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A few months ago I was lucky enough to be approached by someone I have an enormous amount of respect for, a world-famous Internet marketer who emailed me for some merchant account advice.
He’d found Merchant Account Forum on Google while looking for a new merchant account as his existing processor, which he was still happy with, but just didn’t have the capabilities he needed for his technologically-advanced next project.
I gave him what advice I could and told him how much I’d enjoyed dealing with his company in the past.
So began several weeks of emails shooting back and forth, the recurring theme of which was ePointProcessing.
As it happened I was just at that point evaluating their offering to review at Merchant Account Forum and this marketer had dealt with them extensively over the previous 12 months or so.
As a favour to me, he agreed to let me publish his experiences on this site so long as I didn’t mention his name.
Though, suffice it to say, I *guarantee* you’d have heard of this guy if I mentioned his name.
So here, therefore, is exactly what happened to one of the net’s biggest names when he applied for an ePointProcessing merchant account – an account which was not to be sniffed at as he was looking to process several hundred thousand dollars each year through it…
It all started in September 2002 when he applied for an ePointProcessing merchant account. In his own words, here’s his experience:
"I paid a $599 application fee with ePoint Processing, and in return, received the promise of a merchant account.
Well – a year later, still nothing.
(Except for a $600 hole in my pocket)
They simply stopped responding to me. I sent them hundreds of pages of paperwork, documentation, processing statements, everything they needed. Then after 30 days of nothingness, I asked for a refund. They said it was on the way. I never did receive it. And 40+ emails to them got me nowhere either."
Wow, not good!
Luckily, as one of the largest merchant account advice sites, we have some very good contacts in the industry, and it just so happened I’d been talking to someone at ePointProcessing for some time.
So I thought I’d see if we could help resolve this issue for our famous friend.
Within 24 hours he had received an email from ePointProcessing trying to patch things up and come to a compromise.
And you know what?
Our friend couldn’t have been more decent about everything as negotiations started again between ePoint and our friend.
Infact, here’s another email from him to ePointProcessing:
"You’ve inspired me with new confidence in ePoint, and I’d like to work with you if possible. Thank you."
Things started to look good as the ball got rolling. Our friend sounded impressed…
"I must say, it’s been a pleasure speaking with you this past week, and the experience I’ve had in doing so is a full 180 degree turn from the ePoint I dealt with last year. Many, many thanks for that."
Unfortunately, within a few days the cracks started to show again as our friend took a closer look at the documentation he was required to sign in order to get his account up and running.
According to the ePoint documentation for example, you’re not allowed to have more than 20% of your orders declined in a week.
But as he so rightly says, "What happens if some guy tries his card fifty times, and I only happen to get 20 valid orders that week?"
Their policy also stated that any emails from ePoint to their merchants must be replied to within 24-48 hours. He wanted to know why he couldn’t go on holiday if he used them.
It all added up to a final decision by our friend:
"I would still like to request a refund at this moment in time. As you know, a year has passed since I first signed-up with you – so, I have been actively looking for other companies in your arena who could offer similar solutions.
A year in search led me to Richard Adams, who originally contacted you on my behalf, and other companies who could offer solutions in your place. I had set-up a primary account elsewhere, and I was hoping to use ePoint as a "fall back" account, in case the gateway for my other was down or if I simply received a declined response on an order.
However, in the meantime, I’ve found several other companies who have all offered solutions – and I’m now completely setup.
This has no reflection on *your* level of input, but naturally, after over a year, I’m slightly disgruntled by the whole experience with ePoint, and it would have taken a LOT of immediate action to consider using them once again.
If this sounds unfair, I’m sorry – but a company that takes this long to set-up one of their clients, isn’t the kind of company I would trust to process tens of thousands of dollars of my money, without some kind of extra incentive to bite the bullet, and give it a shot."
And then the conversation went dead.
Our friend had no further emails from ePointProcessing who chose to go full circle and ignore all our friends repeated requests for a refund because they couldn’t provide what he needed.
And that is the end of the whole sorry saga.
I write this for two reasons – firstly to serve as a warning to you, dear reader, as to what can happen to the best, and most experienced of us, if you apply for the wrong merchant account.
You’d be amazed how many people lose hundreds of dollars when applying for a merchant account.
All our recommendations either offer 100% acceptance or a free application so you needn’t take risks – and secondly because situations like the one I have described to you concern, even sicken me.
It worries me that a company like ePointProcessing would behave in such a way – especially when they knew we were watching.
Surely if it was *your* business, even if you didn’t feel it was deserved, you’d still give a refund as an act of goodwill wouldn’t you?
I do believe that ePointProcessing have lots of satisfied clients at this point in time, but unfortunately as this is our first "upclose and personal" experience of them we’re not impressed.
I will update this page if and when our famous friend *does* actually get his refund, though I doubt I need worry about updating this article in the near future…!
We recommend Merchant Warehouse for your merchant account. Call them on 1-866-835-2601 to start your application today.