Eliot Management Group reviews and complaints

I am filing a complaint against Eliot in Idaho and I would appreciate any useful information, Thank you.

Here's a reprint of our story from another thread on this site...

We were ripped off by Eliot Management Group for a total of $1210.53.

Eliot Management Group, First American Payments/Merimac Capital, and TransTech are all interconnected (some sort of conglomerate) ISO's of Keybank. Their headquarters is in SLC, UT.

Eliot Management Group contacted me about merchant services in May this year (2010). Their salesman Matt (don't recall the last name and he doesn't work there now) gave me figures as to what their percentages were and the numbers sounded good.

I met with Matt and Brian, his "trainer, " at Starbucks a few days later and went over their program and asked some questions about how it would integrate with the new website we were building and Brian assured me that it was so easy it could be done "in 15 minutes" and would work with any e-commerce platform.

We didn't immediately start the service as we had some delays, but Eliot Mgmt. began billing our bank account even though they said they wouldn't until we were ready.

Then their software didn't work with Shopify.com's website structure which is how we'd set up our site.

Then they billed me an annual fee which apparently was hidden in the small print somewhere (they'd assured me there were no other hidden fees - they lied - about pretty much everything).

Needless to say, this type of business is at least dishonest, and at worst fraudulent.

Fact #1 - Eliot Management stated that their online software would work with anyone's website - NOT TRUE.

Fact #2 - Eliot Management stated they would reimburse us every month from July to Sept - THEY DIDN'T (except July).

Fact #3 - Acct Rep stated at least twice (Aug. and Sept.) that our account would be suspended to keep this issue from happening again - HE DIDN'T.

Fact #4 - I sent Branch Manager Russ Hausman an email demanding a refund for services not received from Eliot Management Group on October 5...he responded saying he'd call me - HE DIDN'T.

Fact #5 - After we stopped payment of the October fee for the service we hadn't commenced, an associated company of the Eliot Management Group proceeded to withdraw - unauthorized - over $600 out of our bank account - THIS IS FRAUDULENT.

Recommendation - Run away from this company or any connected companies!

I am filing a complaint against Eliot in Idaho and I would appreciate any useful information, Thank you.

I am filing a complaint against Eliot in Idaho and I would appreciate any useful information, Thank you.

Just 'cuz these guys so messed with my already recession-strained finances, I'm re-posting my story here again on this thread...

We were ripped off by Eliot Management Group for a total of $1210.53.

Eliot Management Group, First American Payments/Merimac Capital, and TransTech are all interconnected (some sort of conglomerate) ISO's of Keybank. Their headquarters is in SLC, UT.

Eliot Management Group contacted me about merchant services in May this year (2010). Their salesman Matt (don't recall the last name and he doesn't work there now) gave me figures as to what their percentages were and the numbers sounded good.

I met with Matt and Brian, his "trainer, " at Starbucks a few days later and went over their program and asked some questions about how it would integrate with the new website we were building and Brian assured me that it was so easy it could be done "in 15 minutes" and would work with any e-commerce platform.

We didn't immediately start the service as we had some delays, but Eliot Mgmt. began billing our bank account even though they said they wouldn't until we were ready.

Then their software didn't work with Shopify.com's website structure which is how we'd set up our site.

Then they billed me an annual fee which apparently was hidden in the small print somewhere (they'd assured me there were no other hidden fees - they lied - about pretty much everything).

Needless to say, this type of business is at least dishonest, and at worst fraudulent.

Fact #1 - Eliot Management stated that their online software would work with anyone's website - NOT TRUE.

Fact #2 - Eliot Management stated they would reimburse us every month from July to Sept - THEY DIDN'T (except July).

Fact #3 - Acct Rep stated at least twice (Aug. and Sept.) that our account would be suspended to keep this issue from happening again - HE DIDN'T.

Fact #4 - I sent Branch Manager Russ Hausman an email demanding a refund for services not received from Eliot Management Group on October 5...he responded saying he'd call me - HE DIDN'T.

Fact #5 - After we stopped payment of the October fee for the service we hadn't commenced, an associated company of the Eliot Management Group proceeded to withdraw - unauthorized - over $600 out of our bank account - THIS IS FRAUDULENT.

