Leaders Merchant Services review: Unauthorized charges 60

LEADERS Merchant Services would like to apologize to this merchant for the experience he had with our company. LEADERS would be more than happy to review this merchant’s account and address his concerns with our company; however, this complaint does not provide LEADERS with enough information to locate this merchant’s account.

LEADERS invites the merchant to please call our Complaint Resolutions Specialist, Cindy Schwerdtfeger, at [protected] extension 137 in order to begin the merchant account review process.

I experience the same exact things with leaders merchant services. Unauthorized fees like crazy. Their comments to this post say they would love to review the account, well my account was reviewed numerous times and even Leaders found that they were in the wrong and reversed the charges everytime. The point is that it took HOURS of my time to get these reversed.

I signed up with leaders over 2 years ago and signed a two year contract, the first year wasn't too bad, I had a charges hit my account numerous times that had to be refunded because they shouldn't have been charged- (first red flag). At about the end of the first year I talked to a rep about them denying me a charge for $2000 (saying I wasn't authorized for this, they wouldn't authorize me for this and my account was set up to run tickets of $80- although I had numerous transactions in the thousands in the past). Long story short the rep even told me to go somewhere else. I never used my account again and paid the monthly fee until the end of my contract. I send a fax to cancel last day of the contract. Week later I get charged 'annual fee' for $100. I called to get it reversed- month later still getting run around. Long short of it : Go somewhere else! Bad customer service, and many 'hidden/unauth' fees.

They may be willing to help once it gets to the point of posting on here, as Cindy was happy to give her number. The point is that it happens too much and is a waste of time and a large expense to do business with this company. I switched to First Data over a year ago, not one problem or fee I didn't know about that hit my account.

We, at Leaders Merchant Services, regret to hear that the experience this merchant has had with our company was unsatisfactory. LEADERS strives to provide each and every one of our merchants with superior customer services and to hear that this merchant was less than satisfied is truly disheartening.

LEADERS continues to set-up and maintain thousands of merchant processing accounts flawlessly, and we regret that the merchant did not receive the superior customer services that we continuously strive to improve upon and provide. LEADERS employs certain processes and procedures to help merchants understand their fees and the maintenance of their accounts, as well as to refund any charges a merchant may have been charged in error.

LEADERS would like to apologize to this merchant for any misunderstandings he may have had with our company and we would like to wish him well in all future endeavors.

I agree with every word! sales lady is the sweetest in the world, saying no hidden charges and no extra fees beyond 3% $0.75 per trx. You start with no setup fee and a promise of flat fee. 3 months later $99 fee, and 7.30 'dormancy fee' - their rude rep can only say - its in the contract. hidden, well hidden in tiny letters in sections you would not expect anything about fees. what to get out? ha - you'll have to pay $350 for that 'service' . they are rude on the phone and the web is full of complaints about them. I wish I had checked BEFORE signing up. now I need to watch my account on a daily basis for unauthorized charges. I might cancel and cut my losses with these crooks.
ah, and its just pathetic to see their standard response on this site. "would like to apologize etc etc."

Leaders continues to rip off its customers... tons of hidden fees...stay away from this company... I agree with all of the complaints.. I get hidden charges constantly I have to call Leaders three times a month about all of the charges that they arbitrarily charge...getting credit is next to imposible... and takes multiple phone calls and way too much time ... Leaders response is a lie STAY AWAY FROM THEM!

I am also a small buisness owner, DONT SIGN WITH LEADERS MERCHANT SERVICES ive never seen such a shady company, they will use you buisness bank acct like there own your fee's will be higher then the amount you take in.And if you finally had enough of them the will charge you 550.00 to cancel, but you wont know until its out of you account and into theres. By far the worst company Ive ever dealt with.
DONT DONT DONT, YOU WOULD BE A FOOL, THEN AFTER YOU SIGN YOU WILL BE A BROKE FOOL

CODY J TRAVIS
ALL ALUMINUM SOLUTIONS INC

LEADERS has reviewed this merchant’s complaint and we are rather confused as to why the merchant is requesting a refund. Our records clearly indicate that the merchant was refunded $350.00 on 12/18/2009, the full amount in dispute.

