Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:12/31/2024

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I tried multiple times to register with Helcim but Always my account gets suspended for unjustified reason even after indicating my being a sole proprietor and entering all valid information I never got an explanation nor any indication to clarify why this occurs as I suspect it's a discrimination case

  Business Response

  Date: 01/02/2025

  Hi There, 

  We are a financial service and adhere to Acceptable Use and Risk policies as well as Anti-Money Laundering regulations. Sometimes, the outcome of an account review may determine our inability to continue a business relationship with you if your account or information about your account falls outside our risk parameters. 

  Unfortunately, in this instance we were not able to continue a business relationship with you. If you have further questions about the decline, please email **************************************** To be clear the outcome of this review is determine solely by information about your account and your business. 

  Best, 

  - The Helcim Team. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 01/03/2025

   
  Complaint: 22752828
  
  I am rejecting this response because: it doesn't say any resolution for my issue but it says there is a complaint created
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ******** *******

  Customer Answer

  Date: 01/15/2025

   
  Complaint: 22752828
  
  I am rejecting this response because: My business isn't OUTSIDE of usual business risks specially that I even didn't have a business established yet also I am not committing any of the concerns activities like money laundering or else so my business is 100% legitimate and previous risk or problems occurred relevant to it as it's like any business elsewhere offer as a sole proprietor (My Designed and Analyzed models for structures to Clients) 

   

  I know that there was a concern before from my side when I want to register a package forwarding service with you which apparently was unacceptable but now, I was to register as a sole proprietor (Structural Designer office)

  
  Sincerely,
  
  ******** *******

• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/16/2024

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I signed up with this company 10/10/2024 and I start using the service now they holding my deposits and they told me I have to reserve 50000$ on they account or else they will close my account and keep *****$ for six month for no reason i need my money

  Business Response

  Date: 10/23/2024

  Hi ***,

  
  As a financial service we have strict obligations to adhere to Anti-Money-Laundering, Acceptable Use, and Risk policies.

  
  As per our terms of service you agreed to when signing up with an account under section 10.b. "We may withhold funds by temporarily suspending or delaying payouts of proceeds to you and/or designate an amount of funds that you must maintain in your Bank Account or in a separate reserve account of ********************'s ("Reserve") to secure the performance of your obligations under any agreement between you and Helcim."

  
  You can find our full terms of service here: ***********************************************************

  
  I understand you have been communicating with our risk team to help navigate this situation in the way that works best for your business.If you have further questions, you can reach out to our team via email at ***********************************************************.

  
  - The Helcim Team,

  Customer Answer

  Date: 10/23/2024

   
  Complaint: 22433300
  
  I am rejecting this response because: they supposed to do they homework before they approve my account and I was only with them for 7 days and they holding 10000$ thats not reasonable amount Im as a business owner need my funds too keep the business going 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  **** *******

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/07/2024

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I am writing to formally lodge a complaint concerning a series of troubling issues with my Helcim account.Background:My business was approved by Helcim to process payments starting in July 2024. During this period, three transactions totaling $2,815.60 were successfully processed through your platform. However, on August 1, 2024, I was informed that my business did not align with Helcim's policies, and I was advised that I could appeal this decision. I promptly appealed, as my business is in compliance with your policies. Despite this, my appeal was declined the following day without a clear explanation.Issues Encountered:Missing Funds: My July statement only reflects the $5 charge from the first of the three payments processed, while the other two payments totaling $2,810.60 are absent. All three transactions were shown as successfully processed in my Helcim app before my account was flagged, but these funds are not reflected in my statement or my account, which is highly suspicious. Unresponsive Support: I reached out to your customer service team, who advised me to contact the Trust and Safety team via email because they did not have any information they could give me. I did so immediately but have yet to receive any response regarding the missing funds or the discrepancy in my July statement.Account Lockout: Immediately after contacting customer service, my account was locked due to inactivity. I am now unable to access my account either online or through the app. This sudden lockout seems highly suspicious and exacerbates my concerns regarding the handling of my funds.Request for Resolution:Given the severity of these issues, I request:Immediate release of my funds, investigation into the missing funds, and clarification on why only one transaction is reflected in my statement.A detailed explanation regarding the sudden decline of my appeal and the reasons for the account lockout.Prompt restoration of my account access.

