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Ignite Payments Review

Ignite Payments is First Data’s independent sales agent channel and was founded in 1988 as Cardservice International. Acquired by First Data in 2001, Ignite Payments serves businesses in the United States and boasts one of the highest merchant approval rates in the industry, approving most merchants in 2 days or less. The company offers a range of services, including payment processing, equipment, security programs, industry-specific solutions, and more.
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It’s important to note that there are multiple independent sales agents for Ignite Payments, with their own names, locations, and services. As such, specific available services, rates, customer service, and other details may vary. Most of the independent sales agents for Ignite Payments use the Ignite Payments name with an additional descriptor, such as “Ignite Payments New York City” or “Ignite Payments Group II” but some use an entirely different business name, as is the case with “InstantMerchant.” This profile will focus on the offerings and reputation of Ignite Payments, LLC, the company directly owned by First Data and reachable with the contact information included in this profile.

The company is headquartered in California. Ignite Payments, LLC is a registered ISO of Wells Fargo.


Services

Ignite Payments offers a range of services for businesses, including card processing in-store and online, a loyalty program, equipment, and security solutions.

Ignite Payments homepage

Card Processing

Ignite Payments offers card processing for traditional brick-and-mortar stores, e-commerce businesses or a mixture of both. Businesses can accept major credit and debit cards, including Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, and more. The Payeezy eCommerce Solution protects customer payment information when your customers pay online, and offers an easy payment solution with mobile-ready checkout. Ignite helps reduce abandoned shopping carts and offer flexibility in payment choices by supporting PayPal, Google Checkout, Bill Me Later, gift cards, and more.

Loyalty Program

Ignite’s Perka Solution is the customer loyalty program available to Ignite customers. Perka allows businesses to reward regular customers and ensure repeat business, as well as create incentives to encourage new customers to come in. Businesses can choose to provide special offers to customers’ phones with the Perka app and reward customers who make a purchase or take a desired action.

Equipment

Ignite Payments suggests First Data’s Clover Station for brick-and-mortar stores needing a POS solution. The Clover Station features a sleek design, removable cash drawer, and small counter space footprint. The Clover Station includes a touchscreen, automatic software updates, inventory tracking, and support for optional peripheral equipment.

Additional equipment may also be compatible with Ignite Payments/First Data processing services, including basic terminals, check scanners, touchscreen POS displays, mobile payment and contactless payment technology, and more. Businesses who already own equipment can contact Ignite Payments to determine if the equipment is reprogrammable and compatible with Ignite Payments processing.

Equipment offered through Ignite Payments includes industry-specific system packages, including the First Data Retail Solution and First Data Restaurant Solution, as well as basic processing equipment. Ignite Payments offers equipment leasing with monthly payments for businesses who don’t want to purchase a terminal outright.

Security

Ignite Payments helps businesses process payments securely by utilizing encryption and tokenization. As a First Data independent sales agent, the company offers the TransArmor Solution as a standard feature on accounts. TransArmor provides multiple layers of protection against cyber attacks and fraud, and includes a liability waiver of up to $100,000 in case of data breaches. Ignite may be able to help businesses reduce their PCI compliance scope and costs. More information about protections is available at First Data’s TransArmor page.

Reporting

For managing back-office business and marketing functions, Ignite Payments supports the First Data Insightics Solution. Insightics offers the ability to track customer spending trends, create and manage customer profiles, compare sales with competitors in similar businesses, and more.

Rates and Contract Terms

Ignite Payments doesn’t disclose rates or contract terms on their website. As there are multiple resellers of Ignite services, rates and terms may vary. Businesses will need to contact Ignite Payments directly to receive a quote and information about contract terms, if any, and any applicable early termination or cancellation fees

Reviews

Ignite’s online reputation is mixed. Additionally, some reviewers interchangeably refer to Ignite and First Data, so it’s unclear if the reviewer is attempting to contact Ignite or if they’re contacting First Data directly.

As mentioned in the introduction, Ignite Payments has multiple resellers under various versions of the Ignite Payments name. This makes it difficult to accurately determine which reviews are specific to which ‘company’ and illustrates one of the many challenges for businesses basing decisions on processor reviews.

Ripoff Report has several complaints for Ignite Payments (or Ignite Payments/First Data jointly). Complaints allege being charged higher rates and fees than quoted, Ignite Payments holding large sums of money instead of depositing it to the business’s bank account, unresponsive customer service, and Ignite Payments deducting funds without authorization after attempting to close processing accounts.

