Total Merchant Services
Is This Your Business?1.0
Author: Kaitlyn Short
Total Merchant Services (otherwise known as TMS) was founded in 1996, has approximately 270 employees, serves about 100,000 merchants and is currently headquartered in Woodland Hills, California. They are a leader in the payment processing business and are one of the fastest growing merchant account providers in the U.S. Total Merchant Services is a registered ISO of Wells Fargo Bank in California and they focus on using their technology-driven products to help small businesses grow. The company supplies credit card processing equipment and any other equipment necessary to empower the small business in mobile, on-site, online, and e-commerce transactions (including credit or debit card transactions, etc.).
TMS provides payment processing services to retail, mobile, MOTO and eCommerce business owners. They offer debit and credit card processing, debit card transactions, check acceptance, gift cards, loyalty programs, merchant cash advance, mobile social marketing, POS equipment, virtual terminals, and more.
TMS has a three-year contract that will auto-renew after that. The Total Merchant Services website advertises "no monthly contract;" however, some merchants have stated otherwise. If you ultimately do sign a contract with them, you will need to initiate an end-of-contract reminder or you might end up with another three-year contract in place.
Top Ranked Companies
The Good
- Products and Services
- Groovv POS Offers
- Mobile Processing
- Internet Processing
Products and Services
Total Merchant Services is an award winning company with 17 years of experience. Implicit in its name, TMS offers total merchant resources through state-of-the-art multi-application credit card readers and processing terminals, free QuickBooks software and a free online marketing tool. They also offer a variety of equipment solutions that are guaranteed to work with your business.
- Wired terminal connected to the internet
- Wired terminal connected to a phone line
- Wireless terminal
- Mobile phone credit or debit card swipe reader
- Virtual terminal that can process online payments
Customers can check out Total Merchant resources reviews in order to get a more in-depth look at how the resources have helped merchants in the past.
Groovv POS Offers
Total Merchant Services Groovv POS offers cost-effective solutions that will help you increase repeat sales, attract sales partners, boost day-to-day business operations, build customer loyalty, and impress new customers by helping you create, send, and track promotional offers. And you can see how your offers are performing from your real-time dashboard. You will also be given a coach who will help you with ideas and give you plenty of support. Groovv offers merchants the ability to connect to customer buying habits in important ways.
Mobile Processing
With TMS, you can use their Payment Jack card swiping device to turn your Smartphone into a secure card terminal. Payment Jack will give you real-time authorization for swiped and keyed transactions, signature capture on touchscreen screens, email receipts, check transaction history and reports from your phone or online. These types of mobile payment solutions are also secure payment solutions, giving customers the peace of mind that only the best payment processing solutions can give.
Internet Processing
Internet Processing works just like a physical card terminal via TMS secure web-based terminal options. You can run transactions or their eCommerce solution to connect your website straight to a variety of online shopping carts. Easily accept credit and debit cards, eChecks and gift cards. You can also automatically deposit money straight into your bank account. Manually process credit card transactions for all your offline orders. Additionally, you can issue credits, void and view your transactions and quickly identify suspicious transactions with their built-in fraud tools.
Other Services Offered By Total Merchant Services
Total Merchant Services offers a variety of services to help you build your business and your brand all while increasing your customer loyalty and your average price per ticket.
- Gift card programs to help you gain new customers.
- Loyalty programs to boost sales and increase repeat visitors.
- Cash advances - not a loan, but an advance on future sales.
- Check acceptance to accept checks just like you do credit cards and it comes with a check guarantee service that guarantees payment on every check you accept and process.
The Bad
- Customer Complaints
- Early Termination Fee
- Return Equipment
- No Pricing Information
Customer Complaints
The majority of complaints are about unethical independent agents, the withholding of funds and freezing accounts (but this is common) and lots of people complaining about receiving poor customer service in general.
Other complaints from a general internet search refer to problems with independent reseller practices, which isn't a direct problem with Total Merchant Services themselves. We also noticed an unusually high number of complaints on various forums that state Total Merchant Services unrelentingly solicits their business via cold calling and is extremely rude when you turn them down and they keep calling even if you've previously declined.
Early Termination Fee
The Total Merchant Services contract lists a standard $295 early termination fee. However, this may be negotiable. Just remember, if you negotiate to have the early termination fee waived, or any other contract variation for that matter, you will need to get a signed waiver. Cancellation fees can be frustrating because they limit a merchant's ability to search out the best options. Nobody wants to pay large cancellation fee just to get out of a bad contract.
Return Equipment
After you terminate your contract, you must return the equipment within ten days; otherwise, you will have to pay for it and you will be required to pay whatever they feel the products are worth.
No Pricing Information
Much of our score at BestCompany is based on price and the transparency of prices. According to our research, Total Merchant Services hasn't disclosed any of its prices on its website. In order to find pricing for the company's services, you must contact the company yourself.
The Bottom Line
Total Merchant Services, the Woodland Hills headquartered company, does seem to have some issues with deceptive trade practices and unethical agents, although those types of complaints seem to be decreasing, so that's a good sign that they have gotten a handle on this issue, to say nothing of the advantages that TMS' Groovv offers its purchasers. Total Merchant Services appears to be an average provider; however, they do offer some very popular features. But they also have a reputation of giving poor customer service. The TMS website states they have a U.S. and Canada phone number where you can reach a live agent and they have a terminal help desk should you have problems with your terminal, which is a nice feature. And, of course, you can reach them via email. Before going with Total Merchant Services, we recommend that you talk with a sales rep. That will be the only option considering the company's website gives you no upfront information regarding prices. Furthermore, it's extremely important to perform your own due diligence for any company you've decided to award your business to, especially when it comes to a company who will be handling your money.
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Christina Oswego, IL
6 years ago