Recommendation - Run away from this company or any connected companies!

I am not sure if this is going through

I also worked for Eliot Management Group. During the year and a half that I worked there, I had them take alot of money out of my paycheck for accounts that I had signed up over a year before. When asked about that, The Regional Manager Joe Basura told me to Suck-it-up and drive on. They are a lousy company to work for.

I am the owner of a local business here in Spokane, wa, I have dealt with Russ Hausman as well and found him and Eliot to be dishonest, we unknowingly were duped into a 3 year contract that automatically renews every year and you only have a 30 or 60 day window within each year in which to cancel, so you MUST stay with them for many months until you may cancel or you have to pay a $595.00 cancellation charge, nowadays that is very hard to swallow! And for all of the small mom and pop businesses that are only trying to save a little money in order not to go under is very upsetting that they first - do not tell you of this "hitch" of the automatic renewal, and second - only give you a very short time each year to cancel, and third - if you don't like it then pay them almost $600.00 in order to get from under their thumbs. POOR WAY TO DO BUSINESS! What happened to caring about your customers? I guess that is long by the wayside. Shame! Well Eliot...I will let everyone that I deal with know what type of business you are doing, unless you make a real effort to change your business practices, you will find that you will lose all of your customers, pretty bad way of trying to make a buck off the small guys, if you treat them right you will find that they will come knocking at your door.

It's interesting... I see Dan Faley on several forums, blogs and complaining sites trying to get his message out and that he feels wronged. I imagine that if this Dan Faley character had focused and put in as much effort into being successful at EMG as he has in defaming the company he chose to "be" at (but not actually WORK at), he would have made a nice income and had a positive impact. Instead, he's trying to find as much negativity as he can and creating something out of nothing, like focusing on a candle in the middle of the ocean, waiving his arms and running to tell everyone that it could start a fire if it's left unattended. If I asked a question of a supervisor and they didn't get back to me, I would continue to pursue and ask again. I can't expect that supervisor (especially if they're not my direct supervisor) to always remember. Some slack and patience needs to be given. It's obvious that if anything goes wrong in any situation, and Dan is there, he will focus on the problem and who's to blame as opposed to jumping in and being a part of the solution and helping to find one. Then he will blog about who he feels is to blame. He even posted on another site that he had a problem with Gabe's activities outside of work (which are completely legal & common), like it's any of his business! From my understanding, the author of this complaint was terminated for hostility in the workplace. Mr. Faley, thank you for the humor of your skewed outlook & perception, but more importantly, the real life example that a positive attitude truly does breed success.

Dan Faley, Ex-employee (8/2/10 - 11/18/10)
Termination Exit Survey for Eliot Management Group
Our records show you are no longer employed by EMG. In our ongoing efforts to improve employee retention, please complete the short survey below to tell us the primary reason why. Response Let go by manager didn’t like training didn’t like manager wasn’t making money Not a good fit for job requirements other - Explain
Comments

All of the above!
I encountered nothing but misrepresentation and lies from day 1 by the District Manager, Gabe Jones. I even had the Regional Manager, Joe Basura tell me he would get an answer to me by the time he left that day, and like others he did not come through. He told me he would get me list of current customers to contact and see if we could update there equipment, and did not follow through. Good luck with getting and keeping employees. This by far was the worst organization to be employed by. So I have meet Gabe, Jim, Joe and Dave. No one seems to know what the others are doing. I've seen more people cancel there processing on the daily report than the office submit each week, which makes it obvious your customers have been lied to time and again along with to sales staff. I will pursue the right authorities to share with them the documents and proof I possess of what I see as fraud, lies and misrepresentation. You had an "F" rating with the BBB until recently. Business owners need to know to stay far away from your company!

I had the exacty same situation. They promised to buy out my contract from another processor. After I signed up they stated they do not do that. Do not use them. They charge a 30.00/ month fee plus percentage for their service and a quarterly 124.00 fee. If you have a business in everett washington do not use them.

Is anybody starting a class action lawsuit against their deceptive ways and poor service? If so, I would like to know how to get in on it, and make it larger...

