Anybody use EasyPDQ Merchant Services?

[AuroraDark]

I'm currently searching for a reliable merchant service provider and got in touch with EasyPDQ: (merchantservices.co.uk)

The quote they gave me is significantly lower than anything else I've been offered and it frankly seems a bit too good to be true.

Does anybody have any experience with them? I did a search on here and couldn't find any mention of them which makes me even more suspicious.

Any feedback or information would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[seoswat]

A company we do odd bits and pieces for use them for when they go to tradeshows and events. I dont know the full story on them but i have not heard anything bad about them.

 

[Sparx]

Why what was the offer?

 

[AuroraDark]

[FONT=arial,sans-serif]Debit card 20p [/FONT]
[FONT=arial,sans-serif]Credit Card 1.5%[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,sans-serif]Business/Corporate cards 2.3% [/FONT]
[FONT=arial,sans-serif]PCI DSS £4.99 (monthly fee)
[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,sans-serif] Cross border fee 0.40% cards issued outside the EU [/FONT]
[FONT=arial,sans-serif]Cross border fee 0.0425% cards issued outside of the UK but within the EU

Capped rates, no authorisation fees or set up fees - 1 year contract.

Seems like a great deal to me, and I can't really see any way they could throw hidden charges my way. My only concern is that I can barely find any mention of them anywhere online to see what costumers think..
[/FONT]

 

[Sparx]

They are decent rates but far from fantastic. There isn't anything unrealistic about that offer at all. Infact the PCI DSS monthly fee is a rip off!

 

[AuroraDark]

It's certainly lower than anything else I've been offered, bearing in mind I have no trading history to show.

As for the PCI DSS monthly fee, wouldn't I have to pay around £80 annually to remain PCI compliant anyway? Unless I'm mistaklen regarding PCI requirements, this works out £20 cheaper per year.

Would really appreciate your feedback - thanks!

 

[LMDServicesUK]

Hi AuroraDark

Not bad looking rates for an New To Card Merchant and I presume this is for your website payment facility ? If this is for a terminal I would ask a whole different set of questions.

However a few things for you to check..

What are the gateway fees and also per transaction charges ?
Does the contract auto renew ?
Who is the Merchant Account provider at the back end ?
What is the min monthly service fee from the Merchant account provider ?
Is support 7 x 24 ?
Is the customer support UK based ?
DO they support your chosen shopping basket ?
How long to make a decision on your application and if approved how long to get your gateway and merchant account set up ?
Payment terms is there any retention period on your funds at all ?
What sort of Business are you doing, are you Low Risk or High Risk, have they advised you at all ?

Re comments on PCI, this is the Card Schemes VISA and MasterCard so as much as we all hate it, it will NOT go away, we offer to cover our Merchants fees for the 1st year, but ALL Merchant account providers will levy these fees which I have seen range from £ 2.50 to £ 5.50 per month depending on the provider. More importantly if you do not become Compliant within the 3 months grace period YOU WILL be fined, starting at £ 10 and rising to £ 50 per month. Please be aware you will need to become PCI compliant.

Again as advised to other OP's if you would like to PM me the fully quote I would be happy to review for you, and advise you accordingly.

READ THE CONTRACT VERY CAREFULLY before you sign, if it sounds to good to be true then it probably is..

 

[CardswitcherUK]

AuroraDark - my name is Stephen, I run CardswitcherUK. We are the UK's only price comparison website for card processing and we give instant quotes from a number of providers (no sales calls!). Worth you checking out our site, even if only to benchmark what you are being offered elsewhere.
Good luck.

 

[Laetitia]

I applied to this company for merchant services and the 72 hour set up promise turned out to be much longer, weeks...

On top of that they came back to me with the most ridiculous terms, wanting to keep 25% of the income of my business up to the value of £75,000 in a year.

I was so angry and asked for the paperwork on this, after many days they sent me what looked like a hand typed letter for me to sign.

Basically that they would be allowed to keep 25% of the business income up to a value of £75,000 that they would not pay interest and that they would not guarantee that they would release the funds after 12 months.

I am a new hotel business and most of my income is paid online, in the end I went to my owner business bank Lloyds...more expensive but at least I know who they are.

I couldNT see that this would be regulated by the FSA

 

[LMDServicesUK]

Hi

I am sorry to hear you have been victim of one of the more unscrupulous providers out there, and it is good you have a Merchant account in place.

However if you would like to PM me a little more information, I would be happy to provide you a switching quote for your business and I am pretty confident we will be able to improve on what you are currently paying. We can also help you exit your existing contract gracefully and painlessly !

Also if you are in good business health, we will not ask for excessive settlement terms, it is normally 3 - 4 days with us.

Finally from application acceptance to delivery is normally 5 days or less..

Good luck, and please PM me if you would like to discuss my offer further.

Kind regards

Mark

 

[Edd Weaver]

Hi

I am sorry to hear you have been victim of one of the more unscrupulous providers out there, and it is good you have a Merchant account in place.

However if you would like to PM me a little more information, I would be happy to provide you a switching quote for your business and I am pretty confident we will be able to improve on what you are currently paying. We can also help you exit your existing contract gracefully and painlessly !

Also if you are in good business health, we will not ask for excessive settlement terms, it is normally 3 - 4 days with us.

Finally from application acceptance to delivery is normally 5 days or less..

Good luck, and please PM me if you would like to discuss my offer further.

Kind regards

Mark

Hello Mark,

I've been looking over some of your recent replies in this topic about parameters set in place by EasyPDQ.

You have advised Laetitia that you (Payment sense) wouldn't ask for any excessive settlements. Aren't Payment sense backed by the same acquiring bank as Easypdq (First Data)?

Aren't the parameters enforced by the acquiring bank rather than the iso?
Surely that means that Payment sense would also require the same exposure?

As far as the settlement goes that was required from you Laetitia; This isn't applicable to all merchant. Applicants who have adverse credit history or are in a high risk industry are more likely to incur certain security arrangements to provide First Data with protection if the merchant went bust.

All acquiring banks have different methods for negating risks. You should always look for one that suits your own business needs.

 

[LMDServicesUK]

Hi Edd

I said would we would consider their application on its merits, and you are correct in your statement re any funding delay would be decided by the Bank, and not PS, however we have a good track record with merchants in this position, so I was happy to offer to help if we could ?

Suffice to say however the Merchant never took the discussions with me any further so I do not know what the outcome was ?

Rgds

Mark

 

[Flobot]

Cheap they might be, incompetent they certainly are. We went with them for card processing. We can never get through to them and have been kept on hold for over an hour at times. They don't respond to emails. The don't send emails they have promised to send and their website seems to spend a lot of time offline for a reputable company. My advice is to give them a miss, it will save you a lot of frustration.