We would like to urge this merchant to review his account once more and if there are any further indiscretions, to please contact our Customer Services department at [protected] and to please have his bank statements ready for refund review.

I cancelled my account with Leaders Merchant Services well over a year ago because they charged outrageous hidden fees. At that time it took a BBB complaint and numerous phone calls to receive refunds for unauthorized charges and to get them to close my account and stop billing me. Leaders Merchant Services just ACH debited my Regions bank account $99.95 for an annual fee without authorization on December 28, 2009. I disputed the charge through my local Regions bank branch and Leaders denied it. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY! If you have used them I recommend changing your bank account number ASAP because they will continue to draft your bank account even after you cancel their service.

LEADERS has reviewed this merchant’s account. The merchant’s numerous complaints and postings here are unfounded, as we have worked very hard with the merchant to resolve the issues he had with our company. The merchant was refunded the full amount in dispute on December 18, 2009 after we contacted him for an account review. It was also at this time that we issued our full apologies for causing this merchant any additional distress.

Leaders Merchant Services is an outstanding processing company with thousands of flawlessly processing merchant accounts. We always endeavor to repair whatever issues may arise, working professionally with all of our merchants to maintain healthy and responsible relationships with our merchants and providing superior processing services.

LEADERS would like to take this opportunity to amend any of the unresolved issues the merchant may have with our company. We strongly encourage this merchant to please contact our Customer Service department at [protected], option 2 and to please have his processing statements ready for an account review if necessary.

:Shear Precision:
LEADERS has carefully reviewed this merchant’s account and has found that the merchant was charged the $99.00 Annual fee for her account as it was an open, processing account in the calendar year, 2009. This is a standard fee that was signed and agreed to in the contract on the Schedule of Fees (page 2 of 4). LEADERS has agreed to refund this merchant the full $99.00 Annual fee as a good faith gesture toward the merchant and would like to wish this merchant well in all future endeavors.

LEADERS would like the opportunity to help the merchant with any unresolved issues that they may have. Unfortunately, there is not enough information in this complaint for us to locate and contact the merchant regarding their account. We highly encourage the merchant to contact our Customer Service department at [protected] (option 2) and to please have your bank & processing statements ready for an account review.

As a small business owner and also a supervisor for the bank that Leaders Merchant Services uses, I'm looking to file a complaint internally to whomever will listen. I should have read the small print but since I always deal with customers with integrity I was naive to think that everything the sales rep was telling me was the truth. Needless to say, it wasn't! How can you charge an annual fee three months into a contract then charge the same annual fee on the aniversary of the account? Why don't they just charge the annual fee when the account is open like every other processor? I'll tell you why. Because you would know they're an unethical company right off the bat instead of three months into the contract period. Anyone looking for a Merchant card company, please do yourself a favor and look elsewhere. For myself, I just cancelled my account today with them and if they continue to take money out of my account, I'm going to raise hell here at the bank, my employer, who does business with them.

if you read this before you sign a contract with this company please STAY AWAY FROM THEM" MERCHANT NUMBER [protected]%%$%###

