My bad experience starting my business

[gikstar]

Some Advise...

Sorry to hear about you problems. Taking credit cards can be expensive. We once had a client put a 10K charge on her American Express Card so we could order her server, UPS, switch, etc... a couple weeks later her Grant money came in and she had us reverse the charge and sent us a check. We got hit both ways on that deal, charged for the money in and charged for the money back out. (We later charged her a restocking fee for those additional charges.)

Regarding your Credit Card company charges... close your bank account with Chase and open up an account with the Credit Union. That will definitely stop the charges!

Regarding the Yellow Page Ad... don't waste your money! Who looks at the yellow pages anyway. Obviously the Yellow Page company can give you all kinds of statistics, but that is what their business is, so they will be bias and lie to you.
You would be better off investing in a decent website and utilize Yelp, Yahoo etc, as those with smart phones will use their phone to find a tech when they need one. Do your best to get a lot of testimonials on your website, on Yahoo, on Yelp and others, from your clients. Don't settle for less than 5 Stars from your clients. We once had a client post 4 stars and we called her... she had meant to leave a 5 star review so she went back and changed it. So, if you don't get 5 Stars, contact the client to see what the problem was and how can you serve them better in the future. Let them know that you value your reputation and quality of your work.

I hope this is of some help to you.

Check out my son's website... we think it looks Professional : http://www.weyantenterprises.com/home/

 

[coffee]

Regarding your Credit Card company charges... close your bank account with Chase and open up an account with the Credit Union.

Chase will not let me close the account. So, I openned up a new one and transfered all money to it. The old account is going red and they are getting a bit upset I imagine as I told them I will not bring it to a zero balance until these problems are resolved.

On the other points you mentioned --> Thank you very much for the info you provided. I appreciate it very much and I will try and implement them as soon as possible. Today (monday) I have round 2 with charge.com and trying to get them to refund some charges. Im still waiting for them to send me the docs I need (according to them) to stop service with them.

The BBB has acknowledged my complaint (for whatever it will do) and Iam laying the ground work today for an internet / news campaign against them. I think people looking to start a business should be aware of such tactics and Im going to do my best to expose them.

Thanks again for your thoughts and insights. I find them very valuable.

Humm... Lets see ---> chargeNOT.com? , NOTcharge.com? Just off the top of my head. Need more coffee!

 

[Tony_Scarpelli]

What do you mean they won't let you close the acct? I never heard of this?

Sounds like you better get all savings, CD's, investments, checking and other savings out of that bank fast.

That is the craziest thing I ever heard. It sounds like they might have a scam with this visa company.

 

[Xander]

Regarding the Yellow Page Ad... don't waste your money! Who looks at the yellow pages anyway.

Ummm, the vast majority of my new customers do. I may be in the minority but the YP have always been my #1 source of customers. I rank in the top 3 usually for computer repairs in my city on Google... and I might get a call or two a month... if that.

YP have been around a long time and a lot of people still go to them first, especially when their computer is broken.

 

[gikstar]

Ummm, the vast majority of my new customers do. I may be in the minority but the YP have always been my #1 source of customers. I rank in the top 3 usually for computer repairs in my city on Google... and I might get a call or two a month... if that.

YP have been around a long time and a lot of people still go to them first, especially when their computer is broken.

Curious... If you have been in business for awhile, are they looking in the YP for your number because you have been referred by others or searching the YP for a computer repair facility?

 

[Tony_Scarpelli]

at least 80% of my new customers come from yellow pages. YP is a bigger bang for buck than adwords in our area based on friends that use it.

 

[RegEdit]

The phone books came out and I was not in them!!

I had a similar disaster with Verizon - who else! I was supposed to have a simple yellow pages listing. Verizon called me to see if I wanted to pay for a special yellow pages ad. I said no. I think the rep sabotaged me, because the SBC Global yellow pages had my listing correctly in there. But absolutely nothing in the Verizon yellow pages. I sent them threatening certified letters and finally got listed THE NEXT YEAR. Nothing like losing yellow pages customers for your first year in business -- all thanks to the hacks at Verizon!

 

[coffee]

What do you mean they won't let you close the acct? I never heard of this?

Sounds like you better get all savings, CD's, investments, checking and other savings out of that bank fast.

That is the craziest thing I ever heard. It sounds like they might have a scam with this visa company.

Believe me, I have never experienced this either. They said it had to do with alot of cases of fraudulant credit card deals where they open an account charge stuff on credit cards and then close the account without payment.

Charge.com was suppose to send me a paper to fill out to close service with them but I have not seen it yet. I kinda figure its not going to arrive. I will be calling them today again.

Thanks for your input.

 

[scott00049]

I had a bank once that refused to work with me on a very large transaction that went the wrong way for me. I happened to work for an airline at the time (think free flights), so I got on a plane and flew to the city they were in. I walked in and asked to speak to the guy who had basically told me where to go....you shoulda seen the look on his face. lol

Long story short, we found a happy middle where I agreed to pay part of the charge, and they would waive the rest. The look on the guys face alone, I woulda bought a plane ticket to see that.

Can you close the account that you transferred all of your money to? At least then you won't have any money tied up in Chase.

 

[coffee]

Can you close the account that you transferred all of your money to? At least then you won't have any money tied up in Chase.

I m going to try and close it today. I think there is a waiting period to close checking accounts so I will probably leave like 10 bucks in it.

Got the cancellation paper to fill out just today. I see that if I sign it I am libal for a "cancellation fee" and I have a sinking feeling in my stomache on that. Boy, What an experience. I put in a call to my rep there at charge.com and left a message to have him call me.

thanks for your reply.

