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Mercury Payment Systems Review
Merchant Maverick's Rating: (4 out of 5)
Last Updated: January 11th, 2011.
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Overview:
Mercury Payment Systems (MPS) is based out of Durango, Colorado. They've been in business since 2001, which is plenty of time for them to establish themselves in the market, and show us how they are as a merchant account provider.
Here are the things I like about MPS:
They have a BBB profile with a good rating, their online digital application is secured, they have several video testimonials, and they offer seasonal downtime and interchange-plus pricing to their merchants. MPS also has a Twitter account, LinkedIn account and a Blog, giving you a place to learn about credit card processing, to socialize with them and to voice your opinion.
What I don't like:
The only thing that lowered their score was the cancellation fee that they charge their merchants. There are a few complaints from merchants that were charged a $295 cancellation fee that they were supposedly unaware of. Regardless of who's to blame in all of this, there are plenty of other merchant account providers that won't charge you that fee, and still have great rates and customer service. In defense of MPS, they do state that the cancellation fee will be waived if you provide them with a 30-written notice prior to closing your account. Whether they stick to that promise is up for debate though.
Don't forget to check out the first-hand user reviews located in the comment section below.
MPS gets a 4 out of 5.
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Date Established:
2001.
Location:
Durango, Colorado.
Domain Name(s):
www.mercurypay.com.
Parent/Partner Company:
No parent company for Mercury Payment Systems.
Type:
Registered ISO/MSP.
Acquiring Bank(s) (Acquirer):
HSBC Bank.
Payment Processor(s):
Global Payments.
Payment Gateway(s):
Authorize.Net and Plug'n Pay. Do you need help setting up your payment gateway with your website? Click here.
Trust Symbols:
The MPS BBB profile has an "A+" rating as of this review, with 13 complaints in the last 36 months. They're also a part of the BBB TrustLink program, which currently has one pretty bad review on it.
Negative Reviews:
I was able to find the following complaint on RipOffReport. The detailed complaints on the BBB are definitely worth a look as well.
Common Complaints:
The common theme between most all of the above mentioned complaints falls under the "Cancellation Fee" category. Several merchants have complained about being charged a $295 cancellation fee without their prior knowledge of such a fee. It's difficult to pin the blame on anyone because if the contract states that there's a fee, which it does, then it's hard to blame the provider. However, it is interesting that most of these merchants are complaining about not being told that they'd be charged the fee.
Verifiable Testimonials/References:
They have several video testimonials spread across their site. Very, very cool!!
Security/Privacy:
Their site is "https" secured, but not sure if they have an SSL certificate through a third-party provider (i.e. McAfee, Verisign etc...).
Customer Service:
I've dealt with Mercury Payment Systems in the past, and I have to admit that I've never had a problem with their customer service. Every rep that I've chatted with has been very consultative, patient and polite. And, this is after I signed up with them. 
Contract Duration:
I was told that the MPS contract is month-to-month, but from the complaints that I've found online, it doesn't seem like that's the case.
Cancellation Fee:
$295. I was also told that there won't be a cancellation fee so long as you give them a 30-day written notice prior to closing your account. Keep in mind that there are a few merchants that have complained about not knowing about the cancellation fee.
Interchange-Plus Pricing:
They do offer interchange-plus.
Seasonal Downtime:
Seasonal downtime is also offered by MPS.
Product/Service Offering:
Retail (Credit/Debit), Gift & Loyalty, Check Conversion, Check Guarantee, e-Commerce, MOTO (Mail Order/Telephone Order).
Product/Service Specialty:
Grocery Stores, Retail Merchants, Restaurants, Quick Serve.
Don't forget to leave your review and rating in the comment section.
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February 28th, 2010 - 23:47
So I had a really bad experience with Mercury. They convinced me to switch because they were vertically integrated with my POS software and they promised me better rates than my current processor (this was after I sent them a copy of my statement to make sure).
Lo and behold, after I switched, I discovered all sorts of hidden fees:
- Statement fee – WTF?
- Decline Auth Fee???
Plus their statements obscure the interchange rate versus their own fees – not to mention the fact that when all was said and done, I was paying nearly 1% more than my old processor!
So I decided to end my contract with them. And I had read my contract very carefully (to address the comment about “lazy” merchants. I contacted Mercury 30 days in advance and asked where to send my written notification for termination to avoid my termination fee. AFTER they received it, their “termination rep” informed me I would be charged the termination fee anyway. When I asked why, the reasons kept changing:
1. First, they said it was because I had “verbally” terminated when I called to tell them I wanted to close my account and where to send the paperwork. WTF?!?! Plus, their contract explicitly states I can only cancel in writing, so how can I cancel verbally?!