  Business Response

  Date: 08/08/2024

  Hello ******,
  
  
  Thank you for your feedback and we apologize for any frustration you have experienced.
  
  
  As a financial service, we have strict obligations to adhere to Acceptable Use and Risk policies, which are industry-standard regulations. Within our Acceptable Use Policies, there are a few industries that fall underneath the 'restricted' category, and require additional review from our team. Upon additional review, there were certain factors surrounding the details of the business and/or the transactions that were not in line with one or more of these policies, so we unfortunately had to make the decision to close the account.
  
  
  The customers' transactions mentioned in your review were canceled and never charged to the cardholders. If the customers are still seeing these transactions pending on their statements, please don't hesitate to reach out to our Trust and Safety team at *************************************** and they will dig further into this. 
  
  
  We do however appreciate your feedback regarding transparency and take your experience seriously. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and wish you the best going forward.
  
  
  -The Helcim Team
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/25/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I Used Helcim for my landscape business processing for almost a year. Everything seemed good and thought they were great until After only 1 issue a un justified chargeback which I disputed with documentation and covered with funds from my processing. I spoke in great deal to risk team, staff and others.I sent in enormous amounts of documentation and worked with them to make sure funds were covered for chargeback. After this was all resolved they were requesting bank statements which I felt was not their business, but understand they needed to know I had enough funds available should an issue arise. So I told the risk rep that I would gladly give them a screenshot of my account. This was only after I had to get upset and threaten them to get a phone call back. This all been said after I provided a screen shot with thousands available in funds. They decided to close my account. I believe it's due to the Rep ***** over the issue that I got upset. Instead of reaching out to me for more information or to reach further resolution. If you use them be careful if you get upset they will drop you fast. I would like to get my $590 refunded back to me that Helcim is holding!

  Business Response

  Date: 07/25/2024

  Hello *****,
  
  Thank you for your feedback.
  
  As a financial service, we have strict obligations to adhere to Anti-Money-Laundering, Acceptable Use, and Risk policies. There were certain factors surrounding the details of the chargeback and/or the business that were not in line with one or more of these policies, so we unfortunately had to make the decision to close the account. We do however appreciate your feedback on our communication as providing excellent customer service is important to us.
  
  We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and wish you the best going forward.
  
  - The Helcim team

  Customer Answer

  Date: 07/26/2024

   
  Complaint: 22042166
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  This one and only dispute in a year of processing with Helcim is the result of all our issues in our relationship their lack of communication between us and understanding of my business.  They unfairly closed my terminal causing further harm to my business and have yet to refund my the resolved dispute amount back to me.  I'm requesting a refund of $590.00 as justified so we can both move on with our business!  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************

  Business Response

  Date: 08/02/2024

  Hi *****, 
  
  
  Thank you for the additional clarification. 
  
  
  In reviewing your account, we can confirm that our team has been in regular contact regarding this issue. As our team had communicated, the disputed amount will be returned as per the standard process once we have received official documentation as required. 
  
  
  Should you have any additional questions or concerns regarding this, our team is happy to assist. 
  
  
  We apologize for any inconvenience and wish you the best going forward. 
  
