Total Merchant Services is a mid-sized merchant account provider and payment processing company. This is a company that provides several financial services to multiple merchant types, including but not exclusive to:
- Small businesses and enterprises
- Restaurants
- Gas-stations
- E-commerce websites
- Non-profit organizations
- Banks
- Credit unions
- Hotels and motels.
The available services for US and Canadian merchants include:
- Credit card terminals sales/leases
- Merchant accounts
- Check services
- Credit card processing
- Mobile credit card processing
- Mobile/social marketing
- Online statements
- Commission reports
- Security and fraud solutions
- Low volume processing and
- Gift cards
- Cash advances
- Total Merchant Services accept Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express
- The company offers custom interchange-plus and tiered rates for a company subject to change depending on the type of business and sales volume.
- Getting approved is fairly easy and a fast process with 4 days application and an additional 2 days activation time.
- They offer a variable start-up fee that can go as high as $245
- There is a monthly service charge of $10
- The monthly minimum is $25
- They offer a charge-back fee of $15
- The discount rate of 2.25% applies with a $0.20 transaction fee
- Standard agreements with Total Merchant Services are of 3 years after which they are auto-renewed.
- There are no early termination fees. However, there is a standard termination fee of anywhere between $0 to $295
- They offer a choice between Authorize.net and Advanced Merchant Services for your payment gateway.
- They offer and 24/7 terminal support service as well as a customer service.
Note-Worthy Things about Total Merchant Services
Our Views
After listing down all the necessary information to provide an overview of the Total Merchant Services for you, our readers, here is what we think:
First and foremost, the start-up charges seem exorbitant for a mid-sized processing company. Compared to one of the best credit card processing companies in the market, the Flagship Merchant Services which offer NO start-up charges, Total Merchant Services falls short.
While the possibility of no early termination fees means that you won’t have to pay any fines or damages when you close an account, there are various reports of PCI compliance fees and other undisclosed fees. All the hidden charges and variable fees attached to a Total Merchant Service account don’t work in the company’s favor; especially when there are other services out there offering better deals with no hidden charges.
Given the variety of services provided by the company, it may be a good choice for clients and customers; however, what we’ve gathered from the multitude of reports and reviews, the customer complaint ratio for Total Merchant Service seems to be unnaturally high. The many complaints against Total Merchant Services range from outrage over unethical independent sales agents to withholding funds, freezing accounts and the most common, horrible customer support service. A direct contradiction from their wildly advertised claim of ‘World-Class Customer Service,’ Total Merchant Services seems to be a big disappointment.
Over-all, we’d say there are much better credit card processing companies available to choose from.
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