Bad Company of the Day - PNC Merchant Services

Ordinarily I write about bad companies that victimize my clients or others.  In this case I'm writing about a company that tried to victimize me as a small business owner.

I do my business banking at PNC Bank.  I chose that bank because their involvement in the financial shenanigans that caused the Great Recession was minor.  As a bank, they've generally given me good service.

When I set up my bank account, they set me up with PNC Merchant Services for credit card processing, PNC Merchant Services has been less than steller, and one practice of theirs shows outright contempt for the customer.

In the Fall of 2014, I found that Amazon Marketplace had better terms for credit card processing than PNC Merchant Services.  I called to stop my credit card processing, and PNC Merchant Services stopped my monthly fee - that is, they did until spring of 2015.  In spring of 2015, they started adding a fee of $24.99 per month for something called Transarmor Solution.  I did not order Transarmor Solution. When I called to inquire, PNC Merchant Solutions said I was sent a letter about the new charge. This letter was apparently sent to my old business address and not where I received my statements or where I changed my address with PNC Bank.  Although this looked to me like your typical negative option scam that I see on consumer credit cards. In this case, PNC Merchant Services intimated to me that it was not an optional charge, and that if I want to close my account with them, I have to pay them a $450 early termination charge, even though they did not provide me with my credit card terminal and I was no longer processing credit cards through them.

If you are a small business person, doing business in general with PNC Bank is fine. The others are probably worse, but I recommend that you NOT do business with PNC Merchant Services.  I filed a complaint with the CFPB, and more complaints may follow.