RUN AWAY! I referred to this company by someone who no doubtedly got something free from referring me. I had a nice lunch with Stacy Sloan who completely lied to me to receive a commission. Really in order it went #1 selling me by telling me she could save me money with no early termination fee #2 having me sign a contract #3 ignoring me completely, would not answer the phone or call back, and not providing me with any type of merchant service let alone communication about what had happened #4 I get a bill for $1040 after getting absolutely NO merchant services, no communication, no nothing.
After calling the collections department!?!?! They informed me they could knock that $1040 down to $635 if I returned the merchant machine which Stacy told me I owned which I stupidly believed because I had been charged for it when I originally received it.
As far as Eliot management I have called them, left messages, asked to speak to managers, only to be sent to voicemail boxes to leave yet another message asking for an explanation. No one calls back.

Is this real life...

Having first hand knowledge of how Eliot Management Group works I would advise any merchant that is looking to start excepting credit cards or who is looking to change processors when anyone from Eliot calls just hang up. The reps will out right lie to you, they will do anything to sign you as a client. A common tactic is to tell you, you have no contract you are on a month to month but in reality they have put you in a 3 year contract with a nasty $495 cancellation fee. Another tactic is to mislead you about the rates you currently have. The idea is to get you frustrated with your current processor so you will sign immediately, they are counting on you acting impulsive. They like to find your hot buttons and exploit them. From a professional stand point they are honestly one of the most unethical companies in the industry. This attitude can be found at the top of the company and flows downward. The sad part is people that don't last there because they make little to no money are usually the one's that are honest and have a good set of moral values and a sense of ethics.

Vicki this doesn't surprise me about Eliot Management Group, I believe the attitude their sales rep showed with respect to being dishonest and misleading is one that can be traced to the company's management. From my time at Eliot, it was clear that all the management was interested in was reps signing as many new accounts as possible, from what I saw this came at any cost. For example telling clients they were on a month to month contract and having them realize later that in actuality they were in a 3 year contract which had a $495 early cancellation fee. They use an app called first on board on the IPAD, they say they use it because it makes it easier, but in actuality its used because the potential client doesn't have the chance to read the contract terms and only requires one signature rather than 5, there by reducing the chances the client will change their mind. The sad part is that their are a lot of companies like Eliot in this industry, but I believe Eliot is one of the worst when it comes to dishonesty and down right lying to potential clients. There are many processors out there, from what I have learned is that merchants need to take the time and do their research before signing with anyone company and most important read the contract before you sign it and make sure that it contains everything you were promised. I hope you are able to get out of your contracts with them. One side note, equipment leases in this industry are very shady. I'll explain why. It is the responsibility of the merchant to call and cancel the lease after you have successfully fulfilled your agreement, i.e. you have made your 48 payments if it was a 48 month lease. If you don't call and cancel they will continue to bill you until you do call. Don't believe them that the lease is a lease to own contract that is total crap. At the end of the lease their is an option for a 49th payment which is the option to buy, either you pay it and keep the equipment or you have to return it.

March 5, 2014
The below document outlines the interaction with Eliot Management Services. The BBB has more than 150 complaints about this company, several websites stating case after case of their unscrupulous practices, yet, they are alive and well scamming businesses through- out the country including South Carolina.
Vicki Ci
Small Business Owner Easley SC
TO BBB 2/18/14
I phoned the company to straighten out this issue first on January 30th and was told a Supervisor would return my calls. I phoned again on February 5th and February 6th being told that it takes 24-48 hours to complete an investigation. I phoned today, February 18th and was told there are no supervisors to speak to, I must wait 24-48 hours to speak to one. I was also told by the young lady today that they left me a detailed message with one of my employees on February 12th . On February 12 we had one of the worst ice storms in SC History, we were closed and had the answering machine detailing that. There were no messages and I did not receive a call on my mobile phone. The young lady told me today this is a closed issue, we are in a contract period. I will have to pay them to cancel.

