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Cynergy Data Review
Merchant Maverick's Rating: (4 out of 5)
Last Updated: April 30th, 2010.
Overview:
Cynergy Data is another one of those companies thats been around for some time. Established in 1995, they've been doing business for over a decade now. They've won the Inc. 100, 500 and 5000 awards, and their CEO won the 2008 Ernst & Young "Entrepreneur of the Year" award. All great achievements that don't mean much to me. I care about what the real customers are saying about these guys.
They have about 35 complaints that they've received on their BBB profile, and only a few negative reviews on RipOffReport. 35 BBB complaints might seem like a lot, and believe me, I think it is as well, but Cynergy Data is also a much larger company than some of the other merchant account providers that I've reviewed. With a bigger merchant base, comes more complaints. I've personally heard mixed reviews about Cynergy, and that's due in large part to the fact that they are a bigger company. When you're larger, you have more sales reps and independent agents that work for you, so the possibility of falling into the hands of a bad rep are much higher. I know of some reputable reps within Cynergy, so if you're thinking about working with them, shoot me an email.
You won't find any testimonials on the Cynergy Data website, but they do have a few listed in their promotional white paper titled "Why Cynergy."
You can also follow them on Twitter.
I'm going to give Cynergy a 4 out of 5 for now, until I see some more user reviews from merchants that have used them.
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Date Established:
1995.
Location:
Long Island City, New York.
Domain Name(s):
www.cynergydata.com.
Parent/Partner Company:
The Cynergy Data parent corporation is Cynergy Holdings LLC. They were in the process of merging with EVO Merchant Services in 2006, but I'm not sure if they ever went through with it. They did acquire Abanco International in 2007.
Cynergy recently filed for bancruptcy (Chapter 11), and sold all of their assets to The Comvest Group for $81 million.
Type:
Registered ISO/MSP.
Acquiring Bank(s) (Acquirer):
Wells Fargo Bank.
Payment Processor(s):
Cynergy Data processes its own transactions.
Payment Gateway(s):
Authorize.Net or their own LUCY payment gateway.
Do you need help setting up your payment gateway? See the payment gateway integration services page.
Trust Symbols:
The Cynergy Data BBB profile doesn't have a rating yet (as of this review), but has had 35 complaints in the last 36 months.
Negative Reviews:
ROR has a few complaints on Cynergy.
Common Complaints:
It was tough to nail down any common complaints based on the ROR (RipOffReport) data, but if you take a look at the BBB profile, you'll notice that the bulk of the complaints fall into the billing, collection or contract dispute categories.
Verifiable Testimonials/References:
The only place that you'll find testimonials is within the Cynergy Data promotional white paper titled "Why Cynergy." I went ahead and contact the merchants in that white paper, but I am yet to hear back from them.
Security/Privacy:
No third-party security features (i.e. McAfee, Verisign etc…) on the Cynergy Data site, they do have a privacy policy though.
Customer Service:
I contacted them through their site with a few "touchy" questions, like whether or not they have a cancellation fee and/or contract terms. I received a very nice and detailed response. The rep did mention that they have a cancellation fee and a contract term (3-year), but that both were negotiable. Has anybody else dealt with these guys? Let us know.
Contract Duration:
The usual 3-year contract term, but it can be negotiated.
Cancellation Fee:
I couldn't get the exact cost for this, but the rep said that it can also be negotiated.
Seasonal Downtime:
Cynergy Data does offer seasonal downtime.
Product/Service Offering:
Retail, Gift Cards, EBT, Check Processing, e-Commerce.
Product/Service Specialty:
None in particular.
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January 12th, 2010 - 08:58
This company is not that good. I opened an account with them in February 2009. I made no attempt to hide my business (adult novelties, parties, fun parties, adult dvds, etc).
From the very beginging i had issues.
The rep they sent to me was an idiot.
they sent my machne to the wrond address and did nothing about. It took me 3 weeks to locate it.
They would nott replace it even though it was opened and tampered with.
My rates were not what was agreed to whcih i had to complain everyday form almost 2 weeks to get it straight.
Too many complaints to list!!!!!
I had 2 charge backs in October and they decided to close my account and took $495 from my account.
They should have never accepted my account.
They terminated my account and should have never taken the canceleation fee form my account since they terminated my account.
I am still fighting them over this matter.
January 12, 2010
January 12th, 2010 - 13:32
Thanks for the review Melissa! I’ll take it into consideration during the next update.
March 24th, 2010 - 14:08
I’m an ISO for Cynergy and can tell you if you get a good rep Cynergy Data is a great company. The company was purchased by Comvest in bankruptcy similar to the Chicago Cubs sale. I doubt the Cubs will be going away anytime soon (althought I’d like them to as a life long Brewers fan) and Cynergy will be around for a long time as well.
As a rule Cynergy Data does not work with Adult businesses so someone did not know what they were doing. Here in Milwaukee we actually have a sales office set up so we are not just reps working of our basements. This allows us to meet and visit with all of our clients. This includes personally delivering and installing equipment as well as training staff on all the functions.
Having said that our Milwaukee office has a great reputation and many of our Milwaukee area clients have referred us to businesses out of state which we do service over the phone. They are always happy to work directly with our sales office rather than calling a cutomer service number.
March 24th, 2010 - 14:20
Also please note that Cynergy Data has partnered with PayChoice to offer payroll service to our merchants.
