business, family owned and operated ,staff member ,having access to all owner information complied believing it was our Provider. The owner came in when he was looking for our tax id # and ask what was going on and was told to hang up. must have been too late. they ran with it.
After bills came in from 2 different company names, I called our provider and found that we have been hijacked to Pivotal , AM Payments.
At no point did we realize this was a different company or they never would have gotten any information .
If pivatol had identified themselves as a rival company we would have hung up. We have reset our credit card machine but they still have access to our account. we have been threatened with $600 cancelation fee. We also have been PCI compliant throughout this and are being charged 99.00 for that . This is a RIP OFF company , rude and disrespectful.
IF YOU GET A CALL FROM PIVITOL PAYMENTS OR AM PAYMENTS THEY ARE A SCAM... They tell you that they give you wholesale rates on merchant processing , they even send their website for you to check it out and yes it says WHOLESALE and then they said they wil take care of the last processor and al llies.. They are a scam. I spent time away from my job to talk to lady called Ryan Mitchell, she asked me to send my previous statement so she woudl do a rate adjustment..
Told me no contract, they only charge wholesale rates but I thnk what she meant was that they charge the entire sale and keep it.. I ended up paying 10% and when I called for them to explain why my bill was 200.00 higher than my previous prosessor they told me I had higher volume, I pulled up a statement from my previous processor thathad the same volume, 2 sales less and AM payments is 8% higher,
when I called asking for Ryan Mitchell to go over reasons why what she told me and what I am being charged is not the same, they put me on hold for 5 minutes.. I had to hang up.. I called the next day and again they put me on hold, I actually gave my son the phone and told him to yell at me when they got on the line.. 45 mintes later we were still on hold.. I called from my second phone and asked for a manager, not mentioning who I was and who answered the phone "This I Ryan Mitchell" and I said "Ryan Im waiting for your answer on my business line, can you please answer cos I've been on hold for 50 minutes now" She hung up.. I asked my husband to call and ask for a manager, we got someone else on the phone and they pretty much told me that I can't get out of the contract and if I want to get out I have to pay "Liquidated damages".
how much they would have made on my account for the period of conrtact which by the way before I singned teh paperwork and read it thoroughly I asked if there was a contract and for how long and they said "oh no contract its on a month to month bases" again all my calls are recorded so I asked that "manager" "so how much is your Liquidated Damages goint o cost me " and she said "oh around $6000.00".. I hung up the phone and I am livid.. IF PIVITOL OR AM PAYMENTS CALL YOU PLEASE HANG UP AND DO NOT TAKE THEIR CALLS.. I called my processor I had prior to Pivitol and I took all the legal means I have to leave AM Processing and return to my old processor. When I explained what had happened, they told me that they will gladdly took my business back....
Doin some research I found out that the reason why Pivotal changed the name to AM Paymets is because Pivotal Payments has 3 calls lawsuits and they are an outsource business..
BTW I called Cosnumer Protection Act as well as the attorney and they will go after them for many reasons but also fro FALSE ADVERTISING.. They are NOT a wholesale processor they are a 4th party processor who loves to lie, get you to sign, forge some signatures and then screw you up..
Please open this link and lets all do something about Pivotal!!!
We signed the contract with Pivotal in 2009, in 2010. we noticed that rates are changed, after we called to complain, rate was changed back, but no reimbursement was given for previous 3 months, 2 months later rate was changed again .all these changes were done without any notice
In 2011 we cancelled our contract, since we found out about code of conduct due to many problems, but main one was these rate changes.
One year later in July 2012. Pivotal charged our business account $40 000.00 without letter, statement, phone call, receipt
We have filled a complaint with Financial Consumer Agency and we are working with our lawyer on the next steps.
I think there is nothing more to say then we have to do something, i was reading comments on
$40 000.00 is a lifetime saving for an average working familyand these crooks stole that much for a cancellation fee!
how can someone access your bank account 1 year after cancellation?
i will not rest until this stops!
is there law in this country that protects us from these frauds?
Please do something if you have similar problem with your merchant services
Pivotal Payment is like the worst credit card processing company I been with and I haven't known any company that is like them. Their 3 year contract locks you in and when you want to cancel its not just the monthly fee plus how many month you have left on your contract! Its your average processing amount times how many month you have left. So if you give them $300 dollars a month for the fee, they will use that. I cancelled with other company before and none of it is like this. They never say anything about this cancellation crap. They don't care if you are small or whatever. They don't want to work with you. Their customer service is so bad. I can't wait until my 3 years are up with them and cancel my contract! Business should all be aware of them.
