Ensight Merchant Services
I own a very small business as a clay artist in the Chicago area. I have run my business for about 9 years now, have had a couple different merchant accounts throughout the years, in November of 2007, I found Ensight Merchant Services. During the first few discussions with a sales associate (whom I hesitantly will not name here), Ensight was friendly, very affordable and seemed to be a class act.
Fast forward to December 2008, with a turn in the economy, the arts market suffering, I decided I did not require the merchant services account any longer as most of my transactions are with wholesalers where I did not need credit card processing. I contacted Ensight, was told they would fax me a cancellation form and all they required was a signature. I never received the fax. Called again, never received the fax. Finally sent my own fax authorizing the cancellation. Called to make sure they received it and I was assured everything would be taken care of to close my merchant account.
Now, a couple months go by, I have another place of employment, I have not closed my business or my business accounts as I have a website and other items that I still have auto-withdrawal banking for. I pay little attention to this checking account (shame on me) as the items are minimal in dollar amount.
Month after month I was still being charged for my merchant account and for credit card processing services. When I called Ensight in May, they directed me to Merchant Warehouse who told me they could not close the account without authorization from Ensight, told me to call Ensight. I called Ensight, I played coy, I played nice, then I had to turn up the defense since they dropped the ball back in December. After many back and forth phone calls, one of the representatives at Merchant Warehouse finally expedited the issue to a manager who forced the closing of the account and finally reimbursed me for the 6 months of charges.
Now it’s June 2009, I see I am still be charged for another amount that I found is seperate from the Merchant account, but for the credit card processing. I called Ensight, spoke with a gentleman who said he’d get back to me, 3 days go by, I call again, they can’t help me, they aren’t the ones charging me for teh c.c. processing, they just set me up with Authorize.net Gateway Billing, but they don’t provide the service, it’s a third party vendor. Now why was this information not disclosed to me during the first conversations I had with Ensight when I chose to do business with them. If they set me up with some services, I believe they should cancel all the services they proportedly provide or set me up with. When I asked for the number for Authorize.net, as I had never spoken with them before, believing in the past 2 years that I had been dealing with Ensight, the number I was given was to a phone sex talkline. Which needless to say didn’t help me at all and just pissed me off even more.
My point of this blog is two-fold, to inform small business owners of the risks of not knowing who is providing what services to you when engaging in business with other service providers. Why are these service providers not held liable for disclosing up front in a sales conversation with a prospective customer, the services they do and don’t provide and the extent to which they will assist you when you have difficulties? My other point and constant bone of contention is what in the world has happened to customer service and business relations? My issue did not even require that absurd of a solutions so as to give me the run around while fraudulently charging me for services I cancelled and no longer use and then to maliciuously give me a number to a sex talkline! I’m furious! Why can’t people just help people when they ask for it? If you work with customers, if you sell a product or service, you have a duty to perform to an ethial standard. Maybe I’m old fashioned, but maybe just maybe, this organization should have a scarlet letter placed on thier front door.
Secure-Delete Software & MyHelpHub.com are a scam
I just had an incredibly unpleasant and outright misleading experience dealing with myhelphub.com about secure-delete software and I want to share the story so no-one else gets stuck with a bill and no product.
I paid my money and recieved a link in my email to download the secure-delete software just like what was advertised. Once I clicked on the link and the installation window popped up, I ran the installation program and nothing happened. I don’t know what the problem was, be it my operating system or a glitch in their software, I wrote the company that I was having problems and because of the urgancy and time-sensitiveness of the project I was working on, I decided to purchase another service instead - and asked for a refund since the service didn’t work for me. Here is the initial email:
Hi brandon,
I have already downloaded another service because I needed to resolve the issue quickly. Please issue a refund of my payment and cancel my subscription.
Thank you!
I assumed this would be an easy task as I had not used their service and wrote an email only minutes after purchasing and attempting to install it…boy was I wrong! This was the beginning of a multiple-hour ordeal. Here is what what their representative sent back to my email:
Dear Yury,
Thank you very much for contacting us here at myHelpHub.com.
Unfortunately we do not allow refunds on this product. However, if you are experiencing issues, I am more than happy to assist you until we get this application working on your PC!Regards,
Brandon, myHelpHub.com
I tried to make it very clear that I wasn’t able to install the program, so I installed a different one and all I wanted was a refund. This was their reply:
Dear Yury,
Thanks for your message.I am sorry, as already indicated earlier we do not provide a refund on this product. Our installation records show that this was already downloaded and installed. If you have any problems with the software I am more than happy to assist you.
