Complaints

This profile includes complaints for Electronic Merchant Systems's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

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  Electronic Merchant Systems

  250 W Huron Rd Ste 400 Cleveland, OH 44113-1451

  
• 

  Electronic Merchant Systems

  161 Worcester Rd Ste 304 Framingham, MA 01701

• 

  Electronic Merchant Systems

  1 Belmont Ave Ste 410 Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004

• 

  Electronic Merchant Systems

  9277 Centre Pointe Dr Ste 105 West Chester, OH 45069

• 

  Electronic Merchant Systems

  9450 Bryn Mawr Ave Ste 260 Rosemont, IL 60018

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/09/2024

  Type:Product Issues
  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 have terminated a contract with Electronic Merchant Systems few months ago. I stopped using their service but was told that I would have to pay an early termination fee unless I waited until March 2024. It was less money to pay the small monthly fees than the termination fee. However, I sent in the equipment back in Dec '23 and have still been getting a rental fee, $29.00 a month and this month I am getting a PCI-Non compliance fee of $50.00. For what I ask? I was told that this is the last of the payments. However, I do not see on this statement that our account is being closed on any specific date.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 02/20/2024

  Dear *** ********, 

  Thank you for taking the time to speak with Stacy Smith in our Retention department. This letter is to confirm that your Electronic Merchant Systems processing account has been closed without penalty, or early termination fee.

  At this time, EMS will consider the matter resolved. 

   

  Sincerely,

  *** ** ********

  Director of Client Services

  Customer Answer

  Date: 02/20/2024

  [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:02/07/2024

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  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.

  In December of 2023, our company opened a merchant account with EMS after going through a thorough underwriting process in which EMS reviewed our past credit card activity and financials. Our company does short term villa rentals and deals in relatively large dollar transactions. From January 18-21, we settled 6 credit card transactions totalling $46,982. EMS has still not forwarded these fund to our bank nearly 3 weeks later - a far cry from the 1 to 4 day norm. EMS requested followup information on 3 of the transactions for verification purposes. Despite promptly providing all requested information, they have still not forwarded the funds from these transactions. They have shown no concern for the difficult position they've put our company in by holding these funds, as we must pay the villa owners for these short term rental contracts even though EMS refuses to forward the funds from the credit card transactions. After researching EMS further, we found that many other businesses have posted similar complaints. 21 of the 24 reviews on ***** ***** were 1 star ***************************************************** with many reviewers going so far as to call this company a scam and a fraud. Sadly, we've arrived at the same conclusion and believe that EMS is not operating in good faith and may have in fact wandered into criminal territory with the way they conduct business.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 02/15/2024

  Dear *** ********, 

  Thank you for taking the time to speak with ****** ******. This letter is to confirm the release on monies placed on hold. $29,757.91 was released on 2/6/24, and an additional amount of $9,892.00 was released on 2/9/24.

  At this time, EMS will consider the matter resolved. 
  

   

  Sincerely,

   *** ** ********

  Director of Client Services 

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/01/2024

  Type:Billing Issues
  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 been with EMS for over a year. I was planning to stop my services with them when my contract was over in November of '23 because they charge a $595 cancellation fee when you cancel during the contract term. To my surprise, when I called in to cancel they told me that the contract had auto-renewed, and because I did not call in to tell them I did not want it to auto-renew (mind you paying a monthly service fee while waiting for the contract to expire) that I would indeed have to pay the $595. This is a shady way of doing business and says a lot about how they treat their customers.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 02/09/2024

  Dear *** ******* 

  Thank you for taking the time to work with ***** ***** in our Retention department. This letter is to confirm the refund of your early termination fee. At this time, EMS will consider the matter resolved. 

   

  Sincerely,

  *** ** ******** 

  Director of Client Services

  Customer Answer

  Date: 02/09/2024

  [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:12/20/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  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.