This system is still not functional, is not what we were sold on, were not informed of minimum billing, were offered a free month trial and we have spent close to $400 in equipment. In addtion, The BBB has not been effective, so I closed our bank account. Today, our Bank, First Citizens, accepted the charges again, even though my account was closed.
February 10, 2014
Dear Sir or Madam:
Thank you in advance for your co operation with this matter. On February 6, 2014 I requested that our One Touch POS System be returned and our Agreement with Eliot be terminated as Eliot has breached our contract.
There are several issues with the system. We were "sold" quite a bit of empty promises. Our requirements were that the system was:
• Easy to use and program
• Had multiple cash draw capabilities
• Managed Inventory
• Was latest in technology, using hand held capabilities
We were told all of the above was part of the basic system. In addition, we were told that our current set up of wireless router and capability was sufficient to support the system. Since this is a new system, I requested and was granted, " The First Month Totally Free of Charges" knowing that no system is ever implemented without a learning curve. And since this office had never installed one of these systems before, I didn't want to pay to be their testing ground.
We received the system on January 15th. The Salesman, James Glenn, came in and put the system together and registered it. He was to return to train us on how to use the system, and has not returned to do training. He has had no car, no babysitter, no time for us.
When the system arrived, we were charged $65 for shipping which was not in the contract. We were subsequently told that the printers would need to be hard wired. We spent $200 in cables that evening and had to have my husband run wires through the ceiling, about a 2 hour job. James told us he would reimburse us for the cable. The next day his supervisor came in to re install the kitchen printer which would not work. We were then told that our current router which has an open WiFi system for customer use would not be good enough, we needed another router. We were also told we would be reimbursed for that at a cost of $200.
The system by the way cannot handle multiple cash drawers, cannot process credit cards table side, and each of the features we were told the system could do, it maybe can, but for an additional fees. Same with the credit card processing which we were told would save us money, but the features I have now do not charge for batching, statements, next day processing. In fact the front of their brochure states "free Statements" yet I have to pay $5 for the statement.
Last week, I called 1stTouch directly to try and understand exactly what the system could do and because I still hadn't heard from James and the log in reset every time I tried to access the system. They confirmed that the inventory system I was sold on was beyond the actual capability of the system.
I phoned James on Thursday January 28 to find out what was going on and to again raise my concerns that so far this system did not do many of the functions we required AND that we were billed by the leasing company $144.69. This was higher than the agreed amount AND was not supposed to happen for a month out. I also, not expecting the charge, bounced two checks ( which I NEVER DO) because of the bank draft from the lease. He told me he would talk with his manager and get back to me.
On Monday February 3, I called James again, since I had not heard from him to ask him what was going on and I wanted a plan that day.
This morning I called Daniel, the Sales Manager at Eliot. Went through this entire scenario above AND the fact that we had another charge come up on my bank account for $54 from Eliot directly. We have yet to process a single transaction. He informed me he had no idea that the system was not up and running and that I had to pay them $54 for credit card processing. I asked him to come and pick up the system that we were done. In less than one month we have been billed close to $300 for a system that was to have the first month free, and has yet to be used, programmed or trained on. Plus we have spent close to $400 in additional equipment that we were told we would not need. And he said, NO, we have a contract. A contract is a two way relationship, Eliot has not kept their end.
I sincerely believe I have been scammed and will pursue this matter in whatever way necessary to return it and recoup my monies. As I told Daniel, when you have been lied to this much, going forward is impossible. My vendors and I are partners, and I will not be stuck in a relationship that has nothing but lies and deceit as a foundation.
I am requesting this system be returned and my lease agreement severed. I have informed my bank that no further charges will be accepted from either Eliot or The Lease Company.
Thank you again for your assistance,
Respectfully,
Vicki Ci

So true all of these comments by consumers. You see I was just ripped by them. Spent several hours with sales rep discussing past issues with current merchant and how I was looking for customer service, a local company as well as honesty. I signed what the rep had filled out and described as a credit check so we could do business in the future when I had completed my contract with current merchant service. Come to find out 10 days later I signed a legal and binding contract, (according to rep at call center) and I am stuck! I also received a bill for the month of January in the amount of @$35.00 (min charge). Keep in mind I signed with him on a Friday afternoon the 27th of January. So they pushed this charge through for two days of the month. Wow if only I could do business like this. Wouldn't last long. So I agree with the sucker born every minute. I am one myself. Trying to call sales rep that got me to sign and gee whiz guess what? Unavailable. Shocked, no, not really. I am sure I am the last person he wants to talk to since I have figured out what he has done. Class action lawsuit and Washington Sate Attorney General needs to investigate their deceptive sales tactics. Don't even let them in the door! In fact slam it in their face.

