Founded in 1970, Vantiv previously operated under the name Midwest Payment Systems, which is a division of Fifth Third Processing Solutions. Vantiv is a payment processing and technology provider based in the United States. It is also the largest PIN debit US acquirer. Vantiv's merchant accounts base includes retail, restaurants, government entities, e-commerce payments, supermarkets, drug stores, business to business, and various consumer services. Vantiv boasts more than 400,000 merchant accounts locations and over 12,000 ATMs in 46 states and eight countries.

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The Good

Multiple Features and Benefits
POS Options
Vantiv iQ

Features and Benefits

Vantiv has a variety of offerings, such as credit cards, ATM processing, merchant services, rewards programs, fraud prevention, as well as pre-paid cards and gift cards, card personalization, PIN debit processing, cardholder eServices, and other miscellaneous services. The company has the ability to process payments with customers' card of choice. It can also accept Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express and process Fleet cards, such as Voyager, Wright Express, and Fleet one, as well as business, corporate, and other purchasing cards. Vantiv uses dynamic currency conversion and multi currency pricing. Additionally, the company can reduce the fraud risk with fewer chargebacks and bad check losses with PIN debit transactions. Vantiv also accepts electronic benefit transfer (EBT) and can accept checks by mail and image capture as well. Another feature is the company's option for electronic check conversion with real-time authorizations; consumers can track and review their activity. Additionally, Vantiv offers a paper check guarantee with real-time authorizations and online reporting, which helps reduce the risk of check fraud.

POS Options

Consumers can use their iPhone, iPad, or Android device to process payments at the point of sale, without the need for a specific iPhone credit card reader or dongle for iPad, and at a fraction of the cost of a wireless terminal. Each payment is processed using encryption and tokenization along with PCI and breach assist. Vantiv also has a gift card processing option and terminal warranty and supplies. The company has a reporting system with a variety of features, such as Direct - Powered by Vantiv, which is a back-office management system that gives you detailed and summary transaction data 24/7. You will also be able to access simple summary snapshots of detailed analytics and receive online notifications of exception items, such as draft retrievals and chargebacks. You can research transaction history in batches or by individual transactions, as well as a multitude of other specific searches.

Vantiv iQ

Vantiv iQ is a tool that allows you to access your payment data anytime, anywhere. You will receive proactive notifications, adaptable reports, and comprehensive solutions that will help you focus on your business. Additionally, you will receive alerts regarding chargebacks, statements, reports, and more, as well as actionable insights. Vantiv Business Insights is meant to help you access your current payment activities to aid in positioning your business for future success. The flexible Vantiv analytics tool was designed to dissect and analyze your business in any way you want. Vantiv Business Insights provides key performance indicators (KPIs) in three main categories: My Business, My Store, and My Customers.

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The Bad

Additional Fees
Long Contracts

Additional Fees

Vantiv's merchant account agreements vary from company to company, and reviews indicate that, depending on your sales agent, they add various fees to any given contract. Therefore, it's extremely important that you read every line of your contract with a fine tooth comb and renegotiate the terms of the agreement you don't like. Possible fees include the following:

$99 annual fee
$50-$90 annual PCI compliance fee
$10-$20 monthly PCI non-compliance fee
Chargeback fees
Card network fees
$295 early termination fee and/or liquidated damages

Long Contracts

In addition to the above fees, most of Vantiv's contracts are for a term of three years; however, there is an auto-renew clause, which is one of the non-disclosure complaints voiced by several merchants. Additionally, they have a steep early termination fee and in some cases will assess liquidated damages as well. Therefore, this is something you need to pay particular attention to, if you don't want to end up at the raw end of the deal.

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The Bottom Line

Vantiv has been in business for a long time and has very few complaints considering the size of the company. Vantiv's time in business and successful handling of complex business solutions for many types of merchants gives us confidence in recommending this company. However, it's important to remember that regardless of which company you decide to use and regardless of how trustworthy you think your sales rep is, you still need to perform your own due diligence to determine whether or not that company's services are right for you.

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User Reviews

Star Rating

2.7

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57 Reviews

Review Breakdown

5 grade

26%

4 grade

21%

3 grade

2 grade

1 grade

51%

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Anna Luna

I am a small business and have been with Vantiv for over a year. My biggest concern was receiving prompt payment. I'm very happy to say my money is deposited on time. There's also a useful real-time website to use and their customer service is willing to help you learn how to use it and there's a manual. There's always someone to talk to 24/7. I am new to retail so their support has been extremely useful. I would recommend Vantiv. And I am satisfied with the contract fees. I had a question about my fees and I found out my rate could actually be improved. Satisfied customer.

