Heartland Payment Systems Review
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- Date Established
- 1997
- Location
- Edmond, OK
Pros
- PCI-compliant solution
- Good for the food and beverage industry
- Nonprofit discounts available
Cons
- Early termination fee (ETF) is $295 per location
- Nontransparent tiered pricing
- Potentially deceptive sales tactics
Overview
In the payments space, things aren’t always what they seem, and that can be frustrating for a business owner. While the onus is always on you to read and understand the merchant agreement when it comes time to sign, some processors make it especially difficult to know important details before you seal the deal. That’s why when I approach our review process to assess a company, I always keep the small business owner in mind. By now, I know some of the most common angst-causing issues, and I feel for our readers who are just trying to make sense of it all.
In this Heartland Payment Systems review, I had to take a look at the lay of the land and take some of the shadier practices with a grain of salt. While I may not personally like some of Heartland’s business practices (e.g., commission-based sales teams), it is a long-established name that’s provided processing serves to a range of merchants for decades. On the other hand, though Heartland may employ these commonly seen tactics, that doesn’t mean we have to accept the status quo, especially if there are other options out there. Within the review, we’re going to look at what Heartland Payment Systems offers a merchant as far as products and services, but we’re also going to peel the curtain back and little and look at some potential conflicts in the messages I came across on the site versus what shows up in the published merchant agreement. We’re also going to look at consumer review sites, including Apple and Google app stores to find out what people who use Heartland think. As we explore Heartland Payments, you’ll discover why I rated this company 3 out of 5 stars and suggest proceeding with caution.
Here’s a little history on Heartland, so you can understand how it has evolved in the payment industry, and how it fits in today. Founded in 1997, Heartland Payment Systems is headquartered in Edmond, OK. Its Atlanta-based parent company, Global Payments, bought Heartland in 2016. For the most part, it appears that Global Payments has chosen to let Heartland go about business as usual without any significant changes. Global Payments frequently lands among the top merchant acquirers, as seen in the Nilson Report. As of 2019, Global Payments and TSYS (eighth top acquirer) merged to take an even bigger piece of the financial pie in the payment industry.
Suffice it to say that Heartland Payment Systems is not a small company by any means. One benefit of the company’s huge size is it has built a robust and well-thought-out platform. The Heartland platform can enable multichannel selling and customized options for a wide variety of industries and niches — and you won’t always find that among the larger processors. However, despite the seemingly balanced and robust platform, can it provide good, reliable, and cost-effective service to small business owners? We’re going to find out.
Table of Contents
Products & Services
Rating: Excellent
Heartland’s biggest strength is providing a range of products and services to suit industry-specific needs. Here’s what you’ll find with Heartland Payments:
- Dedicated Merchant Accounts: Merchants who sign up with Heartland get their own, fully underwritten merchant accounts. In addition to accepting card payments, Heartland supports ACH transfers.
- Industry-Specific Programs: Heartland has some interesting offerings for restaurants, educational institutions, the hospitality industry, and other types of businesses (even custom beer and wine retail solutions). It shines in specialized niches, but it also offers strong features for standard retail or eCommerce businesses.
- Nonprofit Tools & Discounts: Registered 501(c)(3) nonprofits can get a range of tools to accept donations and even sell products online, among other services. Plus, Heartland promises to offer special rates, though it doesn’t disclose the specifics of any discounts.
- Payment Security: Heartland provides secure payment processing to reduce your PCI scope and help you remain compliant. The company does this through Heartland E3 end-to-end encryption, EMV, and tokenization technologies, which reduce both card-present fraud and data breaches.
Screenshot of Heartland Site
Heartland’s Robust Platform
As far as specific features that help you take payments for your business or organization, here are the basics:
- EMV Terminal Solutions: Heartland Payments offers a variety of swipe, dip, and chip card-enabled terminals designed to fit any business’s needs. These include non-integrated, semi-integrated, and fully-integrated options.
- Contactless Payments Acceptance: Heartland also offers support for Android, Apple, and Samsung “pay” apps, which is nice to see. This includes both terminal options and a mobile card reader for its mobile app (more on that in a moment).
- POS System Integrations: Heartland offers its own niche POS systems for retailers and restaurants. However, you can also integrate the company’s terminals with a variety of other third-party POS options if they’re more to your liking.
- Heartland MobilePay: In addition to its full-fledged POS systems, merchants also get access to Heartland’s own mobile POS app, called Heartland MobilePay. This option will let you accept payments in the field, whether at a charity event or a trade show. However, when I visited the app stores, it’s clear that the mobile app could be a lot better, as users report instability issues. (You can read more about these issues in the User Review section below.) Of course, Heartland offers an all-in-one mobile card reader for magstripe, chip card, and contactless payments as well as other mobile-friendly readers.
- Heartland Portico Payment Gateway: This includes Heartland’s primary payments API to enable a broad set of transactions and features to suit a variety of industries. The gateway supports security through encryption and end-to-end tokenization of card data.
- Virtual Terminal: For remote phone payments, you can securely process credit cards at your virtual terminal, but keep in mind higher rates apply for this transaction.
- eCommerce Shopping Cart: Integration is meant to be easy with prebuilt plug-ins for more than 550 platforms and 80% of popular shopping carts, according to Heartland. Its developer portal gives you access to Sandbox with full API access, so you can customize what you need.
- Micropayments: Heartland’s industry-specific programs include micropayment options for schools, laundromats, game centers/amusements, and even correctional facilities. Micropayments are low-value but high-volume transactions that are almost prohibitively expensive to process with standard pricing models. A dedicated micropayment plan can be more affordable, allowing providers to lower their operating costs.
- Recurring Online Billing: Heartland’s tools also include support for billing and recurring charges. This can consist of installment payments or subscription management. You can adjust for discounts and trials as well as send notifications to your subscription holders.
- Mobile Ordering: For restaurants, Heartland has some extensive resources to build a white-label mobile ordering system that works with your website, a custom branded app, or even Facebook.
- Phone Payment: A unique feature of Heartland is the ability to accept payment via an automated toll-free interactive voice recognition system, with the option of live agent support if needed.
- Online Data Reporting: The other major components of customer engagement tools are data and analytics services. Heartland offers analytics to handle this sales data as well as a separate “customer intelligence” service that allows you to understand who your customers are in more detail through analytics and insights.
- Restaurant Tools: Heartland offers several ways to support different aspects of a restaurant and food delivery business, including online ordering, two-tap ordering, delivery service integration with 48 popular delivery services, and delivery text-messaging dispatch.
That mostly covers it for payment processing, but Heartland does have a few additional features I’d like to call out:
Related Heartland Services
- Payroll Processing: One of the advantages of using Heartland’s payroll services is that they’ll work in tandem with Heartland’s other products, such as its POS system (complete with employee timekeeping). You also get your own dedicated payroll specialist at the company.
- Lending: Heartland works with several lenders to deliver financing options for businesses of all sizes. However, we don’t typically recommend merchant cash advances because their terms aren’t as competitive as other financing options. You should check out our merchant cash advance calculator to explore some actual numbers if you’re interested in this option.
- Customer Engagement Tools: You’ll actually find several services bundled under the auspices of “customer engagement,” but here we are mostly focused on the two customer-facing products: gift cards and a rewards/loyalty program. There’s also an email marketing option for outreach.
When looking at what Heartland offers overall, I like that it doesn’t stop with generic one-size-fits-all solutions. It provides well-thought-out solutions that go above and beyond the norm, and we simply don’t see that from other big companies. Heartland Payments easily scores an excellent in this category.
Unfortunately, there are some potential deal breakers you’ll need to be aware of before you jump right in.
Fees & Rates
Heartland Payments, like many large processing companies in its class, is less than upfront with pricing. While it is frequently pitched as a numbers game to “give you the best deal,” we often see that is anything but the case. Upon reviewing Heartland’s merchant agreement, which outlines the processing fee structure, it is disappointing to see that tiered pricing seems to be the default. And that is too bad because tiered pricing is usually the hardest to pin down and equally difficult to predict and control. That’s because the cost of processing can vary widely, depending on how and where the card was processed and the card brand itself as well if it was a rewards or business card. These factors can’t be controlled by a small business owner and can make for some unneeded frustrations.