Just plain rediculous. Unfortunately I am another victim of this ravenous company. The previous complaints listed here have also happened to me. This company has also used their "sweet-talking" to convince me to use their services. I run a web-only business. For several months at start, they charged a fee for what they claimed was for supplies for my terminal. I explained that I do not use a terminal, eventually they agreed that the charges were not valid, and that they would send a check. It never arrived, and then the next month they charged the fee again. Finally after several calls, wasted time, they reimbursed the invalid fees for 3 months of invalid charges. This was episode 1. Episode 2, I was not told about the $7.30 dormancy fees. Found out the hard way that this is in addition to the minimum discount charge (which is what I thought it was for), but was placed in fine print in the contract. Thanks guys! Then Episode 3, they charged the unexpected $99.00 annual fee, apparently the "sweet-talking" representative forgot to disclose that one to me as well. Now here's the latest, Episode 4. After the 1 year annual fee, they raised their charges, and added $39.95 a month in additional fees! When I called to inquire about these charges that I was getting, they told me that they raised my minimum discount fee, added a security fee, and an iaccess fee? This now raised my processing expenses to $75 a month! Seriously keep this in mind when you consider signing on with this company! I placed a call to "customer care" and they have agreed to drop the $39.95 charges to $10 a month, but all the other fees are to remain. They were very friendly until I mentioned if they were going to refund the previous 6 months of unauthorized fees, then the tone changed drastically, and threatened with "your under contract with us for 2 years, and if you want to break contract, then you will be charged a $250 fee, it's legal". He also told me that I will have to notify them in writing over a month in advance that I will not renew. Obviously this is an extremely shady company, who masters the art of trickery and suckers many small businesses and sucks them dry. They blamed the fees on "our way of recovering expenses for the credit card companies that charge us for your account". Sounds like a line of bull to me. If you are prepared to have your $25 a month processing charge inflate to $75 a month, go with this company. Keep in mind that it will be actually $85 a month when you factor in the annual fee, and if you want to dump them, it's another $250! Obsurd! I can only hope that someone reads my complaint prior to signing on, and saves themself the troubles!

Well I have seen enough to not want to do business with leaders.

:AfterDarkRecording:

LEADERS has reviewed this merchant’s complaint in order to find a resolution on behalf of the merchant’s requests. LEADERS considers every merchant and their concerns valuable and LEADERS would like to offer its sincerest apologies for the misunderstandings that the merchant has had with our company. However, LEADERS has a signed record of this merchant’s contract in which the merchant signed and sent back. As with all LEADERS contracts, the terms, rates, and applicable agreements are clearly delineated throughout. Though we endeavor to work with all of our merchant’s to resolve any complaint, it is ultimately the merchant’s responsibility to read what they sign. As a good faith gesture, LEADERS has agreed to refund this merchant the $99.00 Annual fee (which is located on the Schedule of Fees, page 2 of 4 of the contract). LEADERS would like to thank this merchant for her time and we consider this matter closed.

:Bliond:
LEADERS would like the opportunity to help this merchant. However, this complaint does not provide us with an actual Merchant ID Number nor does it yield us with enough of the merchant’s information to resolve the issues that this merchant has had. We strongly urge this merchant to contact our Merchant Services department at [protected] (option 2) and to please have their statements ready for review.

leaders continues to charge me for fees after i have closed my account. i have been charged for 2 years of security fees for just 1 year of my account with them, thier fees are extremely high and the customer service is far less than one would expect, beware of this company, avoid them and tell everyone you know to stay clear of these theives

Same thing happened to me here. To minimize the fees, I suspended my account for much of the contract term. I then finally cancelled in November 2009. Now March 2010, they are charging me another $129. I really hate this company. DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THEM. I promise you too will be disappointed.

I find it amazingly funny that someone from Leaders replies. DON'T DO BUSINESS WITH LEADERS EVER! SO MANY HIDDEN FEES I AM WRITING MY SENATOR ABOUT THIS!
I have owned my own business for 19yrs Leaders is the worst CC processor that I have ever come accross. Stop using them, deny them access to your account ( you must go to your bank) All they know is hidden fees hidden fees!

I just signed up with this company yesterday- now i am completely scared. am i able to cancel? I dont want to deal with a bunch of bs like all of the people above. My business is just starting to get off the ground and I cant afford to have somebody rob me-

Leaders salesrep apparently gave a lot of false information to entice me to enter into an agreement with them. I was told that I had a seasonal account which would allow me to suspend service for 6 months and not incur fees. To date no one at Leaders could give me any details on this offer. I was told that the salesrep is no longer there. (what a surprise) Every month there is a new fee on the account that is not mentioned in the contract. They say they will refund the fees but never do. Instead, additional fees continue to appear on the account monthly.

One month, they deducted $2, 000 from my account stating that it was not authorized properly. When I ran the charge, I received an authorization number so I did not understand. I gave them all the documents they requested and to date I have still not received the $2, 000.

I was also charged with charge back fees. I, under the advice of a Leaders agent, duplicated several charges because I was told that they had not gone through. When the did go through, the charges went through twice so I refunded the duplicative charges to the customer. Leaders then charged me with several fees for charge backs when they would not have occurred had they not told me to run the charges twice!

