Vantiv fraudulent charges after cancellation Nationwide

Vantiv is a criminal, incompetent company. I changed providers after 10 years of being with Vantiv (including several years with a company they bought out). I called to cancel my account with them on 7/12/2016. I was never able to get through to anyone after trying for an hour. Finally I left a voicemail with their "loyalty" department, explaining that I am cancelling effective today and that I need someone to call me back as soon as possible to confirm. I gave them 3 days. I never got a call back from them.

I called them on 7/15/2016 to try again to get the cancel processed/confirmed. After 4 and a half hours on the phone, getting the runaround, I finally emailed the required Request Close Form to the customer service department. They were so incompetent that they said they were not able to send me an email reply confirming that they received it. I told them I was not hanging up the phone until I had something in writing stating that my account was canceled. I told them I needed this because I did not want to have to call back in a month when they drop the ball and have to dispute any future charges. They assured me they got it, finally sent me an email from customerservice@vantiv.com stating "Email received with close letter attached."

I did everything I could to cancel the account and even got a confirmation number 04408848 for the cancelation call. The agent said I could call back with that number if I had any trouble with future charges.

Well, guess what? My 7/31/2016 statement came in the mail and they charged me $189, including a brand new $169 annual fee for the next year!

Today on 8/17/2016, I called them again. Over an hour on the phone with another incompetent agent, she says there is no record of my "Request Close Form" and they have no record of the email confirmation they sent from customerservice at vantiv.com (which I have a printed copy of), and my account is still listed as Active. She asked me to hold, came back with the same thing that she did not see my email or request close account. I told her I didn't care and that I needed my money back now or I was going to the police to file a report and then to my bank to report the fraud. After a long time of trying to get through to her that the account was already canceled and I wanted my money returned to me now, I told her she has 8 minutes to figure it out or I was hanging up and heading to the police department. She came back after 2 more minutes and said the same thing that she could not find my close request form. I told her she was out of time, told her off, and hung up on her.

I then went directly to the police station and filed a fraud report against them. From there I went to my bank (Chase) and filed a fraud report with them. I showed them my evidence, which they did not collect, and paid $30 more to put a stop on Vantiv's future ACH transactions. I informed Chase that if they side with Vantiv, I will be closing all business and personal accounts, which I have held there for over 10 years.

Now, my wife is on the phone with Vantiv telling the same story and still getting nowhere with them.

My advice - do not use this company, they are crooks and it is impossible to cancel. They are incompetent and unable to help when you need them. Plus they add ridiculous fees constantly which is why I left them in the first place.