Leaders Merchant Services Reviews

I have been with this company for only a few months but have had nothing but trouble. The card reader they sold me does not work right and they never return phone calls! I am not able to reach anyone and none of my sales from over a week ago have gone into my account yet and I CAN NOT REACH THEM! I was never told of a huge cancellation fee when I signed up as others are reporting. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!

This company is crooked. They promise you the world and deliver you a steaming pile of burning dog poop. On opening the account, they tell you low rates, no fees, and neglect to explain you're entering into a three (3) year contract. I was quoted 0.9-1.2% processing fees, but in actuality was getting charged around 8.5% once fees came through. If you cancel your account, they charge you a $350 cancellation fee which they will not refund for any reason whatsoever. Customer service requires HOURS to speak to someone. They boast a callback feature in their prompt but never call you back. DO NOT USE THIS SERVICE PROVIDER!!!!

I wish I could give Leaders a 0 Zero Stars rating. After the big promises that were lies to get me to sign up. I then spent hours over weeks trying to get overcharges corrected. Then I completed the cancellation paperwork, emailed it in, received a response saying they'd take care of it. A few months later I discovered that they continued to withdraw money from my account (3X) before I caught it. This cost me a few hundred dollars. It's been impossible to get them to return my calls, despite promises from 3 different departments. I have a big mouth and will tell anyone who wants to avoid getting ripped off to RUN away as fast as you can away from this company. To add insult to injury, I had my bank stop all future payments and that cost me an additional $70 to prevent future thievery!

Once you purchase, you're nothing. - Sales rep makes big promises but never calls back after purchase is made. Countless emails and phone calls... crickets. Hour long wait times, technical issues, double billing, defective device, inconsistent information... everything wrong with a company - you found it. I'm not sure where they get their "positive" reviews they claim on their website.

I haven't been able to reach tech support. Never was able to supply a second or third email address which was needed to activate. I told the installer to hold off on activation until I was ready. Leaders went ahead anyway and started the service. My accounts have not been activated and I am $800.00 in the hole with no service. Isn't that stealing? Still trying to cut ties and get refunded but there is always a high volume of calls and I find myself in a never ending queue. Please do not consider Leaders for your Merchant service. Four Months no transactions two accounts and over $800.00 later.

This company continually put more fees on the credit card processing. The "lowest" rate turned out to be higher than my current processor, which they said was one of the highest. I cancelled my service with them after one month. On January 2, I received a fee of $130.25. They said they never received my cancellation form. I can now wait until the cancellation is processed and request a refund for this annual amount that was never disclosed. STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY!

They have failed to address software issues preventing use of their services by my company. I have contacted them every week for 2 months, with no response and they continue to charge me for the service - totaling over $385 in fees thus far. They refuse to address the issue and are refusing to cancel my account or refund the fees. We have not used their software one time! This is a complete scam and I’m reporting them to my bank for fraud.

Their fees are outrageous. They will waive insignificant fractions of percents only temporarily so you feel like you talked them down in price. They dont tell you about any of the crazy fees. They have a processing noncompliance fee which all you had to tell them is that you're in compliance and it could have been removed but they dont tell you about it and it's automatically charged. You have to go to another website to just say you're in compliance but they could have said that from the start. It started charging everything again. Cant get anything removed and hidden fees are crazy high. Dont USE LEADERS.

They use a third party sales company. They don’t disclose all the fees, just the small ones which they offer to waive. They didn’t even tell my wife it was a 12 month contract. Never sent a contract a copy of the contract so we had no idea what the terms were. On the Leaders Merchant side they were equally as bad. We tried to run a payment in June and our account kept coming up Disabled. Call tech support they said it wasn’t them. Called customer service they said it wasn’t them either. Went back to tech support they wouldn’t own it and said they couldn’t fix it. At this point we said close it and we went with Squared.

BEWARE of this company. My wife was going to do business with them. She gave them her information but told them she didn't want to start until Fall of 2019. Before activating her account and ordering the credit card reader, she decided NOT to go with them. She told them she had changed her mind. Then on one of the busiest shopping days of the year, we notice an almost $300 charge to our checking account. We tried calling Leaders and nobody would take our calls. We left numerous messages and they would not return our calls. BEWARE...they put the charge through a third party collection service so at first we didn't recognize where the charge came from. We think most merchants would have missed this charge because of the busy shopping season. We have NEVER ever heard back from these people. We provided documentation to our bank and after investigating, they permanently reversed the charge. We got lucky!