Dan, thanks for the write up on this...I see a Mr. Braun has defamed you on another thread, but EMG is, in my 20+ years in business, one of the very worst, unethical, and ultimately immoral firms I've ever seen...this is my experience with these jackals (thats a nice name compared to what they really are)...I'm reposting this from another thread on this site...if I accomplish 1 thing in life, I would be proud to have shut this company down. Ain't likely to happen as the Russ Hausman type re-surface like putrid gases in a cesspool no matter what happens, it seems...

We were ripped off by Eliot Management Group for a total of $1210.53.

Eliot Management Group, First American Payments/Merimac Capital, and TransTech are all interconnected (some sort of conglomerate) ISO's of Keybank. Their headquarters is in SLC, UT.

Eliot Management Group contacted me about merchant services in May this year (2010). Their salesman Matt (don't recall the last name and he doesn't work there now) gave me figures as to what their percentages were and the numbers sounded good.

I met with Matt and Brian, his "trainer, " at Starbucks a few days later and went over their program and asked some questions about how it would integrate with the new website we were building and Brian assured me that it was so easy it could be done "in 15 minutes" and would work with any e-commerce platform.

We didn't immediately start the service as we had some delays, but Eliot Mgmt. began billing our bank account even though they said they wouldn't until we were ready.

Then their software didn't work with Shopify.com's website structure which is how we'd set up our site.

Then they billed me an annual fee which apparently was hidden in the small print somewhere (they'd assured me there were no other hidden fees - they lied - about pretty much everything).

Needless to say, this type of business is at least dishonest, and at worst fraudulent.

Fact #1 - Eliot Management stated that their online software would work with anyone's website - NOT TRUE.

Fact #2 - Eliot Management stated they would reimburse us every month from July to Sept - THEY DIDN'T (except July).

Fact #3 - Acct Rep stated at least twice (Aug. and Sept.) that our account would be suspended to keep this issue from happening again - HE DIDN'T.

Fact #4 - I sent Branch Manager Russ Hausman an email demanding a refund for services not received from Eliot Management Group on October 5...he responded saying he'd call me - HE DIDN'T.

Fact #5 - After we stopped payment of the October fee for the service we hadn't commenced, an associated company of the Eliot Management Group proceeded to withdraw - unauthorized - over $600 out of our bank account - THIS IS FRAUDULENT.

Recommendation - Run away from this company or any connected companies!

Hi Joe,
thank you for meeting with all of us last week to try to understand what the Seattle office has endured under the current district manager and his philosophy to run a sales office.

I will try to take you through the chronological order of events that I personally was involved in or were witness to.

1) With in the first couple of weeks, I felt that the training provided by my DM was lacking. I asked several times for more information about Merchant Services only to be told, "you don't need to know any of that now, just get on the phone and make appts, I will do all the rest". Though the Merchant Services industry is vast, I only wanted to know the a-b-c's of the industry to better understand my role and how to best serve the merchants I would be contacting and working with. I took it upon myself to be self taught on merchant services. I found a website http://www.merchant-account-services.org/ that is Merchant Account 101.

2) As my frustration grew with the lackadaisical approach my DM took on training, I sought the advice from several of the experienced sales staff and osa. As other new employees also were getting irritated with not getting proper training and given misleading or outright wrong information, they too sought the advice of the veterans. Our DM took several of us downstairs and outside to dress down. He was particularly upset with me because I questioned his answers and went to the veterans to verify his information. He said "I don't want any of you talking with the "WOMEN" in the office about ANYTHING, PERIOD!" He said he did not want them to get into our heads and tank our attitudes, that they were out to mislead us and provide us with misleading information. Ironically it was just the opposite, it was he who Lied to us, to our customers and just made up answers he knew nothing or very little about. Time and again, he would just give an answer without actually knowing whether it was right or wrong. (perfect example: last weeks sales contest, he said the first deal was $10, the second PERSON who turned in a deal would get $20, the third PERSON would get $40, the fourth PERSON would get $80 and the fifth PERSON would get $160 and then when we hit 5, all the bonuses double. I questioned him on Thur that INFACT that was the way the contest worked, and he again, without a blink, or doubt said that it was in fact TRUE. We asked you Joe on Friday if that was how it worked, and you told all of us NO. You had to take a call and left the room, the DM entered the meeting, I asked again in front of the entire sales staff how the contest worked, and he again told us the exact same way as before, without any doubt, and of course totally wrong.)

