Credit Card Merchant Services
Electronic Merchant SystemsHeadquarters
Complaints
This profile includes complaints for Electronic Merchant Systems's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see
Customer Complaints Summary
- 96 total complaints in the last 3 years.
- 38 complaints closed in the last 12 months.
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Initial Complaint
Date:07/02/2023
Type:Status:ResolvedMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
I've requested my full rolling reserve and any other amounts they're holding from me be released immediately weeks ago and haven't heard anything despite my account being closed then.
Business Response
Date: 07/06/2023
Dear Mr. Lawson,
This letter is to confirm your Electronic Merchant Systems processing account has been closed and all monies held in reserve have been released.
At this time, EMS will consider this matter resolved.
Sincerely,Jon C. Butinski
Director of Client Services
Customer Answer
Date: 07/06/2023
Better Business Bureau:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.
On 6/14/23 I was informed my rolling reserve was $287.73 as at that point they were holding 100% of my sales.
It has not been released yet.
Regards,
**** ******
Business Response
Date: 07/11/2023
RECEIVED VIA EMAIL BY BBB STAFF MEMBER:
Good morning Marqus,
Funds were released 7/6. Can you verify they were received?
Thanks,
JBCustomer Answer
Date: 07/11/2023
[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
Better Business Bureau:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.Yes, I did finally receive them. Thanks.
I just wish they made it more clear or even released them sooner.
Regards,
**** ******Initial Complaint
Date:06/01/2023
Type:Status:ResolvedMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
I signed up with EMS in October 2020 and was promised by the representative to have no termination fee. After switching services in April 2023, I called in to send their machine back and was told I could not cancel unless I spoke with a specific department. They would not give me the number to this person, and it took several hours, weeks and calls to even get someone on the phone. They refused to send me the original contract and claimed I had a $800 termination fee for leaving. After several hours of wasted time, I finally found someone who agreed to send me the original contract which showed an early termination fee of $595 - less than what they quoted me. I sent back the machine they provided and need to get my account closed, they are still charging me every month and refusing to help me close the account down without threatening me with an $800 fee.Business Response
Date: 06/08/2023
Dear Ms. ******,
Thank you for taking the time to speak with ***** ***** in our Retention department. This letter is to confirm your Electronic Merchant Systems processing account has been closed without penalty or early termination fee.
At this time, EMS will consider this matter resolved.
Sincerely,*** ** ********
Director of Client Services
Customer Answer
Date: 06/08/2023
[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
Better Business Bureau:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID 20130849, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Regards,
Andressa VieiraInitial Complaint
Date:05/29/2023
Type:Status:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
I never write negative reviews or reviews at all until this particular business ran off with $5,034 in my customers money, and I have seen all of the negative complaints before even starting with this business but I figured it was just ignorant people (its not). I signed up with authorize.net who then referred me to payment cloud who also doesn't let you know that they dont do anything but refer you to another system, although Melissa Daleske from payment cloud is amazing! They then signed me up to this business where I was approved after having to unfreeze credit and other things. I had some issues I ran into even after being approved and the only people that helped me was authorize.net after emailing payment cloud & this business. I hyped up my clothing drop on social media and my customers ended up grossing $4,315 first day and then the next day $719 and then I ended up selling out of all clothing. Everything was amazing until a few days later where I tried to login to Ems data and it said my login id or password was incorrect so I put in my login id on the forgot my password page, and I kept getting an error. I emailed and everything and got no response until I finally realized they had ran off with my $5,034 off my customers hard earned money. I have had no chargebacks or nothing, my customers have been waiting and patient for this clothing drop for a month and this business ran off with my customers money. My customers are still waiting for their clothes and to send all of my customers their clothes I would need the $5,034 to pay my supplier but I can't because this business stole the money. I have contacted an attorney to see if I can pursue a case for the stolen money and he said yes. So if the $5,034 is not returned to me to fulfill my customers orders immediately and chargebacks start to pile up I will start not rethink of pursuing a lawsuit against this company. If your thinking about processing with this company PLEASE RETHINK!Business Response
Date: 06/26/2023
Dear Ms. ******,
Thank you for taking the time to work with ***** ***** in our Retention department. This letter is to confirm your Electronic Merchant Systems processing account has been closed without penalty or early termination fee. We have also initiated refunds to your customers per your desired settlement.
At this time, EMS will consider this matter resolved.