The lack of disclosure is definitely frustrating, and we have come across complaints from merchants who haven’t been fully informed of the additional costs Heartland charges. However, I don’t see many complaints about the actual payment processing rates not being what was promised. I think, in this case, you mostly need to be cautious about any additional software or programs a sales rep offers to set you up with.
Keep in mind that Heartland offers its Heartland Secure services at no additional charge. But you’ll probably encounter at least a $25/month account fee (labeled as a “Service & Regulatory Mandate” fee) and potentially added costs for using any of Heartland’s value-added services, such as gift cards, customer engagement tools, online sales tools, or the Heartland POS apps. I have also read that if you opt to be billed for your credit card processing fees monthly rather than daily, Heartland charges a marginal fee.
As far as chargeback fees, Heartland gives you the first three for no charge, but it is less clear how much you’re charged after that. One source from the company states it is typically around $25, which is about the standard. However, references for this are scant, and I encourage you to talk to your sales rep about it if you have questions about this or any other fees, but more importantly, read your merchant agreement in full, paying particular attention to fees and rates.
To learn more about why we don’t recommend tiered pricing in general, check out our post, Why Tiered Pricing For Credit Card Processing Is The Most Expensive Option (And How To Avoid Overpaying).
Contract Length & Early Termination Fee
Since our last review, a difficult discovery was made, which required a downgrade in rating for this category. I first came across a complaint on a consumer review site where a merchant wasn’t too happy with the termination fees. At this point, a Heartland rep responded to the customer and replied that although the contract was clear about an ETF fee per location, they would waive it. This required a double-take on my part, and I almost hoped the rep misspoke, so I headed back to the merchant agreement and looked it up for myself. Was it really that high per location?
Sure enough, any merchant who terminates the agreement before the end-date is on the hook for a whopping $295 per location. That is pretty rare in the industry, and it is steep. While we dislike early termination fees, they are not uncommon in the industry. However, this fee could quickly snowball, depending on how many locations you have. Another kicker is that Heartland withdraws the entire fee in one lump sum.
When you are in negotiations with your salesperson, be aware of the ETF and make sure to get it in writing if they promise to waive this in your agreement.
The other very important consideration is that your contract will be automatically renewed, and you are required to give them a 60-day notice if you decide not to renew your contract. We see this type of issue becoming a huge source of heartache and frustration for a business owner who didn’t read and understand the contract, so beware, read your contract, and get any changes in writing. Do not take any verbal promises to the bank!
Because the ETF fee is so excessive, and it may be difficult to catch your window of cancellation opportunity in time to avoid paying these exorbitant fees, Heartland is rated poorly in the contract length and early termination fee category.
Sales & Advertising Transparency
Heartland’s sales and advertising transparency is something to be wary of for a few reasons. First, the company doesn’t disclose any fees on its site, including the early termination fee. If it’s really committed to transparency, I’d love to see some of these numbers standardized and disclosed, and not just a promise that merchants’ statements will be easy to read.
Second, most of the complaints about Heartland seem to stem from disclosure issues. I dug into this matter because it’s a major concern. I learned that while Heartland does employ an in-house sales team that are W2 employees, these sales reps are paid entirely on commission. This is problematic because the commission method used by third-party sales reps is precisely what leads to trouble for many merchant account providers. What this means is that new Heartland salespeople do not receive any sort of payment until they start signing up merchants for the service — and then they get commissions and a small residual payout based on the merchants’ volume. As such, you might encounter new sales reps who are a little bit desperate to make a sale.
This is definitely a problem, but one that you can avoid by asking your Heartland rep for recommendations or referrals from other businesses they’ve worked with. Heartland seems to strongly encourage its salespeople to develop their own books of business, so in theory, a knowledgeable rep with a track record of happy merchants will have some names they can give you, if not ready-to-go recommendations.
All of that said, we’d like to believe that as a corporate entity, Heartland strives to be fair and transparent for merchants. The complaint volume and overall trends in complaints back up the idea that it is pretty successful in that department. We have seen companies of a relative size do much worse as far as the volume of complaints. However, the lack of pricing disclosures is, well, disappointing.
The truth is that it’s more common for smaller merchant account providers to offer clearly stated processing rates with no early termination fees. And the commission-based payment structure for sales reps leads to those reps making promises they can’t (or have no intention to) keep. Heartland’s credit card processing could do better, and in doing so, it would make itself a fiercely competitive option for businesses. For these reasons, Heartland gets a fair rating in this category, with a strong warning to proceed with caution.
Customer Service & Technical Support
The Heartland merchant services company strives to provide fast customer service on the surface of things and mentions on its site that you can expect your call to be answered in less than thirty seconds, typically. And that’s 24/7/365 support from a US-based, in-house team. That’s a nice touch. The support page on the website even lists not just one phone number but one for each category, which theoretically means you’ll be transferred less and get the help you need faster. Again, this is a good thing to take note of when considering a merchant account. Additionally, you’ll find extensive documentation for developers, plus dedicated support channels for them. (The documentation is also helpful for providing more information about some of Heartland’s services and features.)
When we look at customer service as a whole, however, we do need to look at the entire life cycle of care, including that first sales call. What I’ve found is a disproportionate amount of complaints on consumer review sites (e.g., Yelp), and they tell a sad tale of broken promises, misrepresentation, and what we call in the industry the “runaround.” To be fair, we may be looking at a few customers who have had an unfortunate and uniquely bad experience, but when we start to see patterns of complaints, the warning bells sound.
If you have experience with Heartland’s customer support, please leave us a comment and let us know what you think! Your comments help us better assess each company we review.
User Reviews
For being such a large company, Heartland Payment Systems reviews are relatively sparse. It has less than companies who are far smaller, and what that may suggest is that Heartland doesn’t provide above-average services. Mediocre doesn’t tend to instigate leaving a review, but we know negative experiences certainly do. Here is what I found over the user review landscape:
- BBB Rating: B-
- Yelp Rating: 2.5/5 stars
- Apple App Store: 1.9/5 stars
- Google Play Store: Overall 3/5 with an overwhelming majority of 1-star reviews in 2019 and 2020
- G2: 4.5/5-star average out of six reviews
Negative Reviews & Complaints
The negative reviews tell us that merchants feel unhappy with what they feel are “bait and switch” tactics and hidden fees. When a company employs commission-based sales practices, unfortunately, that is the common and predictable outcome. And Heartland could do a lot better. Users leaving reviews at the app store cited some major frustrations in the restaurant space, specifically. Here are a few examples from a Google Play reviewer, a G2 reviewer, and a Yelp reviewer, respectively:
Was working fine and now crashes with every payment…
Heartland customer service has been difficult to work with. The POS system is antiquated.
Heartland has a lot of internal communication problems. Or they intentionally “forget” about things and nothing ever gets done.
Positive Reviews & Testimonials
Of course, one of the challenges of reviewing any company is negativity bias. That is, people who are unhappy with a company or service are far more likely to be vocal about their displeasure than a happy customer is likely to speak out about their great experience. When the number of complaints is small, the number of positive reviews often tends to be small as well. That’s especially true with payment processing for reasons I have yet to understand fully. However, you can find some positive reviews for Heartland online if you know where to look, such as the below quotes from a G2 reviewer and a Google Play reviewer.
The online reports and statements are easy to navigate and understand.
Amazing!
When we look at the positive reviews from customers, it’s all a bit jumbled. I do see (even among negative reviews) that some merchants feel like their sales rep was helpful, friendly, and trustworthy, so in that regard, it appears the sales team is doing well. Otherwise, some merchants praise Heartland for being easy to use, and they say they like the range of products and services.
Final Verdict
Despite some areas of needed improvement, Heartland’s services are surprisingly comprehensive, seamlessly blending tools for a brick-and-mortar location, eCommerce businesses of all kinds, and mobile enterprises. Additionally, Heartland Payments provides a powerful suite of security tools designed to reduce merchants’ PCI scope, protect cardholder data, and simplify payments all around.
