QuickBooks Merchant Services Intuit Salesman failed to provide details of charges when signing up the service

Thank you for your remarks. 

There is some responsibility by my employee however that does not exonerate Intuit from breaking their legal obligation to have provided detailed information as well as the guidance you mentioned from the salesperson who should have informed us that a "merchant account" was not appropriate in this instance. 

You place far too much on the recipient of the service and much more than the law imposes. The fault primarily lies with Intuit and their salesperson. We shall have to wait and see how the attorney general views this matter. 

Thank you for sharing your opinion. 

No, we do NOT agree with your conclusion since it again overlooks a requirement under the law, that the salesperson had the duty and legal obligation to fully inform my manager as to all aspects including fees.  The requirement is fulfilled upon presentation of the agreement for review and signature; the agreement contains the rates.  Once that disclosure is made within the agreement, the legal obligation is fulfilled.  That is a legal fact you cannot get around.  To simply inform your designated agent (in this case, your business manager) of the fees orally would NOT comply with the law since any oral representation would not become a part of any contract.  It's sort of like Real Estate; no oral provision is binding unless that provision is written into the agreement.  Had the rate been orally communicated, and not included as a part of the agreement, then you might have a case.

Merchant agreements must be in writing for a whole host of reasons which are covered under the Statute of Frauds.

The other real difficulty, which you admit to, is that your business manager was unaware of what it is to be a merchant.  If the rate was orally presented, and the BM didn't comprehend that rate would be applied to every transaction, then what?  Are you going to sue because your manager didn't get it?  That's why the agreement is reduced to writing and signed so that there are no disputes or misunderstandings.  When I read my very merchant first agreement, I understood pretty clearly that I would be charged %, plus a fixed fee per transaction.  Your business manager should have immediately recognized upon reading the agreement that having a merchant account made no sense unless you can either pass the fee along, OR recognize the merchant fee as a legit expense that comes with the ability to collect funds via a CC.  For example, charities are not merchants and often don't sell anything, but some become merchants simply for the purpose of collecting donations, since many charities collect in excess of 50% of their annual donations via CC. 

However, in your case, it made zero sense for you to be a merchant - which is why I criticize the business manager for (a) thinking this was a good idea, and (b) not understanding what it means to be a merchant.  Now, you can offer a helpful benefit for the occasional need of a buyer who needed to make an unexpected or quick escrow deposit, so long as you can charge the customer a 5% fee for such a service, and write that into the contract.  I mean you could get 1 or 2 in a year that might agree to that.  Other than that, I see no reason to have a merchant account.

I should also criticize the dumb rep for not understanding your business.  Had the rep understood, the rep probably would have dissuaded your business manager somewhere along the way from getting a merchant account, and explain why.

I appreciate that you took so much time to address our complaint.

Yes, we are NOT merchants and thus NOT familiar with the CC charges.

Yes, perhaps our manager might have know but again, since we are NOT merchants and have never used or needed the CC transfer capability there would have been no reason for her to be familiar with this procedure and expense.

No, we do NOT agree with your conclusion since it again overlooks a requirement under the law, that the salesperson had the duty and legal obligation to fully inform my manager as to all aspects including fees. 

So, while merchants would know or be expected to know of the fee structure a real estate company definitely would not. 

We maintain our right for re-imbursement and have filed formal complaints acccordingly. 

The salesperson she dealt with when signing up did NOT explain the charges for making a credit card payment. This charge is 3.3% of the amount transferred.  When you sign a merchant agreement, you're signing up for a service that has the fees outlined in the agreement.  Sometimes, the fees are dependent upon whether the charge is VISA/MC, or AMEX, or Discover, but it's not uncommon for a merchant fee to be around 2.5%-4.0%.  It is important to know the percentage is largely paid to the CC companies - not Intuit - although Intuit likely picks up a small fee.  Your business manager must not be much of a business manager if she didn't understand the merchant fee process.  I mean all she had to do was go to the Intuit Merchant Services site and there is an entire tab on plans and pricing, which of course are the merchant fees.

I spoke with three different people at the company today. The first assured me the charge would be reversed and that she would follow up with an email confirmation. The email arrived saying however that the company had changed their position and they would not reverse the charge.  Yeah, I probably wouldn't reverse the charge either.  I'm not sure why I would if I were in Intuit's shoes.  I have a valid contract signed by your company entitling me to the 3.3% merchant fee.  If I reverse it, then I reverse every single merchant fee for you.  Then I have to pay the CC company.

Company policy the supervisor said was that the salesperson would have had to thoroughly explain the charges the company made. This did NOT happen otherwise my business manager would never have agreed or signed up. After all, we are not merchants selling products. We are a real estate brokerage office accepting earnest money deposits to go directly into a bank escrow account.  Again, this is where having a really bad business manager isn't helping you.  Merchant fees are clearly outlined in any agreement; whether the business manager simply ignored it is more than possible.  Additionally, you do not have to be selling product in order to utilize a merchant account.  Charities, service providers, etc... all utilize merchant accounts.

It is inconceivable that a buyer would pay a fee of 3.3% for a service when all they had to do was to write a check or arrange a wire transfer from the bank for a fee of $1.  Again, this is where having a business manager with no knowledge really doesn't help your business.  The original assumption was that the CC service would be offered as a convenience for the customer.  That convenience comes at a cost to you, just as the $1 wire fee comes as a cost to you.  For $1, the wire or ACH fee is not much of a cost.  Merchant fees are more of a cost.  The question is whether you are passing that cost onto your customer?  Probably can't.  Had your business manager done any sort of research, she would have found entire pieces on the internet just on merchant fees.  She would have never suggested the idea had she even done that little research.

If I'm you and your business manager thought this was a good idea, then perhaps you need a better business manager....??  Merchant fees are very standard whenever you decide you're going to take credit cards.