APPSTAR FINANCIAL BYER BEWARE, RIPOFF, UNRELIABLE INFORMATION GIVEN BY SALESMAN FORT WORTH Texas

: Merchant Processing Account Dear Carol, We have received the complaint that you have posted on the Internet in regards to AppStar Financial. We have reviewed this complaint and our response is as follows (this was the response that was forwarded to First American Payment Systems as well): We have reviewed the account and the letter that was forwarded to AppStar. The merchant was boarded in March of 2009. The merchant processed $172.14 in March of 2009. Since the merchant came on at the end of the month, we refunded the EOM fees in the amount of $34.95 even though the merchant did process. The merchant also processed $1171.40 in April 2009. In regards to American Express, the Merchant Processing Agreement was completed and filled out as American Express being declined. The merchant received the Welcome Letter and package that outlined the profile and set up. Our office attempted to contact this merchant multiple times and I personally left several messages for her. When we did contact the merchant she was too busy to speak with us. I was finally able to speak to her and explained why she was unable to take AMEX and explained what we need to do so she could take it. Merchant again stated that she would call back when she could do this. As to only using the account one day, the processing will reflect that she used our service more than one day and in fact was over a 2 month period. It does appear that there was some kind of closing sent in with out a signature which we can not honor as close letter as the signature must match that of the legal signer on the account. In June we spoke with the Retention Division at FAPS that if the merchant closed the fees would stand which are $495.00. AppStar also sent out a copy of the Merchant Agreement and Terms & Conditions since the merchant did not agree with them. As to our standing, AppStar is an Accredited Merchant with the BBB with a rating of an A+. We believe that we provided this merchant with an excellent program for her business and that the American Express issue would have been easily resolved. It appears that the merchant decided to go back to their previous company and that they are unwilling to listen to Retention efforts. At this time, the closing fees will stand as AppStar has incurred real costs on this account. AppStar Financials set up this account as outline in the Merchant Processing Agreement which was sent out to your business along with the Terms & Conditions of this agreement. AppStar has incurred real costs on this account and feel that we have provided the service that was requested and have tried to resolve the issues to the best of our abilities. AppStar will stand by our Merchant Agreement and the closing fees will stand. Sincerely, Tami L. Rosselini Senior Retention Specialist/Operations Coordinator

While I can somewhat agree with Mackey's response that the owner should have used better judgment. Notice the sales person came out 6 times. They were wearing the owner down and most likely making pie in the sky promises about savings. I think the bigger question is why does this company and many others like them have a fee to cancel? $450 for what?? When you have a bank account and close it are you charged? Of course not. One is not buying a car and then taking it back to the dealer. As one that works in this industry these types of companies often hide the cancelation fee. It is never mentioned by the sales person. Much of the time it is in the terms and conditions which is often a separate document that is not made available. I suggest this business owner to go to you state consumer affair division or something similar and file a complaint to seek relief from them. I hope this helps. Ray at www.tampabaymerchantservice.com 

Why are you blaming AppStar, when you are clearly the one in error?  Any logical person will tell you that you never sign anything until you read it all the way through.  If you were "too busy" to read your merchant agreement with AppStar, why didn't you ask them to provide you time to do so?  Any ethical salesman would have allowed you to do so ... and if he hadn't, THAT would have been your red flag!

You are blaming them for a situation which is clearly of your own making.  You chose to ignore the fact that you now had a new merchant service provider and went back to your old one.  You knew it was going to cost you money to do so.  You need to stand up and take responsibility for your own errors, rather than trying to blame it on AppStar or the salesman.  Let the buyer beware is an absolutely correct title for this, but you should have followed your own advice before you signed on the bottom line.