  
  - The Helcim Team

• Initial Complaint

  Date:05/30/2024

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I am ****************************************, a consultant providing services to clients like *************************** of LabReady. On May 3, 2024, I issued an invoice via their platform (#A851F3A0-0037) for $6,000, which was paid on May 15, 2024. I utilized Helcim, an all-in-one payment processing platform, to handle this transaction. Helcim offers features such as merchant accounts, payment gateway services, and point-of-sale solutions, primarily for small to medium-sized businesses.The reason why I was advertised to sign up for Helcim and switch from Stripe was to avoid processing fees via their feature called the Helcim Fee Saver, which passes these fees to the client. Despite this, I was charged a 3.25% fee much higher than their advertised pricing on the pricing page, resulting in a net payment of $5,805. Helcim's response on May 29, indicated that their system automatically disabled the Fee Saver feature when I changed the payment method to "Credit Card Only," without proper notification. This led to an unexpected charge of $195 in fees.In addition, beyong the "Enjoy free credit card processing" claim, Helcim falsely advertises its pricing, claiming average rates of 2.49%. However, they admit they cannot predict the exact fee due to varying interchange rates based on card type and transaction method. In my case, I was charged 3.25% instead of the advertised average, leading to significant unexpected costs. This inconsistency between advertised rates and actual charges is misleading and constitutes false advertising.Helcim acknowledged their system flaw but refused to refund the fee, using tactics to deflect responsibility and suggesting that it was my fault for the feature's deactivation. This is clearly an issue with their faulty system, which unfairly penalized me despite my efforts to utilize the advertised features correctly. In addition, they are I request the Better Business Bureau's assistance in resolving this matter and securing a refund for the incorrectly charged fee.

  Business Response

  Date: 06/03/2024

  Hi ***************************,
  
  
  Thank you for your feedback and we apologize for any difficulties that you have experienced. 
  
  
  Taking a look into your account, we are able to see that you have been in contact with a member of our team who has been providing regular updates regarding your invoice. We appreciate your feedback on our communication as continuous improvement and providing excellent customer service are important to us. Ensuring fairness and transparent communication with our merchants is our priority.  
  
  
  With regard to the disabled ********* services, when you switched your invoice to be payable by Credit Card only, ********* was automatically disabled, because having an alternate form of payment available to your customers is required in order to offer a compliant fee pass-through program. This resulted in the interchange rate and fees being applied to your transaction rather than passed on to your customer. While we appreciate feedback about how we can make this process clearer, we are unable to offer compensation in this case. 
  
  
  Our pricing page shows the average cost per transaction, as Helcim utilizes an interchange plus pricing model. This means that our pricing can be broken down into the Interchange rate (or cost of buying back a transaction from the card brands), the card brand fees, plus our margin. Interchange itself is not one singular number, but is impacted by how the transaction was processed (in person or online), the specific card brand ***** or MasterCard or ****************** and the specific card type used. 
  
  
  For a more detailed breakdown of the Interchange + fees for different types of card, you can check out our website ********************************************* and select the View Pricing Details option for more information. A full list of Interchange rates can be found at ****************************************************** where you can then scroll down to the Interchange rates for each card brand. In addition, information about Helcim ********* is available at ************************************************************************** and ***********************************************************************************;
  
  
  If you do have any further questions please dont hesitate to reach out to us by at ***************************** or by calling us at ***************.
  
  
  - The Helcim Team
  
  

  Business Response

  Date: 06/03/2024

  Hello BBB Team,

  We wanted to provide additional details related to the recent complaint by **************************************** in addition to the response that we have shared in our response to the complaint. 

  
  As we noted in our response:
  
  - Our team has been in regular contact with the merchant regarding this complaint
  - As we noted in our response, Fee Saver can only be used when a merchant has also enabled an alternative payment method (in this case ACH payments) when the merchant toggled this option off and selected only credit card payments they were no longer able to use Fee Saver. This is required for Fee Saver to be a compliant program. 
  - We have informed the merchant as this was a user error we are not able to refund the fees for this transaction. 
  - Helcim advertises average interchange rates on its website and provides substantive educational material for merchants looking to learn more and see all of the available rates.
     - *********************************************
     - ***********************************************************;
     - *********************************************************************;
     - Our team is also available to answer any questions and we offer merchant comparisons for statements to give merchants more specific quotes based on the type of processing behavior their business sees 
     - ********************************************************** Helcim provides all merchants with a billing method known as Interchange Plus pricing (also known as Interchange+ or Cost+). All card association fees, network fees and interchange rates are passed onto the merchant directly. Helcim then adds its processing margin, which includes a (%) rate and a per transaction ($) fee. 
  - For Fee Saver specifically we also have additional support documentation available for all users: 
     - **********************************************************************************;
     - Using Helcim Fee Saver in your invoices: ( *************************** ) 
     - These documents specifically mention that By enabling Helcim Fee Saver you are also allowing ACH to be toggled on and agreeing to our Fee Saver Terms of Service. 
     - **********************************************************************************;
  