Still, there’s plenty of room for improvement. I would love to see more pricing transparency for all of Heartland’s services and for a month-to-month contract to become the default option. Those changes would immediately make Heartland even more competitive, ease customer angst, and improve the company’s overall score here at Merchant Maverick.
The problem is that its current payment structure seems to lead to some trouble with salespeople not properly disclosing fees, which causes problems further down the line. So it’s crucial that you educate yourself: ask about contract length, how to terminate the agreement, and the early termination fee. Try to get the fee waived and set up on a month-to-month agreement, and you must get it in writing. Keep a copy of your contract, too. And it never hurts to ask your sales rep for references or recommendations. Most importantly, read your contract in full before signing. We know you’re busy, but it is that important.
For now, I can offer Heartland 3 out of 5 stars. If the company started offering a standard month-to-month option (not just by request), then I’d probably consider giving it an even better score. Even some upfront disclosure on the site would go a long way for me. I hope to update this with good news soon.
If Heartland Payments isn’t your style, or you want to know more about some other solutions, definitely check out our highest-rated processors.
Melissa Johnson
Melissa Johnson has been writing about payment processing and mobile payments since 2014, and has been quoted in articles for Credit Karma and The Next Web, among others. She graduated from The University of Kansas in 2010 with bachelor's degrees in English and journalism.
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Organization Name: The Plus
Garbage company, got off the phone with customer service and was told that covid has really effected the company’s bottom line and that they are sorry that they did not have the staffing to let us know we could apply to have our monthly fee’s waived. Our businesses has been closed and has not had a single credit card transaction in 6 months.
Organization Name: MidTenn Alarms
Heartland seemed great at first, but then after a couple months with them, we kept receiving notices from the IRS stating that we were not paying out taxes correctly (Heartland’s Job). Well it turns out they were only paying it monthly instead of Bi-weekly like they were supposed to. $3000+ in fines later, we finally figured out the problem by talking to an IRS representative. Needless to say, we are no longer using them.
Organization Name: Valuecare Pharmacy
Heartland Payment Systems is notorious for charging hidden fees without informing the clients. These fees are PCI compliance fee if $120 per month, MasterCard high risk fee $500-$700 a year. They will not refund these fee despite providing them with documents. I strongly discourage using them they are total rip-off.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Heartland used to be a great company. It was sold to global payments in 2015 and has been worse every year since. We have had 3 outages in the last 2 days! Several outages over this summer. Absolutely unacceptable. We are dropping them as soon as we can get our POS switched over. It is a huge hassle to switch POS, but being unable to take card payments is a far bigger problem.10 years in the restaurant biz, 7-years as an owner, trust me when I say do not use Heartland as your credit processor.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Cornhusker International Trucks
Worst credit card service I have ever had to use. We have been without pin pads since they did an update last year. We can not swipe a credit card, so we have to key in every transaction. I wonder what that cost vs swiping a card?
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Savannah Comics
Switched to Square after 500 pci fee. Heartland is almost as bad as Waste Management. Avoid them at all costs. The will treat you like they think they are the Government.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Vinotera Wine
If you only can imagine the heartache and headache this company has given me for the past last business days. I would not recommend this company, especially if you’re a small business. They talk big about cash flow and they have been holding my money for three business days and their customer service is terrible. You don’t get anywhere with anyone and instead they point the finger at you instead of fixing the problem. What type of customer service is that. Available Funds for a small business is everything but this company doesn’t seem to understand that. Terrible service.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: AVLH Inc
We used Heartland for 8 years at 3 small businesses. We had to replace their stand alone hardware 3 times over the past year. And then started making me fill out PCI compliance online form or charge me $125/ per store if not filled out correctly. Working in security software for over 30 with CIA/FBI/Dod, 90% of those questions should be answered by Heartland, not me the owner. Their equipment is standalone, I have no idea what software they have on their equipment or how they send their encrypted credit card information. This was just another fee for Heartland to get from small businesses. Majority of times a company is hacked due to insider information/help. I doubt every Heartland IT person has gone through a thorough background check…
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Terrible company to work with. I worked with one of their representatives because they were recommended by my bank. Do not trust them! He lied about the fees and fee estimates, there are so many hidden charges that they don’t notify you about in advance. Further, I told him I needed a particular terminal to meet my needs, not only did he say that the one he sold me for $250 would meet all my expectations, but it would also do things that I didn’t ask for. I paid and then realized it wasn’t what I needed. Took me two weeks to get him back on the phone so he could tell me that I either ate a 15% “restocking fee” or I try to make it work. After another two weeks of being unable to make it work properly, it apparently made it past a 30 day return window where they won’t even take it back or upgrade it to the one i need. Oh, and trying to cancel will get you stuck with a $300 cancellation fee. Save yourself the hassle and don’t even start with them.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Mid State Tree Service
Here is a company that is very dishonest and will require you to read the fine print of there large contract in which that they get you to sign and stick you to a three year contract with extra hidden fees which they will not tell you about. Stay clear of this company, BAD NEWS!!!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: ProCartz
We used Chase Bank for our credit card processing for years, a sales person from Heartland came to see us and after promising to save us thousands of dollars and amazing customer service, we signed up. This has been the WORST business decision we have ever made. Customer service has been horrible, they lied about their fees and we are now paying more than ever. We have had many problems with their services and when you try to call they give you extensions that don’t work or are not set up. DON’T BE FOOLED BY THEIR PROMISES.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Heartland
Hi Pau,
It seems that you were not given the Merchant Bill of rights or shown exact info for our interchange plus pricing model. I would be happy to rectify the situation with you and your team.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: B&L Pools
After 13 years with Heartland – they turned into a criminal company. In the middle of the night raised our rates almost 300%. $14,000 later we are switching companies. They use to be a good company – NOW BEWARE!. I understand they got bought out a year ago – the new company is unethical and criminal. They will suck you in and then raise your rate. Their equipment (we spent thousands) if they program it a certain way can not be used by other processors – so our 2 year old equipment is going to cost us $7000 to replace. Their sales reps would just soon lie to you, disguise what they are doing with smoke and mirrors, and have no problem stealing form their grandma. Be careful of the contract you sign it is evil! Hugh penalties for cancelling even though they raise your rates almost 300%.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: Mckee Coins Inc.