On 5/7/10, I spoke with a supervisor named Chris who was extremely rude and stated he would not refund anything. It is apparent that this company is merely interested in misleading merchants. Proceed with extreme caution.
If anyone is interested in joining a class action against Leaders, please contact me at hobson666@aol.com. ---Tanya H.W.

I just got a statement from Leaders showing that I would be charged the same $129 PCI charge! I am a very small business owner (less than $10, 000 yr) and after researching the unscrupulous acts of theft by Leaders Merchant Services, I have become a bit depressed. Almost every month, I see a different charge on my account that was according to a Leaders representative " an error". When I signed up for the service, I explained over and over again that since I am disabled my business is very small and that I would only need to process credit cards occassionally since most of my transactions were cash. The rep explained that I would only be charged IF a card was processed for that month. If no cards were processed, no fee would be charged. That was a lie. When I called in to have the charges removed, I was told that my account would be credited for the past three charges that were "errors". Another lie. What I got instead was a letter stating how sorry Leaders was in regard to the fact that they were now having to "pass on" new fees to me that were being passed on to them by the banking industry. So I can expect to pay about $5 per month in addition to $0 which is what I am supposed to be charged if I dont use the terminal! The next day I got another letter from them stating that I was going to be charged the $129 PCI fee. They also charged me a $15 penality for not having my computer checked by a certain time to ensure that it was PCI compliant. I was never informed about a compliance check date. When I asked how would I know when to go through the PCI compliance check in the future, I was told that there was no particular date and that the best thing they could advise me to do was to call back every two months to see if I was due for another compliance check. If I dont find out in time, I will be charged another $15 penality. All of this trouble and I have only used the terminal five times in the last year for transactions that totaled about $200! I dont even have the $129 to pay them this fee. The funds that they took out of my bank account to pay this fee were from my social security check.

So far, it has cost me more money to have this credit card terminal than I have made with it! The guy who assisted me with opening my account seemed to be so nice. I trusted him and now I feel ashamed and embarrased because my instinct told me that the offer he was giving me was too good to be true. I spoke to him for about an hour making sure that I understood that I would ONLY be charged if I used the terminal along with the card processing fees. $9.99 per month (if I used the terminal) plus processing fees were to be my ONLY costs! According to him, he wanted to help me and was even going to waive the annual fee to show his support for small business owners like myself. I dont know what to do at this point. But just like the others that complained here, if you are looking for a credit card processing company, DO NOT go with Leaders Merchant Services. It is a bait and switch scam and the sad part is that they apparently do not have a concious nor do they feel remorse for stealing from people who they convince that they are trustworthy.

Leaders Merchant Services is the WORST, most Fraudulent company in the United States. They SUCK. They Lie and steal from your account. FEDERAL GOVERNMENT STOP THEM PLEASE!

Lizu Imports:
I agree with everything said above. They have the worst customer service EVER. The people on the other end of the line have no idea how to talk. I just got off the phone with them and I'm very pissed off. The company is a scam and takes money from us small business owner w/o notifying them. I was charged $35.00 for each complain a person made when they don't remember they actually made the transaction. This is jut [censor]ed to charge US and not the person who can't remember what they bought. And it is $35.00 for EACH person that calls them! So I sell a product for $5.00 at a street fair and I get charged $35 by this bogus company. On top of this they charge us $5.00 for the worst customer service. So why are you charging $35 for a phone call from the customer and $5 for your so-called customer service? This company is only after the money and not for their customer. They change their policy with out notifying us, they automatically add us to all these other things just to suck the money out of us. When I asked about the hidden charges I was told "oh its in your contract"... IT IS NOT! they charge you 6 different amounts for just ONE transaction. Their contract and statements are really hard to understand! This company should really have a person who knows English and is a professional to write it. I am looking forward to suing this company for there charges which they failed to explain and all the other things they do to make money off us! Due to the recession I actually sat down to read the statement and was shocked to see all these weirdly listed things which they charge us for. And I like how Leaders is posting comments above saying "we'll help you call us"... um NO! I did that and saw your result! You even failed to refund me, so unless you will clearly say "we will refund you" i'm not waisting time calling your company...I'm going to take legal action. How can you tell a person on the phone "no hidden charges" and then when we complain you ask us to read the "fine print"... you record the phone calls right? There you go, there's prof of how cunning and sneaky you guys can be.

