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Leaders Merchant Services
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Leaders Merchant Services
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2.9 59 Reviews

Leaders Merchant Services Complaints Summary

28 Resolved
31 Unresolved
Our verdict: Dealing with Leaders Merchant Services, which has an average resolution rate, requires some diligence. Research their service in depth and read a variety of customer reviews for a balanced view. Approach any customer service interactions with detailed and well-prepared queries to facilitate a better resolution process.
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Leaders Merchant Services reviews & complaints 59

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12:04 am EST
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Leaders Merchant Services Hidden Fees/Very Poor Customer Service

I just started a new account with them. I found them through a site called Merchant Circle. They had a good promotion going so I was eager to sign up.
The agent who helped me, Chris Lopez, told me I wasn't going to be charged things like a batch fee, etc... However, after setting up my account I see that he lied to me and I am being charged a batch fee as well as other fees. He said there were no hidden fees. They use a company called QuickCommerce to process the cards, they have all kinds of fees I did not agree to when I talked to the agent and signed a contract.
Not only this, they sent me an Iphone swiper that does not even work! I tried many times calling the company to talk to someone who can help me, they just keep referring to other departments. I want a refund for the Iphone swiper, and possibly to even cancel my account with them.
Leaders is a horrible company with the worst customer service ever. DO NOT GET YOUR SERVICES FROM THEM!

I wish they would contact me to fix these issues. I have left my number on numerous machines at their company. I will leave it here again.
[protected]

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4:25 am EST
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Leaders Merchant Services Fees Horrible Customer Service

I was enticed by Chris Lopez CSR to sign a contract. very pursasive sales man I was really excited to have found a merchant who was so flexible in meeting the needs of my business . I signed the contract on October 20, 2010 I have not used the services and they have charged me atleast $850.00. Well I have news for Leaders I have closed the account and I will be seeking legal advice before you get another penny of my hard earned money. My contract states 25.00 per month how on earth does that total $850.00 for the past three months. please read the contract in detail before signing the contract that what I was told by another CSR. I guess in this ecconomy it's important to survive no matter what it takes. To the owner and staff members of Leaders Merchant I hope you are truly enjoying the financial gain and the profits you receive on the count of small business owners like myself. A message to the rest of you let's not just write a negative review let's stand together and fight back I will seek some advise and will follow up on this board proberly in the next few days.

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lendersliar
East Glacier Park, US
Mar 03, 2010 8:25 pm EST

This company is a group of liars. They will tell you what ever you want to hear. Then just ask you to sign on the line so they can take your money. I hope that no one eles falls for their lies. I called about a compliant they told me it would be corrected. I just felt that someone was wrong I made a complaint to the BBB. Their respones was you never contacted us and you can't listen to what we say.You should only read what is in your contract. What ever happened to honest people in this world? Is every one just a crook with thier hands in our pockets.

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8:59 pm EST
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Leaders Merchant Services unauthoized fees

I signed up for a credit processing deal base on a proposal from a salesman at Leaders Merchant Sevices. Unknown to me, the contract sent to me by the same salesman had no resemblace to the original proposal. Buried in 10 pages of leagal talk were all sorts of hidden fees and charges. I specifically signed up for a no monthly minimum fee deal because we are seasonal, they charged me a $10.00 inactivity fee each month? Isn't that a minimum fee? That's just one example in a long list. These people will scam you at every chance. Lee Johnson Growing Gardens

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6:42 pm EST
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Leaders Merchant Services Unauthorized Charges & Fees

Our very first charges with Leader's Merchant Services declined 2 charges for $9752.00 yet managed to remove this amount for over 14 days from my clients account - this was a debit account. They denied they had the money and said the system voided the transaction but the money was gone! When questioned about this issue they actually hung up on me and said it was nothing they had done! This was a client that trusted me and happened to have this kind of funds available. Not too many people are blessed enough to have this kind of understanding client. I know i couldn't be without close to $10, 000 for over 14 days. They were rude and unhelpful. I closed the account immediately after the funds found there way back into my clients account. Then they had the nerve to charge me for this and other unknown and unspecified charges. I happily went back to Elavon without issue! Stay away from this company.

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travelingmtdfw
Arlington, US
Feb 10, 2011 9:03 pm EST

From personal experience would advise staying away from this company. Too much of a headache and yes they "stole" money in excess of $99 to $350 out of my account recently.