2. Then they say because I switched over to my original processor within the 30 days, I was in default and therefore liable to the termination fee, because that was when I “terminated” the contact. Except:
a. Termination does NOT equal default. The two are separate.
b. Even in that case, their OWN CONTRACT states they can’t charge me a termination fee for that reason.
3. When I point out to them the contract I have with them doesn’t allow them to charge me the fee, they tell me it is their “corporate policy” to consider them the same. I don’t care what the policy is, I agreed to a contract. That’s what they have to live up to!
I spoke with the rep and her supervisor, both gave me the same cock and bull story. I showed my contract to an attorney friend of mine who specializes in contract law, who said it was one of the worst contracts she had ever read, and probably mostly unenforcable. She also said I was 100% right in my interpertation.
Then they tried to tell me that I could only escalate further by having my attorney contact their legal department. I’m sure they do this since for most folks the cost of the attorney would be more than the fee! I refused, and told them to have their attorney contact me directly, they said they would call back in 1-2 days.
In the meantime, I filed a complaint with my state Attorney General’s office.
After 4 business days, I still hadn’t heard back from Mercury. On the 4th day, the state AG’s office contacted Mercury regarding my complaint.
Wahlah! Magically, on the 5th day, the same supervisor calls me and tells me that after further “review”, they would be “able” to refund me my termination fee (that they had already taken out of my bank account!). I’m 100% certain it was only because they were contacted by the Attorney General’s office.
So in short, I think Mercury is highly slimy. I’m sure many folks have had great experiences with them, maybe I’m just unlucky. But I’m back to a lower rate and better (and more honest) customer service. And at least their corporate policy doesn’t explicitly contradict their contract.
I sincerely believe that Mercury has a class-action lawsuit waiting to happen with how they treat customers attempting to cancel their contract. They are dishonest and weasely in what they say and do.
Oh, and a couple of other corrections to this review:
1. The contract is NOT month-to-month. It’s annual, minimum 1 year. Make sure your contract is for 1 year! Because if you are more than 1 year you HAVE to pay a termination fee if you leave early, no exceptions.
2. Cancellation fee – good luck getting them to honor the waiver clause. Don’t be afraid to fight for your rights here.
April 7th, 2010 - 18:26
I talked with a sale rep. over the phone requested a pricing schedule, and was quoted a 1.99% MOTO rate. I received the email without any pricing schedule but a “required” inspection where – “We will send a representative to your address with instructions to confirm that a business is being conducted there. That site visit costs $100 and we bill you for that.”
September 3rd, 2010 - 14:54
I have used Mercury for over 2 years now. I am a small business and they seemed very willing to accommodate at first. In the past year the have slid in two separate $150+ charges to my bill for “additional security” and “PCI compliance”. I have called them and their reply was they told me about it in my previous statement. I said I will be shopping for another merchant provider, lets see if they care.
September 21st, 2010 - 10:37
I have been with Mercury for a little over 2 years, and in that time my rates have gone up over 50% with no prior notice. In January of this year they charged me a PCI Compliance fee of $95. Then in September they charged me a PCI Compliance fee of $150. When I called to talk to them about it they kept saying “it was disclosed on your last bill.” After 30 minutes of reading through 6 pages of disclosures, most of which were for restaurant and petroleum customers, I found the disclosure in the middle of a half-page paragraph, stating that a fee of “up to” $150 might be charged. None of these disclosures are available in the online versions of their billing, nor are they to be found anywhere but in the small print on the bill.
Their bills are hard to read and extremely misleading. They charge two monthly fees, one for statements, and one for monthly maintenance. In addition, I nearly always get charged a fee for not meeting the $25 minimum, even though my bills are always about $200. The charges for credit and debit cards are charged twice in two different pages on the bills to disguise the fact that I am actually paying $.41-.49 per swipe PLUS 3.2-3.9%. Debits are charged at $.45-.52 PLUS .8-1.5%.
When I asked them to discuss the fees, they claimed that they only make the $7.95 monthly maintenance fee off of my account. Really? You charged me $350 this month and you only made $8? You expect me to believe that? When I asked about the enormous hike in my rates, they said, and I’m not kidding, “You are too small and are not a valuable account to us, so stop complaining.” I am not Walmart, but how does that make me not valuable? I’d wager out of my monthly $200 bills they probably take at least half of that to themselves.
I find it hard to believe that Mercury got a 4.5 rating because they are crooks and do their darndest to hide how much you are paying. And when you have the temerity to ask why your bills have nearly doubled while sales have been stable, they stonewall and tell you you aren’t important.
I’m moving as fast as possible to get away from these reprehensible beings. Unfortunately, I’m finding that most processors do things this way. How sad that you’re reduced to rating the best of the worst.