BEWARE PLEASE DON'T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE LIKE ME
I WISH I SAW THE BAD REVIEWS THEY HAVE ONLINE BEFORE.
WHEN YOU CALL THE 877 SALES NUMBER THEY WILL PICKUP THE PHONE BEFORE IT EVEN RINGS, WHEN YOU CALLING FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE ISSUE THE CASE WILL BE DIFFERENT.
FEES FEES FEES AND FEES, ALL OF THEM WILL BE DISCOVERED ONLY AFTER YOU SIGN AND THEY HAVE YOUR MONEY.

IF YOU CARE ABOUT YOUR BIZ AND YOU CANT EFFORT LATE PYMENTS AND EXTRA FEES EVERY MONTH, CHOOSE A DIFFERENT PROVIDER .

Do not use Leaders Merchant Services! I am a small business trying to survive in these times and this ripoff company promises you wonderful service at the lowest rates. It is the most dishonest company I have ever dealt with. I have all of the same complaints listed above. Tons of fees that were hidden in their contract. The fees usually add up to 10% of my sales and thy think they are doing me a favor. The $10.95 monthly fee is a bunch of crap. Free supply is crap because of the high postage (Buy your own supply at office depot and save on the postage), the fee for the old fashioned knuckle buster is crap, annual fees, compliance fees, fees for daily batches, fees, fees, fees, fees, and you supposedly agreed to it all in the contact in paragraphs which were hidden all over the place. I can't wait till my 2 years is up then they can kiss my A**.
Andy's Ice Cream Shop
Parkland, FL

Leaders is most certainly a fraudulent business. I am not sure why the government has not gotten involved yet but just most recently, I decided I wasnt going to take them stealing from me anymore. I called my bank and told them what was going on and didnt even realize that I was crying to the bank rep on the phone until she asked me if I was going to be ok. I have used the terminal that I PURCHASED from Leaders only 4 times with sales totaling just $250 in all. BUT...so far I have paid almost $475 in fees that Leaders placed on my account, claimed they would reimburse me for the "errors" but did not. Imagine paying more in fees to use a service than you have profited from having it! If you call in to ask a Leaders customer rep to stop the stealing from your account, beware of a rep named John because he will basically tell you to go to hell. He told me that I was an idiot for signing up with a service and not reading the fine print. When I asked him why was the so called print "fine" instead of being clearly stated, he said that was simply how it was. If you are opening a new business or interested in accepting bank cards. LISTEN TO EVERYONE HERE AND TAKE OUR ADVICE! We are not just whining about a few fees here and there. I understand that business is business and it takes money to make money so I did not have a problem with Leaders charging me fees to use their service. BUT, what they do in my opinion is clearly illegal and they get away with it by claiming that they just made a mistake after they have deducted money from your account. That "mistake" is rarely fixed and if you are able to get them to fix it, they just go back and do it all over again within the next month or the next two months. When you call in to voice a complaint, they have already placed notes on your account so each rep knows what your issues have been in the past. Every time you call, it immediately triggers a defense mode and a statement is concocted by the new rep to get you off of the phone. They realize that you will be calling back the next month when they steal from you again, but the reps apparently have been trained to have no concience. If any one in power is listening...please check into the business tactics of Leaders Merchant Services. The last time I checked, stealing (removing money from someones account by "error" or intentionally without refunding it after it has been recognized as an "error" by the company) is ILLEGAL.

Leaders is a LIE!
Terrible terrible company. I am finally getting out of my 2 year contract. I shouldve gotten out sooner. They charged me unexplainable fee's too.
With all those fee's it probably wouldve been better to leave the first year.
Service is unbelievably terrible.
Never go with them EVER! They steal your money away. Worst people to work with.
All very non-educated. All they know are about the additional fees they keep popping out at you for NO REASON!
STAY AWAY FROM THEM!
I will do everything I can in my power to have no-one, NO ONE go with them!