We purchased a business and were in the midst of transferring various accounts. We spoke to Pivotal and told them we could only use them if they could change the bank account assigned to the merchant account. We did not want to change anything in the POS system and wanted to ensure a smooth transition. Pivotal claimed that would be no problem and in the coming week we received online access to the merchant account and credit cards were processing.
We learned later that they were processing into the previous owners account, which was no big deal since they had indicated it may take a couple of weeks. Then we received information about a new merchant account and were told that we needed to change the way they are processed since the system used previously was not longer available. Then cards stopped processing on the old account and there was no way to reconfigure our software for the new method.
To make a long story short, they could not accomplish what was originally promised and the only reason we went with them. As a result I made arrangements with another company to solve our problem (which went flawless) and told Pivotal we would not need their services since they could not fulfill their commitment. They started threatening us and quoting lines from a contract stating an early termination fee, even though we were never able to process a single payment in they way they committed. Today, they have used their auto debit capability to remove $650 from our bank account using different credentials because we had put a stop payment on the one they first used.
This is a dishonest and corrupt company that does not care about it's customers or apparently about it's reputation since now I will make sure it is known through every social media network I can find.
Signed up for pivotal when they had a good deal on. Asked about the cancellation fees, was told it would only cost $300 to cancel. seemed reasonable. Found out it would be close to $2200 to cancel. Was misled by the sales agent.
Wasn't even told about the fact that they use a third party company for their terminals, who also has a contract, that is over a thousand dollars to cancel...
Yearly fees just being taken out of my account without permission. Terminal kills wireless card in machine if not used for a specific period of time, costing me time and money to replace.
Finally found someone to take my account over, was told they cannot take over the lease on the machine and to just return it. Found out that they could have taken the machine, and now am facing a Early Termination fee.
Long hold times. Uneducated tech staff that never have an answer to even the most basic questions.
Overall, I wouldn't wish this company on my worst enemy, I told the guy who took it over all of the problems with them, but he got duped by the monthly cost. And he only has a small remainder of the contract.
Is there a lawsuit out there, or someone doing a story on this type of company? I don't think these early termination fees are legal. if so, there are some serious issues. Contracts are the worst.
My complaints about Pivotal Payments have no end. Just complete misleading from the get-go. Read every single word in that contract before you do anything. Save yourself some money.
I began my relationship with Pivotal in May of 2011. It was difficult to set up the services at first. Once I had the basics done, an account underwriter began harassing me about minor issues on my website. they didn't like the way returns were described, they didn't like the way my street address was listed, etc. There were times when they complained about one thing and later would complain again (reversing earlier directions). I encountered problems with international sales.
The transactions would kick out but the customers would not understand why their transactions wouldn't process and it wasn't clear to me either. It took several calls to learn that it was about the "foreign zip code" that caused the failed transactions. I informed the company on a few different occasions of my dissatisfaction. I stopped processing transactions through my website for a few months and then informed them I was terminating my contract after a year - this was in the summer of 2012.
They told me I would owe them for the three year contract, over 1,000.00. I told them I didn't owe and wouldn't pay. I closed the bank account and didn't hear from them again until March of 2013 when I got a bogus collection notification in the mail for 40.00. Don't use this company. Nothing good to say about them.
They hiked my rates 60-80% after two months and took fees that were not supposed to be charged. Numerous calls to customer service proved fruitless and frustrating. When asked to speak to a managed was told there were none! Do not deal with this company or any third party credit/debit provider. Stay with a company associated with your bank.
Are you locked into long-term rental contracts? Or does the processor provide you with options to buy or lease-to-own terminals?
2) Future-Proof Terminals Are the terminals designed to accept the latest technology? Or will you be forced to upgrade at a considerable expense in the future?
3) Meet or Beat Pricing Is the processor flexible in providing you the best available rate for your business? Can you get the best rate without having to go through a lot of red-tape or meeting very strict conditions? 4) Quick Access to Cash Does the processor provide flexible financing to help grow your business? Are there restrictions or interest charges placed on loans, or can you get a loan that is free from fixed payments, timeframes and interest?
5) Ease of Integration Do you need to change your existing setup? Does the processor integrate with your existing system or customized setup? Can you easily import/export your existing customer database files? 6) Daily Reporting Can you follow your business performance anytime, from anywhere? Can you export business reports in your preferred file formats? Check if the processor has an online reporting portal that allows you to view your statements. Daily updates are always preferred over one monthly statement. 7) Security and PCI Compliance Does the processor use sophisticated fraud and security tools to protect your business and your clients? Do they meet all PCI standards, allowing your business to benefit from additional reliability?