Sincerely,
*** ** ********
Director of Client Services
Initial Complaint
Date:05/24/2023
Type:Status:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
I signed up with EMS through Payment Cloud March 2021. I was told that 10% of all monies received, through sales, would be held in escrow as a “reserve;” like a savings account. I called EMS to cancel my services in March / April of 2023. I was told by the representative that my contract was automatically renewed. I told the representative that I was never told that the account would automatically renew, and that that information was left out during sign up. I was sent a termination form, which was one sided and very aggressively written, to their benefit. Today, I received a letter from EMS stating that my bill is $484.94! $395 for the early termination fee, and the remaining for a “FEE returned: payment stopped.” Well in advance, I told EMS that I wanted to cancel my services and that they weren’t authorized to withdraw money from my account anymore. Per the letter, they attempted to take money from my account against my request and permission. I rarely used the services, I fulfilled my contract, and paid monthly fees for a dormant / unused account. I shouldn’t have to pay a termination fee nor any other fee. EMS is very sneaky, and has very shotty business practices. This is very bad business.Business Response
Date: 06/05/2023
Dear *** ******,
This letter is to confirm your Electronic Merchant Systems processing account has been closed without penalty or early termination fee. EMS will not be pursuing any additional collections.
At this time, EMS will consider this matter resolved.
Sincerely,*** ** ********
Director of Client Services
Initial Complaint
Date:05/09/2023
Type:Status:ResolvedMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
I started using EMS through Payment Cloud on March 2023. I have now closed this account due to excessive charges that no one in their company has been able to explain I have asked billing, customer service and retention and yet no one has been able to explain why they charged me almost 8% on every transaction. I have a rolling reserve balance with them that I have been trying numerous times to reach their risk department and no answer I have also left voicemails and no return calls. I would like an expl***tion for the charges or a billing adjustment that will result in a refund and I would like for my reserve balance to be deposited in my account or given a day of when this will happen since that bank account will be closing soon.
I have attached a statement where "discount paid" is the fee per transaction and a screenshot of the amount due to us which rr bal is $2,354.68.Business Response
Date: 05/19/2023
Dear Ms. *******,
This letter is to confirm your Electronic Merchant Systems processing account has been closed without penalty or early termination fee. We have also released all monies held in reserve.
At this time, EMS will consider this matter resolved.
Sincerely,*** ** ********
Director of Client Services
Customer Answer
Date: 05/19/2023
[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
Better Business Bureau:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Regards,
*** *******Initial Complaint
Date:05/01/2023
Type:Status:ResolvedMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
The company EMS or electronic Merchant Services committing fraudulent activities. I have had issues with this company as all the other complaints on this company to the Complaintsboard.com.
The company has hit road blocks and wasnt able to get up and running. The business still has not started. We called EMS to cancel the service in November 2022. **** says we need to pay $595 cancellation fee or keep the account open til December and be charged $39 monthly fee or this will be turned over to collections. No sales, No money. It is a complete scam this business is running and somehow they are still in business. My bank account was overdrawn and closed due to the many times EMS has tried to auto draft my account after letting them know that I wanted to no longer continue services with them due to not having my company up and running. After talking with my attorney, I have put a stop payment on this with my bank & requested that this company never be allowed to charge my account again. They misrepresent the contract on the initial sales call & I have this recorded and after talking with my attorney he advised to contact the Complaintsboard.com, FTC and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau first before filing a lawsuit, which in turn would cost me more then it is worth. I have also started to receive harassing calls and harassing correspondence from a company called C2C resources. Please do not have any representative from EMS contact me as they are rude and obnoxious.Business Response
Date: 05/05/2023
Dear *** ******,
This letter is to confirm your Electronic Merchant Systems processing account has been closed for returned fees. Electronic Merchant Systems will not be pursuing collections.
At this time, EMS will consider this matter resolved.Sincerely,
*** ** ********
Director of Client Services
Customer Answer
Date: 05/07/2023
[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
Better Business Bureau:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. It's a shame that I had to reach out to a third party to get this resolved.
Regards,
**** ******Initial Complaint
Date:04/18/2023
Type:Status:ResolvedMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
The above referenced financial institutions are illegally withholding approximately $20,000 of our client law firm legal fee payment money because they "need to do an office inspection" even though we have been processing credit card (and receiving) payments for more than a month now.
They have just decided to steal, divert, convert, withhold and steal our money (and this week is payroll) just because they think that they can.
We have been desperately calling/emailing them to conduct this idiotic "office site inspection" at our law office address but they do not return our phone calls, emails, or other correspondence.
Please investigate, assist and advise.Business Response
Date: 04/26/2023
RECEIVED VIA EMAIL BY BBB STAFF MEMBER:
Dear Mr. **********
This letter is to confirm your Electronic Merchant Systems processing account has been terminated. All monies held in reserve have been released.
At this time, EMS will consider this matter resolved.
Sincerely,
*** ** ********
Director of Client Services
Customer Answer
Date: 04/26/2023
Better Business Bureau:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint. For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below.It is not “resolved” simply because you transmitted our stolen/converted money.
