if you are considering a merchant provider, then I highly suggest that you do NOT use Pipeline Data Processing  of Alpharetta, Georgia that utilizes charge.com and securepay.com websites. They have been the WORST company I have dealt with in the 12 years of my business ventures. I recently wrote the Better Business Bureau and I won’t stop there. Below you can see a copy of my letter I sent them and the ordeal that I spent with Pipeline Data.

If you’re looking for another merchant that is one of the best,  I highly recommend using Intuit or Yahoo Merchant Solutions
. They have no contracts, cheap processing rates, answer their phone and faxes, and care about their customers.

I have been a customer of Pipeline Data Processing, Inc of Alpharetta, Georgia for less than six months now and they have treated me horribly shortly after I signed up with them. We initially signed a contract for merchant services from them to me and later they charged me a “Mandatory” “PCI Compliance Fee” of $150 that was outside of our initial contract. This caused my bank account to overdraft and they then held all my customer funds that belonged to me without proper notice. I reluctantly overnighted them a check via USPS for the $150 so that they would release the funds to my account because they refused to accept payment any other way. They claimed that they never got the check for over a week until I faxed them a confirmation of the delivery from the post office. Suddenly they found the check and finally released my funds.

Shortly after that, I had a customer request to pay for his service that I fully provided in full payment after 2 months of financing him and 10 to go to pay off his balance. The amount of the charge was for 995.90 to be paid in full with me. Pipeline held these funds and required proof of the transaction. I sent them the contract and authorization form that I require all customers to sign before I charge their card and Pipeline validated the charge as legitimate but then called me a high risk company and still refused to release my funds until I signed an additional contract that would give them permission to hold an additional 25% of all my funds to be released to me only 6 months after I cancel with them. They termed it as a “rolling reserve”. I call it BS! Here is a copy of that form:
————————————————————————————
ROLLING RESERVE LETTER

Date: ________02/23/2009__________

Mr. Anthony Bonventre
Pipeline Data Processing
P.O. BOX 1101
Alpharetta, GA  30022

Re: Merchant Account for:  AREA WEB SOLUTIONS, LLC

MID: XXXXXX4702
Dear Mr. Bonventre:

This letter should serve as confirmation that as consideration for approval, I, agree to a 25 % rolling reserve of deposits.  And an initial security reserve of $249.88 (249 dollars and 88 cents).

I understand that funds will be released six (6) months after termination of my merchant processing agreement with Pipeline Data, pending there are no uncollected chargeback’s or fees owed to Pipeline Data. *

Sincerely,

Signature: _______________________________________________________________
(Name and Title)

Print: ___________________________________________________________________
(Name and Title)

Signature: _______________________________________________________________
(Name and Title)

Print: ___________________________________________________________________
(Name and Title)

* This rolling reserve is subject to review by Pipeline Data in 180 days from date above.
————————————————————————————-

I refused to sign this form and refunded my customer in order for me to get my owed money from him another way. Pipeline has been an embarrassment to me with my customer(s) as I had to explain why the money was refunded. My company–Area Web Solutions, LLC of Michigan–is a well respected business online and within our community. We have been in business since 2003 and are members of our local Chamber of Commerce with no problems in our past but only recently started to accept cc payments through Pipeline. I have spent many wasted hours on hold with Pipeline because their customer service is also terrible. At a rate of $75.00 per hour charged on average for our clients, Pipeline has stolen very valuable time from our company from their terrible customer service, being on hold, and being transferred from one clueless operator to the next.

I feel that the company needs a legal investigation for possible fraud on their part as they try to pass it on to their customers–like me–and hide their sins through false blame on hard working companies that perform legitimate services. A google search for “pipeline data scam” will produce several complaints from other businesses that they have done wrong to also. The same is true with the BBB database against them as well. I wish I had seen this information before I ever chose to do business with them. Please do what you can so that we can hopefully help other people make informed decisions before entering into a contract with Pipeline Data.

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Drop your comments in the comment box below. Please share your experiences with Pipeline with the rest of the world.

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