ForumsMerchant Services

I'm only guessing, and please forgive me if I'm wrong...but did you pick whomever you are processing with after having compared competitive rates, then selecting the lowest one? It certainly sounds like whomever you chose to do business with elected to leave 'training' out of the equation as their means for selling a little cheaper.

In any event, yes you MUST MUST MUST settle your batch daily. Most networks nowadays feature 'auto close', but yours obviously doesn't. Don't try to settle four month old transactions now---the authorization numbers are no longer valid and they will reject.

Yes, you r_eally_ need to notify the customer before you re-run the transaction four months later. If not, the customer very likely isn't going to remember the transaction at all and you'll get a ton of disputes which will cost you a fortune in chargebacks, chargeback fees, and much worse (like getting your merchant account shut down).

Forget Sam's Club---if you think you got precious little in terms of Customer Support and training from First Data, wait 'til you see what you get from Sams (which is really Nova Processing, a big national concern. But, per Mr. Ruskin above, in order to sell cheaper under the Sam's bannerthey need to eliminate something that costs them, in this case customer service and support).

Incidentally, here's the problem with your decision to process through First Data. Actually, they're not a bad company at all. In fact, they are very good....IF (big big bold-faced all caps IF) you are a major giant multi-location national chain with gigantic sales volume). Since you're not, they're happy to cash your checks every month, but since you're 'small potatoes' you can forget about getting the time of day from them in terms of customer support, training, and all the other things you need. That's been their MO for years...sorry, you just signed up in the wrong league. You would be much happier with a processor designed to serve the _smal_l business industry who knows how to (and is more inclined to) serve and cater to this sort of business.

Don't go jumping ship just yet to change processors. First you need to carefully review your contract with Sams/Nova, First Data or whomever to confirm the terms of your contract and avoid getting masacred with early termination fees (yes, you signed a contract and are subject to penalty fees if you default). If you need help, drop me a line (email address below) and I'll do my best to help you sort it out.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but don't despair...this is one of the most common mistakes small start-ups make. You need to look at it this way: You're human, you made a mistake. What's next? You can either elect to correct the problem. Or you can do nothing and continue to bleed some more. Your call. My no-brainer advise--seek knowledgable help to find a solution. There are a number of qualified payment processing individuals on this forum, including myself, who I am sure would be glad to help. Take advantage of this resource.

Barry G
AMS, Inc.
www.MerchantServices-help.com
amspcs@juno.com