Because there are multiple independent agents, there are multiple Better Business Bureau pages for Ignite Payments. The Better Business Bureau page that is called Ignite Payments, LLC has been accredited since 2005 and currently boasts an A rating, the highest available. Ignite shows 3 complaints closed with the BBB in the past year, with 8 complaints closed in the past 3 years. 5 complaints are in the “Problems with Product/Service” category 2 complaints are in the “Billing/Collection Issues” category, and 1 complaint is in the “Advertising/Sales Issues” category. Details of the complaints are not currently available.

1 complaint is listed as satisfactorily resolved, while for the remaining 7 complaints the BBB states they have either not heard back from the complainant or the complainant was not satisfied with Ignite Payments’ response.

Ignite Payments includes a “Tips and Testimonials” section on their website, but as of summer 2015, it only includes tips for using Ignite/First Data products, such as the Clover Station. There are currently no testimonials or awards available on their website.

SATISFACTION
RATES & FEES
CUSTOMER SERVICE
0/5

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SATISFACTION
RATES & FEES
CUSTOMER SERVICE
1.9/5

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Posted by Ashkan Shirazi on Jan 06, 2018

SATISFACTION
RATES & FEES
CUSTOMER SERVICE
1/5

I would not give even this one star if it was not mandatory. We had a couple charge backs and since we gave required documents to Ignite payments, they approved us. The customer filed a charge back again with the same charge back code and unfortunately they did not approve our documents even though everything is the same for those chargebacks and the only thing different is this time we gave even more documents to support our claim.

Posted by William on Oct 15, 2017

SATISFACTION
RATES & FEES
CUSTOMER SERVICE
1/5

Customer service stopped once the contract was signed. Called to cancel their service and was yelled at and treated extremely poorly. Not sure how they get away with treating people the way they do!

Posted by Camila on Apr 28, 2017

SATISFACTION
RATES & FEES
CUSTOMER SERVICE
1/5

The worst customer services, they never answer your questions. Also, impossible to cancel. They will find a million ways to charge you for it.

Posted by Russ on Feb 07, 2017

SATISFACTION
RATES & FEES
CUSTOMER SERVICE
5/5

Great rates and extremely helpful people. Pat Sands (in the Tampa area) has been available and willing to answer any questions I have had from opening the account and through the years. I have dealt with a few other CC Processors and thus far no one holds a candle to Ignite (pun intended) or Pat.

Posted by chad thomas on Dec 07, 2016

SATISFACTION
RATES & FEES
CUSTOMER SERVICE
1/5

I am currently having a very hard time getting any help canceling my service. I personally bought the Clover credit card reader, but I have not used it or the Ignite payment service even once. I called to cancel it the other day and they said the cancellation fee would be amount of the remaining contract. Well I assumed that would be a one month fee since I was under the assumption this was a month to month service, and I could cancel at anytime. They DID NOT make me aware that it was a 36 month contract. They sent me the contract where they said I signed it, but it was a phone contract and I never signed any paperwork nor was I made aware of the long term contract when they were asking me a series of questions. Please read this review so you are completely aware of all fine print in the contract, and that no one else gets taken advantage of. Chad Thomas

Posted by Michelle Becker on Jul 05, 2016

SATISFACTION
RATES & FEES
CUSTOMER SERVICE
1/5

There are several parts to this: Ignite Payments, Authorize.net, and First Data. I cancelled all three in May 2016 and in June I found out that all three parts did not cancel and I had to re-cancel everything all over. I was then told that the only way to reverse the over-priced merchant fees was to dispute the fees for June. Now I am being sent to collections for a minimal amount. It's the principal of the matter that I am upset about and the deceiving practices that take place when you try and cancel. I only processed around 6 credit card transactions per year. Ignite needs to waive their fee for June since we have not had service since May 11th 2016.

Posted by CardFellow on May 17, 2016

SATISFACTION
RATES & FEES
CUSTOMER SERVICE
3/5

The competitiveness of the pricing and the level of service you can expect from Ignite Payments completely depends on the Ignite agent or sales office you're working with. Ignite Payments if First Data’s independent sales channel. Think of Ignite Payments as a bunch of separate merchant services providers that all have the same name. One provider may offer competitive pricing and service, while another may offer the exact opposite. They’ll both be called Ignite Payments, but experience you would have with each will vary greatly.

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