8) Gateway with Recurring Billing and Customizable User Access Levels Can you manage recurring payments to avoid potential errors? Can you immediately process transactions from repeat customers, without re-entering customer information? 9) Dedicated Merchant Support Can the processor help you deal with any issue, including chargeback resolution, risk monitoring, etc.? Are they available 365 days/year? 10) Fully Redundant System Does the processor have backup servers, to avoid downtime and keep your business up and running 365 days/year?
*Any consumer not receiving satisfaction from a member of scamion Corporate Advocacy Business Remediation and Customer Satisfaction Program should email us at [email protected]
This kind of dedication to customer service means that Pivotal Payments the necessary steps to make sure their customers are properly taken care of.
In the future, if anyone has any complaints or concerns with Pivotal Payments, you are invited to contact them directly via email: [email protected] (again, please be sure to cc: [email protected] so we can keep track of the companys response and to insure customer satisfaction). You can call Pivotal Payments directly at 877-462-7486.
As always, scamion cannot guarantee that every customer or employee will always be 100% satisfied in every case, but we promise that if you have any concerns with Pivotal Payments or any of our Corporate Advocacy Program members, we will do everything we can to see that the issue is addressed quickly and that you are treated fairly and with respect. Any issues you think you cannot resolve with any member of scamion Corporate Advocacy Program.. please contact us. EDitor@scamion
Pivotal Payments sales representative Mr. Timothy Boyd came to my business claiming that his company could save me lots of money on my credit and debit card processing charges. He was very clear and insistent that I was in no way signing a contract with them and that if for any reason I was not satisfied with their rates that I could cancel their services at any time with no penalty.
He also insisted that there would be no hidden charges or fees involved. I got the first statement from them two weeks later at the end of the month. They had charged me excessive fees that were not disclosed at the time I signed what I was lead to believe was only an application. These fees and undisclosed charges amounted to nearly 40% of the transactions processed by them instead of the promised 1 to 2 percent.
When I called to terminate their services, I was then told that I had indeed signed a three year contract and that they would be charging me a $400.00 early termination fee. My receptionist later told me that she had witnessed Mr. Boyd calling my current provider claiming to be me so that he could retrieve information about my account. I had my bank put a block on any additional ACH withdrawals from my account by them until I could get this settled. They then submitted the withdrawal of the $400.00 fee to my account under a different name than the one they had been using previously. Not only was there a breach of verbal contract with Mr. Boyd who assured me repeatedly that I was not under contract to continue their services, there may be grounds to file criminal charges against MR. Boyd for using my name when he called to get the information about my account.
Pivotal Payments, Inc. Reviews
Signed up for pivotal when they had a good deal on. Asked about the cancellation fees, was told it would only cost $300 to cancel. seemed reasonable. Found out it would be close to $2200 to cancel. Was misled by the sales agent.
Wasn't even told about the fact that they use a third party company for their terminals, who also has a contract, that is over a thousand dollars to cancel...
Yearly fees just being taken out of my account without permission. Terminal kills wireless card in machine if not used for a specific period of time, costing me time and money to replace.
Finally found someone to take my account over, was told they cannot take over the lease on the machine and to just return it. Found out that they could have taken the machine, and now am facing a Early Termination fee.
Long hold times. Uneducated tech staff that never have an answer to even the most basic questions.
Overall, I wouldn't wish this company on my worst enemy, I told the guy who took it over all of the problems with them, but he got duped by the monthly cost. And he only has a small remainder of the contract.
Is there a lawsuit out there, or someone doing a story on this type of company? I don't think these early termination fees are legal. if so, there are some serious issues. Contracts are the worst.
My complaints about Pivotal Payments have no end. Just complete misleading from the get-go. Read every single word in that contract before you do anything. Save yourself some money.
This is the level of frustration that i am writing something bad the first time about Pivotal payments as No one is there to help. except reporting about this company who is trying to make consumers hard money very easily. I have no contracts what so ever as originally when i signed up was POS card systems and I have in writing from that Managing director Brian Anderson of POS card systems says " No contracts, NO annual fees, No cancellation fees. and i am using the Pos card systems processor since last 6 years when this company Pivotal Payments came in this picture, took over this company POS card systems last year and i was under impression that everything remains the same.
Now when i want to get out of this processor i called to cancel the Dedication dept first i talk to Katherine oh my she was so rude saying you can't cancel you are under contract and cancelling will be over $3000 and i said i have no contract she said fax that copy and we will waive the cancellation fees and next day i talked to Jesse her supervisor and faxed that copy of that previous POS card systems and Jesse says its not valid and he also said stop calling our office and you can complain anywhere you want we really don't care. there was another shocked NEWS i was so fustrated i went on the internet and researched about this company and I saw all this bad reviews that made me aware that this company is trying to make easy money out of everyone and the other day i called Daniel Aitken the managing Director of Pivotal payments. he apologize and said will get back to me soon.
