Don't use NOVA for CC Processing

January 18, 2005 @ 2:33 pm

Oh man, am I pissed off today! I just got off the phone with the Nova Credit Card Processing people – again. I had cancelled my merchant account with Processing Source International sometime back in September because of serious service problems and slow Internet processing most of it was due to problems with Nova's network (according to PSI anyway). I had horrible problems with international transactions taking minutes to process, timing out without failure notices, and then when re-processing ending up with double charges. This is not all Nova's fault, but the backend slowness for retrieving those international charges surely were due to NOVA that set off this failure.

So I switched to Authorize.NET through MerchantPlus. No hassle, fast processing I was up and running including all paperwork in a couple of days. Closing with PSI was actually quick and easy. I called faxed a couple of documents argued about the closing fee which shouldn’t have been charged because I had outstayed my contract. Fine. But I still had to cancel my account with Nova. Nova is one of the big payment gateway networks and these fuckers have been giving me the run-around since November.

It started with me calling to close the account and faxing the closing papers back in September. In October I get another statement. I call and complain – no, we didn’t get your fax. I fax again. I call a few days later, no we didn’t get it. I fax again. All the same time my Fax Log says that they definitely received the Fax. I call again. They make a note in the account – we’re sorry but we need the paper work to close the account. November rolls around - another $35 charge. Ok, so I fax again and mail it. I write a note to say they should confirm and all along have checked the option that confirmation is required on their closing form. I ask them to refund the $70 they owe me by now.

Finally in December – 3 months later the account closes. No confirmation just no more statement. No refund of the $105 now owed me by Nova. No explanation even though I asked for one in the letter.

So far, I’ve been taken for $105 in fees for service I didn’t use. December 31^st rolls around. A charge for $295 from Nova shows up in my account. I call again – that’s a closing fee. After much arguing I’m referred back to PSI for dealing with the closing fee, while it’s very plain that this charge is from Nova, not from PSI - I was done with PSI in September. Even better the account’s closing fee originally was only $175 - so WTF is $295 now?

How’s that for getting screwed. Nova SUCKS! This is a joke and downright fraudulent behavior. I was told the fee is waived by PSI and then also by NOVA when I talked to the Rep who faxed the closing documents. Of course now that the charge is there, there’s no record of it. In fact, mysteriously the entire conversation that I had with customer service over the last 3 months of continued calling regarding the closing and faxing has disappeared. Nice… now I know that info was written down because I had them pull it up on one of the previous call. So what happened here? Are employees in on this scam and told by management?

Finally they sent me back to Processing Source giving me an incorrect phone number to boot. Remember this is 3 months after I’ve cancelled with them. Ridiculous. So I can look forward to a few more hours on the phone, trying (and I don't have my hopes up that I will retrieve this money) to retrieve $400 worth of fees. Isn't it enough that Nova makes hundreds of dollars off the account every month while active? For years on end? No they want to screw you at the end on top of it. Bye - nice taking your money. We want some more - now go away. Screw you - you will never get my business again and I'll try my darndest to convince a few others to not use NOVA either so this sort of behavior will end up costing you way more than being reasonable... beside Nova's rates were horrible anyway.

CC Processors and the Credit Card companies are making money hand over fist and then they try to screw you ontop of it. Ironic – I was looking at Yahoo headlines last night and it says BankOne makes 40% profit gain, mostly from fees… yeah no kidding, with shit like this it’s easy to get rich.

I hate these sort of double talk business practices.

And no, I don’t feel better now <g>…

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re: Don't use NOVA for CC Processing
by Dave Anderson February 03, 2005 @ 5:53 am

I don't know the specifics of your argument with NOVA. But you don't mention anything about your contract with them. Have you read it? If the cancel fees and the term are in the contract you signed, then it's your fault for agreeing to pay cancel fees etc. that you now say you don't want to pay.

As for Nova making 100's of dollars a month on your account. I find that hard to believe, unless your processing was well over $80,000 to $100,000/month.

Also.. here's a tip. When you are trying to cancel a service, pop for the $6.00 and send a certified letter.

re: Don't use NOVA for CC Processing
by Raj Patel February 02, 2006 @ 8:26 am

Dude, are you kidding?

I was NOVA's customer for good two years. Today was my last day as their customer, which I'm so glad for.

Anyway, my bank (who gave me commercial loan) forced NOVA down my throat for two years. I signed up with another merchant after two years & called NOVA to cancel my account:

11/25/2005 They faxed me an application to close the account. I duly filled out the application & faxed it back within an hour.

And I thought all is well.

Somewhere after Christmas: I recieve their statement in mail, with minimun fee $35. I said WTF, I closed the account months ago.

1/9/2006: So I called them again. Their exceuse: they don't have my application. Asked me to fax that stupid thing again !!! I faxed that shit 5 times to given fax number. I later called them to confirm that they recieved my fax and they'll be closing my application. They made that entry into my account.