Our credit card system was hacked into on the web someone issued them selves a $1500.00 refund on a card we never charged and Heartland charged us $1020.00 for the refund/credit witch we did not issue or authorize at 3am central time at witch time our business would have not been open, but they say it was a pos sale, no way, and they tell us we have to file a police report to get our money back….wow. Heartland Portico, is a rip off, bad company to work with, and may have had a security breach they are not reporting.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: LACEY & SONS,INC
WORST COMPANY EVER.. SWITCH TO HEARTLAND LIKE 60 DAYS AGO BOY WHAT A MISTAKE. SERVICE WENT DOWN TWICE IN 45 DAYS BOTH TIMES IT WAS THEIR MACHINES FAULT.. BUT THEY BLAMED IT ON MY COMPANY ACCOUNT WAS NEVER SET UP RIGHT SO I ACTUALLY INCURRED MORE FEES THEN MY LAST PROCESSOR.. THEY INSISTED I SEND MY MACHINE BACK TO THEM AND SENT ME SOME MACHINE THAT WAS REALLY OLD AND NOT NEARLY AS GOOD AS THE MACHINE I SENT BACK TO THEM.THE REP SAID HE WAS GOING TO SAVE ME MONEY WITH NO CANCELLATION FEE BUT WE ALL KNOW THAT WASN’T TRUE.. THEY CHARGE ME $295.00 TO CANCEL.. BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE..DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY ALL THEY WANT IS YOUR MONEY AND DON’T CARE ABOUT YOUR COMPANY…
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Organization Name: WCI Wheels
Wouldn’t give them 1 star but can’t choose 0 stars. The company is all about #’s and not customer service or helping out customers/businesses. We’ve had 5 people in the past month use stolen credit cards for our products. Heartland shut down our account because it is too risky. We were at risk of shipping out products and then the stolen card doing a chargeback. Heartland did not care at all that they were stolen cards, or the fact that every chargeback that was open, we disputed and won. They don’t care if someone does a chargeback for no reason and they are in the wrong. 20 people could do a chargeback for no reason and you could win all 20 cases, but Heartland could care less.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
After being “hounded” by the Heartland Rep we finally agreed to sign on for our merchant credit services after being convinced that we would save a bundle. Almost immediately, we had trouble with the equipment, the credits to our account. The terminal wouldn’t work, we suffered embarrassments with a few customers and we noticed charges to our account almost daily despite not having any activity. After less than a month and due to non-performance on their part, we are cancelling the service. Our Rep made promises that Heartland can’t obviously keep. We have outstanding charges which were processed by our staff five days ago and the credit still isn’t in our account despite our Rep telling us that every charge would be in our account the next morning. We’re not naïve but we do trust people for the most part. Sales Rep is very nice woman however her company doesn’t support her sales promises.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
While they may process your payroll, they seem to have trouble when it comes to processing and reporting your tax information to the government. While I fully understand that mistakes can happen, Heartland Payment Systems has shown time and time again that they don’t care about their clients. If you need copies of your documents or an issue arises. Even the most simple issue like resubmitting your tax information, something that literally would take roughly 2 minutes to do, be prepared to receive a prewritten chain letter from Heartland telling you that you will need to wait 4 – 6 weeks.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
IMPORTANT: READ THE SMALL PRINT!! I was with Heartland for a couple of years and was overall happy with their pricing and services. I recently found another provider with better rates so I switched. Only then did I find out THERE IS A $199 TERMINATION FEE FOR THEIR ACH SERVICES!!!I was going to protest but when I pulled out the contract, there it was – tiny print of course:” TERMINATION: “…Merchant may terminate this Agreement after one (1) year and thereafter upon sixty (60) days written notice to SPS-EFT. There will be a termination charge ($199.00) for terminating services.”Admittedly it’s my fault that I didn’t read the fine print, but what a ridiculous fee (I’m sure they assume that nobody reads the agreements, so they can get away with it!!). So just let the buyer beware if you choose to use this service!
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
This is sad news for me to hear, as I am a Heartland Payment Systems Sales Rep Veteran. Although we believe in full disclosure, there is a lot of information to convey when we meet with a merchant. I have to question the experience of the sales person you worked with as the ETF is something we in the field disclose. We believe in educating our merchants in all aspects of processing and fees, which of course, includes EarlyTermination Fees. And honestly, most of the larger ‘direct’ processors impose this fee, and if not, make up for it in other areas.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Heartland is good but DO NOT use their Heartland To Go product. None of the Heartland people even know what Heartland To Go is much less be able to help you with it. Heartland To Go is terrible. Looks like a bunch of kids that created a computer program but does not understand the restaurant business. I’ve been in business 25 years and have never seen such incompetence. They pass on the chargebacks to the merchants when the merchant has absolutely no control over collecting the money. Heartland is losing me as at 15 year customer.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Horrible service and not accurate billing charges STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY!Requested to stop service in October, 2016 and still till today fighting over recurring charges on my account.Poor and rude customer service. got hanged up on me several times with an excuse that the line was disconnected
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I was reading through this full review and I feel it is very fairly written, except for the automatic renewal. This is not, nor has ever been, something that we do at Heartland. We offer “month to month” and 36 month agreements. The 3 year agreements are pretty standard, for many of our clients that require some sort of equipment provided. We need to ensure we recoup our investment in provided equipment. But for merchants purchasing terminals etc a month to month agreement is available. I just read this last reply from a reader stating they have been charged every month and our customer service did nothing to help. I have a strong hunch this is posted from a competitor, as anyone who has done business with us knows that we have a 1st Class Customer Service Department. If you called now you would speak to a live person in under 10 seconds. If you needed to cancel an account, which it sounds like this person is describing, you would have that accomplished and off the phone in minutes.
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Organization Name: Sharky's, Inc.
This is simply not true. I was just told by a Heartland service representative that our original agreement, made in 2011, has automatically renewed along the way because we never cancelled it. So they DO automatically renew. At least, ours did.
And yes, we ARE with Heartland, though it’s my understanding that it’s been sold which is when our calls for assistance ceased being “within 10 seconds” to sometimes not being answered at all. The differences are vast.
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Organization Name: Bradford House
We were with Heartland for about 6 months and were promised a competitive rate with our second location. I signed the agreement but asked the rep to exclude the 3 year contract as we were not getting any equipment. We swipe about 98% of our cards and even though the statement said swiped card on it they still charged us a keyed rate which figured between 3.4 and 3.9%. In the same months we were charged by First Data at our second location between 2 and 2.25%. We were told by the rep that our property management system and Heartland were seamless, but this was not the case. We decided to change PMS systems and with the new system it did not support Heartland so we canceled our service. They told me that even though the rep told me that there would not be any early termination fees that they were charging it anyways. Worst customer service ever!!! There are many great processing companies out there without termination fees…do not sign with Heartland! You can do better, and charging the early termination for equipment is a cop out! We had no equipment and we had a rep that said no termination fees. They do not support their reps. By the way I’ve decided the $295 was cheap. Recouped almost all of it in my first month of processing with a new company.
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Hi Tom, I am a Heartland Relationship Manager, thanks for sharing the straight stuff here on your site. Please allow me to correct an error:”Contract Length and Early Termination Fee:With Heartland you can expect, as standard:An early termination fee (ETF) of $295A three-year contractAuto renewal if you don’t cancel in writing three months before the contract endsIf you negotiate, you can most likely get the early termination fee waived. If not, you should be able to get the contract term reduced to one year. Make sure to ask for this! If you don’t get the termination fee waived, be sure to get the auto-renewal clause removed.”We absolutely do not have automatically renewable contracts (I think they should be illegal!) and since we offer Interchange + our markup we have never raised our fees even after the expiration of the 3 years, which by the way offers the only price lock guarantee in the industry, that I know of. Also, I doubt if the early termination fee would ever be waived, so you probably don’t want to tell people to negotiate. It’s a big company, we board our clients using an iPad which doesn’t allow changes to our agreement.Cheers!Sherry Underwood
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I have used Heartland for 8 years now and am now looking for a new CC processing company. They were fine in the beginning with their customer service and support. However; in the past 2 years their customer services are total lacking and disputes are a real nightmare. In this technology driven world, one should be able to access their website using any web browser but their website only works with 1 web browser and then requires downloads to my system of software I do not want on my PC to utilize certain aspects of their system. My CC amount is around $100,000 per year and Since their rates are not as competitive as other companies then I find no reason to stick with them nor their inadequate customer service.
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Hi Donald,
I am going to send you an email right now so please keep an eye out for it.
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Wow. Seriously underwhelmed. They promised training. None. They promised the portals and machines would work on our established infrastructure. Nope. No extra costs? Nope. Better rates? Not as far as i can tell. And it’s been over a month for them to even get close to getting our second office set up. It’s been a nightmare. I’m considering a reliable alternative like, well, anyone else. Paying and then challenging the cancellation fee in court will be a small price to pay for the waste time. It’s taken me hours and hours. Plus the rep called our banker and one of our other partners to complain about me answering the questions “what do you think?” so that I got a call from one of my partners to ask if anything is wrong. WTF? If you have something to say to me, say it to me. I am the senior administrative partner…. Ok, that aside, we are still working at getting the busy half of the company up and running. They told me that our equipment in this office is blocking their service, so I flipped in the same account to the other location and it worked. But for tracking and batching we need it set up for both offices. I pointed this out to the tech support guy, and he told me it must be our equipment. So I walked him through a differential diagnosis troubleshooting decision tree (which all tech support should know) and he finally admitted that the problem is on their end. This is wasting hours of time that I DO NOT HAVE. I am checking into another payment system this evening and if they try to charge me for early cancellation I will have our lawyers take them to court, win and then get court and legal fees out of them too. And let me ask you this. In this day and age why won’t a browser based portal be limited to internet explorer (the worst browser on the planet) and NOT WORK ON APPLE COMPUTERS. Seriously?I cannot recommend for technical issues, for a rep who calls others to complain about their client, and for not having the account set up over a month after we set it up, and for wasting days of our business time.