The Representative that set up my company with their credit card processing was very dishonest about the fees and rates that would be charged. There are numerous fees that you're charged for every transaction that drives your rate up to as high as 8.5% per transaction. Now I've got to pay the $350 early termination fee. I definitely would NOT recommend this company to handle running your credit card transaction!!!!

Leaders is a CROOKED THIEF!!! They stole $175 over a 3-month period from my checking account before I realized it, then when I did catch it they denied everything and closed my account and claimed they didn't even know who I was. So I filed a fraud claim, and the investigation found Leaders to be guilty and reimbursed me $175. NEVER TRUST LEADERS!!

Received a free card reader that we never used but was charged by 2 different names in my account every week one for 15$ and one for 28.20. Called everyday for 2 weeks to just be told lies and that no supervisor was in. After racking up 450$ from them and over 400 in fees from my bank they told me I would receive all money back and emails promised with updates but never received any. Took weeks to close account and then charged me 200$ for the product I sent back! And another fee even after account was closed.

Please do not sign up with this company. Have you heard of the saying #highway robbery? # That's what LEADERS MERCHANT IS. Charges upon charges up to 30% of sales. Do not sign up with Leaders Merchant. The terms will say something and they will create other fictitious fees..

I would give this company a zero it that was an option. I have never been so disappointed in my life with a company as I am with this one. I spoke with Ben ** on Wednesday (9/25/19) and set up an account. I paid $75 for a card reader and $25 for next day delivery through an ACH withdrawal from my bank account. The reader did not arrive Thursday as promised. I called Ben ** Friday morning and he said that he would ensure that it was sent and would call me back. He told me that it was not shipped because my credit accounts were locked. That should not have had anything to do with the shipment since I had already paid for it. He did not return my call despite two voice mails and an email during the day on Friday.

I signed up, and what the sales rep and I agreed to, they didn't hold to. I was stating my business on Nov 2nd, they charged me a monthly fee for October even though I wasn't open! Also set a monthly limit so high, I would always be charged even though I explained to them it will take years to get the business up and running. I'm switching this week and I would stay away!!!!

I received a phone call and was busy on a job site when I received my first phone call so I asked if he could give me a call back on another day. During the weekend I had more time to go over and look at more information and decided it wasn't right for me. I received the call back today. He called on time that I had asked but I simply stated I wasn't interested but I did appreciate the call back. As soon as I started I wasn't interested. He became very rude and hung up the phone on me. Not very good customer service skills if you ask me.

We signed up with them because they had a great sales pitch. We had another merchant account and were willing to try them both out. From the get go we couldn't get ahold of customer service. We never did get our account up and running. We have been trying to cancel for almost a month and can't get anywhere. We call to cancel and they tell us we have the wrong department. They transfer us and no one picks up. We called customer service and no one ever answers.

After cancelling our services two months ago Leaders has charged us the amounts of $144.09 for processing, $40 for equipment, $144.09 for processing again, another $40 for equipment, then we received an email yesterday 10/29/19 saying they are going to charge us $800 for equipment on 11/8/19 if equipment was not returned. We paid for our equipment upfront. On iAccess portal was shut down 2 months ago. No one will take a call or help. Then today our account was debited another $250. Tried calling again and nothing. This company promised processing rates at the beginning and charged more from the get go. No support and no way to get help. we switched and now all these charges are happening. CROOKS and FRAUDS is all this company is. I called again today and asked for a supervisor and the lady hung up.

When I was talking with the person on line I gave him my information after he told me all the things about them but when he told me a service fee monthly would be nearly $70.00 a month I told him @ that time no way and I was no longer interested. Well to my surprise they started taking money out of my account. I just was told wrong department here is the number you need two call. Well I've called more than 10 of these different departments. Filled 2 cancel forms. I have tried everything to get my money back. BBB and Lake City District attorney I come. Please email. This company needs a wake call and needs to return our money plus time and all the headaches we have put into getting our money back. And I think not allowing us to use emails so we can't talk to one another is a another rotten rate, they are trying not to give us a way to get at them.