  In October 2023 we sent about US$20,000 to Electronic Merchant Systems for processing into my Northern Trust Bank account. The payments were made by people in Australia for a seminar I am conducting in Bali in June 2024. On October 27, 2023 we received a message from EMS that "these funds will not be able to be released until after the event has been completed". This has never happened before. I have to pay for the event now so I need these funds now. I have been doing seminars in Bali for 20 years and have never had this issue before of my funds being withheld by a credit card processing company.
  I want the EMS to contact me at +64 21 142 1335 as soon as possible. please rsvp that this will happen.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 01/02/2024

   Dear *** *******

  This letter is to confirm all monies placed on hold have been released. At this time, EMS will consider this matter resolved. 

  
  Sincerely,

  *** ** *******i Director of Client Services

• Initial Complaint

  Date:12/05/2023

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  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.

  Primary Care Health Services is a non-profit organization which tries to conserve as much money as possible to serve underprivilege communities. I have been having the worst customer services experience with EMS. We have not been using their services since Oct 2022 and have been trying to cancel this service since switching over to another vendor. This contract auto-renewed without me knowing as I am then new Controller with the company, after the previous one quit. EMS has charged us non-compliance fees for 8 months knowing that we were not using the services and also have been charging a flat $20/Month for each of our 11 accounts that we have. I have explained this to Mike in retention and he stated that we have to pay $795/account for a early termination fee and I believe that isn't fair as I wasn't the one who signed the contract and the person who did is no longer working with us. It has been a headache trying to get this resolved and it seems like they are taking advantage of the situation and not really trying to help.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 12/14/2023

  Dear *** *******, 

  Thank you for taking the time to work with **** ******* in our Retention department. This letter is to confirm your Electronic Merchant Systems processing accounts have been closed without penalty or early termination fees. However, all equipment will need to be returned to our corporate location. 

  At this time, EMS will consider this matter resolved. 

  Sincerely, 
  
  *** ** ******** Director of Client Services

• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/01/2023

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  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.

  This all started with an ad. Payment cloud popping up every where acting smooth and promising next day payment fulfilment promising big with low rate of 2.9%. Next they put me up with EMS which became my worst nightmare and suddenly increased the processing fee to 4.9%+0.50cents for each transaction next day of entering the contract. Then it took them a month to send someone over to verify my address while they kept charging me for merchant fees which god knows makes no sense if you look at it. Next thing you know just after the first test transaction, they put my rolling reserve to 100%.The contract nor payment cloud mentioned anything about payment scrutiny. ******* at EMS from Risk dpt claimed he only needed to verify two to three payments but several payments down the road, he couldnt verify one payment and kept my money hostage demanding more transactions so he can verify before funding. The rolling reserve had a max value of 15k, to check their true intentions I asked ******* if my payments could be funded if i had a balance of 15k from transactions, he said he is still not sure. I bet he wouldnt because they just want to hold as much money as they can from fresh merchants and new businesses, preying on the weak and profiting from all the money on hold. Nothing but lies from their team. No mentions of excessive scrutiny was mentioned in contract they never even mailed me a hard copy.When you need them you can hardly get them on the phone, the person i spoke with to cancel my account asked me the reason and said ok thanks and hungup after i had just stressed him with all that was going on, no apologies at all. The money in my merchant reserves was only used to fund their monthly payment fees and could never be funded after months. EMS failed to fund any of my payments and on request of cancellation they are demanding a cancellation fee of $545 for what? profiting of my money? and they never call you Ihavetocallthemagainany timetheyneedsomething theywonteventell

  

  Business Response

  Date: 11/16/2023

  Dear *** ****** 

  Thank you for taking the time to work with Mike Takesky in our Retention department. This letter is to confirm your Electronic Merchant Systems processing account has been closed without penalty or early termination fees. EMS has also agreed to release all monies held in reserve. 

  At this time, EMS will consider this matter resolved. 

   

  Sincerely,

  *** ** ********

  Director of Client Services 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 11/17/2023

  [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 20809052, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. Thank you for the assistance.
  