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this service is the worst company to use ..everything they offer is a lie they have many hidden fees and kept my account open for 6 months after i canceled it and charged me 20$ a month then out of no where hit my account for 295$ early cancelation fee ..they provide no contract it is all done with a individual on a tiny tablet electronically so i not recommend this company to anyone
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Terrible experience. Early termination fee was not mentioned. Also, first unit I received was broken. Sent me another one. Had to be reprogramed. Took 3 days for funds to hit my account. I was told funds would be deposited next day. That was not true. Next day deposits are only on items processed before 5 pm PST. Makes for accounting issues as you could understand. This was all in my 1st week. I cancelled service and was able to get early termination fee waived. 3 weeks later still waiting for agent to pick up device so I can get a refund on equipment.
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My big mistake was leaving Square. Heartland convicede that Heartland’s rates were better and their service is unmatched. Neither is true. Heartland is a full point higher than Square. I had an employee manage to enter a $1000 tip instead of a dollar were Square won’t permit excessive tipping. When I called customer service to back the tip out they spent most of the time telling me it’s my fault. Finally they agreed to dump the entire batch, so I got to hand re-enter 62 transactions. On top of it all I get “misc charges”. I was ensued there would be on extra fees. Heartland’s customer service is no better than any other CC company I used in the past and pricing is comparable. In the 3 years I used Square I never had an issue where customer service was needed. I am really upset with myself for getting dupped.
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Vantiv vs Heartland for a pharmacy business>??
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Hi Craig,
I would recommend Payline Data, Instabill, and Durango Merchant Services for a pharmacy business. I hope this helps and if you have further questions please let me know.
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We are extremely frustrated with Heartland Merchant Services. We were sold on the fact they would fight to provide us with the most competitive rates and quality service, with no contract. Repeated visits were made to our facility to sell us on their service. We did business with them for over a year when we got offers for better rates. We told Heartland we would be switching and they sent a manager to our store on two separate visits to see if they can be competitive with the current rates we were getting. This took time away from us doing business in order to help them keep us as customer. They then charged us $20/mo service charges when we were no longer using them. We then called to cancel again and they then charged us $295 termination fee. Per our business process, we NEVER hire companies that have us into a service agreement. This one was for 36/mo which again we would NEVER agree to. Very BAD business. One star…
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Honestly there shouldn’t be any surprises to you; if you understand your contract, your invoices, and interchange plus pricing. You should very clearly be able to see your debit card transactions, with Durbin amendment transaction limits and then the CC interchange rates are published by the card issuer. Then there’s just the markup and any potential fees. Heartland makes all of this information very transparent for customers. Your savings are always going to also be slightly dependent on the mix of cards you accept in a given month. If you have a question on any of this, I’m happy to help with it. ThanksSeansean.sullivan@e-hps.com
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Thank you so much for this awesome review! I’m a merchant services specialist with Heartland & with all the bad business that goes on in this industry, it feels awesome to hear about us in a different light! I totally get what you are saying as it relates to the $295 cancellation fee (btw, all others are $495) but I tell my merchants, I’ll pay that out of my own pocket, if you’re not happy with Heartland & most importantly, with the service I provide. I also understand what you are saying about the $59 monthly fee for those processing less than $50k a year, but I’ve seen several statements with junk fees that add up to the same if not more than our $59. But hey, you can’t win them all right? Would you say there is a perfect processor out there? I’m just happy to see & say, we are better than most 🙂 Sincerely,A proud Heartlander!
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I am in the process of buying a liquor store that already has LiquorPOS software but needs a new credit card processing solution. I want to evaluate several options including Heartlands solution. My question is whether third parties such as Payline Data can integrate with Heartland’s LiquorPOS software. I also want to upgrade to handle EMV processing and Heartland requires an upgrade to version 5.3 of LiquorPOS. If I choose a third party cc processing solution will it integrate with the existing older version of LiquorPOS? The store does about $600k in total sales annually. Thanks in advance for any advice.
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Your review states Heartland is not optimal for a low volume of transactions. Who do you recommend for low volume?
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Hi Brenda,
I would recommend Square for low volume.
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I purchased a new Liquor POS system from a local merchant. Heartland owns liquor POS. I was lied to by the merchant who told me that I could process EMV and be off of an out dated CC processor within a few weeks of installing the new system. I was lied to by Heartland and the merchant. it is 7 months later and I am processing on an outdated software that has no technical support that can go down at any time. I have contacted heartland many times and have been ignored by Kathryn Hollis, and Jeremy Grunzweig, It closing stay as far away from Heartland as you can.
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Hi Jason,
Shoot me an email, I think we can help you
jbraden@touchbistro.com
Looking forward to hearing from you 🙂
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Two years ago we bought a new terminal from Heartland and it has worked fine till now. The terminal is still fine but Heartland quit supporting it. They gave no notification, no email, no letter in the mail and no phone call; just one morning it would not run the card for a sale and gave an error message “Encryption Error”. I tested other cards and all the same message. I have an old telephone terminal which I was able to connect and am using temporary. I called their customer service and after about 3 hrs on hold their customer service informed me this terminal was no longer compatible with their system and we would need to buy a new terminal.I think rather get the new terminal from a new service provider.
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I don’t know what i’m doing wrong but have been on hold for over an hour waiting for customer service… That is totally unacceptable.888.963.3600. it says immediate assistance, what a joke.
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Tammy, that number is for internal (Heartland employee) support. The number you should be using is 866-976-7137. You will get a service professional on the phone in less than 60 seconds, right here in the United States.
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I have a customer that says they were charged and sent me a bank statement showing such however it does not show up on any statement at all. I have 2 customer with the same last four numbers and we have verified that it is not a miss post. how do I find this I have been waiting for 3 days on customer service and the rep and have gotten nothing. customer of course expects service cause she can show proof however we can not. This has never happened to me in last 2 years I’ve been with heartland but this is a major mess up could you assist in a way to look better than I have already tried by chance?
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I own 2 women’s clothing boutiques. My retail software is Intuit POS multi-store 2013. I have always used Intuit merchant services for processing which rolled all invoices, sales and payments over to my Quickbooks pro financial records. I recently signed up for Heartlands processing which is not integrated and does not roll over to my current Quickbooks . This has created a nightmare for my Book Keeper. I have asked Heartland how I can possibly change/upgrade/integrate my End of day receipts to my Quickbooks financial software. Basically, what is the easiest way to track an accurate P&L with nonintegrated software systems??? HELP
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Alicia,
Heartland does integrate with Quick-books. Please call Customer service and ask for our specialty department. They can direct you from there. Service number 888-906-7689
We appreciate your business Alicia.
Best Regards,
Danielle Oyhancabal
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Alicia,
Intuit is a Quickbooks product. That’s why the two will integrate with EOD. Don’t know that any other processor will have that capability.
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I am about to sign up with Heartland. The rep has come very highly rated from other retailers. Reading this, however, I am nervous because he says Heartland has no contract so it can’t have any early termination fees.
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Nancy,
Ask for a rate quote and make sure that the early termination fee is listed as “waived” on it. Tell your rep that you need to see in writing that the fee is waived.
Best,
Amad
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Nancy, I was offered either a contract or month to month. I took the contract with the early termination fee waived, locking in great rates, w stellar customer service.
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As of Sept. 15 2015 Heartland now has the early termination fee on the contract — $295. If that was one of your bigger complaints, they heard you. They have outstandling local reps and live operator customer service. Wonderful company to work with.
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We used Heartland for years, then switched to Bank of America because they beat Heartlands rates and if we batched out by 11 p.m. the money was in our account by 2 a.m. Heartland takes two days, and cash flow was an issue (2008 ring any bells?). Now BoA has started to hassle us about getting an EMV machine, for $695. A good customer is a Heartland rep, and she talked EMV to me.. . BoA was not being truthful, she said….Then did a very soft sell for us to switch. This was a month ago. I started researching and let BoA know I was shopping. BoA immediately “dropped” our rates retroactively, to July 1. Heartland looked at one of my statements and pointed out all the hidden fees. I have been corresponding w both reps by email. BoA. continued telling me lies as well as badmouthing Heartland. Heartland responded with truth, transparency, and clarity. July statement came from BoA, new rates were not honored. I requested they fix that and send me new rate info so I could do a direct comparison, three weeks ago. Heartland has submitted their rates, plus will lock in rates for a three year contract and a free EMV machine. Still no word from BoA. Most complaints about Heartland seem to be about not having a local rep at their beck and call – but we will have Renee on speed dial. Two day turnaround is no longer an issue, as our restaurant has bounced back and we have plenty of cushion in our account. Heartland is our new provider as of Sept. 1.
