CardService International

Newport Beach CA

Consumer Complaints & Reviews

Chris of Hilton Head Island, SC on June 12, 2001

Cardservice tried to take me for more than $1000. They have a lot of money that I have run through on my terminal, but they are not making the deposits. It has now been about 8 weeks and not one penny has been deposited. Cardservice claims that the bank is rejecting my deposits, but the bank (Bank of America) has assured me that they are not rejecting my deposits.

Bank of America told me that they (Cardservice) has the right account number because they have been taking all sorts of fees out of my account. They tried to take $300.00 out for early termination which was a crock, and then $315.00 out for the second time. Thankfully the bank did not pay any of them. They recently tried to take $51.00 out as well. They have sent my bank account into an overdrawn status, (thankfully Bank of America is refunding the fees), and I am going to have to close this account and open a new one because the bank said they have had a lot of problems out of this company. Thankfully Bank of America is now doing my Credit Card Processing.
I have lost money, I have not been able to make a refund to a customer. Cardservice has taken their fees out of money I ran through, and they have not made any deposits. They always give me the, "We're perfect attitude". Thankfully I sent my letter CERTIFIED MAIL with my check to change accounts. Can I sue them? I have a customer to whom I owe a refund of $117.50 and I don't know what to do. I have told Cardservice that it needs to be refunded, and they won't do a thing.

Chris should be very grateful to his local bank branch manager for sticking by him. As for the customer who is due a refund, we'd recommend writing a check.

N.L. of Hayward, CA on April 4, 2001

In Dec, 1998 I and my partner arrived from Germany to the States to open up a mail-order business. We were looking for a company that would give us a merchent account, since we wished to process credit cards, checks and eventually work on-line.

We asked around and Cardservice was mentioned. I called and explained we were interested in an account and wanted to buy the equiptment/software. Ms. K. sent me the application and explained that the application fee was non-refundable and our equipment would total $1,000.. This she stated was due at the time the application was returned.

We sent in the application fee and the other checks for the equipment. There were 3 checks total for the equiptment, all post-dated for January of '99. I asked Ms. K. how long would it take to get approved and she stated about a couple of weeks.

After 2 weeks I called to find out the status of our application and she said she hadn't heard anything. At the same time I had received 2 of the checks for the equiptment back. They had been cashed-totalling $750. I didn't understand why they would cash checks for equipment and we hadn't been approved for an account.

I questioned Ms. K about the checks and she stated, "I don"t know why they did that. I will look into to it. They only reply we got is they haven't gotten back to me yet."

I started looking for another company and within two weeks, we were approved. I contacted Ms. K. and told her that we had found another company who had already approved us and that we would like the money back for the equipment.

Ms. K. told me at that time that Cardservice had also approved us, but I told her we were no longer interested. She replied that she would let Mr. Z. know about the refund and we should have it in a couple of weeks.

The two checks they cashed only amounted to $750.00 because the 3rd check for $250. I stopped payment on when we were approved by the other account. Two weeks passed and I contacted Mr. Z. He knew nothing about the refund. That same day I contacted Ms. K. and she stated I would need to send her copies of the cancelled checks because her records showed that Cardservice had only cashed 1 check. I faxed all the information over.

Well, today is May 22, 1999. We still haven't recieved any refund. I have tried numerous times to resolve this. I contacted Mr. Z. on several occasions regarding our refund. He never denied that he owed us $750. We I asked when we should expect it he stated: "We are really busy here and our VP or Pres is out and in the hospital and the guy who is signing the checks is so busy."

"Well, when he signs your check, can't he sign ours?" I asked.

Mr. Z's last remark was I will make sure you have your check in the next two days. I gave him a week and nothing arrived at our business.

Finally in March 17,1999 I filed a complaint with the BBB. We have gotton no where. The money isn't a big sum but for a new company every little bit helps. I don't understand these business practices. Can a company charge that much for a cancellation fee. Shouldn't there be a time limit in which a company can refund your money, a company who has already admitted that your company has money owed them. In my last response from Cardservices via BBB they stated they didn't even owe us $400.00. This is not only a matter of principle but of also good business practice.