I have experienced the exact same thing (EXACTLY). I faxed them a letter to cancel my account on May 19th of 2010, they said that they did not receive it. I faxed a confirmation to them to 2 diferent people 2 times and they would not close it as of 30 days after the receipt of the form - then they kept charging me. Now they charged me for July service fee and a bunch of other fees. I am preparing all papers to file a claim against them in the small claims court. Also will put stop pmt on the 3 accousts they use to charge me fees (it will cost me $35 each but worth cutting them off the source). I talked today to a lady (customer service) her name is Imelda and she said her extension was 7574 - she claimed she is a manager. She said the unexplained fee was charged for July 2010. She would not listen that my account was supposed to be closed as of June 18th. I told her I would sue them - she said go agead. So I am going to. If anyone knows of a class action law suit - let me know too.

TERRIBLE - Merchant Account Services, Credit Card Processing Machines, Accept Credit Cards

Leaders merchant services is a rip off - DO NOT USE THEM!

Leaders merchant services charge fees and do not explain to you exactly what your are getting into. I was initially paying $20 / month in credit cards fees and then it went up to almost $70 in credit card fess. I called leaders merchant services customer service and leaders merchant services gave me valid points but it wasnt what I thought I was getting into. They also stopped payment on an item i was trying to collect money for but when the went to credit the customers account back they sure did not from keeping $1000 from coming out of my account. So I had to pay $30 stop payment fee to keep it from going through. LASTLY, I was charged $350 for early cancelation fee. How funny that I made $120 probably from my site and they made... $800 + off me. Great way to do business ### HOLES.

I WILL NEVER DO BUSINESS WITH LEADERS MERCHANGE SERVICES!

Brandon

LEADERS is one of the sorriest-growing merchant service providers, or merchant account providers, in the U.S.

I did open my account few months back thinking that I would start accepting credit cards. Since I opened my account, I get surprises every month as different fees being charged directly to my account without informing me about the amount .Recently, this month, I got hit by $69 as PCI fees. When I signed up the account, your representative didn't tell me about any such fees. When i call customer service, the only answer they have is " Read the contract". This is not a practical and a good business ethic. You should at least inform the customer what are the annual and monthly fees although you mention in the contract in small tiny letters.
And Now to get out from all this mess, if I try to cancel my account, it costs me additional $350.Initially on the phone conversation with your new account representative, informed me that that is no annual contracts, monthly fees as I don't have any equipments.
This is really a bad experience for me and i would definitely be not recommending your company to others. I will also make sure my friends who use your company stops it for processing credit cards. This is similar to the scammers which are more out there these days.

I thought I was the only one going through this. i get charged Misc. charges EVERY Month from 100.00 to 30.00, just random with NO EXPLANATION what so ever. I am cancelling as of tomorrow, what was the process all of you went through to cancel, phone, email, letter or all of the above? I RECOMMEND COMPLETELY AVOIDING THIS SCAM OF A COMPANY. SOMEONE IS LINING THEIR POCKETS WITH THE MISC. CHARGES WE PAY.

everybody that says you have been scammed - please indicate in your posts if you left your sellers negative feedback - that would help others make the right choice. we all have responsibility.

They told me I would be charged a smaller fee for being on Dormant Inactive status but they didn't set it up. When I called to get reimbursed they told me they would. They didn't. I called back and they said I needed to fax a written request. I did. They still didn't refund. When I called again, the rep said she found my request but they couldn't refund me because I didn't have an original request on file to be placed on Inactive status. Well GUESS WHAT, they never asked me to fill out an Inactive request neither did I know such a form existed... they were the ones who suggested it and said it would be done by phone. When I tried to explain that to the girl, she kept repeating the same thing. I told her she wasn't listening and she said, "No, you are just upset cause you aren't getting what you want" That is a verbatim quote. Terrible service. I shut down my bank account and would not allow them to debit it any longer. This company does not understand the needs of small business owners. It is terribly stressful doing business with this company. Once I went to issue a return and accidentally did it wrong and they wanted to charge me fees. I had to fight through layers of representatives to get someone to understand it was an error and the first time I had ever processed a return. What Leader's needs is people who listen logically instead of just following some procedure on paper. They also need to train their reps how to listen empathetically and outside the box. Very Dissatisfied Former Customer Who Has Suffered HOURS of Stress Because of This Company.