Back in late August of 2010 I signed with Leaders after the new merchants account CSR, Brody contacted my company about providing credit card processing services. After hashing out details Brody presented me with a reasonable contract. The contract stated as follows: 1.69% transaction fee on Master Card and Visa transactions, no batch or header fee, no monthly charge fee, no annual fee, free terminal setup, and no cancellation fee. I had my own terminal so no need to rent or buy another one. There was a dormant fee of $7.85 I would have to pay if account was inactive of course. I asked the CSR if there were going to be anymore fees related to this account the rep said no. I read the fine print and sent it over to my attorney for review. I thought this would be a good company to work with for credit card transaction. Well I thought wrong. That From day one I have had problems with Leaders. 1. Lost revenue in tip money transactions. 2. Every time I called in with a problem about my terminal the CSR told me my terminal was not PCI compliant that I would need to buy a new one. My machine at the time was less than two years old. If I needed a new machine the rep that I signed up with would had told me. If the machine was not PCI compliant I would not have joined Leaders nor could they be able to program the terminal. 3. Ridiculous $149 "PCI" compliance fee. If you refused to pay the fee Leaders would bill you $30 for not being compliant. My last transaction company only charged $29 annual PCI fee due tot he fact that I was a small business. Also the huge compliance fee and their so called standards were left out of the contract. The PCI fee is for those that have credit card information on file and my business does not keep that information on file. 4. Poor customer service. Representatives were not knowledgeable about transactions problems (either reading from a manual or being transferred to another CSR for assistance) and/or tried to get me to buy another terminal. 5. 11-15-10 After a month of being dormant and realizing the service was not for me I decided to cancel. I also found out the PCI fee was $149 and would start to be taken out in three easy installments in November 2010. If not, I would be charged an additional $30 for being non compliant. I did not agree to these fees. Upon the information I received and decided to cancel. I was transferred to Leaders cancellation department and spoke to Edwin a "supervisor". See, most companies try to keep your business when you threaten to close your account, this one doesn't. Total red flag. Edwin was extremely rude over the phone when I tried to cancel my account. He stated he would go ahead and send me a cancellation form by fax and he needed it by the close of the business day. He also told me there would be additional fees and penalties for closing my account. I told him that he needed to review my contract because the contract stated no additional fees would be charged apart from transactions fees that were processed for that month. He said that I would be charged additional fees upon the review of my contract. That those fees were unpreventable. I asked to speak to his supervisor and he refused to allow me to speak to someone higher up to resolve being charged "additional fees". I told him I needed to speak to his manager. Edwin, said he was the highest that I could go and I would have to deal with him. I told him he was not and he said yes he was and that he was correcting me. After getting no where with Edwin I hung up and called Leaders again to lodge a formal complaint against Edwin. The second CSR was rude as well so to no avail I gave up. I contacted Brody my original merchant representative. Brody said Edwin misinformed me and that he would have the manager of the cancellation department contact me. Brody pulled my contract stating that there should be no additional fees taken out period. I canceled my account on 11-15-10. December 1, 2010 a transaction fee of $99 "other fees" hit my bank account. I contacted my bank stating that the fee was fraudulent and my bank did a stop pay on the fee. For six months the stop pay would be effective. A representative from my bank told me that if a debit came through leaders it would not go through my bank for that period of time.
On 12-1-10 I called Brody from leaders asking him what the deal was with the "other fee". He assured me that it was a error and that the fee would be removed. Two weeks later I received a threatening letter from Leaders informing me if I did not pay the $99 other fee charge they would turn me into a collection agency. I called Brody again asking him if he rectified the $99 and I asked him again to have it removed. I received another statement/letter in the mail the first of January 2011 demanding the fee. On 1-10-11 I called Brody again to make sure he was working on getting the fee cleared up and he said that it was.
February 2, 2011 Leaders charged my bank account with a $350 cancellation fee. I called my bank yet again to do a stop pay. Since it was after 2 PM I would have to dispute the fee. My bank was generous enough to credit the $350 fee and the over draft fee until I could get this resolved with Leaders. I asked my bank why did this transaction fee go through and the rep stated that Leaders used a different name for the fee. (Right there that is fraudulent. They used another name to attempt to obtain more funds.) That day I called Brody at Leaders again informing him what happened.
Feb 3, 2011 Brody called back stating again he pulled my contract. He wanted to make sure that I was not suppose to be charged the $350. He assured me that this is was a computer error. The question is if my account was closed they should had removed my account information from their system. Brody stated he would put in a request to have the fee refunded back to my bank. If it was not credited back to my bank by 2-8-11 call him back immediately .
2-9-11 I called my bank to verify if funds were return, they were not.
2-9-11 called Brody to inform him funds were not returned. I told him to please contact accounting to get a ETA of when funds would be returned to my account. From there on I asked him to for now on contact me my EMAIL so that I would have it in writing.
2-9-11 Brody wrote in a email "According to accounting, your refund will be issued this Friday and you should see it about this time next week."

I will write back to give all an update if this gets resolved or not. Hopefully in a week it will and I can start the process of closing out my bank account. A total pain in the neck but no telling what they will charge the next time.