Never call back and I reported to BBB and writing this ON RIP OFF.COM and will spread this everywhere as i can. everytime you call Dedication dept have different answers so i have a feeling they have trained their employees to not to care about their customers. I am really not satisfied with this treatment and taking our money away.. open ROBBERY, CHEATERS, LIERS AND I AM SURE PIVOTALPAYMENTS WILL END SOON AS GOD WILL TAKE OF INNOCENT CUSTOMERS. No one in this company is willing to help looks like you are in Jail for 3 years.
Most Unethical company ever created. Money stolen from your account months after you terminated your contract terminating any right to your bank account? Did you sign an application that looked nothing like the contract they have online and never receive a copy? Did they keep your money for 8 days not depositing a cent into your bank account, collecting interest on their end while your vendors and suppliers checks bounced? Ya, me too. FIGHT BACK!
Contact your local Dept. of Justice and Atty Generals office. Contact Delaware Sec. of State where they are Incorporated. PLEASE!
I discovered the first of many LAWSUITS started. Please see businessandelectionlaw.com and select blog. Guatam Dutta is the Atty. If you know anything about him...he is no joke!
sincerely,
A small business owner in NC fighting back
Called the company due to high monthly charges.
A little history:
Started with small company which was bought out by Pivotal which I did not contract with. Filled out all the paperwork required by new laws with the new company, Pivotal.
I called due to the monthly charges with are almost double what they used to be. I don't use the account very often so I called about canceling. I get transferred to an account specialist who informs me that I am under contract until May and if I cancel before May I will have a $400.00 cancelation fee. I say fine I will not cancel before my contract is up. DO NOT CANCEL ME. She says are you going to use the account anytime between now and May. I say no. The account is used for workshops and there are no workshops scheduled. So the answer is no.
Thepivotal employee says then I am gong to cancel your account and you will have to pay the fee. I say again NO do not cancel my account. She then informs me I have to give them sixty days notice so I say I will give you sixty days notice. BUT DO NOT CANCEL ACCOUNT UNTIL I GIVE THAT SIXTY DAYS NOTICE.
Again the pivotal employee says I am canceling your account today and charging you a $400.00 dollar cancellation fee. Again I say DO NOT CLOSE THE ACCOUNT. I do not have $400.00 so therefore do not close the account.
Again the assistant says she is closing the account is it not her problem.
I repeatedly told Pivotal not to close the account and that I would be giving them sixty days notice.
Talk about a rip off!!!!!
I signed up to Pivotal Payments unknowingly through Charge National back in August of 2011. They promised me great rates, low fees - sign up today to take advantage of discounted offer for a hypercom Terminal.
The agreed price was $1350 for the terminal, to be paid in 4 payments. I was also to get a $250 cash back bonus which to date has never occurred. The payments were $500 deposit, then $288 + change to pay the terminal off - no lease, out right buy. First payment went ok of $500.
In the meantime, I was using the terminal for the first couple of months and waiting to get some sort of statement so I could balance my books. Nothing! After 2 or so months I called them up and waited on hold for the entire day - nobody answers their phones there! Second day i found different phone numbers to call and eventually got through. They told me I should have received a welcome email to which I never did. Guy said he would email me that day. I called back a few weeks later and got ahold of someone else who actually did email me the very late 'welcome letter'. Brutal service to begin.
Big problems occur when I found all these reports about Pivotal Payments in the meantime - very unsettling as I truly did not now I was signing up with Pivotal Payments. I was still under the impression I had signed up with Charge National - not through Charge National!
They tried to take the second payment of the terminal out of my credit card as agreed. Payment did not go through, but instead of calling me up to discuss it and for me to arrange alternative payment for it right away, they just helped themselves to my checking account! Completely unauthorized! There is a check box you fill out for them to be authorized to either 'Pre-Authorize Debit' or withdraw funds from my credit card. It is clearly marked as only the 'credit card' as being authorized - to which it is marked with an 'x' by a computer and to which I have the original copy. They literally helped themselves to my bank account and withdrew the $288+change - completely illegal and what is can only be described as FRAUD!!!
I called to complain and their response is well we tried you credit card and it didn't go through so we just took it out of your checking account. Pivotal Payments - you are NOT authorized to go into my bank account illegally! You call me first and we work out a solution!
I asked to cancel my account because I am quite unsettled they would go into my bank account illegally, have terrible reviews online. I was informed I signed a 3 year contract and would have to pay almost $1,700 CDN to cancel. Where does it say I agreed to a 3 year term??? Oh, in the small print, saying to go online and look up their "Terms of Service'. BURIED in the terms of service it says in not very plain english you are signing up for a 3 year term and essentially if you are ever want to cancel they are pretty much locking in that they can charge some sort of outrageous fee which is not even explained to what it will exactly be except it is by their calculation only.
