First Data review: wells fargo complicit in fdgl ripoff 25

Fifth Third Bank got me involved with Vantiv which led me to First Data Global Leasing, 0vercharged me monthly fees. Notified Vantiv when it started happening which seemed to be right away and they said they would look into it, for six months of calls, emails, etc. to Vantiv, FDGL, & Fifth Third Bank this went on with nothing resolved. I let them know that I wanted out I was finished, they let me know that I was to pay Vantiv a fee for terminating and I was the one in error because I went with a machine that evidently was not right for our company (although I went with the cc machine that they recommended to me) I was also informed that I may not be able to get out of my lease with FDGL since its 48months, which I was clueless to until they finally sent me the copy of my contract and there it was I had NO idea what I had gotten myself into, that I had even signed that. All because of a recommendation from my bank that our company had been with for 15 years. If I would've followed my normal routine of looking into companies before I sign up with them or do business with them I would have avoided this whole issue, esp since it wouldn't have taken me long to see all the complaints against Vantiv (which by the way Fifth Third owns something between 49-51% of, I learned later) and FDGL! Any advice?

I have never even heard of this place and have charges on my account from them! So ya I would say definitely fraud! WTF

Got into a 48 month lease that I am sure I cannot terminate, What is the course of action everyone affected by this is doing?
I would love to hear from anyone who has any more information about this.

Same exact problem, they got me for $750 last month in fees when i should be paying $110 a month for 3 machines!

I too Have been caught in this trap
A very personable lady representing Merchant Lynx Services insisted that using MLnxSer would lower our processing costs. They (MLnxSER) have literally raped us with all sorts of add on fees from a compliance fee to the FDGL monthly fees.
Long Story Short due to ecomomy, we closed the business. I was told that there were early termination fees from both FDGL as well as MLnxSer. I was able to negotiate a lesser fee with MLnxSer but FDGL insisted that I would still have to make the monthly leasing payments for the now unused POS terminal equipment.($36.33 mos.)for the balance of the contracr weith MLnxSer. To add insult to injury, FDGL snt me a bill for taxes on the equipment! The lease amount is drafted monthly from my account at Wells Fargo. When I contacted Wells Fargo to stop this auto debit they said that it was in the 'contract'. I feel that MLnxSer, FDGL and Wells Fargo are mutually complicit in this rip off. I would like to participate in a comprehensive class action suit aginst these three entities.

Kenneth Styskal (formally) d/b/a M&S TV & Appliance
mstvappl@aol.com

tara kraus - wells fargo merchant services- austin, texas lies and signs you up without telling you the whole story. do not do business with this woman or fdgl!

So thanks to Traci L Hudson from Wells Fargo Merchant Services I have been duped into this shady company. Yes, I should've read the contract (the whole book). She said she would work out with me to get the best rates...yeah...I have been charged fee after fee after fee. In addition to their $500 termination fee I would have to pay $2, 240 for a machine that is not even being used. Sure wished I would've googled this before. So since I still have to pay for a worthless machine, what should this stupid machine's destiny be? You guys that were duped, how about listing the sales person so that other small business owners are aware...

I, m in court with them now. Today's court didn't go so well because I'm sueing Merchant Lynx, whic is no such company. They gave me two options to close my batches. One of the options, cleared the batches. In another words, I gave $5000.00 thousand dollars worth of merchandise away and didn't collect. Luckily, my acoountant caught it. They charge an bigger fee then the contrat states. At one point, one of their sales associate state, to bad becasue I signed a contract. I couldn't beleave the rudeness. They promised gift cards. That never happen. They said that they had to dispose of my old machine. I, m so stupid; I let them. Why heck, I paid $5000.00 for that in my old contract. They said, they would cancell the old processing companies. They never did. What bad business practices.

Wow! This is an eye-opener! We recently canceled our lease and sent back the equipment. For a couple of months, all was good. No payment came out. Now, all of a sudden, I see a lease charge appear in my Wells Fargo account. This discussion is not making me feel any better!