Here's some words of advice:

1. If you do business with Leaders and decide to cancel your account with them: Close out your bank account and have your banks reissue a new account. Tell your bank that you might be dealing with a fraudulent company and fees might be taken out. Most banks will understand. Any legitimate fees you owe them can be hashed out and paid with a cashiers check. This will save you the hassle of being charged fraudulent fees. If necessary get your attorney involved in the matter.
2. File a report with the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) if they are taking out fees without your permission or what was not agreed in the contract. Enough people complain about their fraudulent practices the government will step in.
3. Get everything that you do with this company in writing. Keep a detailed record of whom you spoke with, etc. This covers your butt.
4. If funds have been taken out of your account demand your banks do a stop pay or a dispute. For the dispute: Gather your documents for the bank. Also kindly ask the bank to credit the funds until you can get the issue resolved. You will have to get in touch with a supervisor to do this. I am very fortunate to bank with Frost Bank in Texas. I have always found my bank to be very accommodating.

You wait for Leaders to refund the money it might takes weeks or they might not refund your money at all.

Frankly, if I went on line to research this company I would have never been in this mess. Hopefully this might help someone out there to keep them from making the same mistake likes myself and others made.

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10:39 am EDT
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Leaders Merchant Services Scam Company - Won't Close Account - Insane Fees - Cheating, Backstabbing, Filthy Company

This company has lied, cheated and have been downright filthy the entire time. I was deceived by the sales rep, they didn't deposit all of the money I ran (hundreds of dollars were missing that I personally ran), I was yelled at and laughed at by "customer service", they would send my monthly statement after the fees were billed and when I called about an extra $90 or so they would tell me I was alerted on my monthly statement, they charged hundreds if not THOUSANDS of extra fees, have outrageous monthly minimums (that every time I called would be a different number and was so called fixed dozens of times), and to top it all off I have sent in my account closure 3 times and it they are STILL charging fees! Even though I sent in the form 3 times over 5 months and my contract is UP! Every time I call them they tell me that my account was closed and that no more fees will be charged - and then the next month I'm charged $100's of dollars! DO NOT PURCHASE WITH THIS COMPANY - DO NOT USE THEM IN ANY WAY. YOU WILL REGRET IT. THIS COMPANY IS 100% SCAM! A DIRTY FILTHY COMPANY! DO NOT USE THEM!

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6:52 pm EDT
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Leaders Merchant Services Charges Charges Charges

These people charge SO MANY FEES DO NOT GO WITH THEM. They are a credit card processing company. Told me 10 per month ended up being 40. They have no ethics at all. Please do not sign up with them, they cost me all my profit as a small business and just no way to get out of contract for one year. SO TERRIBLE. Chris Lopez sold me this account with a lot of lies and when I called him to complain and obtain justice, he put me on hold to never return to the call. So unethical. I was not even rude, I was just clear that this is not an ethical Company.

BEWARE OF THEM!

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8:29 pm EDT
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Leaders Merchant Services Credit Card Processing Company charging avg 7% per month

In February 2009 I began a 2 yr contract with fees that should have totalled less than 3%. Since then, with each passing month they have added or increased fees (e.g. yearly fee, PCI Compliance fee, security fee, batch header fee, and the worst- Add'l fees). Calling them is truly a waste of time. After looking on Better Business Bureau's website, I realized they had 140+ complaints against them. Because they settled most of them, they got a B rating! OMG. They should be investigated for fraud. My current Credit card processing company has 1 complaint against them that was settled and they've been around for over a decade. When I filed my own complaint on this site, they contacted me and agreed to refund my fees in Dec 2009. They wanted me to take the negative report off the internet. They refunded me the amount 3 months later after I hounded them again! To add insult to injury, the following month they charged me more unauthorized fees. So, just to give you a sampling, HERE are the FEE PERCENTAGES that they charged me from the past 6 months of 2010:

Jan 4.3% Feb 12.4% Mar 4.4% Apr 5.6% May 7.6% Jun 12%

My average gross ticket sales for credit cards is $1500/ mo. My new processing company has a monthly, not yearly agreement. I won't recommend them just yet until they have a good track record for 1 yr. Lesson learned from Leaders which starts charging you exhorbitant fees 2 months after starting with them. Currently, I have changed bank accounts because even if you tell your bank to "permanently revoke" any charges from this company, Leaders will slightly change their name to make the charge go thru. I can't even begin to tell you all their tactics. If you've wasted time with this company, you must complaint on BBB.org.

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9:51 am EDT
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Leaders Merchant Services Scam

I too have been scammed by Merchants. My complaints are all the same as everyone elses. I don't have time to list them all.
What a rip off!
Can't believe I was scammed!
I have shut down my bank account as I plan to close my account. I don't want them to take another penny!
Please tell me, what is a good credit acceptance company to go with?
Rose

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12:07 pm EDT
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Leaders Merchant Services UNETHICAL BUSINESS PRACTICES

Leaders has shown iteself to be highly unethical, deceptive and dishonest since June 2008. Every month they come up with new charges, claiming they had been billed all along. A most recent scam of theirs has to do with PCI DSS compliance, claiming their charge of approx. $125 is mandatory and coming directly from Visa. When checking with Visa, it was confirmed by them that "a processor or merchant bank cannot state a compliance fee is coming directly from Visa to be passed onto the merchant." Subsequently, Leaders having made this false claim, agreed to reduce this charge by 1/2. However, many other companies do not charge for this at all.