Regards,Brandon, myHelpHub.com
I have no idea how they could have records of me installing the program when I didn’t…that was the whole point of me contacting them. And what was more, they were trying to convince me that THIS particular product (secure-delete software) was not eligable for a refund. This is when I looked back at the contracts I had agreed to and found their return policy…I wrote back saying:
Brandon,
I have already spent a considerable amount of time trying to get your product to work and am now trying to get a justified refund for my disatisfaction due to problems with your software not working with my operating system. I have looked at your refund policy and I am 100% entitled to a full refund. I have included it below and it can be found at http://www.myhelphub.com/start/menu.aspx?a=licenseview
7 REFUND POLICY
7.1 If the SOFTWARE fails to operate or install
on the LICENSEE’s COMPUTER due solely to an error or
defect in the SOFTWARE, the SOFTWARE PROVIDER will
exchange the SOFTWARE or refund the LICENCE FEE paid by
the LICENSEE.7.2 The SOFTWARE PROVIDER may, in its absolute
discretion, provide a refund of the LICENCE FEE paid by
the LICENSEE, if the LICENSEE is dissatisfied with the
the SOFTWARE, provided the LICENSEE returns or
alternatively destroys the SOFTWARE.I do not wish to spoil relations with your company or take this matter any further, please issue a full refund as warranted by 7.1 and 7.2 of your return policy. It is up to your discretion to issue the refund, and I ask you kindly to do so.
I didn’t receive any response back for quite some time, so I logged into their live chat to speak with a representative. Once the rep appeared on my screen, I realized it was non-other than Brandon (the person I had been emailing back and forth with for the past couple of hours. The following is the copy-pasted discussion we had:
Welcome Yury! Please wait while we connect you with a member of our support team…
You’re now talking to Brandon from myHelpHub.com. The topic is : refund
Brandon> Hello and welcome to support chat! How can I help you today?
yury> Hi brandon, this is yury…we have been exchanging ticket emails
yury> about issuing a refund
yury> i just sent you another email with the return policy that states you are able to issue a refund
Brandon> Yes your message has been replied to already
yury> I looked at your refund policy and it states that you can issue one, is that not correct?
yury> hello?
Brandon> I am sorry, we do not issues refunds on this. In any case the reply to your mssages was immediate and so there is no special reason for disregarding this
yury> i havent received that email.
yury> can you please show me where it says that refunds are not issued for that particular product?
yury> I wasnt able to find it in any of the contracts i signed
Brandon> If a refund is offered on any product it will be stated on our website
yury> it is on the end-user license agreement: http://www.myhelphub.com/start/menu.aspx?a=licenseview
yury> section 7.1 and 7.2
Brandon> As I have already replied to you, I am sorry, we do not offer a refund on the product
yury> can i talk to a manager please?
Brandon> No manager is online
yury> do you realize that what you are telling me right now goes against the contract that I agreed to?
yury> and doing so can hold legal consequences?
Brandon> I have already replied to you. I am sorry, no refunds on this product
yury> when will you have a manager present that i can talk to?
Brandon> You may do that through the ticket
yury> how can i do that?
yury> just request a manager to contact me?
yury> hello?
Brandon> You may add any messages to the ticket
yury> and will it be forwarded to a manager if i request so?
Brandon> Yes
yury> thank you
Brandon> You are welcome.
Brandon> Thank you for contacting us here at myHelpHub.com.
As you can see, this was a very frustrating conversation and at the end of it all I wanted to do was speak with a manager (which Brandon assured me would happen if I created a support ticket for it)…I created the ticket asking for a manager to contact me for help and this was the last and final response…from non-other than Brandon again:
Dear Yury,
Thank you for taking the time to write to us again.
I am sorry, as already indicated earlier we do not provide a refund on this product. Our installation records show that this was already downloaded and installed. If you have any problems with the software I am more than happy to assist you.
If you had specific problems with the installation or use you may provide specific details regarding the same. I am afraid I cannot pass on general references to requests for refunds.
Regards,Brandon, myHelpHub.com
And this is when I decided to blog about the terrible experience I had with them. I realized that no manager would contact me and my money was lost…I will be monitoring my bank account very closely to make sure they don’t do even more damage and deceiving than they have already. I would advise anyone and everyone against using MyHelpHub.com and Secure-Delete Software.
-Yury
JetBlue is endangering its passengers.
I called JetBlue to see if I could change my flight to a later day because I just had the flu and may still be exhibiting symptoms of it. All you hear in the press right now is Swine Flu and it isn’t what I had, but the other passengers would not know that and I did not want to cause any undue hysteria.
That is exactly what I told JetBlue’s customer service representative and I asked if they would waive their change fee (which is $100.00) because of the prevailing circumstances. She said they would not. I asked to speak to a supervisor and I received the same response.
This is the reason I say that JetBlue is endangering its passengers. If a passenger has a contagious malady, said passenger is forced to fly in their infectious state as JetBlue does not provide due consideration for it. Given the attention Swine Flu has been getting these days, you would think my situation would have been given its proper merit, but that is not the case.
