Horror stories about merchant account/gateway companies

I've been researching PayPal and list of other gateway payment credit card processors online. I was a bit shocked to read the many complaints against almost all of them, including PayPal for frozen accounts, not transferring money in the allotted time, sudden cancellation of accounts, holding funds for up to 180 days, putting suppliers in deep financial and legal trouble with the customers and other what I consider scam type procedures not to mention charging various additional fees and rude or no phone support. Does anyone know of a 100% or reasonable gateway payment credit card processor with a good reputation that they haven't had any problems with? I'm very concerned about picking a bad one and not being able to honor a customer's order because of funds being held up for some silly reason on the say so of a credit card merchant company that decides to freeze my account and will not respond to request for information as of some the the complaints I have read on the internet.

Terry

Hi Terry,

PayPal offer support as good as anyone, but they can place holds on new accounts at times. The best thing to do when starting an account with PayPal is to call them and speak with them about why you are opening the account and the amount of money you expect to be flowing through the account. Lot's of people compain, but what you will often find is that most of them, if any at all, ever even considered speaking with them before opening the account.

You have to remember that PayPal have these procedures in place for buyers protections. If you speak with them and provide them with any information they require up front, it can save you the heart ach of having any drama with them. Trust me, having dealt with PayPal for years and years, I've always found it a lot easier to speak with them up front than having to deal with them in a red flag situation.

Thanks for the info and advice Mark

Terry

I should also mention Terry, that it really depends on how you are using PayPal. You'll only be in danger of an account hold if you open an account, if you are just using PayPal to process online credit card transactions, then that's not a problem at all. That's because the card payment is authorised already once they process the payment, just like any store will get verification before accepting a credit card payment over the counter.

So for credit card payment, no issues at all. If you also want to send or receive PayPal account payments, then my advice is to speak with them prior to opening the account. They'll let you know what information they would like to see to confirm your account and that can help you dodge a lot of drama later on.

Cheers