I'm in the same boat. I would have NEVER agreed to four years. Worse of all, I remember I wanted to buy the machine for cash, but the salesperson talked me into leasing it. I can not for the life of me understand how I could have been so stupid, but I know we talked in depth about renting or buying the machine and the salesperson talked me in to renting it. I NEVER had a clue it was for FOUR years. One of the reaons he recommended leasing was because it would allow me to update the machine if needed. Well, a few months ago I tried to do that and they wouldn't let me trade it in for a new machine. Thanks Mr. Smooth Wells Fargo Salesman.

I am trying to get ahold of the attorney who left his email here: jeff@cdalawyer.com. I am not able to contact you via this address. I want to pursue a class action lawsuit against Wells Fargo Merchant Services and First Data Global Leasing for exhorbitant fees, illegal and fraudulent business practices. They have to be stopped! I am willing to put myself out there to stop these banks from ripping us off anymore! The power is the people! We must take our power back! I have had enough! Don't mess with me! Go to hiddencovebedandbreakfast.com to see I am a credible business owner on the central Oregon coast.

I have had a really, really, bad day. I just found out the exact same thing everyone on this site (and many other sites) found out. That I was shmoozed into signing a 4 year lease at a total of 65 dollars a month for a piece of equipment that is worth worth 500 bucks, if that. To top this off, I moved to an area of rural New Mexico where there is NO signal AT ALL. Even if my buisness was doing good, couldn't use the machine anyways, no signal! It is as worthless as a rock to me. I have paid 6 months into a 4 YEAR lease. The salesman I spoke to when I signed up said that at any time I could go from the lease to a straight out buy, of the equipment This is a complete LIE. You can ONLY buy the machine after the four years is up. For me it's going to be over 3000 bucks (if I don't start a class action suit first). I am truly sickend buy this. I spent 5 hours on the phone today and was yelled at, threatened, ect. These people do NOT CARE about your problems. They only want long term access to your checking account. It is an extremly easy system to sign up for, or should I say "Fall for". I got mine through Sams Club. (A name I thought I could trust). They advertise "Credit Card Processing" for 4.95 a month" Funny... my monthly bill is over 60.00 ! Do NOT do buisness with FDLS! I will be the first dude to sign up on a class action.

Has anyone ever been reported to credit bureaus for canceling? They have been threatening to do so. Even though they charged me too much for over a year.
Shouldn't there be something we can do legally, Leasing is to get a more expensive product for less, not to pay 10 times the amount of buying with cash!

Yes, me too. I tried to cancel just a few months after realizing I didn't need the machine and would be doing all my transactions on line. Just like the rest of the people on this board, I assumed it was through my bank (Wells Fargo) and that like normal contracts, had a termination provision. I contacted Wells Fargo, was informed that I had signed a 36 month lease through First Data and then said there was nothing they could do. I was shocked since my Wells business banker set it all up for me...I don't recall being given any options or receiving any information about a non-cancelable lease with a term of 36 months! Surely, Wells must know that new small businesses have a high failure risk...why would they put a new business customer into something so one-sided and unfair? I called FDGL subsequently but was told I could return it but that I could not cancel my lease. I am still stunned that Wells would not take any responsibility for not properly disclosing the terms or providing me with alternative options (i.e., that it was possible to buy a cc swipe machine)...I know I should have read every single page of fine print but I trusted them and frankly, who in their right mind would agree to it after a clear and honest explanation?

I've been paying $39 a month for 18 months for a machine I've never used. I have 18 more months on the lease term. I tried again today to cancel it (my business has closed) but got the same response. I emailed the class action attorney on this board today and lodging a first complaint with the Oregon Attorney General.

Same thing here. I'm stuck with three years left on my contract. We switched to merchant account/system and now I have a grey 1.5 lb. paperweight sitting on my desk - $45 per month. Thanks Wells Fargo!

I am having the same problems as all of you. I can't believe we were told that a 48 month lease was the best option for us. We have since talked with other merchant services companies who have told us they do not do leases with their clients and have their clients purchase the equipment for $300. They have told us the lease is a ripoff and they only push the lease because they get a bigger commission.