Elvira of Long Beach, CA on March 3, 2001

In April 1999, I saw an ad on TV regarding the Internet Toolbox, decided to try it and signed up to do E-commerce. The Cardservice people were supposed to help me put up my own website so I can market my own product(s) or an existing vendor's for a commission. They were hooked up with a credit card service (Leasecom) to process checks or cards via the internet for fast approval, etc. The problem was I was never able to get my web-page up so I can market 100 products at a time from SBN's catalog. Cardservice was never able to help me get it going, meanwhile, every month, my bank card was being billed automatically for $99 per month.

After several months of frustration, I started calling Cardservice, e-mailing them including Leasecom to stop billing my account, and has written several letters to their headquarters, all to no avail. They ignored my attempts to settle the matter, informing them that it has never worked from the beginning, and that I wanted my money back, but they kept right on billing my card anyway. After a while, I just closed out that account to avoid being charged a service that I never got and has not worked for me at all. They had the gall to report this to the credit bureau which has consequently damaged my credit rating and has caused my to pay a much higher interest rate than I deserved when I bought my house recently.

My credit rating has been damaged severely by the false report and consequently had to get a much higher interest rate when I bought my home just recently, not to mention both physical and emotional stress and strain that it has caused for over a year that I have been trying to contact them to resolve the matter.

Susan of Long Beach, CA on Feb. 5, 2001

When I first set up my small business (a neighborhood computer store), I looked into getting credit card services so I could accept CC's as payment. I found a company, the service was a little expensive, but I never had any problems.

CSI had people canvassing the business district (all small businesses) where I am located. They claimed to be able to save me money on transactions and fees. They have not. My fees are all WAY up and they hold back on ALL transactions in excess of $1000. This is killing my business as most computer systems go for $1000 or more. They are now refusing to release funds on a purchase of $2900 because we are changing services. They are using unfair business practices to screw small business.

We are losing a $2900 sale (devastating to a small business) and we have had bad word of mouth advertising due to hold ups in the delivery of computer systems due to CSI holding up funds.

Aref of Niagara Falls, NY on April 4, 2000

We signed up with Cardservice for a 4 year lease. On our first transaction Cardservice has held the the funds of $1371 in their account and they have not credited our account. They have no reason for doing so, no explanation.

We have lost out in over $500,000 of potential income becasue we are not able to accept credit cards.

Tanya of Wilmington, DE on Feb. 25, 2000

We were sold at a seminar a business opportunity that was to include a computer, merchant account, website, and business opportunity in a lease. The lease itself only stated the computer and contained in it information on the merchant account for our signature. We were informed to leave certain portions blank for them to fill in for us at a later date.

The lease was supposedly for a business opportunity to be provided by Akahi/2XPI, with the lease held by a third party - Global. CardServices was the provider for the merchant account. The Global lease included up-front interest charges, claimed that it was non-cancellable, and we would be billed $149.95 per month, 39 months with a baloon payment at the end. Not only was my computer not what was described at the seminar, but I never received the website (when I tried to contact akahi/2xpi, they never responded). My partner signed the same deal, and he never received access information for the merchant account.
In addition, without cause, Global has two months in a row withdrawn more than the approved amount from my bank account. Isn't this illegal? We signed the lease for a business opportunity, not for a computer - I already have one! If the computer equipment does not live up to that described in the lease, is the lease null and void?

Between my partner and myself, we have lost over $28,000 to this combination of companies. The FTC is investigating, and a class action lawsuit is in the works, but my main concern is getting out of the lease legally without it being marked on my credit report. I would gladly return the computer, but others I know triedthat route and got nowhere! The emotional damage includes delaying my wedding which the business was to help us afford! There is much more evidence against these three if needed. There are thousands of us that were taken by this operation.