I told them I'll send the terminal back, it is in perfect condition. Keep the almost $800 I've paid for the stupid thing and call it even. All they say is "we'll get back to you next week as we have to discuss it with our supervisor to see what happened here".
I'll tell you what is happening here. I'm so pissed off at this stupid so-called 'company' that I will take it as far as I can to press charges or the fraud they have committed. There is no way I'm paying any more fees for a terrible service, terrible customer service to a company that outright commits fraud and wants ME to pay THEM to cancel!
I was completely deceived by Charge National to begin with and Pivotal Payments on the other side. I was NEVER ONCE told I was siging up for a 3 year term. That is not something you hide when you ask someone to sign up. If you can't be forthright and honest in your dealings with people then you should not be in business. Pivotal Payments has clearly not beginning with never ensuring I got statements until I called about it, stealing money from my bank account, never once told I was signing up for a 3 year contract and then expected to read and completely understand all the lawyer jargon on the terms of service page.
And its my fault? All I ever wanted was a fair merchant services rate - not to be screwed by a lousy company that makes a fortune off the backs of hard, honest small businesses and then tells us where to stuff it!
Failed to provide service for several months then is charging for service as well as fee for contract termination. I was using Pivitol payment to process debit transations for my home renovation business. I had trouble with the terminal that they provided and after several calles they had replaced the terminal twice to try and fix the problem. This still did not fix the problem and I had no ability to use debit or credit cards. Calls and email go unanswered and they kept billing me for service. After over a year of no contact, (other than bills that I was paying for no service being provided) I stopped paying the bills. I send countless emails to the service people with no response. I then received letters from the collections people about the outstanding fee of now more that $1000.00. Again emails were send to the collections department with no response. Very poor customer service for a company in the customer service industy. I have no way to resolve the matter as they are refusing to even acknowledge me other than to send letters threatening legal proceedings.
Pivotal Payments has lousy customer service. Once I realized that they werent going to
save me the money promised on my credit card fee processing they werent
willing to match the savings I was receiving from my current credit card
processing company. The only thing they wanted to do was offer me a gas or
restaurant voucher for $50.00 Whoppee!!!
Then when I asked to be terminated they said it would be a $650.00 early termination fee. They
sent me a form to complete to terminate which I did not return because I was
still trying to figure out what to do about this poor decision I made to change
companies and they automatically withdrew $650.00 from my checking account
(making an over draught on my account) without notifying me. They said they
sent me a letter and called neither of which I received.
I strongly encourage researching this company before doing business with them I now
realized too late about all the complaints and lawsuits with this company. I
really regret not checking them out first and it was a very expensive mistake!!!
I signed up w/ Pivotal in jan 2012. No online credit card payment option was installed. Almost 3 mos into the service, after requesting this be added to the program so we can track client payments, the rep could not install.
We reverted to the prior credit card company and have since done well. I received a phone call from Pivotal stating that they were going to charge my bank account for the incurred lost earnings for the next 3 years since I quit early. No mention of this in the original contract, by the way.
I questioned this policy since the original contract states nothing of the sort.
I have yet to hear from the management office - based in Montreal, Canada.
Pivotal Payments - BACKED BY GOLDMAN SACHS!!!!
DO NOT open a merchant account with Pivotal Payments. They hide large amounts of fees in small print. Their partner Cynergy Data has filed for bankruptsy. The bankruptsy has tied up merchant reserve accounts. And, if you try to close your merchant account in order to get your reserve back, they hit you with early termination fees that are absolutely OUTRAGEOUS. Pivotal's business practices are deceptive and misleading. PIVOTAL has KEPT hundreds of merchant reserves for small businesses. Small businesses have gone out of business because of the reserves. It's impossible to get them to return a call. Their enitre operation is nothing but a way to rip off money from their clients. DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH PIVOTAL. DO NOT GIVE THEM YOUR BANK INFORMATION.
DON'T TRUST PIVOTAL. SHAME ON GOLDMAN SACHS!!!!! Figures it would be a GOLDMAN SACHS company. How many more people is GOLDMAN going to rip-off?
In response to the people from St. Catherines, Ontario, I too was led down the garden path by their Sales Rep's constant calls. Initially, I told him I would have nothing to do with them UNLESS they got a mobile unit. To which they did, 6 months down the path, so I gave him the opportunity to quote me on how much they could save me.
