In the late 2000s, as a broke college student struggling to make ends meet, I was contacted by a merchant services company after uploading my resume to a job listings website. This company promised substantial commissions and ongoing residual income for simply persuading businesses to accept credit card payments. It seemed straightforward enough—after all, what business doesn’t need to process credit card payments? Following a phone interview with a persuasive “sales director,” I found myself embarking on what I believed would be an easy job that would significantly boost my bank account with reliable monthly income and large sales commissions. However, the lessons I learned would profoundly change my life in ways I could never have imagined.
After completing my sales training, I hit the ground running, eager to make sales. This broke college student was determined to improve his financial situation! My first attempt at a cold call, with no prior appointment, ended with a burly man in his 50s yelling at me to leave, claiming he had been “totally robbed” by someone like me before. As I hastily exited, puzzled and intimidated by his reaction, I couldn’t help but wonder what he meant. Throughout the day, I encountered similar hostility from other business owners, all expressing disdain for the industry I had been so excited to join that morning. Confused and curious, I decided to shift my approach from selling to listening.
I quickly uncovered that the merchant services sector was riddled with unethical practices, including hidden fees, deceptive marketing, fine-print traps, and much more. It dawned on me that I had nearly been tricked by a dubious company into selling overpriced services under contracts with long-term commitments, all without being fully aware of what I was promoting. Outraged, I resigned from that company but learned that there were indeed ethical credit card processing companies that treated their clients fairly. Over the next four years, I worked for one such company, assisting hundreds of businesses in securing cost-effective processing solutions. Yet, I also met many more who had been misled and trapped in onerous service agreements. Determined to help people steer clear of these unscrupulous providers, I launched this website in my spare time, dedicating myself to researching and sharing my findings on every merchant account provider I could investigate.
Gradually, more and more business owners began to discover my articles. As word spread, search engines started to rank my content highly, amplifying its reach. My efforts were making a difference! Eventually, the website garnered enough traffic to enable me to leave my job and focus on it full-time, a journey that has now spanned over a decade. This path has not been without its challenges; unscrupulous company owners have tried to intimidate and sue me into silence on several occasions. Yet, I have stood firm against each threat. Here I am, continuing to publish reviews and articles, hoping to safeguard others from the pitfalls of the credit card processing industry.
If you believe in my mission and wish to contribute, please share my articles on your websites and social media. Thank you for visiting!
Zuwang Lin
Just to warn all the future customers, don’t use Wise Payment System (or AdvoPay, the same company, different name). They automatically renew your contract without informing you, so you always get charged for “early termination fee” at the end, no matter how many years you have been with them.
I had been a customer with them for 4.5 years, after I closed my accounts, I was charged $700 “early termination fee”. I contacted them to dispute this exorbitant “early termination fee”, they told me that my original 3-year contract was “automatically renewed” for another 3 years. And since I used two credit card machines (two accounts) in my restaurant, I was charged $350 each for “early termination fee”, not the equipment fee, I returned the credit card machines to them after I closed my accounts.
The “automatic renewal” term was never disclosed to me before I closed my accounts. I saved the original copy of application document which they provided to me by email attachment 4.5 years ago at application phase, the “automatic renewal” term was not included in the application document at all, so it’s not disclosed to me at time of signature. They admitted this fact in their own letter by saying that the “automatic renewal” term was included in a “welcome packet” which was sent to me AFTER I accepted their service, but they cannot provide any proof of delivery of the “welcome packet” which I have NEVER received from them.
Above all, stay away from this greedy company “Wise Payment System” or “AdvoPay “.
Jason Spector
Zuwang,
While you and I have personally been back and forth with this situation over the past month It is quite disturbing that you would post such negative remarks after utilizing our services for four and a half years and to my understanding, quite satisfied with the services we provided to you during this time. What you are forgetting to mention in your comments is that you completed the initial term and “anticipated” that your contract would continue on a month to month basis. Specifically, your signature and personal guarantee indicates that you fully understand the terms of the Merchant Processing Agreement that was provided to you (2 copies with FedEx and UPS delivery), outlining all program rules, guidelines and renewal policies.
Having an “A” rating with the Better Business Bureau I can assure you that we are a quality company that provides our merchant clients a variety of value added services and benefit to their company. The complaint posted here is quite an elaboration of misleading facts as a result of our customer of over four years experiencing changes in their business and cancelling a legal binding agreement of terms for service.
Due in nature to this specific customers continual elaboration of misleading facts, we fully anticipate another posting to this site. Again, while we have been in business for many years, consistently maintained an “A” rating with the Better Business Bureau all while servicing thousands of merchant clients on a daily basis our focus remains the same,
* Provide effective education that empowers our clients to meet their objectives.
* Remain on the forefront of innovation by providing integrated service solutions
* Exceed our clients demands for transparency, speed and efficiency.
Thank you,
Jason Spector
Chief Strategy Officer
Zuwang Lin
Mr. Spector is a dishonest business man. What he claimed in his response was not true. The hard fact is that his company (Wise Payment Systems) failed to disclose the “automatic renewal” term to me at time of signature. He was distorting this fact by playing a bait and switch game with DIFFERENT versions of “Merchant Process Agreement”.
The first version of the “Agreement” is the “contract” version, which was a part of the original “Merchant Application” package I received on 2/5/2009 at 12:55 PM by email attachment from Wise Payment System. This contract version “Agreement” was the ONLY agreement I received at application phase. On 2/6/2009 at 3:49 PM, I emailed back the signed “Agreement”(application/contract) to Wise Payment Systems by email attachment. Evidently, the “automatic renewal” term was not included in this “Agreement” (application/contract). I saved all the old emails and email attachments as evidence to document this fact that Wise Payment Systems failed to disclose the “automatic renewal” term to me at time of signature.
