IMerchant Direct imerchant services Kept my money instead of putting it into my bank account. Thousand Oaks California

I was contacted by someone I thought I could trust about credit card processing.  I was happy with the one I was using, but the thought of better fees and the fact that I actually knew the representative helped with my decision to try them.  The rep offered a credit card machine that would accept cards with the chip, so that was another incentive. 

I signed up near the end of August, but did not receive my machine until September 4 because the company said there was a problem with my bank account, that when they tried a trial deposit the info they got back said my account was invalid.  I spoke with several people.  I had provided a voided check at the time I signed up, so they had my information. I learned that my rep had omitted the first three digits of my account information when she put it into the system.  She said that she had changed the info and things would be fine then.

I left for an out of town trip on September 20.  I had used the machine several times during the week before I left.  No money was put into my account at this time, although I was promised funds on the next business day.  Since the account number had not been cleared until after my machine was installed, I believed the rep when she said the money would be there once the weekend was over. 

I received two phone calls from iMerchant while I was out of state.  I told them that I would call them when I was back and gave them the date. When I got back on October 3, no money had yet appeared in my bank account.  I spoke with someone named John who said they had to verify that I actually signed up since there was a difference in the account number.  I do not understand why my conversations with their rep in addition to my voided check was not enough. 

After numerous phone calls, I did get some of my money, but they still owed me over $200.  I got a statement from them advising me of over $75 in fees that I was not told about at signup time.  When I called about this, I was told that some would be credited but they had to charge me $25 to verify with the IRS that my company was a valid company. 

Since none of the promises made to me had happened, I considered the contract invalid and sent in cancellation request.  They then charged me an additional $350 for my early cancellation.  They now have over $550 of my money.  In addition, I now have a useless charge card machine. 

I went back to my prior company and have been receiving monies promptly.  I would stay far far away from Imerchant Direct.    There is no real contact information for them on any of the paperwork.  Every phone call takes a long time because they are "experiencing a higher than normal call volume."