He was great up until I signed, then he completely disappeared off the face of the earth. He had answered all my questions about the extra card fees for all the various types of cards in the world but he never mentioned that there would be extra charges due to the fact that they were going to be treating my 3 machines as 3 separate accounts! AND that there were minimum fees that would be due on each machine because they expected each machine to produce certain levels of income from the cards.
I didn't find out until I got my statements at the end of the first month, that the real reason my machines would NOT bundle into one batch at the end of my business day.... I had called them the first time I went to complete a batch but the people on the Help Line told me that they were unable to process my machines this way, that they 'couldn't' perform this function. The couldn't because they wouldn't - due to the fact that they were going to be scamming me for an extra 2 accounts!
So now, quite enraged, I called again. Now it was too late to get out of the contract and it would cost me $20,000. or more to get out of my 5 year contract. I asked to speak to a Manager...they said none were available. I asked them to transfer me to another department....they said that a Manager would just tell me the same thing that they were....and that I should tone it down if I wanted to keep talking to them. I asked them to give me a Manager's telephone number and they wouldn't.
Another 6 months go by and I've had lots of dropped transactions, replaced the Mobile Unit twice and then was charged an extra $1500.00 for a Mobile Unit that was not returned. I called them about the fee and they told me that I hadn't returned it. I agreed. It was still in my office because altho they had included the return mailer, they had forgotten to advise Fedex to come & pick it up. I called Fedex and they refused to come & pick it up because 1) I had no account with them and 2) they don't normally come to Merritt unless they have a delivery. Fedex advised me to send it back to Pivotal via Canada Post and then get the money back from them after they received it. I have found that the Help Line Staff was generall all French and hard to understand. This has created many delays in solving problems.
When there is an error in their deposits to my bank, they insist on me sending them copies of my Statements - 1 week prior to the error or missing deposit AND 1 week after - so they can see that I'm not making it up. This is rediculous & very time consuming.
So if you are thinking about using this company, be on your guard. They don't save you a nickel in fact they cost you more.........and I haven't even mentioned anything about the LFG fees....that's another story.
Scammed by pivatol telemarketer, that misled office staff by misrepresenting himself, stating he needed more information for our card processing. Our small business, family owned and operated ,staff member ,having access to all owner information complied believing it was our Provider. The owner came in when he was looking for our tax id # and ask what was going on and was told to hang up. must have been too late. they ran with it.
After bills came in from 2 different company names, I called our provider and found that we have been hijacked to Pivotal , AM Payments.
At no point did we realize this was a different company or they never would have gotten any information .
If pivatol had identified themselves as a rival company we would have hung up. We have reset our credit card machine but they still have access to our account. we have been threatened with $600 cancelation fee. We also have been PCI compliant throughout this and are being charged 99.00 for that . This is a RIP OFF company , rude and disrespectful.
IF YOU GET A CALL FROM PIVITOL PAYMENTS OR AM PAYMENTS THEY ARE A SCAM... They tell you that they give you wholesale rates on merchant processing , they even send their website for you to check it out and yes it says WHOLESALE and then they said they wil take care of the last processor and al llies.. They are a scam. I spent time away from my job to talk to lady called Ryan Mitchell, she asked me to send my previous statement so she woudl do a rate adjustment..
Told me no contract, they only charge wholesale rates but I thnk what she meant was that they charge the entire sale and keep it.. I ended up paying 10% and when I called for them to explain why my bill was 200.00 higher than my previous prosessor they told me I had higher volume, I pulled up a statement from my previous processor thathad the same volume, 2 sales less and AM payments is 8% higher,
when I called asking for Ryan Mitchell to go over reasons why what she told me and what I am being charged is not the same, they put me on hold for 5 minutes.. I had to hang up.. I called the next day and again they put me on hold, I actually gave my son the phone and told him to yell at me when they got on the line.. 45 mintes later we were still on hold.. I called from my second phone and asked for a manager, not mentioning who I was and who answered the phone "This I Ryan Mitchell" and I said "Ryan Im waiting for your answer on my business line, can you please answer cos I've been on hold for 50 minutes now" She hung up.. I asked my husband to call and ask for a manager, we got someone else on the phone and they pretty much told me that I can't get out of the contract and if I want to get out I have to pay "Liquidated damages".
how much they would have made on my account for the period of conrtact which by the way before I singned teh paperwork and read it thoroughly I asked if there was a contract and for how long and they said "oh no contract its on a month to month bases" again all my calls are recorded so I asked that "manager" "so how much is your Liquidated Damages goint o cost me " and she said "oh around $6000.00".. I hung up the phone and I am livid.. IF PIVITOL OR AM PAYMENTS CALL YOU PLEASE HANG UP AND DO NOT TAKE THEIR CALLS.. I called my processor I had prior to Pivitol and I took all the legal means I have to leave AM Processing and return to my old processor. When I explained what had happened, they told me that they will gladdly took my business back....