It will only be resolved to my satisfaction when the multiple law enforcement and financial regulatory agencies processing our complainants against you either fine you in the millions, jail/indict/charge those responsible, and/or put you out of business.
And you should hope and pray that I forget about what you did to us and don’t sue you in civil court.
Thanks,
Regards,
***** *********
Initial Complaint
Date:04/04/2023
Type:Status:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
My business is ****** ******** **** 04/04/2023 was the last time I contacted EMS to get this situation resolved. I have not been happy the last few months with EMS. I have been with them since 2022 and I paid my expensive bill every month with no complaints. I made a charge in January for a course I have as part of the same business I have been paying monthly with EMS for almost a year now and they told me I would have to create and pay for another merchant account! I was floored! I was paying almost $150 a month for their services. At this point, I started looking for another provider and I found one willing to cover ALL my services for $37/m. At this point, I was really upset because why had I been paying this per month and saving a lot of money that I need to grow my business. And then I barely had many clients so I wasn't even using it like that. I called the retention department and **** was nice and said he would match it everything I was offered; meaning all my services for the same business would be covered and it would be $37 a month. $30 for the access free and $7 for another fee. I signed this agreement and it was activated before I paid my bill in March. Both March and April, I was still charged the old amount and the billing department I just called is telling me I still have to wait for whatever reason. I'm not doing that. At this point, I feel I have been very much taken advantage of and I should've been paying $37/m from the very beginning. I have been paying over $120 and every single month for over a year now! This is my first merchant account and they EMS really took advantage of that. It's not until I started doing my research did I find I should not at all been paying this much. It's horrible. I really should get an adjustment for the whole year I've been billed so that my past bills reflect $37/m from Feb 2022 to now. That would really be right the thing to do but at the very least I want this adjustment for the last 2 months.Business Response
Date: 04/24/2023
Dear *** *******
Thank you for taking the time to work with Stacy Smith in our Retention department. This letter is to confirm your Electronic Merchant Systems account was repriced and a refund of $66.02 was initiated 4/6/23. EMS has also release $1,207.37 from monies held in reserve. The remainder of the monies held in reserve will be reviewed for release within the next 30 days.
At this time, EMS will consider this matter resolved.
Sincerely,*** ** ********
Director of Client Services
Initial Complaint
Date:03/16/2023
Type:Status:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
Dear EMS:
This is a notice that as of today, March 15, 2023 I hereby state that you have no authorization or my consent to charge any ACH fee debits / return bank on any four of my accounts:
***************** *************** **************** *************** **************** *************** ***************** ***************
All four of these accounts were closed on February 6, 2023. However, I was charged last month 52 times of a fee of $25.00 each for returned items... which is illegal to do.
(see attachment/page 5 highlighted)
I want to be refunded for these 52 charges as well.Business Response
Date: 03/23/2023
Dear *** ******
This letter is to confirm your Electronic Merchant Systems account(s) were closed as the result of your chargeback ratio exceeding industry standards. The fees you are disputing are the fees associated with Electronic Merchant Systems collection attempts where you initiated a "stop payment" on the many items that were charged back to your account.
Our agreement authorizes us to debit your account for the collection of these items. Electronic Merchant systems will continue to hold all monies in reserve until chargeback rights expire. Your refund request has been declined.
Sincerely,
*** ** ********
Director of Client Services
Initial Complaint
Date:03/02/2023
Type:Status:AnsweredMore info
Complaint statuses
- Resolved:
- The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.
- Unresolved:
- The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.
- Answered:
- The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.
- Unanswered:
- The business failed to respond to the dispute.
- Unpursuable:
- BBB is unable to locate the business.
I opened an account with EMS and the first transaction with them I they said my transaction was suspicious. They sent me through hoops trying to get my money. Everytime I would fulfill there requests there would be something else. I ended up having to refund my customer on that order, not to mention the embarrassment in front of my customer. Then I did a second transaction with another customer same deal suspicious transaction. They send me through hoops trying to get my money, I fulfill there requests, after they contact my customer and another embarrassing situation. Then they tell me I have to let some company do a site inspection WTF I mean what is a site inspection. Anyway I had to refund my customer again. One more embarrassing situation. That was enough. I told them I wanted to cancel my account and still to date they are still charging me every month for a service that I want to go away. It was a nightmare dealing with these guys.Business Response
Date: 03/13/2023
RECEIVED VIA EMAIL BY BBB STAFF MEMBER:
Dear *** *****,
This letter is to confirm your Electronic Merchant Systems account was closed without penalty or early termination fee. I would like to apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. At this time, Electronic Merchant Systems will consider this matter resolved.
Sincerely,
*** ** ********
Director of Client Services
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