Host Merchant Services

The company we were with when they were doing their PCI got into my home computer that posted our point of sale system, and they were going through it. Prior to that, we were notified that we were PCI 9 compliant and fined 60 dollars because my employee had, at my instructions, taken a picture of some of the produce we had in the fall. We posted them on our Facebook page for our business, and we were informed that it was a breach of security, and they were fining us for it. Next month, we were fined again. I started thinking that something fishy was going on, and I started checking all my accounts and found that the bank account that our tax refund would go into was assigned to another bank and a number. That's when I went on a hunt to find something that was a little more reputable because that's intolerable.

Some of the products we sell are considered higher risk to other traditional merchant service providers. We reached out to Host Merchant and we process payments through online, POS. We've been using them for three months now, and everything's been running smoothly. I deal with Robert. He's super responsive, which is one thing I liked about him. It's not like we're a new business. We've been running for a long time. It's just things have gotten updated in recent years on the merchant side, which is why some of stuff was deemed high risk. So, it's completely new. We had a bunch of other merchant services approach us, but Host Merchant Services were the most reliable in terms of getting back to us, answering our questions, going out of their way to take care of things. They're good compared to Elavon and First Data, the ones we've used before. Service is on par but it feels a little more personal with Host Merchant.

We process payments using a point-of-sale system. We were using QuickBooks and it was pretty pricey. I looked online and I read that Host Merchant Service was ranked pretty high in reviews and feedback so I reached out to them. I have been working with Host Merchant for two months and it’s been doing good. Right now, we’re just using swiper only. We accept most credit cards most of the time, but sometimes the customer would like to use debit cards but it’s not really a big deal. We have had customers asking for the chip reading device. When we first started, we've had a problem when the customer wanted to return items. When I have a technical problem or something, I would call Host Merchant, and they would help me right away. I’ve mostly had good experience with Host Merchant Services. I wanna try more for a few more months and to see if I really need to get a chip reading device.

I went with Host Merchant for their 24-hour service, which is nice to have. I also wanted to go with the most basic thing I could possibly get. I was gonna go with Square but I read all these things where people didn't have access to questions that were being asked. Also, Host Merchant's rates sounded better than most of the others. Although, that seems to be building up very quickly. I'm spending a lot of money monthly and my business is very small. So, I have to keep an eye on that. I had to change my address four different times with Host Merchant because anything that is mailed to my work address is susceptible to tampering since my mailbox is on the outside of the building. So, that was a pain. But other than that, the experience I've had with them has been good and the machines are working fine. There had been times when I needed to call to get things straightened out and their customer service reps have always been very helpful and polite.

I used another credit card processing company in 2006 but their fees kept going up very arbitrarily and with no warning. And when they switched over to the chip-enabled cards, knowing that I was requesting phone connectivity, they sent me internet-connective terminals. I had to manually reset them over time. Aside from that, we had a lightning strike and they insisted that the problem wasn't with the terminals. They said it was the phone line when none of the terminals would work. And I spent four days on the phone with them trying to get them to recognize that their terminals didn't work. It was a nightmare for the past year, so I gave up. I went online, looked at comparisons of merchant service accounts processing, and Host Merchant Services was among the top five. I reached out to all five of them and Host Merchant Services was the most flexible of the five. So, I went with them.

I was not satisfied with the company that I was with, and I got Host Merchant when I researched online. They gave me a better rate, comparable to what I was paying, and we've been working with them since about 3 months ago. I process payments mostly on credit card and some we do online. The only thing we had an issue was when we needed to do a tip adjustment and we were told there’s no way to do that. So, it was like once we entered it in, before we finish the sale, we should be able to go back and readjust it, and there’s no way to do that. Other than that, we have interacted with customer service, though it's off and on and not too much, and our interactions have been fine.

The company that I was going with to do my website recommended Host Merchant Services. Everything worked out. The website is up and running and it’s working perfectly. The changeover was easy. Everything runs through our merchant account. All my payments were previously processed through PayPal but now, people can select either Paypal or a credit card. It does what it’s supposed to do, so I’m happy.

I live in Southern Louisiana and I sell boiled crawfish at a drive-through window. I got a POS system from Host Merchant Services. This is my first time doing anything like this and going with them turned out to be a good decision. The system was very easy to set up and the machine has been really fast. I know that that has a lot to do with the internet service but everything has been great. Their customer service has also been very helpful. If I had any question, I'd call them and I'd always be entertained by someone ready to help and with a good attitude.

Host Merchant's lower price made me reach out to them and Tyler contacted me in my shop. I've been with them for a month. Although the issues haven’t been settled yet, Tyler has been very diligent in getting us there. I have a mobile swiper. I also process payments online and I have been paying them into my computer with Elavon. Host Merchant is great.

We did a standard Google search for a high risk merchant account and that was how we came across Host Merchant Services and reached out to them. Their sales rep is a nice guy and I had a really good rapport with him, so I felt comfortable with Host. Everything is just getting set up and started with them. Right now, we're not currently using them and we haven't processed transactions yet on this account, but it is in our plans to use them soon and we'll definitely start processing some transactions soon. Someone asked me what was going on and why we were not processing deals. At this point, everything is on hold and we're transitioning over to an entirely different sale or a different approach for our customers. It's a little bit of a work in progress. But I'm sure they're gonna charge me every month anyway, so they're still making their money.