The second version of the “Agreement” was send to me by email attachment by Michelle on 9/10/2013 after I closed my account. This “Merchant Processing Agreement” was dated as July 2012 version. According to this version, my account was automatically renewed for another 2 years (until February, 2014), and the early termination fee is $350 per “location”. I questioned the date of this agreement (2012 version), since I signed my contract in early 2009. I also questioned them why I was charged total $700 early termination fees, since it’s $350 per location, and I only had one business location with two credit card machines.
The third version of the “Agreement” was sent to me in mail by Mr. Spector on September 12, 2013 after I questioned the date of their second version “Agreement”. This third version “Agreement” was titled as “Card Processing Agreement” with a version date of 2008. According to this version, my account was automatically renewed for another 3 years, and the early termination fee is $350 per terminal/account.
Both the second and the third version “Agreement” were sent to me after I closed my account.
Mr. Spector mentioned the UPS and Fedex delivery of 2 copie of the “Card Processing Agreement”. He was lying again, the UPS and Fedex shipments were for those two terminals (two credit card machines). Based on the receipt he provided in his email, the terminals were shipped on 2/11/2009 (UPS) and 3/2/2009 (Fedex), which was AFTER I signed the contract on 2/6/2009. I did received the terminals, and ONLY terminals, there was NO “Agreement” included in the shipments. On 2/11/2009 at 8:48 AM, I emailed Wise Payment System to ask about the shipment status of the terminals (credit card machines). At 10:16 AM of the same day, the company replied me with a UPS tracking number. The company did NOT mention that there was any important “agreement” included in the shipment, if it was really as Mr. Spector claimed that his company intended to ensure receipt of such an important document, they would have emailed me the document or at least notified me that it was shipped with the terminals. The former customer service representative didn’t mention such “agreement” at all throughout all her email conversations with me. I only received the terminals in the shipment, NO “Agreements”.
The current address (8477 Fishers Center Drive, Fishers, IN 46038) listed on this company’s website (www.wisepaymentsystems.com) is incorrect, the correct one is the one listed in their BBB profile. The company’s 1-800 number (1-800-387-6458) is an unmanned number. I was trying to close my account since 8/7/2013 by calling this 1-800 number and Michelle’s direct line (317-813-2526). According to my call records (downloaded from my cell phone account online), I made total 16 phone calls between 8/7/2013 and 8/26/2013, and I was unable to reach any living human beings. When I called them, I always left messages with my name, account numbers, my phone number and my request to close the accounts, but they didn’t call me back until 8/26/2013, which is more than two weeks since I left my first message. The company evaded any attempts to contact them by listing incorrect address on their website, and by using unmanned customer service numbers and not providing call-backs after a reasonable period (2 weeks +). I guess if you leave a message for opening new account, they might call you back faster.
Wise Payment Systems is only a sales agent, the card processing service is actually carried out by First National Bank of Omaha. Once you becomes a customer, all the customer service is through the Bank’s “Merchant Support Center” (1-800-683-2289), you only have to contact Wise Payment Systems again when you need to close your accounts. The fact that I was OK with the technical support offered by First National Bank of Omaha, doesn’t mean that I was satisfied with Wise Payment Systems’ service, actually the only service they offered is opening and closing the accounts.
Here is a suggestion for small business owners: you don’t need to sign up for credit card service through any sales agent/company, who might be a dishonest one, nowadays, you can contact the big national banks directly, and you get the same credit card processing service with a much lower cost. At the beginning of this August, before I closed my accounts with Wise Payment system, my new business partner had already signed up with a national bank for credit card processing service, in last two months, each month we can save about $500, comparing with the higher cost of Wise Payment Systems.
Here is another suggest for future Wise Payment System customers: please also search for reviews/complaints under the name of “AdvoPay”. Wise Payment Systems and AdvoPay are the same company or at least operated by the same group of people. When I contacted Wise Payment System ([email protected]) by email, all their responses were coming from AdvoPay’s email system (@advopayment.com). I searched these two companies on BBB, they have almost exact the same profiles, same business location, same management team, same business category, and same contact information. These two companies should be reviewed/rated together by combining all the complaints under each individual company.
Russell Mack
I can attest to Wise Payment Systems hidden auto renewal and early termination. I was with Wise for about 5 years. When I signed up with them there was no mention of any contract or termination fee. . I had to pay $450 after I canceled when I found out the rates continued to climb every year until they became outrageous. Good news is it was cheaper to pay the fee than to continue with them until my contract expired. They are not a trustworthy company and I strongly suggest to anyone to go elsewhere. Their statement reads like a fee fest with all sorts of charges $94 semi annual fee for being a customer, never disclosed at signing. A $10 on file fee, for being a customer. A$5.00 statement fee for being a customer. I give them a F-
Chris Smith
account number [redacted]. This is to inform you that we have called and talked to one of your reps and asked to discontinue your services only to be told we signed a five year contract. Your rep was told she was going to send this contract we supposedly signed and never did. Her name is Michelle and we called 10-15-12 . We never signed a 5 year contract nor would I have agreed to that. This is a warning to wise payments to stop services for this account immediately. We have attempted to call this scam of a company to not get anyone to answer the phones. If you do not stop this account immediately you will leave me know choice but to seek legal council. I will copy this letter and expect an answer before you draft another unauthorized payment from my account.
Phillip CPO
Hi Chris,
Just to be clear, you posted this on a review of Wise Payment Systems and we are not affiliated with the company.