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1:13 pm EDT
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Leaders Merchant Services Extra fees holding money with no reason

Beware please don't make the same mistake like me
I wish I saw the bad reviews they have online before.
When you call the 877 sales number they will pickup the phone before it even rings, when you calling for customer service issue the case will be different.
Fees fees fees and fees, all of them will be discovered only after you sign and they have your money.

If you care about your biz and you cant effort late payments and extra fees every month, choose a different provider.

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3:25 am EDT
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Leaders Merchant Services Recent Victim of Leaders Bait and Switch Scam!

I guess I am now one of Leaders latest scam victims ): I just got a letter from Leaders showing that I would be charged the same $129 PCI charge that others here have been complaining about! I am a very small business owner (less than $10, 000 yr) and after researching the unscrupulous acts of theft by Leaders Merchant Services, I have to admit it has made me a bit depressed. Almost every month, I see a different charge on my account that was according to a Leaders representative " an error". When I signed up for the service, I explained over and over again that since I am disabled, my business is very small and that I would only need to process credit cards occassionally since most of my transactions were cash. The rep explained that I would only be charged IF a card was processed for that month. If no cards were processed, no fee would be charged. That was unfortunately a lie. When I found that I had been charged, I called in to have the charges removed, I was told that my account would be credited for the past three charges that were "errors". Another lie. What I got instead was a letter stating how sorry Leaders was in regard to the fact that they were now having to "pass on" new fees to me that were being passed on to them by the banking industry. So I can expect to pay about $5 per month in addition to $0 which is what I am supposed to be charged even if I dont use the terminal! The next day I got another letter from them stating that I was going to be charged the $129 PCI fee. They also charged me a $15 penality for not having my computer checked by a certain time to ensure that it was PCI compliant. I was never informed about a compliance check date. When I asked how would I know when to go through the PCI compliance check in the future, I was told that there was no particular date and that the best thing they could advise me to do was to call back every two months to see if I was due for another compliance check. If I dont find out in time, I will be charged another $15 penality. All of this trouble and I have only used the terminal five times in the last year for transactions that totaled about $200! I didnt even have the $129 to pay them this fee. The funds that they are taking out of my account to pay this fee is from my social security check.

So far, it has cost me more money to have this credit card terminal than I have made with it! The guy who assisted me with opening my account (Clarence Booker) seemed to be so nice. I trusted him and now I feel ashamed and embarrased because my instinct told me that the offer he was giving me sounded too good to be true. I dont know how he can sleep at night with a clear concious. I spoke to him for about an hour making sure that I understood that I would ONLY be charged if I used the terminal along with the card processing fees. $9.99 per month (if I used the terminal) plus processing fees were to be my ONLY costs! According to him, he wanted to help me and was even going to waive the annual fee to show his support for small business owners like myself. I dont know what to do at this point. But just like the others that complained here, if you are looking for a credit card processing company, DO NOT go with Leaders Merchant Services. It is a bait and switch scam and the sad part is that they apparently do not have a concious nor do they feel remorse for stealing from people who they convince that they are trustworthy. Even though I am struggling to make ends meet with my business and in my home, I would never take advantage of someone by lying to them up front with full intentions of scamming them. I was told that I would have the option of not renewing my contract for next year when I first signed up. Now, I am concerned that this is a lie as well. I will be joining others here by filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau but I am very interested in knowing if the state attorney general needs to know more about what Leaders is doing to people.

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Thought I was scam proof!!
King Ferry, US
Jul 14, 2010 9:14 am EDT
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I am also a victim...same problems...what should I do about it?
I don't have enough time to go through all the problems I have had with Merchants Leaders Bank. They are thieives!
Tell me, what is a good company to go with for accepting credit cards?
And where else can I complain.
Rose

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Jim in MA
Danvers, US
Jun 08, 2010 11:23 am EDT

ONE THING MOST PEOPLE DONT KNOW! If you don't accept debit by pin debit cards you need not pay for it. They have you in the wrong catagory. You can still take Visa/MC debits run as credit, AND you don't need to pay it if you use dial up instead of Internet for the authorizations.. BANKS ARE SLIME and won't tell you this. I had them remove it and refund it to me at my business from Chase Paymentech. Also, they tried to charge a relative the same way until we talked.

