Forte Payment Systems Review

Blocking payment with no explanation.

The risk management team at Forte approved our account to process payments. Then they put the account on hold and are making us go through a series of additional checks to release the funds paid by our customers. They said that the initial check was preliminary and they have the right to block any transaction that poses a risk to them. In the meantime, it can be 40-90 days before we see our funds.

Charges fake "PCI compliance" fees to upcharge customers for payment gateway integrations. I use Zoho Books to bill clients. Forte has a payment gateway through them. Average pricing, not awful. BUT they hit me with a PCI compliance failure fee, for $30 per month. When I reached out to them to see what that was about, and to let them know that I provide PCI compliance for MY customers, and that I only accept payment through Zoho, so only Zoho needs to be PCI compliant, they passed the buck to Zoho, and said they need to provide PCI compliance!!! Which is ridiculous, obviously they are PCI compliant, but I verified with them anyway. Of course they were. Forte just gives me a run around with people who do not even know what PCI compliance is, much less how you would comply with it, or who actually needs to comply, there isn't anything I could do to prove that I was compliant through Zoho other than the fact that Zoho is compliant. It is clear that this company just hits everyone with whatever fees that they can get away with.

Terrible company. They cancelled our account after 5 years with NO notice. No bounced checks, no problems - they said we were too small. Had to scramble to set up customer with new ACH provider. These guys are just the worst.

Horrible company. They did a credit check, authorized me to use them and then came back with a long list of items after the fact. They should not allow us to use the system until we are fully authorized. They asked for these items days after and are holding on to my money. They are requesting a copy of the leases for every client now. I have a feeling they are in financial trouble and this is why they are using these tactics. I already complained to the property management company Buildium about this. Note: Long delay when I ask for their written policies and the agreement from when I signed up! Love Buildium, but this will not do.

I have used this company with another non for profit and thought it would be an easy transition to do another. I was WRONG! I have had problems with usernames and password. I reached out for service and got nothing. They are not available. They charged me twice. I asked for a credit for a service I didn’t receive and was denied. Do not use this company.

Forte has been awful to work with. We signed up at the beginning of November and were told that we were ready to start processing payments. Then I received an email from Stephanie Shaw at Forte saying that they need more information to verify that the payments that our clients submitted online were legit. I provided all the requested information (invoice, service order agreement, and website). She replied saying that she received the information and I heard nothing more from her so I assumed we were good to go. But then when I did our bookkeeping a month later, I noticed that we hadn't received ANY of the payments our clients had made to us and they were withholding nearly $1000 from us that our clients had paid over the last month. Worse yet, they weren't even telling us that they were doing this. The payments were listed as "settled". No one seems to know anything, and no one seems to be able to do anything abut this. I'm furious!!

Forte gives lots of information about its services and pricing, including contracts and termination fees, which is great.