Business ProfileforPrestige Payment Systems

On November 21, 2017, BBB recognized a pattern of complaints from consumers regarding sales, billing or collection issues. Consumers allege sales representatives claim low rates and significant savings from their current credit card processing company only to find out they are paying more than promised.  In addition, consumers allege company charges monthly fees for services they were not aware of during the sales presentation.  Consumers also allege they were not aware they were locked into a non-cancellable lease and are required to pay monthly fees and a cancellation fee.  Last, consumers allege the company’s customer service representative don’t respond or resolve issues in a timely manner. 

On November 30, 2017, Prestige Payments responded to BBB with the following statement:

"As an initial matter, please note that Prestige is no longer in business.  Even so, the company disagrees with and disputes all allegations raised in the letter with respect to practices while the company was operating. First, it is worth noting that the company operated for 11 years and received only 69 complaints – or about six per year.  Given the company’s thousands of customers and contact with thousands of potential customers per day, this complaint rate is very low. 

Second, company representatives were prohibited from – and did not – promise any savings to potential customers.  They provided cost estimates based on information provided by the customer and each customer was explicitly advised that cost may vary based on actual processing activity that different from the information provided by the customer. 

Third, customers were never charged any fees that were not expressly disclosed in the agreements they executed and all such rates and fees were repeatedly disclosed to customers in various agreements. The Merchant Application and Agreement (“MPA”) signed by each customer contained a two-page itemized list of each and every rate and fee charged for processing services.  The MPA also included a “non-cancelable lease” section in bold font that expressly set forth the “Lease Term” (i.e., length of the lease), “Total Monthly Lease Charge” (i.e., monthly lease payment), and “Annual Tax Handling Fee” (i.e., monthly tax handling payment) – all in bold font to enhance disclosure.  To strengthen these disclosures even further, each customer signed a Merchant Receipt which once again disclosed the material processing rates and fees that were also disclosed in the MPA, as well as the “Lease Amount” (i.e., monthly lease payment) and “Lease Term” (i.e., length of lease).  What’s more, the terms and conditions in the Merchant Receipt further stated that Merchant “understands that rates and processing fees are a guideline for monthly billing and in no way constitutes a guarantee of savings.”  In light of these repeated rate and fee disclosures, there is no merit to any allegation that customers are not fully aware of all applicable rates and fees.

Fourth, all customers were made aware of the non-cancelable lease and related monthly payments through a similar series of repeated disclosures.  As explained above, this lease was clearly disclosed in bold terms in the MPA and also in the Merchant Receipt.  The Merchant Receipt further directed the customer to the company’s web site for additional terms and conditions of the agreements, including the Merchant Services Program Terms and Conditions (Program Guide) which included even additional disclosures concerning the lease.  Most relevant here, the Program Guide disclosed in capital letters “THIS IS A NON-CANCELABLE LEASE FOR THE TERM INDICATED” and provided that in the event of any payment or other default by the customer, the customer may “accelerate and declare immediately due and payable all monthly lease charges for the remainder of the applicable lease period together with the fair market value of the Equipment (as determined by us), not as a penalty but as liquidated damages for our loss of the bargain.”  Furthermore, the Program Guide confirmation page signed by each customer stated once again in all capital letters, “THIS IS A NON-CANCELABLE LEASE FOR THE FULL TERM INDICATED.”  In short, this lease worked just like any other lease in the marketplace (e.g., residential, automobile, etc.) where the lessee is responsible for all monthly payments for the duration of the lease under all circumstances.  Give these litany of repeated disclosures, any claim that our customers were not aware of the lease and related payment obligations is without merit.

As noted above, the company maintained all applicable agreements on its web site for easy reference by customers - http://affordablepaymentsolution.com/.  The redundant disclosures described above can be verified by reviewing the documents section of this site."