Cardservice International

[wstc...@intrepidco.com]

Don't we all have ENOUGH to worry about without dealing with companies like
this???! I don't know about the rest of you, but I certainly don't need
those screwy mind games to make my week complete.

I'm taking copious notes on this thread and forwarding to my billing dept --

Wendy

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MegaPOP (tm) service, from StarNet, Inc., provides Wholesale Access
services in over 300 locations throughout the USA. Monthly account
prices range from $8.25 down to $6.70!         http://www.megapop.net/

[ku...@ultra1.pitnet.net]

I just...as in a few minutes ago...received a mass mailer from Cardservice
International (names and contacts are withheld to protect the ignorant):
========= ========= =========
I would like to introduce you to Cardservice
International. We are a merchant service provider and are well known as
a friend to internet businesses. Cardservice International is trusted
by over 100,000 merchants to process the non-cash transactions. Our
fastest growing segment is, of course, internet business and that is
why I chose to make you an offer that will be hard to resist.

Here is some of what we can offer:

-exceptional service
-very competitive rates
-easy application and set-up
-low set-up costs
-on-line real time processing
-dependable business partner
-innovative products that add value to your customers
-quick payment for your referrals

I would like to offer you a new revenue stream for your business and a
great product for your customers. All I need from you is referrals and
I do pay handsomely for them. I look forward to receiving a positive
response and will happily set up a telephone meeting to discuss
specifics.

Sincerely,
=========== ========= ========= =========
FUNNY.....after reading all of these treads about them!!!!

- kj

[ch...@pernet.net]

We've had our own horror stories with Cardservice Intl. like their computers
re-running every single transaction that we had sent to them over a 3 month
period ($18,000) in one day, thus charging our customers again for their
service. This turned out to be, of course, a massive nightmare that lost us
10% of our customer base, and upon my providing proof that we did not run
those transactions that day (log files from ICVerify, testimony from my
billing dept that the transaction from that day took less than a minute as
usual, etc...) Cardservice tucked tail, hid, and charged us every possible
surcharge they could find, as well as ruining our rating by accepting every
chargeback that came through without allowing us to challenge (thus keeping
us from being able to change to a better company, say NationsBank). IMHO,
keep away from Cardservice at all costs.

-Chris Peterman
President / C.E.O.
PERnet Communications, Inc.

----- Original Message -----
From: Wendy St. Clair <wstc...@intrepidco.com>
To: <isp-ma...@isp-marketing.com>
Sent: Thursday, December 03, 1998 9:43 AM
Subject: Re: Cardservice International

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[c...@telesouth1.com]

Hello all,

We really need to screen the vendors that come into this forum.

I was shopping in this area and thier rep posted a note in here at the right
time. We WERE going to sign with them based on our inital research and
conversations. But based on our treatment BEFORE the sale and your responses
thus far have convinced me that they are a scumbag operation.

As far as no one caring about our businesses, that may not be totally true.
Smart people realize that our business is valuable and strengthens thier
business in the long run.

I have just recieved several very apologetic letters from the CSI people.
Amazing how a little care and concern for the customer would have eliminated
this problem in the first place.

Regards,

Walt

albert zegiel wrote:

> I am dealing with card service international, and when it comes to some of
> the sales staff i must concur with the note below, I have had some problems,
> and there are some hard feelings. the account personal must be trained to
> convince you that these problems are you fault either by your
> "misunderstanding" or your failure to make known every single aspect of your
> business, and or your failure to correctly guess your future volume of
> sales..whatever,
>
> i have found however under that layer of BULL, there are a couple of folks
> that seem to care, SEEM is the magic word, and i shall know soon if this is
> an illusion or not.
>
> it is funny that you mention the "good by" letter...when the conversation
> got "neck to neck" today, my "salesperson" did often say.."lets just close
> the account"..."maybe you'd be happier if we just closed the account?" ..it
> is a sales trick, they hope you are "Financially Challenged"..a term we know
> to mean.."know one else would do this for you"..and the offer to drop out or
> get out will have you begging for forgiveness and shut your mouth and quit
> complaining and asking silly questions.
>
> I decided to say.."o.k...send on the refund" i am through.
>
> Then a few hours later another called, and he actually was not to bad, and i
> believe he is wanting to resolve this..i actually got treated like a real
> person by him..BUT your observation as to the lack of respect for the work
> and tears we spend in building our business, Weather we are "challenged" or
> not, is prevalent.
>
> The Rate they charge is not to bad..
>
> The programming is simple
>
> It is secure
>
> And they Accept the "challenged"
>
> But they sales staff is poor, in my experience, and ..watch that they don't
> set your monthly charge limit to low, don't take low per charge limits, buy
> the software upfront,list everything you are going to sell,and keep good
> records...
>
> The bottom line is...no one really cares about your business, this is your
> baby, it is your dream, so no matter who you deal with..walk carefully, ask
> tons of questions(no question is dumb).
>
> al.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-isp...@isp-marketing.com
> [mailto:owner-isp...@isp-marketing.com]On Behalf Of Walt's Corner
> Sent: Wednesday, December 02, 1998 10:53 PM
> To: CSI...@aol.com; nanl...@aol.com
> Subject: Cardservice International
>
> No,
>
> There are hard feelings. We came to you with a genuine need to fill and
> merchant clients depending upon us to find a solution. We asked for more
> information on your API, (which we have no need for anyway), and it was
> not provided. Your website is very lacking in background. Several pages
> are not working or still under construction. Finally your quote comes to
> me with a good bye letter. VERY unprofessional I would say.
>
> I sent your previous emails to two trusted clients just to see if I was
> in left field on this. Both seemed to gain the same impression I did and
> raised questions about how thier accounts would be handled. What they
> could not believe was the "Childish Bickering" tone of your response to
> me, Ms Brown.
>
> Under no circumstances would I forward the trust that has been placed in
> me to such a callous and unprofessional operation as this. The value of
> my time in this as well as our business has been totally ignored.
>
> In addition, I am gathering up all corespondance and forwarding it with
> a letter to the CEO of Cardservice in hopes that they seek to run a
> professional operation.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Walter R. Carter
> President
> TeleSouth Network Inc
>
> CSI...@aol.com wrote:
>
> > In a message dated 12/2/98 6:38:56 PM Pacific Standard Time,
> > c...@telesouth1.com writes:
> >
> > << Ms Brown,
> >
> > You and Ms. Kelly apparently have enough business to keep busy.
> >
> > Best of luck,
> > >>
> >
> > No hard feelings I hope, and best of luck to you as well!