3) I went on several appointments with the DM, he would mislead customers and tell them we would do "true pass through" @ .10 basis Pt's over interchange, only to put the .10 on the qualified section of the application, but put .50 and 1.00 on the mid and non. He told me that would make more on my residuals, that they would not even catch it because they know so little about the whole process. The DM would give every dime away on the app fee's, would emphasize we would do month to month, no contract. I learned early on that if I was going to make any money here, I needed to go on my own and close my own deals. It is very difficult to earn a living when your getting $50 fast start on each deal and giving away the rates with no contract. I viewed him as not a strong sales closer, just someone who gives it all away in order to get the "Submit".

4) We were all told that we would earn $50 for every "Submit" we turned in. Turns out you only get the $50 if you sign up and install the software. Time and again the DM would just make up answers he knew nothing or very little about. Its my belief and experience that he also outright lied about certain things (IE; sign on bonus) to try to get us to do more. He seemed more concerned about the "submits" than anything else. His ability to properly fill out the application was horrendous. He filled out the least amount possible in front of the customer and would fill in the rest in the office, many times without filling in the #'s, only getting them to sign. I believe the osa would concur on his dismal skills on paper work.

5) The Seattle DM is very arrogant in his approach to the entire sales staff. Often cutting off there talking points, talking down to many of us and barking out demands. It is my opinion that because of his lack of knowledge and experience, he tends to bully his way with his staff, expecting us to just go along with what ever he demands and tells us.

6) When the DM would interview potential new hires in John Massaro's and my first month's, he would bring us in to hype up the potential to make money with the company. One example was when John and the DM had signed a potential new account that John would have made approx $6, 000 -$7, 000 on. John never collected, because of the type of business, poorly filled in application and the underwriters would not allow this account. The DM wanted us to inflate the actual money we were making in order to get some of our referrals to come work for the company. After being put together like that, we had to tell several potential employees that we had asked to come work with us, that in fact we mislead them. We could not in good faith tell them something that was hugely exaggerated in order for them to come aboard.

7) The DM would submit applications, even with the knowledge that the customer changed there mind and wanted to cancel the application. He wanted only the "Submit", I thought because his bonuses came from how many submits our office had. I only found out last Friday that not to be the case. It only made our office look good. It made me even more frustrated with the DM because I could understand to motivation behind getting money for submits, but when I learned otherwise, I was furious. He made us deal with irate customers who had no intention of doing business with us because of the misleading information we provided them, just to make our office look good. How pathetic!
a perfect example is The Hair Chair that John Massaro and I signed up. It was a referral from one of the accounts John and DM signed up. It was nothing but nightmares. The DM signed up a dry cleaner for John, gave away all the fees, no contract, month to month, $19.95 month lease, pass through under the guise for referrals. Well john received referrals, they all wanted the same deal. A losing proposition all the way around. He had more text messages, more phone calls, more complaints on these 3 deals than you can imagine. Talk about demoralizing, he made no money, had to deal with headache after headache on three customers he would likely not make more than $5 per month in residuals, all because the DM needed "Submits"!

As I write this, the more frustrated I am becoming with how I allowed this to happen and to continue to go on. I don't know if I will be with this organization much longer, I am dying on the vine. I have tried to endure through the tough times with this company, and particularly with the Seattle Office. But because of the lack of trust I have with the DM and the misleading information I have received, the lack of proper training, I have put myself in a dire situation. As you can tell by my paychecks, I haven't made enough to continue to hang in there much longer until something gives.

I do enjoy the work that I do, and I like the many opportunities this Company has to offer its hard working employees. I see it with Stacy Sloan, she has been a tremendous asset to John and I, and your organization. Without her and Tiffany, I know John and I would have left long ago.

John and I have started going to Le Tip, a networking group that has lead to some promising leads. There is a membership fee, which neither of us can afford at this time. Without joining these leads will dry up very soon. We have done door to door networking and received many promising leads there too. We just need more of those marketing pamphlets to promote our products and services.