May 18th, 2010 - 18:07
I just received a letter from Cynergy Data telling me all merchants must compy with DSS mandates to avoid costly penalties. They are directing my to a program they developed to receive self compliance certification. At a cost of $110 a year. While they tell me I must comply with the act by 9/1/2010 they are also telling me that they are going to automatically deduct the $110 from my June 15 processing account. I don’t currently us the internet for processing transactions. All transactions are by telephone line so I don’t think the mandates are applicable to me yet they are going to take $110 from my account. I’m looking now to move to another vendor before the June 15 deadline.
June 9th, 2010 - 18:00
I have been pretty happy with Cynergy Data up until tonight. They had good rates, got me my money, no issues really. Tonight, however, I am just getting busy signals when i try and process cards. I tried to call support, busy signal. I tried calling sales, busy signal. I don’t know what is going on, but it has already cost me money, and I am worried about all the days charges I can’t batch out. Nothing is posted on any of their websites about any outages. I am getting pretty outraged at this point, have been considering switching, this may be the straw that breaks the camels back.
December 5th, 2010 - 07:06
Read your merchant agreement people! Most merchants I have encountered complain about stuff that they should already know. They do not read the agreement, terms, or rules. They always seem to act so surprised when something happens that has been clearly stated in the agreement. Take some responsibility! Read before you sign. Cynergy Data has the same basic rules and terms as any other processing company. They are not evil, and they are not out to get you. It is not their responsibility to inform you about every little thing. Most problems seem to result from merchants being lazy. If you do your home work, Cynergy Data can be a great place to process at. Also, follow up with someone that is not your sales person right after you sign. Just like every other person in sales, these people work off of commission to feed their children. You may get better answers from some one about your account in customer service, or risk.
December 6th, 2010 - 13:58
I let this comment through (even though it’s anonymous) because it’s making a general statement, and it brings up a good point.
As Linda says, the merchant account agreement is the one contract you don’t want to skim through. Credit card processing is a very costly part of doing business, so you want make sure you’re paying attention when it comes time to sign the dotted line.
However, I think the following statement by Linda verifies that it’s not just about “lazy merchants”…
The merchant account industry is a market for lemons. When the seller knows more about the product/service/contract, then they’re at an advantage. So, if they choose to, they can take advantage. A knowledgeable merchant evens out the playing field.
August 17th, 2011 - 08:32
Linda, you make it too obvious that you work for Cynergy. Not ALL sales people are out to take advantage of someone that doesn’t know the in’s and out’s of a particular contract. Most good sales people want referrals from happy customers, not web complaints and complaints to the BBB because of shady business practices. Haven’t seen any comments on here, (except yours), that shows what a good company Cynergy is…wonder why?
April 21st, 2011 - 21:09
Cynergy has something to do with Pivotal Payments which is scary enough. We filed complaints against Pivotal and received a check from Cynergy.
May 9th, 2011 - 15:07
I am certainly the extreme multi tasker, admittedly ADHD, and too damn busy to comprehend all the fine print I read on my merchant agreement. If they had said “We will screw you” in English I would have been more prepared.
I am a very small business and I was tossed around from one representative to another when setting up an account and a gateway.For some reason, something that should have been easy was becoming a nightmare of telephone calls. At somepoint a Cynergy rep started over completely, opening a fesh account, but neglected to shut down the account we were having difficulty with. I was left with two accounts resulting in double billing of merchant fees for months and months.
I will never see one cent refunded.
June 21st, 2011 - 18:56
i have been in business for almost 20 years and have several locations but have NEVER encountered worse customer service ANYWHERE! they are the processing company for APCO merchant services. APCO, which is a DISASTER, processed our contracts incorrectly when they sent them to cynergy data. so cynergy data (thinking we were a business that swipes, rather than a business who manually enters card numbers based on APCO’s inept handling of the contracts,) HELD ALL OUR MONEY and did NOT deposit into bank account. no one EVER called us to tell us. when you call cynergy data, plan to be on hold for at least 30 minutes. when you DO finally get through, plan that NO ONE THERE will care what you say or make even the slightest attempt at providing customer service. they REFUSED to release OUR money and held it for 180 days!
they are DUMB, DECEITFUL and DISHONEST! use any other company if you want to keep your money safe!
August 17th, 2011 - 08:26
Terrible experience with this company! Billed me in December 2010 for PCI compliance. Billed me again in June 2010 without notice. Called them, stated to me that the PCI council and credit card companies “made” them change billing cycle to mid-year. I called PCI council and 3 banks, my own, Chase and Wells Fargo. All said there was no specific time for annual billing, it is up to the individual company. I hate being lied to. They are also billing me monthly (3 months running) for not being PCI compliant, which is what the annual fee is for. Each month, I call and they say “oh, sorry, not sure why you were billed” and issue credit. Next time it happens, I contact our attorney, BBB and the Florida State Attorney General. Very poor business tactic. The only reason I am still with them is that I will have to completely rebuild my web shopping cart before I can switch to another company.
August 27th, 2011 - 08:21
I signed up for the merchant services in the end of June and found a cheaper plan, faxed the cancelation notice to them. They charge me for July and I called them conplaining that I did not want there services. My bank refunded me the funds that were taken out. For the past 3 months I go to the my bank and they return the funds that Cynergy Data has taken out. I finally went to my bank and changed my account number. I have recieved a collection notice from them. Everybody NEEDS to stay away from this company. I have not used there service one time and they want 704 dollars from me!!!!
October 31st, 2011 - 11:11
Hidden fees- salesman lies- hold on the phone for several minutes then get the run around. I tried to cancel this service-sent cancellation papers via email and usps-but no info how to return the equipment so they cannot continue to bill me. Hope I am finally DONE with them.