Leaders are the worst company to use for credit card processing. I signed up with them nine month ago. Trying to cancel they make you jump through hoops. Not to mention you need half hour to 1 hour wait to get a customer service person. No transparency. Poor customer service. Higher rate. I do not recommend them. In addition they charge $300 for cancellation even though equipment does not belong to them.

You can't get through, I tried to cancel my account and four months later they continue to take a $15.00 monthly fee from my account, it takes 1/2 hour to talk to a rep, who does not even work for Leaders, and they have not been able to cancel my account, let alone get me a refund. I have filed a complaint with the NYS Attorney General... Bad news, get a Square.

This company is absolute frauds - stole thousands of dollars from us, no customer support - I suspect they are a scam. We're working to recover our funds but STAY AWAY! They only take your money, provide no support or communication - we were robbed and I hope you stay away.

Their false promise in list,

They hide fees, lie about the costs, they charge not the lowest in the industry. 0.15% is now 5.99%. In fact 90% of the cards my customers use are in the 5.99%. Liars. They hide early termination fees and PCI fees. They are a company with zero ethics or integrity.

Everything started out ok I guess then all of the sudden after a week or so I get a notification that my account is on hold. Ok they wanted proof that I am sending the products to the customer so I give them the proof, then they are getting upset that I am getting a lot of declines (trust me I was too). I watched the transactions close and if they looked fishy I cancelled the order or would decline them. So fast forward, 1 week after I was told they would release my funds. They still have not to this day after being told 3 separate times. So I sit here typing this review waiting on $2000 of money I have already spent, the customers already have the products. And to think I made the change to save money my previous merchant. And don't get me started on the fee. Remember if it seems too good to be true it probably is.

I signed up for their service and was told I had to make charges every month or pay a penalty. I have tried to put my account on hold and they are charging for that. This service is the biggest pain ever. The hidden fee and shady practices are ridiculous. Cancellation is $350 which I will pay because it seems it will cost more in the end with their fraudulent charges. Worst company ever.

I've been a member of Leaders for 5 months. I'm a small business and don't really take more than one or two transactions each month. These guys signed me up for their cheapest package and quoted me $19.99 per month. The first month my bill was $240. Each additional month the bill was over $150. They have hoops setup so it's very hard to contact the right department to discuss an issue. In the end, they refuse to work with me and said that it's my own fault for not asking them about the hidden fees. This company is 100% structured as a scam. Yes, the credit card reader works, but don't expect anything else to be right with these guys. I've spent over $1000 for a card reader and haven't used it more than once. They are fighting me now to close the account. My advice, if you're reading this review, RUN from Leaders Merchant Services as fast as you can. Don't get locked in and scammed like so many others have.

This is a horrible company. The departments do not communicate between one another. I was given wrong information from the beginning. There are multiple hidden fees with this business and their customer service is atrocious. I was told there would be not be a minimum monthly amount required to be charged since I was a nonprofit, and that I would only have to pay a small fee per transaction. That ended up being wrong, but I was told there was nothing they could do about it. So I asked for the service to be cancelled. Long story short, I just found a 350.00 cancellation fee on my statement. DON'T USE THIS COMPANY!!! Dishonest, disorganized, awful customer service!

Company has very shady and deceptive business practices. They set us up on a "no monthly but per transaction fee" account. We started noticing some repetitive charges up to $130/month. Their excuse is that one of the email statements mentions the massive increases, will not refund, and charge $300 cancellation fee. Here's their strategy. Lure you in through false claims, sneak in fees, and charge for cancellation. Probably where most of their profit comes in, because most merchants that actually charge monthly, are way less in fees a month. And they claim they "beat everyone". They don't care about initial contract and that we specifically asked for a no monthly fee account, some sneaky statement in your email overrides all that. You don't get any physical contract in mail regarding changes. Save yourself money and go with other merchants!