1/22/2006: I call them to see if my account is closed. And to my surprise they didn't. So I'm now screaming on phone. The lady on phone says she'll forward it to "Closing Dept" (like it exists!!). She said somebody from that dept will contact me. She takes my phone number & email.

2/2/2006: I called them today. The rep says I have to fill out the form. I said f**k, look at the log. He realize that they already received my application. So, he transfer me to his supervisor. I give her hell over phone. She asks me to fax that stupid application again. I fax it to her fax number 5 times. I call NOVA 3 hours later, and .... my account is closed!!!!

Needless to say, don't ever deal with stupid NOVA again!

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re: Don't use NOVA for CC Processing
by Mike Mercado May 29, 2008 @ 7:26 pm

I have been with Nova, now called Elavon, since 1993 in the last few years the charges had gone way up. My total processing charges, the discount rate charged by Visa/MC & all of the added fees charged by Nova, were averaging 3.5%, with a low of 3.2% and a high of 3.9%, over the last 2yrs. On $20,000 in sales that comes out to $700.00 a month. My average sale is @ $450.00 & I have never had a charge back or customer complaint. I tried to get them to lower my rates but when they sent me the paper work they wanted to me to sign a new contract & charge me a start up fee. I just switched over to Heartland who looked over the statement & said they could save me 30%. I called Elavon to cancell & they want to charge me a $295.00 cancellation fee. So now I am going top post to evey complaint board I can find. I will also repost in a month or two with real numbers from Heartland processing.

re: Don't use NOVA for CC Processing
by Bill July 12, 2008 @ 6:33 am

After a little searching I found Netcom in Roswell, Georgia is a company that waives all exit fees no matter the reason. I recently left one of their processors to go with another for a better price and the previous bank tried charging me the fee after I was with them for 3 years and Netcom refunded the $250 fee and tried collecting directly from their former processor. I also get a new terminal or supplies same day because they are in the same village. I also finf their cost plus program easy to understand in the complicated worls of cc service.

re: Don't use NOVA for CC Processing
by Bill Fee August 12, 2008 @ 5:47 pm

Funny, I am going through the exact same thing and its 3 1/2 years later. They didn't get the fax, delays, fees, etc. Don't believe them if they tell you they are processing any type of request. I think that really means I want to get off the phone so I can have a smoke break. I picture a wheel they spin to decide what lame argument they use to screw you. I am going to change banks on the grounds that they recommended these con artists to me. Someone told me that a company they were dealing with dragged them on for years and she finally got her money unexpectedly through a class action lawsuit that had been filed. I hope I will get mine back someday.

re: Don't use NOVA for CC Processing
by Mark August 21, 2008 @ 8:36 am

If you want a real horror story about Elavon here it is:

We have been with NOVA (Elavon) for 15+ years.

We run around 50k in cc's monthly and had one big month with three transactions in the 15k - 30k range that put us up against our secret (unknown to us) limit of 90k. Somebody (loss prevention ?) at Elavon locks our account and we cannot process any further cc's until we submit documentation on the three large transactions. We were within 2 days of the end of the month and I figured no big deal, I'll hold the larger stuff until after the first and run it then. In the mean time I started looking for another processor.

I got set up with 1st National and within a few days I received my new terminal and was back in business without having to run any further transactions through Elavon. I called Elavon and told them were done and I am using another company. The following week Elavon hits my bank account for 5 debits of 11,200 each or a total of 56k. Two days later they send me a letter via two day deliverey, saying they will be holding the money, for loss prevention, for a minimum of 270 days. When I called to find out how in the world they thought they could justify holding 56k for a minimum of 270 days, in light of the fact that I have zero chargebacks, they told me it was because I didn't submit the documentation on the large transactions and they are "unverified transactions" subject to loss prevention.

I have now faxed them 21 pages of invoices for the charges and they are now supposedly contacting the customers to verify the merchandise has been delivered. What a crock ! I called one of my customers and he has yet to have any contact with Elavon and is frankly pissed because he has already paid his cc bill and wonders who is using the money they they have stolen from my account.

I am wondering about Elavon's liquidity at this point. These sound like drastic measures by a processor that may be about ready to fold. I'm wondering if Elavon / Nova is doing this to other customers ?

I would not take credit cards before I would use Elavon / Nova as processor.

I'll update this if and when I get my 56k back into my account.

re: Don't use NOVA for CC Processing
by Mark August 30, 2008 @ 6:57 am

Took ten days to get the money back into my account. Had to send 21 copies of invoices to verify the transactions in question.

Please don't use Nova for your processing. They are the worst.

re: Don't use NOVA for CC Processing
by Chrissy September 01, 2008 @ 6:46 pm

I also HIGHLY discourage the patronizing of Nova/Elavon. I worked as a precompliance chargeback specialist for the crazy place, and I am here to tell you, it is run by some very unprofessional folks with little to no business sense. They're more concerned with productivity and tiny numbers than the 'bottom line'. Beware!