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10:28 pm EDT
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Leaders Merchant Services harassment and deceptive selling

Following initial contact a week ago with Leaders to inquire about their credit card processing rates, I received a barrage of phone calls over two days — yesterday and today (June 2 & 3, 2010) — by various sales people pretty much demanding to know why I chose a competitor. Despite repeatedly telling Chris yesterday that I didn't want any further contact with them, the calls persisted. Twice upon answering today, all I heard was their recorded commercial. One rep (Blair) called me this afternoon, and when I answered, he claimed that it was his phone that rang; that I had called him. (Of course, my phone record can easily disprove this.) Once on the phone with Blair, he, too, got me to admit that I had at one time called his company, then began to grill me to why I chose a competitor. When I told him I didn't want him or his company to call me any more, he again insisted that it was I who had called him, and that he had no idea who I was. (I recorded this conversation.)

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10:19 am EST
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Leaders Merchant Services Shady Business

This company overcharged to the tune of 30 extra dollars every month and came up with every fee you could think of. In any case when I tried to use my terminal which worked for about 60% of the time, it no longer worked, even though it ran a ticket number. When I called to cancel the service, they waited 45 days after the signed cancelation to stop charging my acount. I called to ask why my acount had been charged and they told me they have the right by the contract to continue to charge my acount until for up to 30 days after they review the cancel docs. Be aware of these practices.

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merchantVictim
San Jose, US
Mar 26, 2010 10:28 am EDT

Frankly I have never dealt with a company that will do business like this, no wonder there is a class lawsuit against them on how they treated their own employees

http://www.wcclaw.com/CM/ClassActions/ClassActions11.asp

My experience with Leaders Merchant Services have been a nightmare, yes, they do have a persistent and crafty sales team to get you sign the contract to go with their services, but soon you will find out different kinds of fees mysteriously show up on your statement, some in the fine print of the contract and some are up to the interpretation of the customer service reps you talk to. I was obligated to stay with them for one year, or I would have to pay $250 penalty fee.

Last October, I received a letter from them saying that they would charge a one-time so-called $109 PCI Compliance fee that was not in the contract, I bit the bullet and paid the $250 cancellation fee so I didn't have to deal with them again, nonetheless, they went ahead and charged me $109 saying that they took two weeks to process my cancellation request fax, and the fee hit before they finished processing.

That wasn't over, just yesterday, 4 months after my account closure, I again saw a charge from Leaders for $69.16, a so-called pro-rated PCI Compliance fee automatically billed by their "system". I wouldn't go into all the details of each absurd conversation I have had with their call center.

I just hope you are fortunate enough to read this thread before you sign up with them, and hope all the complaints from other victims will sound an alarm for you. Good luck!

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Leaders Merchant Services Unauthorized fees, not processing cancellation

This company continues to charge us monthly, including additional fees they say they are allowed to charge based on our contract. Security updates, American Express charges (we don't even accept American Express per our contract!), anything they can think of the charge us for.

Well, we have submitted cancellation paperwork 3 months in a row, but it is never processed. You call and ask for a supervisor, they are never available, and do NOT return their messages. There is little I can do, except close my business account. I cannot afford all these fees monthly, and my current bank is unwilling to do anything about a charge unless it is done within 24 hours. I can tell you, I have better things to do that check my bank account twice a day to make sure these jerks aren't charging me yet again.

I am so tired of this company, their policies, their staff anf their complete lack of morals. If you want an honest opinion, do NOT do business with this company!

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smallbizmom
None of Your Biz, US
May 05, 2010 10:08 am EDT
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I'm having the same problem. I've called 3 times now for charges to be reversed and still nothing has been changed. Today the woman on the phone said to allow 7 business days for my return check. I'm going to give them two weeks to return my unexplained charges. If not I'm also going to have to close my account as well. It's too scary knowing they can take whatever they want out of my account and give me little to no explanation for it!

If you are looking for a company to process your credit cards PLEASE STAY AWAY FROM LEADERS MERCHANT SERVICES. Save yourself the headache!

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SR-LMS
Camarillo, US
Feb 09, 2010 2:09 pm EST

TO :BookstoreBeenScammed:

LEADERS would like the opportunity to help this merchant with the issues they have with their account. However, this complaint does not provide us with enough account detail to properly assist the merchant. We urge this merchant to contact our Merchant Services department at [protected] (option 2) and to have bank statements and merchant ID number ready for account review.

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BLIOND
ORLANDO, US
Feb 07, 2010 10:05 pm EST

stay away from them!

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Stop being dumb
Roseville, US
Feb 05, 2010 5:52 am EST

shoulda read your contract. what are you going to get from this complaint, really? Money? What satisfaction are you going ot get from wating your time like this?

