Review Retail Merchant Services based in Milton Keynes

I would like to advise anyone who may be considering using this company's services to read the following information. Retail Merchant Services, based in Milton Keynes provide a credit and debit card processing service. They employ a large number of self-employed commission motivated sales reps who predominantly cold call owners of small to medium sized businesses in the UK to request a meeting to introduce their services. Please beware, the contract agreement you will be asked to sign includes a number of clauses which will cost you a significant amount of money should you decide to end the contract at any time. The facts you need to consider are: you will be tied into a 36 month contract, yes, 3 years; you will be charged a £100 cancellation fee and a £80 terminal refurbishment fee at the time of ending your contract and you will be charged a minimum processing fee. Given these excessive fees which probably will not be brought to your attention during the initial meeting with the sales rep, it is difficult to recommend this company's services, especially when there are more honest and transparent card processing service providers to choose from. Please feel free to ask any questions you have regarding dealing with this company, I would be happy to provide a frank and honest appraisal of my personal experiences.

 

My last company I was with had them and they got ripped off by them, they force you into a club thats only good if you need the benefits and the customer service was terrible.

 

They cold called me and basically lied about the terms and conditions included in the contract. More fool me for trusting the Retail Merchant Services rep! They have generated a cancellation fee which is around 25% more than I owe and simply won't listen to reason. I've reached the conclusion that they view cancellation fees as a revenue stream and adopt heavy handed almost bully like practices to scaremonger people into paying them money. They are threatening me with court action if I do not pay in full. My circumstances are that I have absolute concrete evidence of the money I have paid them so basically have no hesitation in going to the small claims court to have the matter dealt with fairly. I've also decided to allocate time every week for the foreseeable future to circulate to as many people as possible how this unreputable company operates. I'm in the process of having a blog/forum review site developed which will be aggressively promoted online. The objective is nothing less than to place a review link at the top of Google for any person who has been contacted by Retail Merchant Services and goes online to review the company and read other peoples experiences so they’ll be able to make an informed decision whether to use them, or not. There's other card processing company's out there who operate transparently and do not charge excessive cancellation fees.

 

u r right. after 6years with RMS i had enough of their customer service. changed 5terminals last year. Had so much inconvenience caused by RMS. recently found out from my phone bill, i am paying for my data downloaded from RMS into the card machine(not mention in contract). when i call to enquire, was told by RMS customer service its my own problem because my BT phone plan does not cover special service number 0844 701 6306. (bt confirmed its a reversed data call) watch out downloading time between 0100am-0500am. had changed terminals, reset on the phone with technical department and RMS customer service. promised no more downloading will be charged to me. at the end, its all useless because they cant control because RMS only provide customer service, ELAVON does bank payment clearance and terminal, another technical company is incharge sofeware data. Right now, i am looking the best way to get out RMS without paying them. Has anyone gone to Ombudsman or FSA or any better suggestions?

 

I am in same situation like you. Did RMS charged you for downloading data into card terminal? Watch out a special service number 0844 701 6306 usually around 0100am-0500am. Its not said in the contract, RMS customer service told me it's mine problem because i didnt choose a phone plan include 0844 numbers ??

 

Thanks for the info regarding Retail Merchant Services based in Milton Keynes. This is a new charge which I wasn't aware of up until now! It's literally unbelievable the lengths this company will go to stealth like extract money from it's customers. Could I ask you to visit a blog site I've set up, please do a Google search for 'review retail merchant services in Milton Keynes' for the link and provide further details. The more of us who report this sort of under-handed behavior by Retail Merchant Services, the more chance less business owners will be duped by them in the future.

 

Hi

I read this thread with interest, suffice to say this company is well known in our industry for its approach and style, and sadly we often come across Merchants who signed up with them and only then have realised what they have signed up for, or have left such a bad taste that everyone else in our industry gets tarred with the same brush..

We also ask for long term contracts but we are very clear re the benefits that we offer in return, as in any agreement if you commit to a business long term you should get an appropriate benefit back.

However in fairness nearly every Merchant account provider requires a min monthly service charge, so this is quite normal, but using an 0844 number and then charging you to use it.. That is a new one, and certainly not something that we operate, in fact we prefer to provide a BB based terminal, so we can directly update your terminal at zero cost to the Merchant..

As mentioned, if your dispute is with RMS re your merchant account, threatening to use the Court/taking legal action will normally get them off your back, however if you are in a lease agreement with their partner business MR plc that is another matter completely.

My honest advise AVOID if at all possible, they make the Banks look customer friendly !

Rgds

Mark
LMD Services

 

I was originally with Cardsave who I found 100% above board. They didn't charge me a minimal transaction fee and were totally upfront and honest in describing their service. Unfortunately as you know, I got duped by Retail Merchant Services into swapping and paid the price accordingly. My disappointment is firmly directed at Retail Merchant Services and I am glad to say I owe them nothing now. I paid my dues and drew a line under the experience. However I felt so strongly at how I was treated that I have taken the decision to expose this company's unfair operating practices. The blog is beginning to bubble and I'm estimating it will take approx six months for the site to be sitting side by side with Retail Merchant Services parent site. The aim, very simple, to provide anyone who has been contacted by a Retail Merchant Services rep a heads up on what they might be getting into. It really is about time someone stood up to this unregulated company.

 

I forgot, it's interesting, if you look at other negative reviews on this forum, Retail Merchant Services have tried to talk down the discussion by replying. I wonder why they aren't chipping in here! Feel free to chip in if you want to Retail Merchant Services...