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Been in the retail business for over 30 years now and owned multiple stores. I’ve had just about every merchant service under the sun and I currently run two full time credit card terminals. I’ve had Heartland now for over 6 years and they are hands down better than the competition. It’s not even close. The people reporting problems with them are doing something wrong, plain and simple.
I see people reporting issues with hardware. Well buy better hardware. If you are still using a terminal that uses dial-up and not broadband you’re doing it wrong. Buy a terminal built in this decade and it will prevent headaches. I’m always amused when I go into a business and their terminal is the size of a football, uses a dial-up modem to communicate, and is printing with ink and not thermal paper.
We do over $300k a year in credit cards and every bit of it is processed through Heartland. Wouldn’t even think of using another company. To have Heartland rated the same on this site as Mercury is astonishing. Mercury is pathetic. They aren’t even a true merchant service. They are a reseller!
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My company was with Heartland for 12 years and decided to change processors.Heartland charged me a $400 termination fee.You would think they would just wish me the best and thank me for 12 years of business!Class just went out the window.
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We switched to Heartland from Elavon about a year and a half ago and we have been very happy with their service. We did not have to sign a term contract, we got a free desktop card swiper/printer and a Mobuyle card swipe unit. Their customer service is top notch and the pricing is as easy to understand as is possible with the ridiculous multiplicity of rates charged for this rewards card or that corporate card. It hasn’t been all wine and roses, though. Getting all the attachments for the contract was weirdly problematic. It’s a real pain in the butt to find out why a card has been declined and last week a batch from six months ago was magically re-run because of a glitch in the hardware. But they took care of it immediately, refunding all the cards that were charged within a day or two and all the transaction fees as well. I’m opening a second business and we will use Heartland for that as well. They also have a gift card program that we’re going to try.
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I have used Heartland in the past i used it in my business in 7750 okachobee blv W.P.B.then the service and rates where okIn January i did sign a contract with Heartland (PAT) i was told that there would be no charging fees for terminating the service , also i was promised new credit card machinei newer recieved the credit card machine , and right afthet a month or two the RATES START CHANGING, when i called the representative of Haeartland PAT and i asked her how comme my friend who its 3 miles away from me has different rates (in the begining we had same rates) she told me that my friends customers use different credit card ???whell i was disapointed and not happy because Heartland was changing the rates and i stoped having theyre service, now they are sending me statements for early termination service, which in my knowledge i did not know that i have signed anything regarding that, oraly i was told that i can terminate the service with heartland anytime without terminating fee, so BE CAREFULL FROM HEARTLAND
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We were told repeatedly that we would have no terms and we could cancel at any time with no fees or penalties. A year later, we were told that our sales rep lied to us and we signed a contract with a 3-year term and $295 cancellation fee. Conveniently, our sales rep kept “forgetting” to give us a copy of the contract we originally signed after his manager reviewed it, and he has left the company. I’ve read that others have had a similar experience of being told there were no cancellation fees or terms and then finding out it wasn’t true. It’s our fault for not reading over everything closely, but to our knowledge, the contract we signed did not state the 3-year term anywhere. In the end, I just wonder why a company would have so many reps lie abut the terms and cancellation fees, and why they haven’t done anything about it.
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I have submitted this before. But you still write the same erroneous info.
The fee for small merchants is $59. You can get a year to year contract with no termination fee.
$59 includes the service and compliance fees.
Call me and I can give you all the info you need.
Phil Boissel
256-749-0799
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
I have been with Heartland for well over 10 years. They have responded in record time to any problems I ever had. The local reps/repair techs are always there quickly. I love Heartland, and would strongly recommend them to any retailer. I get calls every day from people promising lower rates. I am willing to pay a bit more for superior service.
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I recently concluded one year with Heartland. I was attracted to HPS because of initial conversations with Debbie, the HPS Relationship Manager, who was very open and honest and put me at ease. I didn’t really like the fact that I had to pay $300 for a proprietary terminal or pay a $25 monthly fee in addition to other fees. For months after I signed up, I had to keep calling/emailing to try and get monthly statements mailed to me. I was aware that my effective rate was very high compared to what other processors offered, but figured that after an exceptional year with HPS, that they would offer me a much better rate based upon my sales volume. Since I was not contacted, I sent an email to my rep requesting a rate review which took a long time to receive a response and then I received conflicting information about the amount of savings I could expect. I decided to go with another processor at that point. HPS ended up replacing the $295 early termination fee in my account after I pointed out that my agreement with them contained a provision that there was no length of term contract and no termination fees. Based upon my experience, I believe that Heartland Pay Systems has some really good folks that care, but there is some kind of “disconnect” between the agents and the administration which, in my case, led to quite a bit of frustration. Basically, I felt that since I was paying over and above what most processors were charging, that I would be treated very well and would not have to worry about frustrating experiences…sadly, that was not the case.
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I am a Relationship Manager with Heartland in the New York City/Long Island area and this is a very honest and fair review. The company culture is one of honest concern for our merchants.
Heartland is currently working on a better solution for clients who process less than $50,000 a year, barring any major issues it should roll out in 2014. We have a tech division dedicated to creating solutions for our clients from the ground up and by partnering with existing providers.
It is a pleasure to work for a company that genuinely cares about those whom they serve.
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Thank you for your response, Armando. I’ll be looking forward to seeing what Heartland has in store for low-volume merchants in the coming year! In the meantime I’m still glad to be able to recommend Heartland to businesses with a larger annual volume, and especially restaurants. Thanks again for the update.
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Ana,
I am a tenured Rep that bleeds Heartland. Just for fun, I occasionally read internet blogs and reviews of Heartland to see what is out there. Today, I came across a comment that I’ve seen on a couple of review sites, labeling Heartland as a fraud. The comment below was copied from a different site, coming directly from you. Based on my observation, your agenda must be outside of a true owners testimonial.
The Representatives in the field are the first line of defense for our business partners. If a customer is unhappy at the local level, the service center can handle most disputes. A protocol is in place to identify the complaint and forward it to the right management.
The world is filled with people engaging with others. Some of us fall short of our expectations. Yet, we are all human. Sadly, communication is a trait we are losing as Americans. When we fight to keep the doors of personal interaction open, miraculous things happen.
Proud Heartlander
copied from an alternative ISO review site
“Ana Molinari
June 25, 2013 at 9:22 am (UTC -7)
Reply
DON’T EVER USE THIS COMPANY! They are frauds!
(Name Withheld) sold me the system telling me how bad my previous company was. What a liar. He told me I wouldn’t pay a fee for the machine, I would not pay monthly payment, I would pay Credit, Debit, the same price and nothing was true. They charged me whatever they wanted for monthly payments; for credit and debit they charged me for everything. I’ve been in business for 40 years and I’ve never been lied to so blatantly. I called the company at least 24 times and they refused to call me back or do anything about my payments. Ridiulous service. It costed me more than my previous company. Terrible service.”
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
Don’t EVER use this company! They are frauds! [edited: name removed] sold me the system telling me how bad my previous company was. What a liar. He told me I wouldn’t pay a fee for the machine, I would not pay monthly payment, I would pay Credit, Debit, the same price and nothing was true. They charged me whatever they wanted for monthly payments; for credit and debit they charged me for everything. I’ve been in business for 40 years and I’ve never been lied to so blatantly. I called the company at least 24 times and they refused to call me back or do anything about my payments. Ridiulous service. It costed me more than my previous company. Terrible service.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
I have been a sales rep for Heartland for 8 years. When a merchant calls they get a live person answer. That person stays with merchant until problem is solved.If merchant is still unhappy we have a special customer advocate group that customer can ask for.