 

[Tony_Scarpelli]

Believe me, I have never experienced this either. They said it had to do with alot of cases of fraudulant credit card deals where they open an account charge stuff on credit cards and then close the account without payment.

Charge.com was suppose to send me a paper to fill out to close service with them but I have not seen it yet. I kinda figure its not going to arrive. I will be calling them today again.

Thanks for your input.

In the mean time you can send a letter to your bank regarding your checking account/visa and tell them that you have a civil dispute with charge.com and that you specifically terminate any authorization to pay them any future payments. And that you will not be held responsible for same should the bank choose to ignore this letter. With your money, or credit the bank is only authorized to do what you tell them too. Now they are sitting on this agreement you signed with charge.com but you can cancel it as far as your banker is concerned. The banker may feel like he is judge and jury but he knows he is not but he won't tell you how to get out of it. Knowledge is your friend. Send the letter plainly stated. Do not make any future payments with charge.com.

In this case if they accept the charges which you will sooner or later have to clear up, you now have a case against your bank and may not have to pay unauthorized payments to charge.com.

Sign it, send it registered.

 

[Tony_Scarpelli]

I m going to try and close it today. I think there is a waiting period to close checking accounts so I will probably leave like 10 bucks in it.

Got the cancellation paper to fill out just today. I see that if I sign it I am libal for a "cancellation fee" and I have a sinking feeling in my stomache on that. Boy, What an experience. I put in a call to my rep there at charge.com and left a message to have him call me.

thanks for your reply.

get your facts together. Then go visit a consumer protection advocate at your local district attorneys office. While you are a business you are also a consumer of that service.

There are a few issues: The fact that you were unaware of the back ground check up which is by no way standard. I never had one or paid for one with my two visa processing accounts, nor have I heard of such a thing.

They might be required to not only have you sign the document but initial that particular paragraph.

You might well be able to get out of the cancellation fee as well since they did a fast shift on the other charges. In any case they can bill you and you can refuse to pay but it won't help your credit. You have to make that decision. An attorney can tell you if they violated any regulations in the process of their business which would give you great leeway to get out of this.

 

[Tony_Scarpelli]

I had a bank once that refused to work with me on a very large transaction that went the wrong way for me. I happened to work for an airline at the time (think free flights), so I got on a plane and flew to the city they were in. I walked in and asked to speak to the guy who had basically told me where to go....you shoulda seen the look on his face. lol

Long story short, we found a happy middle where I agreed to pay part of the charge, and they would waive the rest. The look on the guys face alone, I woulda bought a plane ticket to see that.

Can you close the account that you transferred all of your money to? At least then you won't have any money tied up in Chase.

I like this. ++++++++++++++++++

 

[Xander]

Curious... If you have been in business for awhile, are they looking in the YP for your number because you have been referred by others or searching the YP for a computer repair facility?

Nope - these are folks who've never heard of me before who find me in the YP.
I'd say I get roughly 80% YP, 15% referrals, and 5% Google/other.

 

[PWD]

Coffee,

Hang in there. you seem really dedicated and it seems the worst has happened.
I know some of the pain your going though.

Hang in there

 

[Tony_Scarpelli]

Nope - these are folks who've never heard of me before who find me in the YP.
I'd say I get roughly 80% YP, 15% referrals, and 5% Google/other.

this is my exact situation as well, and we do a good job on cust service referrals.

 

[rsavoia]

I had a merchant account for about ten years. I finally closed it and went PayPal because I closed my shop and became a web-based business. It was also cheaper.

I made mistakes in my business as well. Fortunately the merchant account wasn't one of them, simply because I researched it thoroughly and shopped around before I hired one. I purchased all my equipment first before I chose a credit card processor so I didn't have to sign a contract.

I also joined Merchant911.org, which provides a lot of guidance on credit card processing services as well as tutorials and scam alerts. I interviewed Tom Mahoney, founder of Merchant911 in episodes 27 and 28 of The Force Field podcast. We discussed how to set up a merchant account and accept credit cards without getting ripped off. Although the episodes are a few years old, the information is still very relevant. It is also free to join.

You may want to give these episodes a listen. His web site has a lot of tools to help merchants deal with fraudsters, credit card companies and the processors themselves.

Sorry to hear you learned about the pitfalls of merchant accounts the hard way. I hope they give you a break with the cancellation terms, but from what I know about some of these processors and their contracts, be prepared.

Rick

 

[ThomasP]

Wow, interesting thread. I've been playing around with the idea of starting a business for while now. this almost scares me away. Just kidding, hang in there. I've started a business before but it was very small and I didn't have to deal with a lot of these issues. It will be worth it all in the end, you have to believe that.

 

[xboxhaxorz]

i just use my android phone with a credit card scanner from square

low rates and free scanner

 

[coffee]

I would like to thank everyone for their replies to my thread. Its heartening to find some support for what Iam going thru. Here is an update as to what has happened since I last posted.

I have entered a claim to the BBB (I know but have to do something). I have also entered a claim to the FTC on this company. I have written consumerist.com but have recieved nothing but a deaf ear from them.

I finally received a page to fill out to close business with them. They ask for a copy of your drivers license and to fill out why you are not interested in them anymore. I noticed that there is a cancellation fee also. So, I did some heavy googling and found that the fee is 300 dollars. If this is the case then I will have lost about approx. 700 dollars since May of 2011 and have not even ran a charge yet.

In the end, There are no words I can type that can express how mad Iam about the whole ordeal. My only hope is that someone looking to start a business and accept credit cards will see this post and be forewarned about www.charge.com. They are as evil as they come and are the quickest way to end any small business venture.

I would like to thank Technibble Forums for letting me post this here.