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10:19 pm EST
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Leaders Merchant Services Scam

I like many others have been scammed by this company and their slimy sales agents. I run a small boat rental company and searched for a company that had small monthly fee's and would allow me to suspend the account in the winter. I was told the most I would have to pay was $30.00 a month which was for my cheap little machine and a $25.00 minimum discount rate. Everything was fine for the first 3 months and then I received a charge for an annual fee of $100.00 when I've had only been with them 3 months. I was told it would be reversed but guess what I've still not received it back. Then I called to have may account suspended as promised but was told I would still have to pay $15.00 a month for a suspension fee. Now I'm receiving monthly bills of over $100.00 a month for god knows what. I originally assumed that $100.00 was the discount on the card but my business has been shut down for 2 months now and I'm still being billed. What's funny is it varies every month anywhere form $100 to $150 and remember I've not charged a card in 2 months. I'm considering just disputing the charges with my bank and putting it in their court. PLEASE STAY AWAY FROM THEM THERE ARE MANY COMPLAINTS ON THIS SITE WITH SIMILAR STORIES.

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All Around Leak Detection
Cicero, US
Mar 26, 2014 5:20 pm EDT

I tell you what I have never been or I should say screwed over by a company I was told no monthly fees as I was complaining to the salesman about intuit charging me three different charges every month.. and oh yeah when I went to cancel they said I was on a three year contract and it would be $250 to cancel early when I know I signed a one year I'm not sure what all to say except I wish I had never used leaders merchant services the e charged me more than I've charge by far I had to close my bank account because they kept charging me under different names when I would put a block on them ...I really wish I knew a way to sue there ### outta business! I now use square for my field payments and merchant one and so far so good! Live and learn...

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CODY J TRAVIS
Loxahatchee, US
Dec 16, 2009 7:51 pm EST

you would be a FOOL to sign with this company, They will promise you the world and give a a big pile of [censored]
instead STAY AWAY, STAY AWAY from leaders

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CODY J TRAVIS
Loxahatchee, US
Dec 16, 2009 7:48 pm EST

They did the same thing to me < after i got so fed up and cancelled they stole 550.00 dollars from my bank account THIEVES AND LIARS to say the least
all aluminum solutions

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SR-LMS
Camarillo, US
Dec 14, 2009 12:15 pm EST

LEADERS would like to take this opportunity to address the concerns this merchant has had with our company. We would like to state that we at LEADERS, take pride in providing all of our merchants with superior customer service and we take immediate action if this has not been the case for any of our merchants.
We have carefully reviewed the merchant’s account in correspondence to the complaint and it is unclear as to why the merchant believes that we have mischarged their account. Per the last 6 months of the merchant’s monthly statements, the merchant’s processing account was charged directly in accordance with the contract terms. Since we never received a signed seasonal hold form from the merchant, this merchant’s account was never placed on a seasonal hold and there is documentation indicating that the merchant has been processing credit cards as late as November 2009. As for the $99.00 annual fee the merchant says was never refunded, we have full documentation of this being issued on October 13, 2009. If for some reason, the merchant still cannot find the monetary deposit, we ask the merchant to please contact our Customer Service department and be prepared to send in bank statements for refund review. In addition to the above, LEADERS, as a good faith gesture, has gladly agreed to refund this merchant the following: 2 months of $10.95 iAccess (which has been cancelled, per the merchant’s request), one Monthly Minimum of $25.00, and one month of Security fees at $3.00. The total refund will be in the amount of$47.90. LEADERS has also placed the merchant’s account on seasonal hold and in the month of December, the merchant will only be responsible for the $11.00 account hold and the remainder of the PCI compliance fee.
We would like to thank this merchant for coming forward and bringing this to our attention. LEADERS would like to also like to wish the merchant well in the future and thank them for their continued patronage with our company.

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Leaders Merchant Services - Unauthorized charges

I opened my leaders statement and found some strange unexplained charges. I own a small business, I'm the only employee, for the month of May I had a total of 1081.30 in charges. I occurred fees for 70.66, 39.00 of it was listed as **additional fees with no explanation. Now they also take monthly user fees from my bank account for using their service...

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Leaders Merchant Services Rip Off

Leaders Merchant Services gets you to sign up with a one year contract with no fees and a decent rate. Then after one year they bang you out with a list of fees from dormant fees to access fees. When I complained their excuse is they made a notation on one of my statements saysing that there may be some fees applied to recoup an increase from Visa. In addition they wont refund me for charging me for a service that I did not even sign up for. They are a true rip off. Stay away from them.

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hateleadermerchant
pasade, US
Jul 26, 2010 10:52 pm EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

hateleadermerchant
Leaders is a LIE! A SCAM! STAY AWAY!
Terrible terrible company. I am finally getting out of my 2 year contract. I shouldve gotten out sooner. They charged me unexplainable fee's too.
With all those fee's it probably wouldve been better to leave the first year.
Service is unbelievably terrible.
Never go with them EVER! They steal your money away. Worst people to work with.
All very non-educated. All they know are about the additional fees they keep popping out at you for NO REASON!
STAY AWAY FROM THEM!
I will do everything I can in my power to have no-one, NO ONE go with them!