I agree, LEADERS is a rip off, they are SCAMMERS.

DO NOT DEAL with them, you will regret !

Leaders is a damn scam. Please stay away from this compant if you don't want your account ripped off (constant debiting fraudulent charges) and given poor excuses. This has really depressed me (a small business owner just getting started). I am considering saying the heck with the business if people are going to be screwing me out of my hard earned money and because I know that plastic (credi cards) are used often in today's business transactions and that it would limit my clientale. Oh well I'll just have to take that risk because this is it. As soon as I get my refund from them, I am gone (the only good experience is that I'm glad I didn't sign a contract with this idiots).

From personal experience would advise staying away from this company. Too much of a headache and yes they "stole" money in excess of $99 to $350 out of my account recently.

Back in late August of 2010 I signed with Leaders after the new merchants account CSR, Brody contacted my company about providing credit card processing services. After hashing out details Brody presented me with a reasonable contract. The contract stated as follows: 1.69% transaction fee on Master Card and Visa transactions, no batch or header fee, no monthly charge fee, no annual fee, free terminal setup, and no cancellation fee. I had my own terminal so no need to rent or buy another one. There was a dormant fee of $7.85 I would have to pay if account was inactive of course. I asked the CSR if there were going to be anymore fees related to this account the rep said no. I read the fine print and sent it over to my attorney for review. I thought this would be a good company to work with for credit card transaction. Well I thought wrong. That From day one I have had problems with Leaders. 1. Lost revenue in tip money transactions. 2. Every time I called in with a problem about my terminal the CSR told me my terminal was not PCI compliant that I would need to buy a new one. My machine at the time was less than two years old. If I needed a new machine the rep that I signed up with would had told me. If the machine was not PCI compliant I would not have joined Leaders nor could they be able to program the terminal. 3. Ridiculous $149 "PCI" compliance fee. If you refused to pay the fee Leaders would bill you $30 for not being compliant. My last transaction company only charged $29 annual PCI fee due tot he fact that I was a small business. Also the huge compliance fee and their so called standards were left out of the contract. The PCI fee is for those that have credit card information on file and my business does not keep that information on file. 4. Poor customer service. Representatives were not knowledgeable about transactions problems (either reading from a manual or being transferred to another CSR for assistance) and/or tried to get me to buy another terminal. 5. 11-15-10 After a month of being dormant and realizing the service was not for me I decided to cancel. I also found out the PCI fee was $149 and would start to be taken out in three easy installments in November 2010. If not, I would be charged an additional $30 for being non compliant. I did not agree to these fees. Upon the information I received and decided to cancel. I was transferred to Leaders cancellation department and spoke to Edwin a "supervisor". See, most companies try to keep your business when you threaten to close your account, this one doesn't. Total red flag. Edwin was extremely rude over the phone when I tried to cancel my account. He stated he would go ahead and send me a cancellation form by fax and he needed it by the close of the business day. He also told me there would be additional fees and penalties for closing my account. I told him that he needed to review my contract because the contract stated no additional fees would be charged apart from transactions fees that were processed for that month. He said that I would be charged additional fees upon the review of my contract. That those fees were unpreventable. I asked to speak to his supervisor and he refused to allow me to speak to someone higher up to resolve being charged "additional fees". I told him I needed to speak to his manager. Edwin, said he was the highest that I could go and I would have to deal with him. I told him he was not and he said yes he was and that he was correcting me. After getting no where with Edwin I hung up and called Leaders again to lodge a formal complaint against Edwin. The second CSR was rude as well so to no avail I gave up. I contacted Brody my original merchant representative. Brody said Edwin misinformed me and that he would have the manager of the cancellation department contact me. Brody pulled my contract stating that there should be no additional fees taken out period. I canceled my account on 11-15-10. December 1, 2010 a transaction fee of $99 "other fees" hit my bank account. I contacted my bank stating that the fee was fraudulent and my bank did a stop pay on the fee. For six months the stop pay would be effective. A representative from my bank told me that if a debit came through leaders it would not go through my bank for that period of time.
On 12-1-10 I called Brody from leaders asking him what the deal was with the "other fee". He assured me that it was a error and that the fee would be removed. Two weeks later I received a threatening letter from Leaders informing me if I did not pay the $99 other fee charge they would turn me into a collection agency. I called Brody again asking him if he rectified the $99 and I asked him again to have it removed. I received another statement/letter in the mail the first of January 2011 demanding the fee. On 1-10-11 I called Brody again to make sure he was working on getting the fee cleared up and he said that it was.
February 2, 2011 Leaders charged my bank account with a $350 cancellation fee. I called my bank yet again to do a stop pay. Since it was after 2 PM I would have to dispute the fee. My bank was generous enough to credit the $350 fee and the over draft fee until I could get this resolved with Leaders. I asked my bank why did this transaction fee go through and the rep stated that Leaders used a different name for the fee. (Right there that is fraudulent. They used another name to attempt to obtain more funds.) That day I called Brody at Leaders again informing him what happened.
Feb 3, 2011 Brody called back stating again he pulled my contract. He wanted to make sure that I was not suppose to be charged the $350. He assured me that this is was a computer error. The question is if my account was closed they should had removed my account information from their system. Brody stated he would put in a request to have the fee refunded back to my bank. If it was not credited back to my bank by 2-8-11 call him back immediately .
2-9-11 I called my bank to verify if funds were return, they were not.
2-9-11 called Brody to inform him funds were not returned. I told him to please contact accounting to get a ETA of when funds would be returned to my account. From there on I asked him to for now on contact me my EMAIL so that I would have it in writing.
2-9-11 Brody wrote in a email "According to accounting, your refund will be issued this Friday and you should see it about this time next week."

