Call for Artists, Making Money at Juried Art Fairs, Craft Shows and Festivals
Warning! Do not use TransFirst Merchant processing!
I want to warn other artists about Transfirst Merchant processing company based on my own experience.
Following is the letter I sent to them to dispute the charges they had made. This morning I received a call telling me that they would refund the incorrectly debited monthly fees, but not the $295 early termination fee that they charged, though I had never agreed to a 3-year contract.
TransFirst LLC
3131 S. Vaughn Way #350
Aurora, Colorado 80014
Fax: 303.482.8096
Dear Sir or Madam,
I have had a seasonal merchant account with TransFirst since October 2008. Unfortunately, your firm has been debiting a monthly fee instead of the twice-annual seasonal fee I had agreed to. This incorrect debiting has resulted in numerous overdraft charges on my bank account, which I have paid. I brought the errors to the attention of one of your representatives by telephone and she refunded the incorrectly charged amounts. I discussed cancelling my account at that time. Nancy Nguyen emailed me a closure form that included an early termination fee. I questioned that, and she claimed I had a three-year contract. I told her I did not recall committing to a time period of any kind, and would not have done so, so she faxed me my application paperwork on file in your office.
When I received the paperwork, I noted that there was a discrepancy between what she faxed me and the original application that I signed. The final four pages (Merchant Card Processing Agreement) were not included with the papers that I signed. If you examine the paperwork, you will see that the final four pages do not have the fax headers found on the previous pages nor do they carry my signature or initials. I sent another email to Ms. Nguyen with this information and the statement that I was therefore not bound by the Agreement or the early termination fee. She replied “not a problem.” (See attached email string).
After this, I was charged incorrectly again for the months of June and July. I decided to use the account for an art fair on August 15, and then cancelled the account because of the repeated errors in fees charged. I faxed the closure form to your office, and also sent an email on 8/24/09 to Nancy Nguyen letting her know of my account cancellation and requesting reimbursement of the two months’ fees that had been incorrectly debited. I watched my bank account for the reimbursement, and was stunned to instead see a debit from your company for $295 on 9/4/09 and another for $56.35 on 9/10/09. I had the assurance in that email from Nancy that I was not bound by the early termination fee aspect of the application if I cancelled my account, and had crossed out the fee on the closure form before I signed and faxed it.
Therefore I am claiming reimbursement of the $126.28 in incorrectly charged monthly fees and the $295 in incorrectly charged early termination fees. Please send me a check for $421.28 at the address below. I have closed my bank account to insure there will be no further charges by your company.
Anyone have any ideas how I can get them to reimburse me? $295 was most of my bank account at the time. I'm sure legal fees would be far more than they owe me.
I realize I'll probably never win against a large company like this, but I hope I can help someone else from having a similar experience. By the way, my bank referred me to them . . .
Following is the letter I sent to them to dispute the charges they had made. This morning I received a call telling me that they would refund the incorrectly debited monthly fees, but not the $295 early termination fee that they charged, though I had never agreed to a 3-year contract.
TransFirst LLC
3131 S. Vaughn Way #350
Aurora, Colorado 80014
Fax: 303.482.8096
Dear Sir or Madam,
I have had a seasonal merchant account with TransFirst since October 2008. Unfortunately, your firm has been debiting a monthly fee instead of the twice-annual seasonal fee I had agreed to. This incorrect debiting has resulted in numerous overdraft charges on my bank account, which I have paid. I brought the errors to the attention of one of your representatives by telephone and she refunded the incorrectly charged amounts. I discussed cancelling my account at that time. Nancy Nguyen emailed me a closure form that included an early termination fee. I questioned that, and she claimed I had a three-year contract. I told her I did not recall committing to a time period of any kind, and would not have done so, so she faxed me my application paperwork on file in your office.
When I received the paperwork, I noted that there was a discrepancy between what she faxed me and the original application that I signed. The final four pages (Merchant Card Processing Agreement) were not included with the papers that I signed. If you examine the paperwork, you will see that the final four pages do not have the fax headers found on the previous pages nor do they carry my signature or initials. I sent another email to Ms. Nguyen with this information and the statement that I was therefore not bound by the Agreement or the early termination fee. She replied “not a problem.” (See attached email string).
After this, I was charged incorrectly again for the months of June and July. I decided to use the account for an art fair on August 15, and then cancelled the account because of the repeated errors in fees charged. I faxed the closure form to your office, and also sent an email on 8/24/09 to Nancy Nguyen letting her know of my account cancellation and requesting reimbursement of the two months’ fees that had been incorrectly debited. I watched my bank account for the reimbursement, and was stunned to instead see a debit from your company for $295 on 9/4/09 and another for $56.35 on 9/10/09. I had the assurance in that email from Nancy that I was not bound by the early termination fee aspect of the application if I cancelled my account, and had crossed out the fee on the closure form before I signed and faxed it.
Therefore I am claiming reimbursement of the $126.28 in incorrectly charged monthly fees and the $295 in incorrectly charged early termination fees. Please send me a check for $421.28 at the address below. I have closed my bank account to insure there will be no further charges by your company.
Anyone have any ideas how I can get them to reimburse me? $295 was most of my bank account at the time. I'm sure legal fees would be far more than they owe me.
I realize I'll probably never win against a large company like this, but I hope I can help someone else from having a similar experience. By the way, my bank referred me to them . . .
Tags: TransFirst, card, credit, merchant
Replies are closed for this discussion.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Marcelo Perez on -
Yes always initial all pages
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Permalink Reply by Marcelo Perez on
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Our company is working very hard to try to stop this annual fee for PCI Compliance. If we are able to do this we will only charge $19.95 a month if the PCI verification is not done. If anyone is interested in processing with us, please visit our website www.bancardpayment.com or call us at 972-783-7200.
Thank you,
Marcelo Perez -
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Permalink Reply by Kevan Breitinger on -
I started another post earlier regardning choosing a credit card company, but can't find it, so I'll report my experience here. I did end up giving Bancard a try, thanks to all the help Marcelo (previous poster) gave me. He adn his techie Kat have spent a lot of time talking me through their systems. The rates seem good, I went with the Store-and-Forward option, and so far it all looks good. First show in Philly on the 15th, so I'll know more after that, but so far I highly recommend Bancard.
Marcelo Perez said:Our company is working very hard to try to stop this annual fee for PCI Compliance. If we are able to do this we will only charge $19.95 a month if the PCI verification is not done. If anyone is interested in processing with us, please visit our website www.bancardpayment.com or call us at 972-783-7200.
Thank you,
Marcelo Perez -
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