 

I am surprised to know it's new about the downloading data. My merchant account with them 6years, only last christmas shop was closed, during that period 0844 numbers came to my attention especially odd hours timing appeared on the bill. Only god knows how much i have been paying them all these years. When i enquire RMS, from their responses (answering in a very robotic manner), you knew its nothing new to them, im not the only one affected. Asking for proof of paper bills, again RMS does not deal with programming terminal software, another company is responsible. Briefly, a customer service rep and another guy from so called technical dept verbally on the phone reset the config on the terminal, told me to disconnect the battery behind and then put it back. Surprised!!! "TAMPERED" on the screen, no machine for the next 3days. He assured me new terminal will not automatic download. Following month, my bill still shown 0844 number after all inconvenience caused to me.
Basically, last 8months have changed 4terminals(have to wait 2-4working days no machine) and 1battery faulty recall. What sort of benefits do you guys think is good for your business ???

 

I think it would useful if Retail merchant Services responded to this query. There's obviously some confusion regarding this matter and I guess it's only fair to hear both sides of the argument.

 

Chaps

re the pain you are suffering re RMS, assuming you are stuck in contracts that have at least another 18m to run, why not ask RMS to swap out your terminals for IP Broadband ones, this way the terminals can be updated over IP and no phone call required..

However I would get a written commitment from them re this 0844 o/b update calls will not happen if you have an IP terminal..

Alternatively if you do have less than 18m on your contract, we might be able to help..

Please PM me if you would like to discuss further.

Rgds

Mark
LMD Services

 

Hi ddraffan

Re your comment "they didn't charge me a minimal transaction fee and were totally upfront and honest in describing their service", in your response to my recent post, the charges I mentioned are levied by the Merchant account provider, not CardSave who are the reseller only.

The Merchant account provider which I believe in your case would have been Streamline would have billed you a min fee if your monthly transaction fees fell below a set minimum which could range from £ 10 to £ 25 depending on who the Merchant account provider is.

In fact you would never notice it unless business in a month was very low on cards, as normally your charges would be above this threshold.

Hope this helps clarify this issue.

PS can you PM details of the blog you are setting up, am most interested to learn more.

Rgds

Mark
LMD Services

 

RMS are not registered with the FSA, nor do they, or any reseller for that matter, have to be. Is is Evalon thaqt are registered. I have written to my MP to see if this situation can be changed. I urge anyone who has had difficulties to report all this to Trading Standards, keep sending them updates. it can only be a matter of time before TS look into RMS in depth.

 

Thought I'd chip in here, as we had a visit from a very nice chap from RMS who didn't hard sell at all. I was very impressed, particularly as he went to pains to point out that we need to ensure we weren't in a fixed-term contract with our current provider.

That was a month ago, and what with holidays, we have only just managed to check and confirm that we are not in a fixed term contract. Thus I called and they have just sent me over the contract.

Ha!

Yes we save on rent and transaction fees, but there are hefty termination fees plus the following two clauses:

Thus, on a whim, RMS could terminate and then charge the remainder of any term!

So, even with lower day-to-day rates to hoik new customers in, RMS can increase any rate or fee more than once during the initial 3-year fixed term.

It is also clear that their sales reps can say anything they like to get you signed up as their contract states

The above is a side agreement, the main one supplied is with Evalon who will charge an annual PCI compliance fee of Scan: £100 / SAQ £30; there is also a £20 annual administration fee.

Thus this would be a very expensive contract to sign and is a true case of Caveat Emptor: let the buyer beware!

 

Hi David,
Thanks for adding to this thread.
Retail Merchant Services must be exposed as being at the rogues of the market.
With reference to 1.1 that is not a strong enough 'get out clause' for them as there is the:
The Business Protection from Misleading Marketing Regulations 2008,
[Copy & paste the above into a search engine]
Which states:
3.—(1) Advertising which is misleading is prohibited.
(2) Advertising is misleading which—
(a)in any way, including its presentation, deceives or is likely to deceive the traders to whom it is addressed or whom it reaches; and by reason of its deceptive nature, is likely to affect their economic behaviour; or
(b)for those reasons, injures or is likely to injure a competitor.

According to my Trading Standards team, who got my contract rescinded, 'presentation' includes what is said during the sales presentation.

As RMS have already been visited by Milton Keynes Trading Standards, you may want to consider passing this infomation onto your own Trading Standards or even the Office of Fair Trading.

You have had a lucky escape

 

It is good to see that Merchants are becoming wary of RMS, and their fascinating clauses designed to lock unwary Merchants into painful auto renewing contracts with no guarantees over the rates.

If you are still looking to do a review of your Merchant Processing costs, or are unhappy with the service you receive, and want to reduce your costs, I would be more than happy to undertake a Business review for you, and provide you a quote without any obligation.

Our offer is based on a 5 year term, however in return we offer CAPPED rates (your rates and rental can never increase), inclusive 7 x 24 Customer service, and we will pay your PCI fees for the 1st year, and our contracts have no auto renewal clauses.

If this sounds of interest please do PM me and I will see what we can do for you. At worst I will advise you to stay as you are (good deal currently) or best I will be able to offer you a worthwhile saving on your current charges, which can in some cases be up to 40% on what you are currently paying.

We pride ourselves on offering the right solution for a Business, and if we cannot improve on your existing service, or do not have an appropriate solution for you, we will always advise you accordingly.

Kind regards

Mark

 

I am in the same situation as alot on here. I have been conned into signing up with them and now am being asked for over £1000 to leave or court action.i haven't even used the machine and it went back as soon as it arrived. There customer service is shocking. How have you all got on have you had to pay. Wish I'd of read these reviews before there isn't one good one

 

Go Trading Standards ask for advise. RMS contracts are very misleading. Nothing new, their usual tricks, ask you to pay or go to court. Even threaten to blacklist your credit rating. So far, I have known people left RMS without paying, 1year on, no trouble joining other cards company. Good Luck!!