I will write back to give all an update if this gets resolved or not. Hopefully in a week it will and I can start the process of closing out my bank account. A total pain in the neck but no telling what they will charge the next time.

Here's some words of advice:

1. If you do business with Leaders and decide to cancel your account with them: Close out your bank account and have your banks reissue a new account. Tell your bank that you might be dealing with a fraudulent company and fees might be taken out. Most banks will understand. Any legitimate fees you owe them can be hashed out and paid with a cashiers check. This will save you the hassle of being charged fraudulent fees. If necessary get your attorney involved in the matter.
2. File a report with the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) if they are taking out fees without your permission or what was not agreed in the contract. Enough people complain about their fraudulent practices the government will step in.
3. Get everything that you do with this company in writing. Keep a detailed record of whom you spoke with, etc. This covers your butt.
4. If funds have been taken out of your account demand your banks do a stop pay or a dispute. For the dispute: Gather your documents for the bank. Also kindly ask the bank to credit the funds until you can get the issue resolved. You will have to get in touch with a supervisor to do this. I am very fortunate to bank with Frost Bank in Texas. I have always found my bank to be very accommodating.

You wait for Leaders to refund the money it might takes weeks or they might not refund your money at all.

Frankly, if I went on line to research this company I would have never been in this mess. Hopefully this might help someone out there to keep them from making the same mistake likes myself and others made.

OK I A M NOT A LAWYER BUT ITS FOR A CLASS ACTION MAYBE?
I WAS ABOUT TO SIGN UP NOW I'M NOT NUT STILL DON'T KNOW ANY GOOD PROCESSORS? ANYBODY KNOW A NY GOOD ONES AFTER YOUR MISFORTUNES?

The worst company to deal with. I decided to go with them because of the low fees in the begining. After 6 months without any notification fess went up 20%, I called but no explanations. I decided to close the account and it took me over months to stop them from charging me all these fees. Everytime I would call they came up with another exuse, but meanwhile they would keep charging you hundreds of dollars. It takes 30 days from the day you complete the close account form and they still charge because they take thier sweet time to do it.
Never Never Never deal with this company.
Every time you see this logo run away, close the page.