I have had a terminal before and I have never experienced the service I have with leaders. I signed up with this service and within one month they cancelled my subscriptions due to a chargeback. I received the money from the customer through another payment since they didn’t know the name of my company. I did not cancel service with leaders. They cancelled me after one chargeback and I received the funds in another form. They charged me $350 early termination fee. $200 for another charge. Today I woke up to another $200 taken from my account. This has been the worst experience ever and completely hard to get through to customer service. There is always a supervisor in an office and they say the supervisor will return calls in 2-3 business days which never happens. Please be cautious with this company. I have asked for their main address to go into an office and they refuse to give me a legitimate address. Only P.O. Boxes.

I have had Leaders for almost a year. Occasional use for a moderate fee was all I was looking for. The low monthly fee and free card reader were simply not true. Fee doubled after about 2 months. (No big deal, still only $7.95, but since I don’t use at least $2500/month they started charging me $15/month for my “free” card reader.) On top of that almost every month I get random charges (Last month was $119) for some unknown fee that surely was tucked somewhere is some fine print somewhere. I tried to cancel and they want to charge $350 early termination that they seem very intent on not budging on. I guess I should have paid more attention. I have a 4 year contract so I’m trying to decide if I want to pay dearly for my mistake now, or let them take it out of me for the next three years. It works well, is convenient and nice to have, but unless you use it a lot prepare to taken by their pushy salespeople.

We have been with Leaders Merchant Services for credit card processing for several years now and continue to be satisfied with their great pricing & great service. We receive calls from other companies to solicit our business but why would we switch?

Our family operates a small choose & cut Christmas tree farm in Georgia - we only have sales for about 6 weeks out of each year - from mid November through December. Our ability to accept credit cards is limited due to the fact that most credit card processors do not operate on a seasonal option and paying for card processing for 12 months I order to use it for 2 months was not something we could accommodate. In November 2018 (November 2, 2018) was on the internet looking at sites offering credit card processing and saw information from Leaders Merchant Services - I clicked on a button indicating an interest in getting further information. Unfortunately that was the beginning of a very difficult experience.

We have been with Leaders for almost 6 months. Mostly satisfied. The pros: The application and approval process were easy. The cons: I caught a charge back on my statement that was fraudulent. Stuff happens - I get it. In the end, Leaders backed me up and we were able to get it resolved. Since that one billing issue all has been good. Still enjoying low rates, too.

Giving this company 1 star is not what we want to do, they deserve 0 stars!!! This company is comprised of criminals! DO NOT USE THEM! They take money from your account at will for no reason. When you call to find out why the money was removed from your account you get transferred to a hold queue of 20563 minutes! YES that is what the message says while you're on hold. They do not return calls or answer emails. Our terminal did not work properly as promised out of the box. We attempted to close the account and that was a living HELL to do.

Transitioning from my old credit card processor to Leaders Merchant Services was so easy. Leaders did all the “heavy lifting” and handled most of the details. Since I’ve switched, the savings from their lower fees has really helped my bottom line. And their customer service team is so nice! Would definitely recommend them to any business in need of processing services.

Leaders Merchant Services states that they provide free equipment, low rates, and dedicated support for mobile card readers. When I contacted them on March 11, they quoted low rates compared to other services and, because I am a very small business, they agreed to waive the monthly fee. I completed and signed a document entitled “Merchant Payment Card Application/Agreement.” Later that day, I was informed that I was approved.

First off please note that I have never had a merchant service account and still do not have one. I am very ignorant of this whole aspect of doing business and it is very confusing. With this in mind, I called Leaders after reading several good reviews online and was given a very competitive verbal quote. In order to see if I was qualified for the pricing quoted I was asked to fill out an application and wait for 14 days for approval... only to find out the next day that I was already locked into a three year agreement with a $350 early cancellation fee! I then dug deeper into Google and found hundreds of other people had experienced the same thing.

You should definitely avoid this firm for many reasons. They offer no real customer service and once you sign up you are in their pockets for 3 years with no back door to exist. We never used a credit card reader before and wanted to try it out. It just seemed that we were losing more money than we expected to from the charges. The worst part is we sold our business and now are being told we are obligated to pay an early termination fee of $350. This is unheard of as many other companies have no cancellation fees. Avoid Leaders and look for a better firm that doesn't suck you in and take your money.