Comments on: Flagship Merchant Services Review

By: Derrick Pugh

Derrick Pugh — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 11:08:43 +0000

I love flagship, and all they have done for me. Been with them for about 9months. Had a wireless credit card terminal with them for the first 3 months, and had an authorize.net gateway since month 3. My rep, [edited: name removed], is awesome.

I have been happy with everything…except their use of ipayment as the processor. I HATE them so far. They don’t inform you about much. I have to call them on almost a monthly basis. They charge my bank account before I get the statement…and its never what I expect. After two months of goofiness, I called to see why it cost so much. I was informed of some pci compliance things. wasted a bunch of time getting compliant and getting monthly charges back to normal. Then, this month, they charged like $120. $100 more that “usual”. So, I call about a week after this change (waited a week cause that how long it took to get the statement in mail after they charged me). Their statements make NO sense to me until I get to the summary section: $20.xx in processing fees (the breakdown of “processing” fees I can’t understand cause that’s in the body of the statement which just looks like babble to me) and the $99 for additional fees*. that asterisk led me to a note saying “for an explanation of additional fees, call us at xxxxxxxxx”

flagship: awesome
authorize: nothing special. have called multiples times, and on 2 occasions my rep had no idea what she was saying, and I was transferred to someone who did (had problems accepting amex a few times).
ipayment: customer service is awesome. you call, someone picks up, they ask for merchant id, they confirm your id, then ask what’s up. but that’s it…everything else sucks. what I don’t like about ipayment is their crappy statements that seem to be generated in excel1982 and their general lacking of the pertinent information. From what I’ve learned and gathered, ipayment is for bigdawg businesses processing more than the “measly” couple grand that I do each month…often less than a grand on bad months. it takes up way to much of my time just to make sure I save the $30 non-compliance fee. ipayment control panel has a login, the pci compliance has a whole other login, then there is another one that you need a login for. Can it just be built it?

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By: Bobby Wheat

Bobby Wheat — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 18:46:58 +0000

Worst company you could ever possibly deal with. Absolutely horrible customer service. Hidden fees. They do not care about you as a client at all. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. FIND SOMEONE ELSE and save yourself a lot of frustration, time, and money.

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By: Gail

Gail — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 18:19:57 +0000

I used this merchant for our credit card processing and only after losing my business (and home) in a fire, including both retail and virtual terminal merchant account numbers, did I find out I wish I had gone with a different vendor. I didn't have the contact info for the gentleman (a great guy) who handled the account setup and that I usually called with general questions, so when I needed to call to shut down the accounts after deciding to close the business, I called the 800 number listed at the top of the website. I figured that would at least get me in and they could re-direct my call to the appropriate department from there. The only information available to give was my name, social security number, and business info. The man I spoke with couldn't have cared less about trying to help. When I said I didn't have the merchant account numbers his first reaction was to tell me I didn't have an account with them. After explaining that I must still have the account because I was still being charged, he disagreed because the charge wouldn't show up as 'Flagship,' which was a ridiculous argument! I asked if he could at least get me contact info for authorize.net to help in some way and after saying they don't do business with them, he gave me the number to call to cancel their virtual terminal linked to the Flagship account. If they don't to business with them why did he have the number right in front of him?!? I hung up after bursting into tears. All I wanted was some help. I scoured old emails and found the application number from when we first applied for the accounts. I called back, got someone different who brought the accounts right up, without the application numbers mind you, and directed me to exactly who I needed to talk to. Overall, the service we've received from this company was good, but one bad apple ruins the bunch. We just lost our house, all our memories, and our business in a fire. The last thing I needed was a poor attitude from someone who's job it is to help paying customers, and by poor attitude I mean flat out rude and unkind. It reflects poorly on the employee and on the company, because of that, I can't recommend Flagship Merchant Service. If you're considering them, keep looking.

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By: Damian

Damian — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 19:48:23 +0000

I found out that this PCI-Compliance fee of $99 is charged by every credit card processing company. The $19.95 fee they charged was for not filling out the form. When I did fill out they returned that $19.95 back to me.

I called them today and they were actually very nice. Since my business is very small i was able to negotiate a better rates for myself. They were very helpful.

I retract my previous statement that they are Horrible. They are actually not so bad

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By: Thresa

Thresa — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 06:38:32 +0000

I do also get $99 fee (they didn't tell at first) for annual compliance fee, plus $19.95 additional fee if you are not pci-compliance, means you don't pass the security questionaire. I am relieved to switch to [name removed] now since they offer lower rates and no hidden/pci fees.

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By: Damian K.

Damian K. — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 00:17:14 +0000

Horrible!!! I have received so many extra fees, that all my profit is going to them. They forgot to mention a $99.95 yearly fee that they charge plus a security service you have to take and if you do not they charge you $19.95 every month until you do. Stay away for your own good.

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By: Florina Tan

Florina Tan — Thu, 19 May 2011 21:20:36 +0000

Flagship does not care about the service they provide. They sell you a package and your bank statement reflects something different. They are not good in responding to emails. They prefer to do sales and after you locked in with them, they brush you aside and tell you something different and explain that the additional charges, is due to when you activated the account, you did not check off some of the boxes. They do provide the best rates, but the best rates dont give you the best service. And when you get that additional charges, they have some way of telling you is protection program that just come into effect. There is always a story behind the additional charges. I have emails back and forth with them since I started my account, at this point, I am going with my own bank even the charges are higher, so I dont deal with the middle man

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By: Merchant Maverick Admin

Merchant Maverick Admin — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 06:47:32 +0000

Thomas, From what I know, Flagship does not have a contract, so you've most likely been told the truth. Always double check your agreement though.

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By: Thomas

Thomas — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 23:39:09 +0000

I am talking to flagship rep and he says no contract that i can go month to month is that true

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By: Derek

Derek — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 18:11:33 +0000

I have been going back and forth comparing Flagship with Chase PaymentTech. The service reps at both have been very helpful and surprisingly accomodating to all my questions. And both have dropped fees/rates to match the other. The big issue for me is that I have no experience in this part of business and tend to be skeptical of larger businesses like Chase - especially when they require such a lengthy contract. Flagship seems like they'll treat you as less of a number and has no contract but can't quite meet Chase's lower monthly fees. They both rate rather high. How do you weigh the impact of the types of complaints each get? How often would you expect to need customer service contact? Should the First Data complaints be a big concern? And is a 3-year contract with Chase excessive?

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