If there is anything you can suggest and/or assist with, it will be greatly appreciated!

Thank you for letting me voice my experience and opinions about EMG
this was sent to the regional manger on 11/12/2010, I got fired on 11/18/2010
This is the worst company to work for and obviously the worst company for anyone to do business with.

I happen to know a bit about this complaint. Its a repost apparently verbatim from a post made years ago on /link removed/ This merchant was called up by a competitor claiming to be a company that worked with or bought out Eliot Management Group (an old and deplorable scam). They said that they required the merchant to resign some paperwork. The rep for the account was on vacation and was shocked to find that his client had made a switch. It was unfotunet and could have been easily resolved but the real colprets here are shady practices by third party processors, honest human error and terribly coincidental timing.

I have a client who experienced almost the same scam and they switched back when the new companies bill was double what it was with me. Cancellation fees aren't sour grapes, they are a way to make sure people really pay attention to their accounts so they do their homework before falling to such a deplorable scam.

Did not accept their credit card processing machine or services and notified them 11-17. Now 6 months later they are billing me monthly when I am not using them. They should refund fraudulent charges.

This is for anyone who experienced their bait and switch sales technique only to find out about the 495.00 termination fee. Please file a complaint or add to complaint # [protected] with the federal trade commission also the comptroller of currency because them and their parent company First American Payment systems are subsiduaries of Key Bank NA.

I am filing a complaint against Eliot in Idaho and I would appreciate any useful information, Thank you.

EMG - Drive, Run, Fly Away from this company...it is the worst sort of company run by the worst sort of people...here's a repost with minor revisions from another string on this site...

If anyone would like to consider a class action suit against EMG, these ### pilfered over $1200 from our account on a "legal" contract which could never have commenced as their software didn't work with our website as stated verbally. Unfortunately, this company and Mgr. Russ Hausman operate on the premise that there's a sucker born every minute, and I am not embarrassed to say that for a moment I was one of them.

They sat in my house, met my gracious wife, and then callously stole our money. If they'd come in and stole my computer, they'd be in jail. But this sort of white collar crime has become commonplace, and we're now dealing with the lies of the replacement credit card processor, Wells-Fargo, who came in with their 1.79%-2.39% fee schedule which somehow has inflated to 5.14% as of last month. When, when, when, will our government step in and shut these companies down or make them repay their thefts. We who own the small businesses, the backbone of this great country, are being bled dry by these ###ized excuses for corporations.

Russ, how do you sleep at night knowing you stole a house payment from a guy who's barely holding on to his house and has 4 kids and a wife, who's working 16 hours a day to support his family. Shame on you! You've seared your conscience to the point of being a business Nazi with no regard for anyone, as long as you get your Lexus and Million Dollar Home and Blonde Bimbo - though I doubt you'd score the Bimbo as even a Bimbo could see through the plastic facade of a human that you've become, having sold your soul to the almighty dollar.

Folks, we're fighting back against Wells-Fargo in the only way we can...hit them where it hurts. Boycott their services. We're in a 3 year contract with them as of June, 2011, and I'm telling my clients, who mostly pay in advance for our products and services anyway, that if they'll mail us a check, we'll give them a 2% discount. So far in the past month, this has cost W-F a minimum of $750. We still were pilfered for over $250 with their outrageous 5%+ fees, but we pocketed $750 that would've gone to these corrupt puppets. Woohee! For my family, that's a lot of living expenses. Maybe not for these guys.

Kyle Janke, at the N. Division Wells-Fargo office in Spokane, WA, is the one semi-bright spot in this whole affair, as he's at least trying to figure out why the leap from 2.39% to 5.14% happened when we'd negotiated a "no monthly fee" agreement. Hopefully he'll find out something and get back to me with good news. But I'm barely hopeful, and by his tone of voice, I think he shares my viewpoint. Any honest person would. However, the honest employees of these firms often quit in disgust or are fired for voicing their dissent.

So, for now, those of you who've been ripped off by these thieving jackals, my only advice is contact the state attorney general's office, where you'll find people as lazy as EMG and W-F are dishonest, but maybe if the cries get loud enough, we can move these mountains into the ocean. Go get 'em!