  While we understand the frustration from this merchant, they did not configure their account correctly, did not proactively reach out to the team, and did not use the many resources we made available to them. Should you require additional information on this matter please let us know.

  
  Thank you, 

  
  Helcim 

  
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 06/03/2024

   
  Complaint: 21781349
  
  Hi *******,
  I am rejecting Helcim's response.
  
  Helcim continues to ignore the fact that there is a bug in their system and the fact that their process for automatically turning off this feature is not in their documentation nor is there a notification that this happens. They are trying to mask this error in their process as a feature. They claim the Fee Saver feature was automatically turned off when I switched the invoice to "Credit Card Only." However, even if this did happen without my knowledge, I could see that the feature was not added to my invoice and I manually re-enabled the Fee Saver feature using a toggle on the invoice itself before sending it. Helcim's repeated denial without addressing their system's mistake constitutes gaslighting. Their refusal to acknowledge and rectify this issue is unacceptable.
  
  As you can see from the initial email correspondence they have trained their customer service algorithm to continually repeat and deflect. It is my suspicion they they are using AI features to write their customer service emails.
  
  Thank you for your assistance.
  
  Best regards,
  ***************************************;

• Initial Complaint

  Date:05/04/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Helcim unfortunately caused my company a lot of issues and financial losses due to their actions. From stealing money from bank accounts to hiding information that put our money at risk. That resulted in losing our bank accounts and more.we now just lost our last bank account due to them. Costing us thousands . To any small business. Stay away from them

  Business Response

  Date: 08/28/2024

  Hello *****,

  
  Thank you for your feedback.

  
  As a financial service, we have strict obligations to adhere to Anti-Money-Laundering, Acceptable Use, and Risk policies. In reviewing your account, we can see that our team had been in regular communication with you regarding your funds, and had explained that there are certain requirements from the card brands we are obligated to uphold in relation to your account. We strive to ensure that we provide as much context and assistance with any funding amounts, and that we are providing ease of access within your account on any next steps required.

  
  Our team had also outlined the expectations regarding the chargeback process that we are required to follow, as well as provided avenues towards addressing the issue with you and your customer. 

  
  In regards to information stored and our processing, we take security of our merchants' accounts seriously; if there are concerns around data stored, our team is more than able to provide context and details on regulations as well. Please find more in depth information on our standards and terms of security here: ***********************************************************

  
  We apologize for any inconvenience and wish you the best going forward.

  
  -The Helcim Team
  

  
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/21/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I filled out an application on their website to do business with them. Their business is to process online credit card transactions for their customers. They denied my application and gave me no specific reason why. I'm left but to guess why. It can't be my credit score because that has risen 21 points within the year 2023 and I have a fair score. I don't believe it's the industry I'm doing business in. I'm in the Christian *** industry. Their telling me I don't meet their risk policies. Yet they're not being specific what risk I pose. I ask the bbb to require said company to put in writing the specific reason or reasons I am a risk if that is the truth.

  Business Response

  Date: 09/26/2023

  
  Hello,

  Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Our team has been in touch with the merchant regarding their inquiry and provided an additional review of the account. The merchant has since advised us they no longer wish to proceed with their application. Our team is available should they have any further questions. 
  

  Kind regards,

  The Helcim Team
  

  
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 09/27/2023

   
  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,
  
  ***********************