  
  
  Regards,
  
  
  
  ****** *****
  
  
  
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/24/2023

  Type:Billing Issues
  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.

  Since reporting this to the BBB EMS has sent a collection agency after me. I call **** with Payment Cloud and asked him to clear things up with EMS, to explain to them that I requested account be canceled months ago and I have never used the service because they could not help me connect it to my website.

  **** called back to say he spoke with the most senior manager at EMS he could reach and he was told there is nothing they can do about it. **** says they claim to have sent a cancelation form but I never received a such a form. In all the phone conversations I had with them about closing my account and stopping charges no one ever mentioned a cancelation form.

  Meanwhile I have also filled a dispute with the collection agency.

  Customer Answer

  Date: 10/24/2023

  I was in search of a credit card processor for my new website and I found a company called Payment Cloud for this purpose. Payment Cloud opened an account for me and later explained that this service will be provided by another company call Electronic Merchant Services or EMS. They help me register to the EMS platform.
  
  I was supposed to get a code from the EMS platform and place it in my website so that I can start receiving credit card payments from costumers. When the code would not work I complained to Payment Cloud and they told me to ask customer service at EMS.
  
  I had a live chat with support at EMS. After a lengthy effort it still wouldn't work. So I asked to close my account with them. The EMS representative tried to convince me not to but I insisted on closing, he or she said to come back if I changed my mind. I immediately sent an email to Payment Cloud telling them that I have closed with EMS. Payment Cloud responded saying my account was closed. This was back in February.
  
  However I continued to receive the monthly $75 fee from EMS charged directly to my bank account even though I have never used their services and the account should be closed. I called the number on the bill and was told by the EMS representative that the account was closed but later reopened, reopened by who they couldn't say. I firmly told them I want it closed. The rep said they would look into it or pass it up to management.
  
  I called several times over the next few months always getting the run-around. Eventually I reported it to my bank and they placed a stop-payment on the charges that kept coming monthly.
  
  Now that EMS can no longer take money directly out of my bank account I'm getting harassing letters and phone calls asking me to pay for a service I am not using, have never used and that they won't close. It is now September. This has been going on since February.
  
  EMS merchant ID ending: ********

  

  Business Response

  Date: 10/31/2023

  Dear Mr. *****, 

  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 fees. EMS has also initiated a refund in the amount of $615.77. 

  At this time, EMS will consider this matter resolved. 

   

  Sincerely,

  *** ** ********

  Director of Client Services

  Customer Answer

  Date: 11/09/2023

  [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 ********, to refund me $615.77 and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. I await instructions on how to receive my refund.
  
  
  
  Regards,
  
  
  
  ******* **
  
  
  
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/28/2023

  Type:Billing Issues
  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.

  Risk department turned my account off after 2 months. This is crazy. We are a brand-new company. We were just getting started. We didn't know the rules. They do not help small businesses.
  
  The issue is/was we have 2 chargebacks in 2+ months – less than 1 a month. They both were erroneous chargebacks. The risk department refused to listen. We have turned in the paperwork both chargebacks. Details:
  
  Chargeback #1 was for: $922.16 – August. This is a customer of mine. He was one of the first charges of our new account. We had REFUNDED this chargeback 10 days before the chargeback. The customer knew he had a refund and the bank knew this and EMS certainly knew this. The reason for the chargebacks/refund is your Risk Department called him(with out letting me know) and scared him. He did not know who EMS was and did not know the charges because of EMS. I am not sure what they said to him. We refunded the charges the next day after speaking with risk. Then 10 days later his bank charged back the charge. EMS has records of this. Obviously we won the chargeback. This chargeback NEVER should have happened. We still speak with this customer and he will pay us again. Business to business charge.
  
  We turned the paper work in showing this was a good charge.
  
  The Risk Department caused this. Our money was returned from the bank.
  
  Chargeback #2 for: $746.16 – September. This was a good charge as well. The issue is the company’s Office Manager/Account did not recognize the charge on my customer card. She charged back the fees without confirming/asking about the charge. This is a good charge. We turned in the paperwork. We will win the chargeback.
  