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LOMTFTL
ft. lauderdale, US
Jan 04, 2010 4:26 pm EST

Run from these people do not give them your bank account number if you do close the bank account do not let them in !

Leaders Merchant Account are the biggest crooks I have ever dealt with They start you at a low rate and then hit you with all kinds of fees dormancy, maintenance, monthly, annually and you have to notify them and Wells Fargo in writing 60 days prior to end of contract that you will not be renewing and then guess what a year later we get a annual fee $99 withdrawn from our account which they say since or contract terminated in Jan that was all they needed for a whole year of fees They said there is no prorating of rates whether its a day or a full year

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CODY J TRAVIS
Loxahatchee, US
Dec 16, 2009 6:58 pm EST

DONT SIGN WITH THEM, THE WORST COMPANY IVE EVER DEALT WITH
they will screw you royaly, they will make them selves at home with youre bank account .
They care only about stealing money, You would be a FOOL if you trust them
ALL Aluminum Solutions
west palm beach, florida

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SR-LMS
Camarillo, US
Oct 12, 2009 6:37 pm EDT

The merchant’s account was closed due to an excessive number of cardholder disputes. LEADERS did not cause the cardholder disputes and has worked with the merchant for several months to try and correct or alleviate the issue. Processed funds were held on the merchant’s account to secure against future losses, as LEADERS hold the liability of any loss associated with the merchant’s account. LEADERS has been more than cooperative with the merchant in explaining the loss and providing a detail of the amount due. The merchant is more than welcome to contact our Merchant Support and Risk Department for an additional accounting detail of any funds due. To reiterate, the amount due was caused by the merchant’s clients disputing items and not by any action taken by LEADERS.

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Speedy059
Chandler, US
Oct 08, 2009 2:44 am EDT

I'm so fed up with with the pathetic "Leaders Merchant Services". They have cost our company $4000 in the month of June. When you first sign up they treat you like royalty. When you get charged up the butt and you ask them nicely they are very pushy and rude on the phone. When I called to ask a simple question about our funds being released, a lady said she will have to transfer us to voicemail...and before I could say anything she quickly did it and I never got called back.

If you value your company, and you are small business trying to grow your business in this recession, stay away from Leaders Merchant Services as they will destroy your company. With all of these complaints all over the internet, you would think they would practice some customer service...company is a joke.

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Small buisness
St. Louis, US
Sep 09, 2009 10:38 pm EDT

I agree with every word! sales lady is the sweetest in the world, saying no hidden charges and no extra fees beyond 3% $0.75 per trx. You start with no setup fee and a promise of flat fee, with commitment for 1yr. 3 months later $99 fee, and 7.30 'dormancy fee' - their rude rep can only say - its in the contract. hidden, well hidden in tiny letters in sections you would not expect anything about fees. what to get out? ha - you'll have to pay $350 for that 'service' and it turns out the contract is 3yrs long! they are rude on the phone and the web is full of complaints about them. I wish I had checked BEFORE signing up. now I need to watch my account on a daily basis for unauthorized charges. I might cancel and cut my losses with these crooks.
ah, and its just pathetic to see their standard response on this site. "would like to apologize etc etc."
STAY AWAY! WARNING! THIEVES!

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SBR
Camarillo, US
Aug 04, 2009 2:51 pm EDT

LEADERS would like to apologize to this merchant for the experience he had with our company. We at LEADERS pride ourselves in providing our merchants with excellent customer service and to hear a complaint such as this is truly disheartening.

LEADERS has reviewed this merchant’s two accounts. In accordance with the merchant’s signed contracts, Schedule of Fees, page 2 of 4, all fees are clearly stated. In addition to this, all rate increases are clearly stated on the merchant processing statements 30 days in advance, if a rate increase occurs at all. All charges incurred by the merchant were for the processing services and PCI-DSS services rendered through the merchant’s two separately signed contracts with LEADERS.

LEADERS regrets that the merchant feels our services were unsatisfactory and we apologize to the merchant for the misunderstandings he had with our company, LEADERS would like to wish the merchant well in all future endeavors.

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Leaders Merchant Services holding my money

My customers have my product & leaders refuses to release the funds. My maximum charge amount allowed was $20, 000 a month in sales. The sales Leaders says are "on hold" are less than $3, 000.00. Then, they closed my account. The reason given was that I "charged to much for each disk".

Results.
31 people have my software and only 2 have paid for it. I have no recourse and NO help from them getting my product back. 5 out of the 31 people were called by Leaders "risk management" Leaders says they had one complaint. Complaintant had already been issued a RMA and returned all product EXCEPT THE SOFTWARE DISK!

I have had only a few returns in the 3 years I have been processing with them. Any help or leads as to how to get my money please advise.