We have a new business which we wanted to transfer the lease to. I have been faxing over the paperwork since July of this year (about 10 - 15 times). They claim they never got the paperwork. They will not listen to me, they get upset and defensive with me and they will hang up. I have asked to talked to a supervisor, manager and they hang up on me. They do not notate my account because I ask each time I have to call back after being hung up on and they refuse to give me their name.

I have been pushed around for too long by this company. Since they refuse to transfer the lease into our new business, I put a stop payment on our bank account. And then this Friday they went into our account and took out $520 from our account under a different name since we have a stop payment on our account for FDGL. They took out the money under FDMS. When I called they said it was actually taken out by FDGL and keep trying to tell us that FDMS is seperate from FDGL. They were not authorized to take $520 out of our account. I went to the bank and they said well they did take it out of your account. I put a stop payment on the $520 and now I have to watch my account everyday to see if they are going to take more money out of my account since the type of draft they do you only have 24 hours to reverse the draft.

I have never in my life dealt with these types of people who rip off their clients as First Data Global Leasing does.

I was advised to never go with a merchant services company that your bank tries to push on you. Do your research.

I have 15 more months remaining on my lease and I can't get out of it.

I am so glad to see I am not the only one that got taken for a ride. I signed up with this company in 2006. I read no where that I had a 48month contract with these people. Our aution buisness closed in 2008 and I have been fighting with them since. It is now 2009 and I have been paying the lease fee since our buisness closed my lease is up by my records and I put stop payment on there request for money they keep sending me letters that say this contract is NON-Cancelable how do they figure that. If anyone has found help let us all know. I will not pay them one more dime!
Carla

Hello All,

Just to let you cousins over the pond know that you are not alone.
We have a contract with FirstData Global leasing here in the UK. We started a small Restaurant in July 2007 and signed up for one mobile and one static pdq machine through our Cardnet agreement via Lloyds Bank Plc. In total this costs nearly £50 per month. After a while trading it became evident that the static pdq was unnecessary and we only required the mobile/wireless model.
Admittedly I was a bit slow out of the blocks in terms of phoning to cancel, so it was probably April to May of 2008 when I eventually contacted them. At this point I was told I was in a 48 month agreement and the only way to cancel the lease of that particular machine was to buy myself out of the contract (they also had the cheek to ask me to confirm it in writing!) at a cost of nearly £250, which was prohibitive in that we didn't have that kind of money and was almost a year's worth of rental in equivalent value.
To this day I have no recollection of signing a 48 month contract and would certainly never have agreed to it had I been made aware that this was the case (if you know the restaurant business in the UK, you'll know the odds of even surviving that long are stacked against you!).
Interestingly however, I think your complaints on this and other forums may be getting through to them...Today I phoned the company to try to cancel again and see how much the contract buy-out may have been reduced by due to the shorter term remaining on the contract. I simply stated again that I have 2 machines and only need one, they confirmed which machine it was i didn't need, told me they would confirm the cancellation in writing and that the rent would be reduced to the new amount for one machine. No mention of a contract, no mention of 48 months, no mention of a contract buy-out fee!
I'm still sceptical and will keep you posted on progress (i.e whether my rent has been halved or not, or if they are going to try and charge me).
Anyway, if it has finally been successful, my advice to all is this -
Try again - there is a chance that the complaints may have affected them and they have genuinely adjusted their policy
Keep complaining - after my phone conversation, I googled the company. Here in the UK, third on the list appeared your complaints about the company. A small victory and some bad press which I think no organisation can afford.
Of course there is a strong possibility that I have been duped again, but at least this time the Office of Trading Standards know about it!

Good Luck to you all

i was ashamed to tell anyone as, I too, was also deceived by the overly friendly sales rep. I am too embarrassed to say that i actually signed something that now has me paying $69 a month for 48 months! OMG. Please, if anyone either knows how to end this nightmare or has a class action suit in the works - please advise!

Same problem here! Why would anyone want to sign up for a $2000 lease, when the equipment can be bought for $200-300, or even free with many services.

Having the same problem. Looking for a class action! Any information would be helpful.