Merchants do not have to sign a 3 year contract. All you have to do is ask. The contract guarantees the markup rate for three years. It is actually in the customers best interest.
As far as the above complaint, the merchant statement shows the V/MC FOR EACH sale. I suggest you look at a few statements to see the transparency level.
Feel free to call me @ 256-749-0799.
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I like Heartland now, but getting set up was an enormous hassle. They programmed my machine incorrectly the first time and the auto settlement did not work. It was only after I learned about overdraft charges on my account that I was aware of this.
Heartland also uses a check payment processor called Cross Check and I would avoid them like the plague. They could not get my system set up at all (something to do with Comcast phone lines, yet I had a check reader system prior to trying Cross Check that worked just fine). I had to return their useless check reader and they charged me return shipping! I complained and they refused to refund me. Not good.
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I have been extremely unhappy with Heartland Customer Support. The Credit Card machine stopped working and it took them 5 days to send someone to fix it… I Lost so much customers and will find a better company soon…
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Hamed, your note, being very brief, also seems strange- heartland can and will send out repair- replacement terminals, ,and merchants can get a terminal next day, overnight when necessary. Was this your terminal? Having just brought a terminal within an hour to a restaurant in Cooperstown NY on the 4th of July….
Heartland has the technology and ability to build files and update terminals anytime day or night, and rarely leaves a merchant down, or unable to process cards for very long… I find your comment seems unlikely, if not untrue. What is the real story?
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Hamed, I work for Heartland Payment Systems and I’m very rarely without a loaner terminal for down terminals. Moreover, Heartland could have put you on Heartland Connect which turns your computer into a virtual terminal as a band-aid until a repair/replacement could get to you.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
For some reason I think that you and Howard Nathan works for Heartland. Yes Heartland, can turn you computer to a virtual terminal, but for a cost. I think there is a $100 fee for doing that. Heartland is great about making promises but can hardly live up to them.We have been trying to get set up with Heartland for about two months now, and have gone through three reps (that are not longer withe the company). They make up their prices as they go and have yet to follow through and any commitments made.We have gone as far as ordering cards and then all of as sudden “your existing terminals can be used, you need to buy new ones”. DO NOT TRUST WHAT YOU HEAR FROM HEARTLAND!!!
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Call me. If you are really a Heartland customer, which I doubt. A backup virtual terminal has no cost attaced.
I have been here 8 years and will not be leaving. If you are a merchant I will expect a call. I think you are a 3rd tier processor. If not call me. 256-749-0799
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.
I have both used a loaner card swiper, and used the Mobuyle system on the computer. My previous processor required me to MAIL in my swiper if something went wrong! Maybe the Omaha branch of Heartland is the best one in the company. I do not know. What I do know is the local service is phenomenal!
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I have been a customer for over 7 yrs and will not be much longer! I have had some minor issues with HP and after asking for a rep to come out I have been told they do not have a rep to do that they will assist you over the phone, but not face to face. I am shocked in today’s world that any company dealing with a business’s money would not want to keep a business association with a customer. Pinching pennies is one thing but to take it to the limit of saying its not cost effective to drive 70 miles to sit down face to face with me to discuss some issues.That is ridiculous! I must say that Kerry Sutherland was helpful to try to get someone to come out, but that person evidently refused to come out. But if I was a new customer, they would be beating my door down. Well, I will be finishing my contract and moving on.
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Leesa, I find it hard to believe that no one is willing to come see you, where are you located, and what type of problem or issue are you having, please let me know, Thank you!
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Unfortunately I’ve had nothing but problems with Heartland. Ever since I’ve started not only have they charged me the wrong location tax, they have messed up my 401k payments and shorted money in my paychecks on more than one occasion. Their customer service department tosses us around from one person to the next and our rep never solves problems. I just want to get a correct paycheck for the hard work I’m putting in I at least deserve that. If you’re considering Heartland, run …and fast.
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I am sorry to say that I have nothing but problems since I have signed up with Heartland. I owned a Nurit 8000 and was told it could be programmed with no problem. After switching Merchant Accounts and trying to program the machine with Heartland they told me they didn’t work with this machine…my problems with this company are too numerous to list. The latest problem: instead of being charged the monthly fee for one wireless machine, I have been charged for three machines and I have spent the last two days on the phone with tech trying to figure out why my wireless is not working…tech person was very helpful and said she would have switch the machine out in a minute but the supervisors said that my warranty was up and wouldn’t do it. If Heartland were to reimburse me for all the time I have spent on the phone trouble shooting I could take a nice vacation to the South of France!
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We switched to HPS several years ago after getting ripped off by the local bank on our merchant services for years. We had three locations, three terminals and three bills that always looked completely different and discount rates that were completely different. At one location we seemed to always be charged mid or non-qualified rates on the transactions. It was frustrating and no explanation was given. Our HPS rep was very upfront explaining the rates charged. I still personally believe that the amount charged is excessive, and Congress should have limited the amount any transaction can be charged, but that is another issue. We have been satisfied with our HPS service, but recently have had problems with the terminals not being compatible with our T1 phone service. If any of you have issues with dropped connections, be aware that different terminals are apparently made for businesses using phone service from cable or internet rather than traditional land lines. We will ultimately have to purchase new terminals to prevent occasional problems. Service is generally been very good, although we have had few problems other than the one mentioned.Mark
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I love love love what you are up to. I’ve been working as a Territory Manager at Heartland for 5 years now. I’ve never liked working for a company more than Heartland. I’ll be working here until I’m dead!
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Hi Jessica,
I love your passion. I also worked as a Account Executive for many years in B2B sales and loved the job. Unfortunately, they went out of business due to the current lending enviornment, as it was a mortgage company. Anyway, I have set up an initial phone interview with a manger for a relationship manager position. Any tips you can give me?? Also, is it mostly cold calling to begin with, or do they help you with marketing, and other tools?? I spoke to another card processing company a long while back, and all they talked about was my commission and how much I could make. I am more interested in working for a real company as an employee, that can feel good about himself everyday when I look in the mirror. I just assume the money will be there, as I am a professional.
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It sounds like you’re on the right track. My only suggestion is to be your true authentic self. If you don’t mind me asking, what area do you live in and who is your prescreen interview with?
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Barry,
Heartland is absolutely the company to work for if you to want work for an organization that lines up with your own personal values.
Good luck on your interview and hopefully your new career with us at Heartland.
-John
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Well written, unvarnished, an objective review of our company. Yeah….we’re something pretty special, lol. I’ve been with HPS for about (3.5) years now having been in the industry and with the “competition” for 13.5 years. So, I’ve been around a bit, and I’ve seen a bit – both inside and outside of this company. There is no perfect company in the industry. Every company will have this or that problem…giving merchants something to complain about, but I will say this….we’re about the closest to “perfection” this industry has to offer. Why? Because we try harder, and we actually CARE about our reputation in putting top flight services on the street. Same in the payroll industry since concepts like “provide a fair-deal”, “fully disclosed payment solutions” and “advocacy for business owners” are just as non existent there.
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I too am a Heartland Relationship Manager. I think another important note to all of the business owners out there is we, the representatives for Heartland, are all employees of the company. This in comparison to a majority of the ISO’s who represent other merchant service providers and are contractors. Why is this important to you and your business? Because before a prospective employee is offered employment with Heartland, we were subject to a thorough background check. This is not the case with the ISO “contractors” for other processors. In a world of identity theft and account fraud, I know that if I am a business owner giving out all of my banking, social security/Fed ID numbers, and other confidential information… I sure would feel better knowing that someone has verified the representative I am working with has had someone check them out.Also, we have representatives located in every major city and many small cities and towns of the country, offering personalized services and products based on your businesses needs. Besides credit card processing, we also offer the best Gift/Loyalty marketing program through our Chockstone division (we handle Subway, Dominoes, Fandango, Ticketmaster and thousands of other businesses)… we bring the big company technology and programs to the locally owned businesses AND provide local marketing support by advocating our merchants throughout the community. Customer Service is here in the United States and regionalized by teams, meaning that when you call our customer service (available 24/7), your call is answered within 7 seconds and you get to talk to a live person!! Even more important, you will not be transferred around having to explain your situation over and over again.I am in Central Texas and my drive and passion is to help as many business owners as I can possibly reach out to – the credit card processing business is currently an unregulated industry. You simply HAVE to know who you are working with, exactly how much you are paying, what you are paying for, and why you are paying it. Go to MerchantBillofRights.com and find out if you are being treated fairly by your current processor.