Joe
FenceMaker

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SR-LMS
Camarillo, US
Oct 12, 2009 6:36 pm EDT

The merchant’s account was closed due to an excessive number of cardholder disputes. LEADERS did not cause the cardholder disputes and has worked with the merchant for several months to try and correct or alleviate the issue. Processed funds were held on the merchant’s account to secure against future losses, as LEADERS hold the liability of any loss associated with the merchant’s account. LEADERS has been more than cooperative with the merchant in explaining the loss and providing a detail of the amount due. The merchant is more than welcome to contact our Merchant Support and Risk Department for an additional accounting detail of any funds due. To reiterate, the amount due was caused by the merchant’s clients disputing items and not by any action taken by LEADERS.

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Speedy059
Chandler, US
Oct 08, 2009 2:49 am EDT

Sure is funny how big of a scam Leaders Merchant Services are. There are hundreds of scam/[redacted]s about their business and all they do is say "sorry" and do nothing more. Good luck trying to review your account with them as they suggest, they will just be rude to you a belittle you and then finally pass you on to a voice mail of some unknown employee who will never call you back.

This company has so many ongoing problems and issues with current/past merchants, be best not to do business with them.

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SBR
Camarillo, US
Aug 06, 2009 2:36 pm EDT

LEADERS would like to apologize to this merchant for the experience he has had with our company. We at Leaders Merchant Services pride ourselves in providing our merchant’s with superior customer service and to hear a complaint such as this is truly disheartening.

LEADERS has reviewed this merchant’s two separate accounts. Per our internal system records and our Risk Management department, LEADERS has found that both of the merchant’s accounts were closed due to excessive chargebacks, cardholder complaints and security risks. There were, in fact, funds held and placed on reserve as a result of the merchant’s risky processing. These funds will be reviewed for release in October, 2009. Risk is a very serious concern in this industry. All processes regarding high-risk transactions and chargebacks are clearly outlined in the Merchant Processing Guide, page 15, section 10.1, “Chargebacks and Other Debits”. It is the merchant’s responsibility to follow the parameters in this guide in order to limit the risk of chargebacks, losses and further damages. If, for some reason, the merchant did not retain his original copy of the Merchant Processing Guide, he can locate a free, downloadable version at: www.leadersmerchantservices.com/merchant-services-help-center.htm

We, at LEADERS, regret that the merchant feels that our services were less than satisfactory. Under the circumstances, we followed standard industry practices. Once again, LEADERS would like to apologize to this merchant for the misunderstanding and we would like to wish him well in all future endeavors.

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Leaders Merchant Services Leaders withdrawls hidden fees from bank account without prior notification

Leaders withdrawls hidden fees from your bank account without prior notification. PCI annual fee of $30, Leaders annual fee of $100, etc...

I asked very specific questions and read the agreement and these fees were NEVER disclosed. I found out about them by looking at my bank statement!

DO NOT trust Leaders Merchant Services!

Just use QuickBooks instead. Their fees are stated up front and I never had a problem with hidden fees from them in the past. I should have just paid the extra .20% and up front setup fee in the first place...I have now switched. Lesson learned!

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CODY J TRAVIS
Loxahatchee, US
Dec 16, 2009 6:53 pm EST

100% correct > DONT SIGN WITH THIS COMPANY they will steal your money, Every night you will have to check your bank accout because you never know what they are going to steal from you today.Only used there services a hand full of times but some how my fee's are more than i take in.They will use youre bank account at there leisure. If you go with this company youre a FOOL.
BY FAR THE WORST COMPANY EVER. "Scam Artist who no the legal services "

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SR-LMS
Camarillo, US
Oct 12, 2009 6:38 pm EDT

The merchant’s account was closed due to an excessive number of cardholder disputes. LEADERS did not cause the cardholder disputes and has worked with the merchant for several months to try and correct or alleviate the issue. Processed funds were held on the merchant’s account to secure against future losses, as LEADERS hold the liability of any loss associated with the merchant’s account. LEADERS has been more than cooperative with the merchant in explaining the loss and providing a detail of the amount due. The merchant is more than welcome to contact our Merchant Support and Risk Department for an additional accounting detail of any funds due. To reiterate, the amount due was caused by the merchant’s clients disputing items and not by any action taken by LEADERS.

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Speedy059
Chandler, US
Oct 08, 2009 2:46 am EDT

Agreed, they nickel and dime you to death. If you are a small business you must not go with Leaders Merchant Services. They will take everything you make and speak very rudely to you on the phone.

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SBR
Camarillo, US
Aug 06, 2009 2:29 pm EDT

LEADERS Merchant Services would like to apologize to this merchant for the experience she had with our company. LEADERS would be more than happy to review this merchant’s account and address his concerns with our company; however, this complaint does not provide LEADERS with enough information to locate this merchant’s account.

LEADERS invites the merchant to please call our Complaint Resolutions Specialist, Cindy Schwerdtfeger, at [protected] extension 137 in order to begin the merchant account review process.

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