September 21st, 2010 - 10:51
Dawn,
Thank you for the thorough review. These are the types of user reviews that I love. Rather than saying that MPS “sucks” or throwing any ALL CAPS letters my way, you were very professional and detailed. Bravo!
With that said, please believe that user comments, just like the one that you have written here have a big effect on my rating of a provider. MPS used to be a 5 on my site, but ever since the first complaint that was not responded to (apparently they don’t feel like they need to submit rebuttal’s), their score came down to a 4.5. Now that they’ve racked up a few similar complaints, you better believe that their score will go down even further.
Thanks again!
September 24th, 2010 - 13:59
I’m going to simply echo Dawn’s sentiments. We’ve been getting stonewalled by Mercury Payment systems in the exact same way as described by Dawn. All with the exact same type of mystery charges, such as the $150 PCI compliance thing that they’re telling us it is a post charge for the prior year.
I’m looking for a new merchant service provider now and wondering if this person from United Bank Card can be trusted.
September 28th, 2010 - 13:26
I’m wondering if United bank Card can be trusted as well!
October 5th, 2010 - 07:17
I used to work for United Bank Card . . . They have the PCI compliance fee as well . . . Most do
December 16th, 2010 - 12:35
I have been with Mercury since I opened my business in February 2006 as it directly integrated with my POS software (Comcash; I am sure they have a back end deal with Comcash). I have to say, not knowing much about processing cards and being a new business in 2006, Mercury was easy to deal with and setup our account. Since then, however, their service has gone considerably downhill.
As most merchants will attest, I am constantly solicited by other payment processors offering better rates. I usually have them analyze my statements and respond with their competing bid, at which point I have Mercury review and usually beat these rates. Well, fast forward a couple of years and let me take you to February 2010. I learned of interchange plus pricing through another processor and decided to contact Mercury at which point I began discussions with my account rep. After many days and an “analysis” on their end, they quoted me new terms, requested a 3 year contract, and explained I would be saving $40 bux a month. To this, I responded that I was not impressed and the rep told me that Mercury doesn’t make money on my account and that is the best they could do; I spent $9583 in processing fees in 2009 and in 2010 I have spent $11232, though my overall business is flat to down. Additionally they are very secretive about the extra fees I am often charged through a cryptic account statement that seems to almost always include 3 pages of fine print. After getting very frustrated, I decided to do nothing and not extend my contract but instead, continue processing with Mercury as I didn’t want to make my decision in a moment of frustration. My fees continued going way up and of course the PCI fee of $150 charged in September and on and on it went.
Fast forward to November 2010, and once again, I get solicited, this time by US Merchant Systems and their analysis leads to an annual savings of $2400! Up until then, with an average ticket of $15, I was always told that pin based debit was cheaper than swipe debit. After reviewing my statement, my rep at US Merchant told me this was completely wrong and the price point is $30 for it to make sense to use pin based debit! (We made the switch in 11/04/10 to process all transactions under $30 as a swipe and over as a pin based debit, and according to the rep at US Merchant, this saved my company $110 in November.) So, armed with this info, I start talking to a different account rep at Mercury and get nowhere yet again. This drags on through the month of November into the month of December. Once again, my fees went up on lower sales and I became even more agitated.
Today, I have a conversation with my rep at Mercury and it becomes blatantly obvious that they don’t care for my business and fabricate reasons as to why every other processor is lying, but they are telling me the truth. Additionally, they go so far as to inform me that based on the types of cards that I process, I should be using pin based debit. Now, I know I was born yesterday, but I certainly wasn’t born last night. After a careful analysis, I fully am aware that using pin based debit on low tickets is prohibitive and very expensive. Bringing this up to my rep, got the response that it isn’t an apples to apples comparison and there are too many rewards on the cards I process, probably because of a local bank in my area! I mean, wtf, really? Most of my customers use Bank of American, Wells Fargo and the other large banks. Once I ended the conversation with [name removed] at Mercury, I called my rep at US Merchant and sent him my Nov. statement. Not only did I save $110 by using swipe vs pin on transactions less than $30 (something he didn’t need to tell me, but did as he is far more forthcoming), I would have saved an additional $80 on interchange plus according to his analysis (whereas [name removed] told me overall I would save $42 a month under an interchange plus vs my current tiered setup).
Long story short, Mercury likes to dangle the carrot of lower introductory prices but don’t tell you about how they downgrade your cards to increase the surcharges they are collecting., so my 1.55% actually is more than 2.15%! I certainly can’t fathom how much money I have left on the table by using Mercury, but will certainly be going elsewhere and utilizing Pc Charge or the like with Comcash. If nothing else, I hope my review of Mercury has others thinking twice before you sign up with them. They are very deceptive in their business practices and deciphering their cryptic statements a complete chore for even the most seasoned industry vet. I wouldn’t even give Mercury 1 star!