EMG is exercising highly unethical business practices. EMG had my wife sign a contract for her Pet Daycare and boarding company that has a Loss Profits clause in it that totals about what she pays in employee taxes for a quarter. Since I know she did not read all of the fine print I am making the assumption that this is done on purpose in the hopes we would not notice. That is in itself a conscious contract manipulation tactic that CC companies are getting into trouble for. I don’t know what kind of morality they teach in Utah (where CEO Ron Dichter lives) but I consider this practice a most heinous one and will never do business with a company that practices it.
Elliot Management Group and its namesake are unethical and amoral. Small and large businesses should avoid them at all costs.

Hi Dan.

Im curious. What business were you involved in prior to EMG?

Eliot Management, Transtech, First American Payments, and Merimac Capital are all part of the same conglomerate...currently we have a complaint in with the BBB and the WA State Attorney General' Office. This company group basically lied to me, stole $1200 from me, and services were never commenced. My recommendation - STAY CLEAR OF THIS GROUP OF COMPANIES!

I too would like to apologize for the repeated calls. As stated by other employee comments we here at Eliot always try to honor do not call requests. It is true that some reps will open a phone book, as I do on occasion. We also call businesses that we see driving or have used in the past. I can say that in my office anyway, we do not intentionally try to "bug" people who don't want to be called. We strive to be the most open and honest processor in our area, and we do take seriously any rep new or old who is using unfair or predatory sales practices. It is frustrating for us as well when we call a merchant who is rude or abusive due to the fact we called. I sympathize with business owners as they do receive hundreds of calls offering this or that, I would get tired of that as well but it is just part of owning a business (I know because my family owns restaurants). We will always try to be courteous and friendly and would like to be treated the same, as stated in previous comments this is how we feed our families and we do provide a necessary service at a fair price with world class customer service. In case you haven't guessed I'm an EMG employee as well, and very proud of the job I do.

Oh, one more word of advice... No matter who you go through, you are best off buying your equipment from a different party, pay by credit card or better yet debit card so you have no interest payments. Leasing equipment will cost you more 95% of the time. It is only good for you if you have physical equipment problems which are rather unlikely. I suggest staying away from the units where the customer touches the screens. Those touch pads ware out very fast. Push buttons are much better. Take the money you save by not leasing your equipment and put it in a small savings account just in case your equipment does fail. It happens, things break, use your own money as your insurance policy.

In response to "sales rep", the comment that it is too difficult to cross reference every number is perposterous. The process is quite automated if a company takes the time to actually use the DO NOT CALL list as REQUIRED BY LAW but they simply don't do it.

The process is to put potential leads into your company's own calling list then on a regular basis BEFORE CALLING NEW NUMBERS you run those new nubmers through the automated national system and flag those that are not to be called. A smart business would keep that flag for a given amount of time then perhaps check it again in the future to see if it is callable now.

EMG also has issues with obfuscating their pricing structure and tacking on nasty fees all over the place.

Here is a tip I learned the hard way and it works with everyone that is trying to sell you something. Get a look at the contract. Tell them you need a few days to read it over (and really read it carefully) and if it takes you a day or a week you will be well informed. If they say things like "If you buy now you get this price but if you wait it will be another price" then what they are really saying is "if you read the fine print you will see we are ripping you off so don't read it just sign it so we can get your money".

EMG has no concept of how to run a ligitimate business. They only make money through deceptive practices. This is because their customer support is so bad that it costs them a fortune and the only way to make up the loss is to trick people. My monthly costs went up 53% over my previous processor. I am having constant technical issues due to their lack of programming skills and they keep trying to push new equipment on me that they charge 3 to 4 times the going rate for.

Honestly, avoid EMG. There are better companies out there. They also have this funny clause in their contract that they can automatcilly extend your contract if you aren't very careful about when you send in your cancelation letter and they have a habbit of "not receiving" your cancelation letter even when you have proof they did. And fighting to get your early termination fee back often costs more than letting them have it.

EMG is not the only one pulling this stuff, they are the only ones I have gotten suckered into because I read through the contract too quickly and didn't do enough research before the sale. Fool me once shame on you... Fool me twice just isn't going to happen.