>
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> To Remove, Send An Email To: mailto:remove-isp...@isp-marketing.com
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> -

> MegaPOP (tm) service, from StarNet, Inc., provides Wholesale Access
> services in over 300 locations throughout the USA. Monthly account
> prices range from $8.25 down to $6.70! http://www.megapop.net/
>

> _________ • The http://ISP-MARKETING.com/ EMAIL DISCUSSION LIST • ________
> To Remove, Send An Email To: mailto:remove-isp...@isp-marketing.com
> To Join, Send An Email To: mailto:join-isp-...@isp-marketing.com
> -

> MegaPOP (tm) service, from StarNet, Inc., provides Wholesale Access
> services in over 300 locations throughout the USA. Monthly account
> prices range from $8.25 down to $6.70! http://www.megapop.net/

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[sa...@compulinx-net.net]

HI,

MY NAME IS MARK PFAHLER, THE SALES MANAGER AT COMPULINX. WE ARE SHOPPING
FOR AN IMPROVEMENT IN CREDITCARD SERVICES.
GIVE US A BUZZ AT PFAH...@COMPULINX-NET.NET

[cbr...@internettrends.com]

just who the heck do you think you are talking to? I never sent you any
email. I'd say you were highly unprofessional.

----------
> From: Walt's Corner <c...@telesouth1.com>

> To: CSI...@aol.com; nanl...@aol.com
> Subject: Cardservice International

> Date: Thursday, December 03, 1998 6:53 AM

[ma...@h2net.net]

Shifty salesman, exceedingly poor support, Usworst(West) like customer
service... I could go on but why? I as think I heard earlier in reference to
these cardstealing professionals, I would not touch them with a ten-foot
pole.

MattJ

[cbr...@internettrends.com]

bullshit. reaed again iidiot.

----------
> From: Charlotte Brown <cbr...@internettrends.com>

> To: isp-ma...@isp-marketing.com
> Subject: Re: Cardservice International

> Date: Thursday, December 03, 1998 10:10 PM

[beau...@beaucomm.com]

Charlotte, et. al.,

Could y'all take this war private and off the list. Your incidiaries are
filtering onto my desktop.

-Beau

-----Original Message-----
From: Charlotte Brown <cbr...@Internettrends.com>
To: isp-ma...@isp-marketing.com <isp-ma...@isp-marketing.com>
Date: Friday, December 04, 1998 11:00 PM
Subject: Re: Cardservice International

[c...@telesouth1.com]

Thanks Chris,

I really think, based on the kinds responses we have gotten from Cardservice
people here, that we can see what kind of organization they are and what kind of
people they employ. We can definatly call a spade a spade

02 cents

Walt

Chris Peterman wrote:

> We've had our own horror stories with Cardservice Intl. like their computers
> re-running every single transaction that we had sent to them over a 3 month
> period ($18,000) in one day, thus charging our customers again for their
> service. This turned out to be, of course, a massive nightmare that lost us
> 10% of our customer base, and upon my providing proof that we did not run
> those transactions that day (log files from ICVerify, testimony from my
> billing dept that the transaction from that day took less than a minute as
> usual, etc...) Cardservice tucked tail, hid, and charged us every possible
> surcharge they could find, as well as ruining our rating by accepting every
> chargeback that came through without allowing us to challenge (thus keeping
> us from being able to change to a better company, say NationsBank). IMHO,
> keep away from Cardservice at all costs.
>
> -Chris Peterman
> President / C.E.O.
> PERnet Communications, Inc.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Wendy St. Clair <wstc...@intrepidco.com>
> To: <isp-ma...@isp-marketing.com>
> Sent: Thursday, December 03, 1998 9:43 AM
> Subject: Re: Cardservice International
>

[ch...@valleynet.net]

Regarding CSI, most of their current problems really stem from their
marketing approach. They have taken the used car salesperson approach to
selling a serious financial product that business people depend on. Sort
of like AL Williams.

