Transone Merchant Services, First American Payment Systems Sneaky illegal cancellation charge Irvine, California

My business has been using this company since 2005 and for the most part everything has gone well. I'm trying to cancel the service with this company and now there's major problems with them. I was told by Tammy the office manager that I would have to pay $495 just to cancel our credit card processing with them. She told me that the cancellation fee is automatic and there's nothing I can do to stop this. Well the only thing this company wants you to do is not to ever leave. It appears that this company likes to automatically renew your contract every year without even contacting the client (Me) to ask if I would like to renew. This process is very sneaky and possibly illegal considering I'm not forwarned every single year this happens. This process should always be asked and put in writing with the customer so that I can review and decide on my own on what I would like to do about extending and contract. Anyone considering using this company should avoid using them, they are completely dishonest and don't even care if you've been a long time customer or not. Extremely Shady!