illegally withdrew money from account and bullying customer
Written: Oct 29 '08 (Updated Oct 29 '08)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: May be nothing happen to you if you business never grow
Cons: Apply hidden rules, rude, thnik they are above the law. No business sense.
The Bottom Line: RUN if you are not with them yet, complaint to all authorities FTC, OCC, Canadian Governments, Visa Card etc if you're already screwed by them.
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| blueplume's Full Review: NOVA Information Systems, Inc. |
I have had a merchant account with Elavon, then known as Nova, since 2006 to process credit card for my company. I have had a perfectly clean record without any incidents, no chargebacks and no complaints.
My customer who operates a chain of furniture stores in Toronto, Ontario Canada, placed an order for DVD players, resulting in a charge of about $9500 CAD which went through. On October 7, 2008, I received a request from Elavon's Chargeback Department requesting for details regarding this transaction. I in turn contacted my customer to ascertain what had happened and was advised he confirmed the transaction was legitimate but that his own accounts payable department had mistakenly failed to recognize our company name in their records and requested a retrieval request via their credit card's issuing bank. On October 8, 2008, we received a phone call from Leslie of Elavon's Chargeback Department. I explained the situation to her, that this was a misunderstanding and that my customer had since withdrawn their retrieval request via their issuing bank. However, instead of listening to my explanation, she took it upon herself to call into question the nature of my business and the volume of my business, questioning the very product my customer purchased from me and that I was now doing more business than I had initially estimated on my application. Later that same day, I faxed to her my invoices pertaining to this order and a letter to clarify that this situation came about due to a miscommunication with my customer and their employee.
On October 14, 2008, I attempted to process some transactions via the internet only I found that my Elavon account was on hold. I called Elavon's Customer Service and was advised that the hold on my account had been initiated by the Chargeback Department. The customer service representative advised she would send an email to the individual who had initiated this hold and that she would call me back. The following morning, I had not received any return call so I called Customer Service again myself. After explaining the situation to a different representative, she transferred me to the voicemail of the supervisor of the Chargeback Dept on which I left a message regarding my situation. 4 hours later, and still no return call from neither Customer Service nor Chargebacks, I called again only this time, I was advised that the individual handling my case was with the Loss Prevention Department but that they do not receive external phone calls and can only be contacted via internal, in-house email. That same afternoon, I received a next-day letter delivery via UPS. Therein were 3 letters sent by Elavon's Chargeback Dept all dated October 13, 2008. The letters advised Elavon was canceling my account effective October 15, 2008 and that "Elavon has placed a hold on [my] merchant processing account to establish and fund a security reserve. Credit card transactions may still be presented for processing, however, [I] will not receive funding for these transactions at this time as these funds are being rerouted to the established security reserve. This security reserve account may be maintained by Elavon for a minimum of 270 days with periodic reviews of the merchant processing history for any release of the funds held in the security reserve." These letters contained no explanation as to the termination of my account.
On October 15, 2008, Elavon tried to deduct a total of $23,000 CAD from my bank account. This was done without any notification. This amount of $23,000 CAD is haphazard, random and without any legal base. My monthly average of my transactions is about $5000 CAD. I then received a phone call from Deana Davis, Assistant Manager of Elavon's Chargeback Dept and the individual who had issued and signed the 3 letters I had received the day before. I explained that the chargeback inquiry had been erroneously generated and that my customer had since withdrawn their inquiry via their issuing bank. Instead of listening to my explanation, Ms. Davis instead insisted that I had violated my contract with Elavon by exceeding the monthly $5000 cap in my sales or transactions processed and that I was selling products in wholesale volume to my customer.
Firstly, this $5000 figure is denoted only as the "Total Monthly Visa/MC Sales" on my Elavon application and in no way does it note nor imply that this figure represents a cap to the sales I may process. I have since reviewed their Terms and Conditions and there is no reference to such a threshold.
Secondly, Elavon has no right to interfere not call into question my business dealings with my customers. I advised Ms. Davis that my customer has since acknowledged my transaction. Ms. Davis advised she was insisting on terminating my account. My frustration mounting, I advised Ms. Davis that I had certain rights. Ms. Davis' reply was that I had no rights, that I could not say anything since they had already terminated my account and that my only right was to find another credit card processer. During this phone conversation, a third voice suddenly appeared and it was Leslie, the Chargeback Dept personnel that had initially contacted me. I had not been made aware, not until this moment, that I was part of a conference call. Together, they were now stating that it was my responsibility to prove the transaction was legitimate and implied that the transaction was potentially a scam, however baseless the implication was. They refused my explanation and rejected verifying that the initial situation no longer existed by contacting my customer's issuing bank. They went so far as to say they have the right to do whatever they want and even to go into my bank account and withdraw funds without legitimate reason. They insisted that it was the merchant's responsibility to inform Elavon when processing transactions of a certain amount and what product I am selling. They insisted that the $5000 figure I had provided in my application, provided as the projected amount of my monthly transactions, was instead a contractual cap of the amount of transactions I would have.
The past 2 years, my record with Elavon has been and still is, beyond reproach without any chargebacks. Before using Elavon's services, I used the services of InternetSecure, another Elavon subsidiary and my record then was also perfect and without any chargebacks. Indeed, InternetSecure owes me $50 USD for deducting a fee from my account in 2007 though the contract and all services had been terminated 3 days prior to the withdrawal.
As a customer, I enter into a contract with Elavon and pay the company in exchange for a service. Elavon may be a multi-billion dollar company but I am not without my legal rights. Elavon has allowed its employees to conduct themselves in a deplorable manner violating my rights on many different levels and has now grievously, and perhaps, irreparably jeopardized my very livelihood. I cannot process orders or payments and my bank account is now in serious and unauthorized overdraft. I am unable to pay taxes, pay bills and my day-to-day living is in question.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
blueplume
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Reviews written: 1
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