When a CSI rep sells a merchant account to a small business, they won't
make any money from the revenue going through the merchant account. What
they have to do is make their money off of the setup fee or by selling or
leasing terminal equipment and or software at inflated prices.

For larger businesses, the danger is getting your account shut off of
suspended for a time when your volume starts to pick up. If you fall into
this category read your contracts very carefully. Most of the sales reps
won't even tell you what your initial limit is unless you ask.

Most CSI reps don't know how their company does things, and CSI doesn't
volunteer that information to their reps. That means when dealing with
CSI you have to take it on yourself to read the contracts and ask
questions.

ISO's usually only make about 1% to 2% at most on your volume. When you
take this into account along with how CSI uses commission only sales reps,
you start to understand why the service you get from the sales reps is
usually so poor. Most mom and pop CSI reps just aren't making that much,
so they aren't going to provide top notch service. On the other hand,
some of them understand how the numbers work and do provide good service
because they know that once they reach a certain overall volume the profit
margin starts to turn around in their favor, therefore they provide good
service even when they are still at the point where they aren't really
making any money.

Most CSI reps just aren't astute enough to run the numbers, much less
their own business, which is what it is. That is just as much the fault
of CSI for letting such people represent their company as it is the
fault of the individual rep.

My suggestion is to have at least 2 merchant accounts. You can't afford
to have something that critical to your business depending entirely on
your trust in that company. Their contracts let them terminate you at
will without cause. All merchant account contracts are written like this.
The sales rep will tell you won't have any problems. My personal
experience is that you will at one time or another if your business starts
to grow.

Banks look at merchant accounts as lines of credit. If your
credit line goes from $5000 one month to $20,000 the next, the bank gets
nervous. Since the bank is only making about 2% on your money, you may
become a risk they don't want. They want to see a track record over time
with slow growth. If you have multiple merchant accounts you can grow as
fast as you like and simply spread the volume over multiple accounts
without making any one bank nervous. If a bank does get nervous, they can
do a number of things. They can hold back reserves without notice,
usually equal to one month's volume. They can just suspend processing
for the month once you reach your monthly limit, or they can just shut off
your account altogether. It depends on the bank. I'm probably more
paranoid than most. I have 5 merchant accounts with 5 different banks. I
do sleep at night though...

Chris

[amy...@kiski.net]

At 03:31 PM 12/5/98 -0800, you wrote:

>
>My suggestion is to have at least 2 merchant accounts.

My merchant service rep told me that Visa/Mastercard does not permit
allow a merchant to have two merchant accounts. It is supposedly against
their regulations.

Has anyone heard this?

Amy

[ch...@valleynet.net]

Visa/Mastercard regulations are funny things. They change on a day to day
basis. That's why your bank won't ever give you a copy of them:)

The reality is that this isn't true, although I can't say for sure if it's
actually a written reg or not. Many merchants have multiple accounts with
visa/mastercard having full knowlege of the fact.

It's basically like this. I'm sure there are untold regs that stipulate
all sorts of things you can't do. The bottom line is that Visa/mastercard
don't care unless you start to have chargeback problems or are factoring
in some way. According to the regs, it's illegal to require a customers
phone number when purchasing via credit card, but of course that's not
enforced.

They have you over a barrel, and the worst part is they won't even tell
you the rules of the game, you have to find that out on your own. This is
one of the reasons why the card associations are getting into anti trust
troubles.

Chris

[c...@telesouth1.com]

I think we all agree that we should AVOID this vendor like the plague.

Next subject!!

[da...@surf-n-usa.net]

Not true. We have 2 separate accounts.. one for online and phone orders and
another one for onsite and swiped transactions

Dave Thornton
Heartland Computer Solutions

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-isp...@isp-marketing.com
[mailto:owner-isp...@isp-marketing.com] On Behalf Of Amy Myers
Sent: Saturday, December 05, 1998 18:23
To: isp-ma...@isp-marketing.com
Subject: Re: Cardservice International

At 03:31 PM 12/5/98 -0800, you wrote:

>
>My suggestion is to have at least 2 merchant accounts.

My merchant service rep told me that Visa/Mastercard does not permit
allow a merchant to have two merchant accounts. It is supposedly against
their regulations.

Has anyone heard this?

Amy

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[de...@ex-line.com]

Is your rate much higher for online and phone orders?
Two Accounts is a good idea if rates are different. My bank adds a charge
to VISA
if the card isn't present when the sale is made.
Dee

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