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Complaint Details
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Initial Complaint
06/14/2024
- Complaint Type:
- Product Issues
- Status:
- Resolved
This is YET ANOTHER complaint about Bluefin's deceptive practices in charging for PCI Compliance. They said they sent emails about non-compliance that I am certain I never received... I am certain of this, as I whitelisted all emails from Bluefin and never deleted a single one. They then buried a $99 a month charge in my normal monthly merchant service fees. This wasn't itemized in any email sent to me, which contradicts their assertion that they intended for me to complete a simple compliance process. These charges continued for a year until I terminated my account with them. ********************** has refused to refund the charges, denying that their practices are deceptive. The three BBB complaints in the past three months suggest otherwise!
Business response
06/20/2024
Bluefin has reviewed the complaint and pulled the history of this account going back to April 2023.
Bluefin charged him $201.55 over the yearly period and we have documentation to back that up. The only other fees on top of this are Elavon processing fees which he was contractually bound to pay. The breakdown of these is clearly available in each statement that he would have received.They are Elavon processing and brand fees, not Bluefin processing and not Bluefin PCI non-compliance fees. Invoices are available for each transaction and clearly break down what he was charged for by Bluefin.
We have concluded that this complaint is meritless. We welcome the opportunity to share the documentation with BBB.Customer response
06/25/2024
Complaint: 21851241
I am rejecting this response because:
We never received monthly invoices that Bluefin previously say they generated on the first of each month. Please produce those monthly invoices.
Bluefin sent us emails confirming that they DID charge us PCI non-compliance fees, as in the attached email. Now they say they never charged the fees. Again, this sounds deceptive.
We're open to getting a full accounting of all charges.
Sincerely,
***********************Business response
07/01/2024
Our customer service team is in the process of pulling the Bluefin & Elavon invoices, they will send to the customer and clearly differentiate between the two.Customer response
07/02/2024
Better Business Bureau:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. The company's practices are murky, but the statements they provided as a response to this claim indicated that the charges were not being made monthly as I had been told.Initial Complaint
05/03/2024
- Complaint Type:
- Product Issues
- Status:
- Answered
Significant issue regarding recent changes to the fee structure. As a long-standing client of BlueFin for over 6 to 7 years, I was shocked to discover a sudden 1% volume fee added to all accounts, resulting in a $9,000 withdrawal from my account within the last 3 months without prior notification. We pay on average $200 per month. They stated this was communicated in an email that was never received by me or went to junk. I contacted customer service, and they said I needed to wait up to 10 days for finance to respond. This lack of transparency and communication is deeply concerning. Despite numerous attempts to discuss this matter with your customer service representatives, I have yet to receive a satisfactory resolution.Business response
05/20/2024
We have been in contact with this customer, and here is our response to this incident.
- We had informed her about our new fee structure moving forward and granted her a substantial decrease from our original fee increase
- She declined and wanted to negotiate
- We informed her that it was a final offer
- She had also commenced communicating with us under a different surname.
- We asked her to confirm she was the one and same individual, she has not replied so we have commenced with closing the account
Thank you,
***********************
VP Marketing
Bluefin Payment Systems
************ (mobile)
Customer response
05/21/2024
Complaint: 21663634
I am rejecting this response because:I was not informed about the new fee structure until after a substantial amount of funds were swept from my account. They claimed they sent out a notice in January that I never received. The notice was sent after they implemented the new fees. The "substantial" decrease offered was a 0.5% instead of the 1%. This was only available after 5/1/2024.
I have asked to see my signed contract which dates back to 2016. They still have not sent. The person that is reaching out to me can only communicate between myself and finance. I use my maiden name under my work email. I have spent a lot of time trying to get someone who can help me on the phone with no success.
Sincerely,
***************************Business response
05/22/2024
We have done everything we can to resolve while holding firm to our position. I believe we are at an impasse.Customer response
06/03/2024
Complaint: 21663634
I am rejecting this response because:
Sincerely,
*******************Initial Complaint
03/26/2024
- Complaint Type:
- Product Issues
- Status:
- Answered
Bluefin has a policy related to PCI compliance which is a yearly requirement. In an email exchange in November 2023 they stated the following (verbatim from email). "Bluefin Payment Systems <**********************************>Fri, Nov 3, 2023, 4:29PM to ******************************** me Hello *********, Thank you for your request. Confirming your company is currently PCI compliant as of March 1, 2023. You can disregard the email as it was sent to all merchants as a general notice. Reminder this is an annual requirement for renewal. There is nothing additional you need to do. "Confirmed with Secure trust on 03/25/2024 that the prior certificate was completed on March 1 2023, spoke to "Fadzai". Case number: *********** #******** I was charged on Feb 29 for "PCI non compliance" despite this being less than 1 year prior to my last compliance date. Attempted contacts to bluefin on 03/25 and 03/26 without resolution and no call back at this time without anyone providing answers. Company seemingly has a history of questionable application of PCI compliance requirements with convoluted and complicated questions that have literally no application to a small psychiatric practice. Seems to be manipulating timing of billing to extract money prior to closing of luminello (luminello was purchased by Simple practice). Not a jump of logic to assume this is a deceptive and predatory business practice.Business response
04/11/2024
Bluefin has been in direct contact with the customer regarding this issue and believes it has been resolved to their satisfaction.Initial Complaint
03/08/2024
- Complaint Type:
- Service or Repair Issues
- Status:
- Resolved
-Dates of Service: January 2021 to present day. -Normal Charges in Time Frame: $360 -Additional Unnecessary High Fees in Time Frame: $1928.15 ********************* in question is charging excessively high fees +The fees are extremely high compared to normal service charges. +Only 2 emails were sent to notify my company about the fees and they were from 3rd party vendors that went to spam and looks like a phishing attempt. An example is attached. + Fees were blending in with automatic billing which in addition to the spam email made it extremely difficult to see there was a problem. + We clearly communicated that had we known about the fees we would have resolved this immediately. -Points of Resolution:+ I reached out to the company to kindly resolve this issue and express why it was missed. + We asked for a one time fee waiver due to the issues outlined. +They declined. This company appears to have systems in place that make fees more likely to happen vs taking a healthy preventative approach with their clients, and then have policies in place to never enable a healthy form of customer service for these fees.Business response
03/11/2024
Bluefin spoke directly with the customer and resolved the issue to their satisfaction, informing them about the purpose of the *** Compliance fee, explained the billing, and offered options moving forward.Customer response
03/12/2024
Better Business Bureau:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Sincerely,
*********************
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Customer Complaints Summary
4 total complaints in the last 3 years.
4 complaints closed in the last 12 months.