Sendoutcards.com is terrible to deal with
Not only does this business not deal in a professional manor they are very vindictive. I asked to have my representative transferred and they put me into voicemail 10-15 times and never returned a my calls. Then I got an email threatening me to cancel my account which they did. They didn’t stop there. After cancelling my account they took taped call recordings and sent them to my employer to get me terminated. They were very selective in which recordings they played to my employer by the way. As far as my lawyer can see it is illegal to take a recording that is deemed “for training purposes only” and use it for something else unless criminal activity was talked about. There was no criminal activity, they did this to get me fired. Be careful
EMPIRE BEAUTY SCHOOL HARRISBURG, PA
Not very honorable. My 18 year old daughter registered for a class in harrisburg, pa. She paid $100.00 for registration which she was told was refundable should the sallae Mae loan not come through. She was not told that in the fine print it said she had seven days to find out, or it was not refundable. My daughter was denied the loan and when she went to get a refund, she was told the time frame expired and there would be no refund. Yes, she signed a document and didn’t read it, but Empire School (The school director refused the refund) possibly having a new student in the near future could have given a refund to her till she saved the money. Instead, she feels she was ripped off because the saleswomen left out that detail. She told her half of the requirements to a kid just to make a sale. My daughter learned something in school today. Read anything you sign thoroughly before signing, don’t trust any salesperson know matter how motherly they look and let everyone know in PA how you were treated. The sales women (Mid 50’s) should be ashamed of herself taking advantage of a kid for commission. Empire Beauty school of Harrisburg, Pa must really need the money. It all works out best because I feel in my opinion that this behavior reflects the quality of the school and she could have spent thousands more. Paul Mitchell is availble in the Harrisburg, Pa area. I also contacted the CEO on his blog, but he has not responded. I also contact the BBB to see if they can help her.
Our Lady of Lourdes Traditional Catholic Gifts
What a bunch of crooks this outfit is. I ordered a statue of Our Lady of Loreto and a t-shirt from them back in JUNE of 2008 (yes, that’s seven freaking months ago). I was told that the statues came from Italy and that there would be a three-month wait, so by the time October rolled around and I hadn’t heard a word from them, nor did I have my statue, I contacted them. I was told the statue was unavailable and that they would be sending me a refund.
As I said, that was October. It is now almost February. I’ve emailed and talked to these people more than I do to my own family. I’ve gotten absolutely nowhere. I once was able to speak to the owner, who gave me some song-and-dance about how his son has a cyst on his butt and needs treatment (like I care). I want my money back. We’re talking $300 here. The fact that this is a religious company makes it even more hypocritical and sleazy, in my opinion.
I’ve contacted both my state attorney general’s office and the Better Business Bureau, both of whom are investigating, but I’m not holding my breath. I just sent an email to this awesome guy who handles customer problems on one of our local news channels. At this point, I feel like he’s my last hope.
All I can say is: AVOID OUR LADY OF LOURDES TRADITIONAL CATHOLIC GIFTS LIKE THE PLAGUE!!!
First Quench Retails (owners of Thresher)
I purchased some Champagne over xmas in sealed boxes only to find when opened that cheap wine was present instead. When
First Quench retail (Thresher owners) were approached about the issue they laughed it off. Open all sealed boxes from Threshers…….
Don’t use Design to Print in Saint George UT for your own artwork
We took a piece of art work in the shape of a car to Design to Print in Saint George, UT to have it mounted on foam core. In the process of mounting the artwork the worker broke off a 4″ x 6″ section of the picture. We did not notice this mistake when we picked the project up. When got home we noticed the problem. We went back to Design to Print to discuss the problem and see what they could do about it. The thing that upset us the most was that the worker didn’t notify the manager that he had damaged the art work (he was apparently hoping that we wouldn’t notice the problem), nor did he save the piece that was broken off so that we could attempt to repair it. The manager refunded the money that we paid to have the art work mounted. The manager refused to compensate us for the damaged art work that originally cost us $149.00. This art work is no longer available so we are stuck with having to display the damaged art work.
The two reasons that I say not to use them for working on your own art work are that they damaged something and didn’t admit it at the time; and they refused to compensate us for the damaged (and un-replaceable) art work.
American Immigration Network
Beware of the American Immigration Network (in my opinion). I purchased their K-3/K-4 Visa-Complete Do It Yourself Kit- Download Verion on 7/13/08. It is noted on their website that their kits are updated weekly. This was crucial, because I wanted to perform a quality check of my already completed visa forms using this visa kit. I determined that the kit I received was outdated after comparing it with information at the USCIS website. Wrong packet submission address, wrong fees, outdated forms, etc. They have not responded to my numerous attempts seeking a refund via voicemails (can’t reach a real person), emails, and faxes. I am now disputing the charge with my credit card company.
NeatReceipts software has no currency converter for expense reports
NeatReceipts, a software package with a hardware scanner, which is sold in airport kiosks and over the Internet, has no currency converter despite years to perfect the software, and several upgrades of the software. NeatReceipts does not inform customers prior to purchase that there is no currency converter and that the product is useless for international travelers. Beware, all who travel internationally!
Also, if you inquire about when a currency converter will be added to the program NeatReceipts will inform you they are “working on it.” That is an insulting brush off and is arrogant. They should gracefully accept the return of their product from any users who are dissatisfied with the inability of the NeatReceipts product to handle expense reports for international travelers.
Finally, international airports should refuse this merchant from selling its products in their facilities unless and until NeatReceipts prominently informs prospective purchasers that the program will not be useful for international travel expense reports.
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