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I am a Heartland Rep. Heartland does not charge any PCI compliance fees. Where are you located Marty? I will be happy to direct you to a Heartland Representative in your area.
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Does any one know if Heartland is or will be charging PCI fees?
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Heartland does not currently charge PCI fees. I don’t think they will be in the future.
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No direct PCI Compliance fees to the merchant from Heartland at this time. Have not heard if there will be any in the future.
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Marty,
Heartland does not charge a PCI fee.
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Heartland does not charge PCI Fees,
As a Heartland
Merchant you enjoy our E3Secure technology at no cost to you. This is the most seure processing platform available in the industry. If you are paying monthly and or annual PCI fees you might want to speak to Heartland and eliminate them.
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Quick update and also a correction to my earlier message as in all the frustration of being told by the Heartland service it was my mistake a batch went missing when I connected, like I’ve always done. It was them guiding me through the process and even after being told the problem was on their end, I overlooked mentioning an email I received about four weeks ago from a Heartland rep named Stephen Thomas that read about my situation here and offered to do what he could to help. I can only hope he is successful in getting to the bottom of this since it seems I am being ignored by everyone else at Heartland except for his contact back twards the end of July. I would have thought that someone from Heartland would have at least contacted me directly by now. but nothing as of today. I’m going to look up the phone number to call at their corporate office and hope that someone there won’t give me the brush off and actually help me rather then now blame me for a mistake on their end.
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HI Michael,
I am an employee as well of Heartland Payment Systems. Your scenario is very strange. Were you able to finally get some assistance? If not, maybe I can try and help you get to the right person?
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Hello,
Just FYI that when in BAM (batch authorization mode) you are not connected to any line, which means you are not connected to your credit card processor, which means you are not connected to any issuing banks. All you are doing is taking down data via your terminal. It’s when your terminal is finally connected to a line that your machine will start to dial out to get approvals, which by then the card holders are long gone. This is the risk of BAM, but one that some merchant risk depending on their business. I doubt that the missing funds were due to Heartland and that they offered to pay half. What most likely happened is you had lots of declines, but again the card holders are long gone so that’s the risk you take.
Hope this helps clear up why you were missing money on BAM. This would be the case with Heartland or any Credit Card Processor.
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Great review. I’m a Relationship Manager with Heartland Payment Systems and i love what i do. Nothing like working for a Full Disclosure company!!! I mean seriously, what other company’s going to sit down with the business owner & tell them what we’re making???? Good luck finding that in this Murky industry. I love educating the business owners as well on what their current “rate” really is and the difference in Tiered vs Interchange Plus. I also get a kick out of the big smile on their face when i enter their place of business. I’m called a Relationship Manager for a reason and am always there whether it be in person, via Cell, Txt, E-Mail etc. 1 other fantastic plus is that i have a way to alleviate the business owners headaches when it comes to sales reps coming in and wasting the business owners valuable time vying for their business. I have in my hand the “truth Serum”.
A great percentage of sales personnel in the C. Card Industry are uneducated at what they do and go through no background check prior to hire. They simply want a quick sale and to move on…..meaning, you won’t see them again because they made their commission and have no interest in you or your business. I’m a real employee, not some 1099 Independant Sales Consultant. I have a vested interest in you & your business because i want you to succeed.
We’re such a transparent company that some business owners ask “What’s the catch?” or say “It’s too good to be true!” It’s not!!!! We are who we say we are and you get exactly what i/we say you will. I make it a point to contact all new customers to my book of business not only once a month (minimum) but most importantly as soon as they receive their 1st Statement with us. This is when i prove it! Isn’t it awesome knowing there are good people and good companies still out there? Sadly, they’re few and far between in this industry. Feel free to contact me anytime and i greatly appreciated this article and all your comments. We think highly of each and every business owner out there. Best of luck everyone and kind regards, ejanitz@hotmail.com
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Hi John
I tried to e-mail you back about he Heartland problem I am having but it won’t go through. In answer to you question I was in BAM mode when I was on the road. And I will get the make of my machine. It has been over a month since the money was lost and I still have not had any contact from Heartland. My sales person has washed his hands of it all.
Thank you for your time.
Michael Monroe
monroestudioi@yahoo.com
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I have an issue right now where HPS has withdrawn money from my account without letting me know; so they claim is AMEX’s fault but I don’t deal with AMEX I am dealing with HPS so come on please! they have to be more responsible about it! And provide more accurate information as to why they did that!!!
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I work for Heartland Payment Systems in sales. Reviews like this are what keep me going out the door each day with renewed energy. It feels good to know that I work for one of the “Good Guys”!!
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John – How long does it typically take to get merchant accounts set up with HPS? We have two small companies and two websites with some, but minimal, in house retail sales. We mostly sell/provide services.
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Dear John,
I have been with Heartland for many years. 10 days ago I did a fair amount of sales at an art show. I batched all my sales out, Then tried to settle it, Something I have done hundreds of times, but for some reason it didn’t work. I contacted Heartland for help. After 10-15 minutes of help Heartland tells me all of the sales were lost somewhere in there system. They admitt it was on there end and now want to pay half of the money I am due. Can you point me to anyone for help.
Thank you,
Michael Monroe
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John,
Were you in Batch Authorization Processing mode at your show? or were you wireless, phone line? What type of terminal?
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Michael,
I am a small business and in the processing of changing credit card companies. I have been approached from Heartland and another company called Moneris. I now have Landmark Solutions. Between the 3 of them not sure who to believe. Do you have any suggestions? Thanks, Barbara. lillianfarms@msn.com
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Hi John- do you still work for Heartland in sales? I am interviewing with them next week in the San Francisco Bay Area- do you have any tips?
Thanks in advance-
Kelly
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Heartland also has numerous endorsements (100’s+) from large and regional associations like the National Restaurant Association. A top notch company to be sure.
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Dear Brad,
I only wish I were one of the large regional associations., I might actually get a return phone call from Heartland about lost money in there system, I think 35 days of missing money and dozens of unanswered phone calls is not what I expected from them. I only hope I am wrong and they really help me with the missing money or at least call me back even though I am not a big company.
Sincerly.
Michael Monroe
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HI Michael,
Call into their princeton office, I am sure you will find someone to assist you. They are very dedicated to serving their merchants. I speak from experience as I am one!
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I have also experienced a problem with call backs. We’re a small business trying to get our website up and running. Recently, after about five calls we received a call back, with a promise to call the next day with an answer. It didn’t happen until a week later with a message on the answering machine left after hours. We had signed a contract to cover a new shopping cart that we had launched and it has taken them almost a year to tell us that the sales rep was no longer with the company, but they left his phone and email up and running with no one manning them. They also decided that the contract was no longer valid. We were told that we would be contacted by a new rep., who never called, hence all of the unreturned phone calls from me. They finally decided to leave a message on our answering maching telling us that they would not support our product and to call if we had questions, which I, of course, did. No return phone call to date.
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Michael, you probably have a wrong number your calling into. the help desk answers calls with in 5-8 seconds, it doesn’t just ring & ring. Once your on with a help desk person, they address your problem and begin to resolve it. That number is 888-963-3600.
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This is great, and I’m spreading the word!!!
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Our company found better a processing system, with much better benefits for us as a small business, and our new Merchant Services processor has funding in 2 hours after batch closing. Heartland has been 2-3 days for funding. In this economy, we needed better cash flow management, and I found it.
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Heartland Provides next day funding! It is hard to believe that there is funding within 2 hours after batch closing due to the fed. closes at 5 pm. If this is the case even after the fed is closed im sure you are paying for it in some way, shape, or form
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Heartland has since improved it’s funding time and with a brand new bank relationship with Wells Fargo, this will improve further.
This comment refers to an earlier version of this review and may be outdated.