Doin some research I found out that the reason why Pivotal changed the name to AM Paymets is because Pivotal Payments has 3 calls lawsuits and they are an outsource business..
BTW I called Cosnumer Protection Act as well as the attorney and they will go after them for many reasons but also fro FALSE ADVERTISING.. They are NOT a wholesale processor they are a 4th party processor who loves to lie, get you to sign, forge some signatures and then screw you up..
http://www.conveniencestores.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=333%3Acode-of-conduct-for-credit-and-debit-card-industry-in-canada-in-effect&catid=40%3Accsa&Itemid=100076
Please open this link and lets all do something about Pivotal!!!
We signed the contract with Pivotal in 2009, in 2010. we noticed that rates are changed, after we called to complain, rate was changed back, but no reimbursement was given for previous 3 months, 2 months later rate was changed again .all these changes were done without any notice
In 2011 we cancelled our contract, since we found out about code of conduct due to many problems, but main one was these rate changes.
One year later in July 2012. Pivotal charged our business account $40 000.00 without letter, statement, phone call, receipt
We have filled a complaint with Financial Consumer Agency and we are working with our lawyer on the next steps.
I think there is nothing more to say then we have to do something, i was reading comments on
$40 000.00 is a lifetime saving for an average working familyand these crooks stole that much for a cancellation fee!
how can someone access your bank account 1 year after cancellation?
i will not rest until this stops!
is there law in this country that protects us from these frauds?
Please do something if you have similar problem with your merchant services
Pivotal Payment is like the worst credit card processing company I been with and I haven't known any company that is like them. Their 3 year contract locks you in and when you want to cancel its not just the monthly fee plus how many month you have left on your contract! Its your average processing amount times how many month you have left. So if you give them $300 dollars a month for the fee, they will use that. I cancelled with other company before and none of it is like this. They never say anything about this cancellation crap. They don't care if you are small or whatever. They don't want to work with you. Their customer service is so bad. I can't wait until my 3 years are up with them and cancel my contract! Business should all be aware of them.
We purchased a business and were in the midst of transferring various accounts. We spoke to Pivotal and told them we could only use them if they could change the bank account assigned to the merchant account. We did not want to change anything in the POS system and wanted to ensure a smooth transition. Pivotal claimed that would be no problem and in the coming week we received online access to the merchant account and credit cards were processing.
We learned later that they were processing into the previous owners account, which was no big deal since they had indicated it may take a couple of weeks. Then we received information about a new merchant account and were told that we needed to change the way they are processed since the system used previously was not longer available. Then cards stopped processing on the old account and there was no way to reconfigure our software for the new method.
To make a long story short, they could not accomplish what was originally promised and the only reason we went with them. As a result I made arrangements with another company to solve our problem (which went flawless) and told Pivotal we would not need their services since they could not fulfill their commitment. They started threatening us and quoting lines from a contract stating an early termination fee, even though we were never able to process a single payment in they way they committed. Today, they have used their auto debit capability to remove $650 from our bank account using different credentials because we had put a stop payment on the one they first used.
This is a dishonest and corrupt company that does not care about it's customers or apparently about it's reputation since now I will make sure it is known through every social media network I can find.
Signed up for pivotal when they had a good deal on. Asked about the cancellation fees, was told it would only cost $300 to cancel. seemed reasonable. Found out it would be close to $2200 to cancel. Was misled by the sales agent.
Wasn't even told about the fact that they use a third party company for their terminals, who also has a contract, that is over a thousand dollars to cancel...
Yearly fees just being taken out of my account without permission. Terminal kills wireless card in machine if not used for a specific period of time, costing me time and money to replace.
Finally found someone to take my account over, was told they cannot take over the lease on the machine and to just return it. Found out that they could have taken the machine, and now am facing a Early Termination fee.
Long hold times. Uneducated tech staff that never have an answer to even the most basic questions.
Overall, I wouldn't wish this company on my worst enemy, I told the guy who took it over all of the problems with them, but he got duped by the monthly cost. And he only has a small remainder of the contract.
Is there a lawsuit out there, or someone doing a story on this type of company? I don't think these early termination fees are legal. if so, there are some serious issues. Contracts are the worst.
My complaints about Pivotal Payments have no end. Just complete misleading from the get-go. Read every single word in that contract before you do anything. Save yourself some money.
I began my relationship with Pivotal in May of 2011. It was difficult to set up the services at first. Once I had the basics done, an account underwriter began harassing me about minor issues on my website. they didn't like the way returns were described, they didn't like the way my street address was listed, etc. There were times when they complained about one thing and later would complain again (reversing earlier directions). I encountered problems with international sales.