  All we are asking is you give us another chance. This is highly unfair. I know we need to get our rate down – however it’s 2 chargeback in 2 months – both were initially good charges.
  
  This company does NOT help small businesses.
  
  We want our account or new account and given a second chance. These we two erroneous chargebacks - the risk depratment refused to listen.
  
  We want to hear from the corporate offices - they need to know what their risk department is doing.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 10/16/2023

  Dear *** ******, 
  Thank you for taking the time to speak with me. This letter is to confirm that your Electronic Merchant Systems processing account has been re-opened per your desired settlement. Please let me know if you have any additional questions or concerns. 
  At this time, EMS will consider the matter resolved. 
  

  Sincerely, 

  *** ** ********

  Director of Client Services

• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/13/2023

  Type:Billing Issues
  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.

  *** ******** *******
  A sales representative/agency signed me up for *** payment processing. The representative sent over multiple many pages long document that requires me signing else it will expire. The agent did not even explain what the document contained or was about besides just a "standard payment processing agreement ". Any honest business person will make sure anyone signing a document understands the high-level implications of signing such a document, for ***, this is a 2-year contract with automatic renewal, a cancellation fee of almost $600, and monthly charges of over $130. These implications should be explicitly and verbally explained to anyone signing such a contract. Unfortunately, they prey on anyone who just assumes good intent. I did not know or was aware of all this until my bank flagged their September automatic payment deducted from my bank account as possible fraud and that's when I contacted *** and discovered all about their crazy terms that they make sure you don't know when you sign up! I requested account cancellation and refund and they told me they would email me the form to sign for cancellation. Of course, they didn’t email, and had to call them 3 days in a row to finally receive that cancellation form in my email. I called *** again today and requested refunds for monthly charges for July, August, and September to be refunded and my account was canceled without cancellation fees.
  
  Besides the salesperson testing the account on the web, we NEVER used *** nor did they ever come out physically to our business to install/activate any gateway devices for processing payment!
  
  Such busy practices from *** need to stop!!!. If you're going to have 2years of auto renewal $595 cancellation fees and a $140 monthly fee without verbally explaining to the customer such big financial implications, it calls into question the integrity of *** and if they truly have good intentions for folks who are just trying to start a business.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 09/26/2023

  Dear *** ****, 

  Thank you for taking the time to work with Stacy Smith in our Retention department. This letter is to confirm your Electronic Merchant Syst*** processing account has been closed without penalty or early termination fee. We have also initiated a three month refund of fees. 

  At this time, *** will consider the matter resolved. 

   

  Sincerely,

  *** ** ********

  Director of Client Services

  Customer Answer

  Date: 10/08/2023

  [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 ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. 
  
  
  
  Regards,
  
  
  
  ******
  
  
  
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/11/2023

  Type:Billing Issues
  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 company began using EMS Payment Processing in Feb. 2023. After an extensive screening process including a site evaluation we were approved to process credit cards. We processed successfully for several months and received a chargeback from a customer that did not recognize the charge. Our account was closed on May 4, 2023 due with an explanation that we were high risk due to being a mail order company. This was already known prior to opening our processing account that we were mail order. We had a 10% reserve placed on our account at opening and this money was supposed to be released after 120 days of closing the account. The company only released $739 to our account and stated they can hold the rest for 580 days. This is excessive and we have received no new chargebacks and won't due to the fact we stopped processing. We demand our reserve funds be released immediately as the window of time for a dispute from our customers has passed.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 09/20/2023

  Dear *** ******** 

  As the result of your Electronic Merchant Systems processing account being terminated for an unacceptable charge back ratio, EMS held monies in reserve as part of our risk mitigation. EMS released $739.47 on 9/7/23 and will review the account in 30 days to determine the release of the remaining balance. 

   

  Sincerely,

  *** ** ********
  
  

  Director of Client Services