Pivotal Payments Review

I used this company for 3 years and I just learned I was getting charged $60 extra a month for the business coach and survey fee that I was NEVER aware of. I told the company that and they said I signed the contract, and it was all written there. When I signed, the representative I was speaking to never mentioned anything like this. I wanted to get out of the contract and now the company says I'll be getting a $300 cancellation fee.

I switched to another processor due to better pricing. When I called to cancel they told me the contract auto-renews every year so I'd have to pay the fees for another 9 months. And then after closing, they say it will be a $395 fee to close the account. Stay away from this company.

They withdraw money from your business bank account without notification. They take whatever amounts they see fit. Unregulated by the U.S. Government, so they make up their own rules. Beware, do not use these people. Go with a local bank that will stand behind your legitimate complaints. I would leave 0 stars if I could.

Hands down the worst CC processor I have ever worked with. They promised me next day funding. Didn't get it. When I inquired, they told me sorry. When I wanted to cancel, THEY CHARGED ME 400 BUCKS AND DARED ME TO GO TO COURT. SCREW THESE GUYS.

Billed amounts over ten times the quoted rates, just pulling whatever they pleased from my account. Ignored cancellation emails Had to contact attorney general for our state and close my account. BEWARE.

(I'm remaining semi-anonymous so as not to get myself blacklisted and targeted for retribution by Nuvei while I'm still a customer.) I switched to this processor after horrendous customer service and erroneous fees from other companies. The sales person (as is always the case) was full of promises and "solutions" as an 'interested partner' to my business. Now I'm seeing some creep in my bottom-line costs as a percentage of my sales intake. I had a big surprise in December with some kind of unexpected annual fee, which was never openly disclosed to me at the time of my contract's activation. Legitimate or extortion? Who knows? I had EMV compliance capability with former processors, but not with my new Nuvei service of 2018! My inquiries into the need for compliance, my risk, and my potential higher costs for non-compliance have met with assurances that everything I'm doing is OK, and they will provide me with upgraded POS hardware as soon as any new requirements arise. Am I being lied to? Lastly, the mobile app I use is very simple/unsophisticated and lacks many customizing capabilities that previous programs had. I took a big step backward in this regard, with the expectation that lower costs to me for credit card processing would be the payoff. My middle-of-the-road ratings could easily turn either way, based on the metrics of my next few months of processing.

I used Pivotal Payments for about 6 years. When I signed up, their rates were quite good. However, over the following years, they slowly increased the rates without notifying me about it. It was small enough that I didn't really notice until one month I looked into it further and realized their deceit. My effective rate was over 4% on average, not even maximum, that's average! They have a lot of small hidden fees, very strange 'reporting fees' and other fees, some monthly, some quarterly, and some yearly. They also force a 48 month lease on the payment terminals, so be aware of that fact before signing up with them. Pretty much locks you in for 4 years, as you can't take the terminals elsewhere. What I wasn't aware of is that in the fine print of the contract they put the actual processing service on a 3 year term, with automatic 2 year renewals after. If you want to cancel within the auto-renewed 2 year term, they ding you with a big fee for nothing, $650+tax in my case. I switched to a reputable provider (Global Payments), and not only are the terminals way cheaper, but I'm paying about 50% less in fees overall. Again, when you start out with them it may be comparable to other providers, but that won't last long. I would highly recommend that you consider a different provider, as I would have saved thousands by going with a more reputable company from the start.

Stay away from PIVOTAL!!! The minute I started using Pivotal Payments' processing machine, I had a problem. I could not make any transactions, and I lost business due to machine failure. So I called their customer service numerous times; each time, they put me on hold for between 15-25 minutes. Also, four months ago, Mr. Tavani, agent of Pivotal Payments, promised that they were going to buy out Northern Leasing Services, Inc. which was what I was dealing with beforehand. Four months have passed and Pivotal Payments has not bought their company out, and I am getting a call every single day from NLS since then. Jamie, a customer service representative from the loyalty department of Pivotal, promised me that his organization was going to send a cheque to pay NLS's $1,772 cancellation fee. After a few weeks, I called them back, and he informed me that he sent the cheque to the "wrong address" of NLS. They granted consent to show us a digital copy of the chequethat they sent. They promised me that they would send it to the correct company address instead. After a month, when I sent another email to Jamie, inquiring whether he did so already, he said that he was going to be on vacation, and that he would come back after one week. After that week, when I called him, he has not been answering; his supervisor was not answering either. Another CSR told me that I need to wait another few days until I am able to talk to the supervisor, but he assured me as I talked to P.J., as I've talked to Rod, to Paul, and some other lady; they all told me that they "would get back to me". None of them have. After four months, having been through not only is this company charging me for the processing machine, but also the previous company, NLS, is billing me every single month. I brought up this issue with Jamie, and we have full evidence of him and his group promising to pay the cancellation fee for me. So, now I'm not only being charged by Pivotal Payments for their payment terminal services; I am also being charged for NLS's cancellation fee, and the terminal for that same company that we have already returned the terminal machine to. NLS has already confirmed by email that they have received the machine back, however, the same company is still charging us $66 every month for in the past four months for the machine that we do not even have access to use. I am able to provide all the emails we have received and sent in the past four months and the violation of mutual contract agreement. I also have available a copy of the contract I have with their agent and the charges they put on the monthly statement.

We used Pivotal Payment Processing since 2017, which is when our account was transferred from Intuit Payment Processing after 9 years of being with them. We are a small carpet cleaning company. We use an advertisement coupon to reach customers. The coupon clearly states the various services we provide and restrictions that apply. Customers hire us and pay mostly with credit cards. We always ask customers to sign the invoice prior to starting the job and after completion. Lately, we have had more chargebacks than usual. We always followed up with customers. However, Pivotal continued to take the money out of our account and give to the customers, even though we had concrete proof we provided the services. Now, Pivotal has placed my business on the MATCH List, and closed my processing account on grounds of "excessive fraud." These people are terrible. They keep saying they will do their best to help me. But in the end they just took my money and ran. I processed upwards of $50,000 per month. Now they are completely ruining my business. I hope they reach out to me, or I am planning on suing them.

We've seen Pivotal Payments use many of the worst tricks in the book. Aside from its opaque, excessive pricing, Pivotal has been well known to CardFellow for leverage liquidated damage clauses in its contracts. Our founder and president personally spoke with a Pivotal VP of sales on the topic, and the VP was dismissive and arrogant. The apparent lack of ethics on behalf of its management indicates a culture that does not hold the interests of its clients in high regard. The only reason this review isn't one star is because Pivotal has shown signs that it's attempting to turn the corner and take a more ethical approach, but this remains to be seen.