The transactions would kick out but the customers would not understand why their transactions wouldn't process and it wasn't clear to me either. It took several calls to learn that it was about the "foreign zip code" that caused the failed transactions. I informed the company on a few different occasions of my dissatisfaction. I stopped processing transactions through my website for a few months and then informed them I was terminating my contract after a year - this was in the summer of 2012.
They told me I would owe them for the three year contract, over 1,000.00. I told them I didn't owe and wouldn't pay. I closed the bank account and didn't hear from them again until March of 2013 when I got a bogus collection notification in the mail for 40.00. Don't use this company. Nothing good to say about them.
They hiked my rates 60-80% after two months and took fees that were not supposed to be charged. Numerous calls to customer service proved fruitless and frustrating. When asked to speak to a managed was told there were none! Do not deal with this company or any third party credit/debit provider. Stay with a company associated with your bank.
Are you locked into long-term rental contracts? Or does the processor provide you with options to buy or lease-to-own terminals?
2) Future-Proof Terminals Are the terminals designed to accept the latest technology? Or will you be forced to upgrade at a considerable expense in the future?
3) Meet or Beat Pricing Is the processor flexible in providing you the best available rate for your business? Can you get the best rate without having to go through a lot of red-tape or meeting very strict conditions? 4) Quick Access to Cash Does the processor provide flexible financing to help grow your business? Are there restrictions or interest charges placed on loans, or can you get a loan that is free from fixed payments, timeframes and interest?
5) Ease of Integration Do you need to change your existing setup? Does the processor integrate with your existing system or customized setup? Can you easily import/export your existing customer database files? 6) Daily Reporting Can you follow your business performance anytime, from anywhere? Can you export business reports in your preferred file formats? Check if the processor has an online reporting portal that allows you to view your statements. Daily updates are always preferred over one monthly statement. 7) Security and PCI Compliance Does the processor use sophisticated fraud and security tools to protect your business and your clients? Do they meet all PCI standards, allowing your business to benefit from additional reliability?
8) Gateway with Recurring Billing and Customizable User Access Levels Can you manage recurring payments to avoid potential errors? Can you immediately process transactions from repeat customers, without re-entering customer information? 9) Dedicated Merchant Support Can the processor help you deal with any issue, including chargeback resolution, risk monitoring, etc.? Are they available 365 days/year? 10) Fully Redundant System Does the processor have backup servers, to avoid downtime and keep your business up and running 365 days/year?
*Any consumer not receiving satisfaction from a member of scamion Corporate Advocacy Business Remediation and Customer Satisfaction Program should email us at [email protected]
This kind of dedication to customer service means that Pivotal Payments the necessary steps to make sure their customers are properly taken care of.
In the future, if anyone has any complaints or concerns with Pivotal Payments, you are invited to contact them directly via email: [email protected] (again, please be sure to cc: [email protected] so we can keep track of the companys response and to insure customer satisfaction). You can call Pivotal Payments directly at 877-462-7486.
As always, scamion cannot guarantee that every customer or employee will always be 100% satisfied in every case, but we promise that if you have any concerns with Pivotal Payments or any of our Corporate Advocacy Program members, we will do everything we can to see that the issue is addressed quickly and that you are treated fairly and with respect. Any issues you think you cannot resolve with any member of scamion Corporate Advocacy Program.. please contact us. EDitor@scamion
Pivotal Payments sales representative Mr. Timothy Boyd came to my business claiming that his company could save me lots of money on my credit and debit card processing charges. He was very clear and insistent that I was in no way signing a contract with them and that if for any reason I was not satisfied with their rates that I could cancel their services at any time with no penalty.
He also insisted that there would be no hidden charges or fees involved. I got the first statement from them two weeks later at the end of the month. They had charged me excessive fees that were not disclosed at the time I signed what I was lead to believe was only an application. These fees and undisclosed charges amounted to nearly 40% of the transactions processed by them instead of the promised 1 to 2 percent.
When I called to terminate their services, I was then told that I had indeed signed a three year contract and that they would be charging me a $400.00 early termination fee. My receptionist later told me that she had witnessed Mr. Boyd calling my current provider claiming to be me so that he could retrieve information about my account. I had my bank put a block on any additional ACH withdrawals from my account by them until I could get this settled. They then submitted the withdrawal of the $400.00 fee to my account under a different name than the one they had been using previously. Not only was there a breach of verbal contract with Mr. Boyd who assured me repeatedly that I was not under contract to continue their services, there may be grounds to file criminal charges against MR. Boyd for using my name when he called to get the information about my account.