8 years ago

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KARLA MEALEY Buckhannon, WV

Our experience with Vantiv has ben excellent. We actually have 2 different versions that we use of their service and both have been equally easy to use and thorough in reporting. Any time I have needed assistance they have been efficient and quick to help. We also have a sister company that we have now changed over to Vantiv also.

7 years ago

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Matthew Souders Findlay, OH

“I’m very satisfied with Vantiv. I’ve had a couple of issues which required me to call Customer Service and every time I called, I was pleased with the customer service rep’s willingness to help and their hands-on attitude.”

7 years ago

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Jeff Goldfield Burlington, VT

I have found customer service at Vantiv to be superior to most of the companies I deal with. On the rare occasion I have had to call them, my issue was taken care of usually with the first call, but never more than two. We were never down more than a short period of time. Customer service reps really know their stuff.

8 years ago

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Alexis K Worcester, MA

Vantiv has been helpful in meeting our processing needs. We don't have any issues with their POS systems and their customer service has improved in the past year. It is easier to speak to a representative now and they have solved issues we have had and found ways to save us money on our monthly bills.

8 years ago

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Billy Teague Troy, NC

I'm happy with Vantiv—we've had no issues. Our participation in NATO (National Association of Theater Owners) allowed great rates with Vantiv at the Carolina Theater. Very advanced technology in the payment processing industry.

8 years ago

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David Seeley

I needed a batch total from a certain date. Response was very quick, precise and totally professional. No hassle, no waiting and no unnecessary questions. later on, needed batch totals for an entire week, and they were emailed to me within the hour! awesome customer service.

8 years ago

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Paige Phoenix, AZ

When we first started processing with Vantiv, we had a couple of power surges and wound up having to contact Customer Support a few times. The customer service folks walked us through the steps to resolve the issues and even batched out for us once. Everyone we worked with has been knowledgeable and helpful.

7 years ago

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Michael Stramel Memphis, TN

“A few years ago, we moved to a new POS system and switched to Vantiv and it has been a positive experience. I love the tap screen functionality and the speed is pretty fast too.”

7 years ago

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Jackie Snyder Louisville, KY

This company's practices are unethical to say the least. They start putting charges on my account arbitrarily. I had fees for internet monitoring called Bizshield, $19.95, noncompliant fee $19.95 (should have notified me) ,$19.95 Omnishield (said I can't opt out), $2.50 signature merchant location fee (whatever that is) , and a statement fee. I'm ashamed that I didn't discover the issues until months later, because statements are a pain to pull from website (they charge another $20 if you want it mailed to you) and you have to call and get an email sent to you to change password (passwords are required to be changed every 6 weeks or so). Can't do this online and you are put on hold 30 minutes plus when you try to get in touch with them. Must sign contract and apparently the contract says they can charge you whatever/whenever they want and you have 30 days to dispute.

7 years ago

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Diane Walters Garibaldi, OR

This company is extremely poor in customer service. No one can give you the same answer, nor will they connect you with a manager when you ask. Their fees are thru the roof. $19.99 for protection fee (they do not protect you!) and $10.00 service fee per month. On top of a settlement fee daily, airline mileage card fee of $2.99 per swipe + regular fee. They make it next to impossible to cancel and they will still keep charging your account the $29.00 monthly fee after cancellation and I have yet to get that back! I'm about ready to lawyer up! Yes people, run the other way if the bank you are doing business with uses Vantiv! Go with the square and you will not be unhappy. I speak for a small business company.

7 years ago

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Claude Rains Cincinnati, OH

I was originally a Mercury Pay System customer. Over the past 10 years, Mercury changed to Vantiv and now has changed to Worldpay. What I have noticed is over the past 10 years of them processing our credit cards, they have become VERY expensive and their "Customer Service" has fallen to the level of TERRIBLE!!! I own a Bar. On Superbowl Sunday (February 4, 2017), one of my bartenders got busy cleaning up afterwards, and was automatically logged out of our POS system and unable to add her tips on almost $2,000.00 worth of credit card charges. I called Vantiv the next morning and, instead of taking the information over the phone and processing the transactions immediately, they sent me a spreadsheet to fill out, and send back to them, and go online to their portal to add the tips (which was wrong and couldn't be done that way), and then informed me it would take 10-14 BUSINESS DAYS to rectify this, (14 Business Days = up to 20 CALENDAR Days!!) and, because it took them so long to do this, (approx. 14 days) they could not add the tips as tips, they processed them as another transaction. Now, I have had several customers come to me inquiring about these charges of $3.00, $5.00, $8,75, etc. stating that they did not make those purchases on that day. I have had to explain to them what happened. This has caused SO Many problems that I now have Fired Vantiv / Worldpay!! Their "Customer Service" is absolutely Terrible!! When you call for support, you should expect to spend AT LEAST 30 - 40 minutes on hold before being able to talk to a representative, and when you do talk to them, they do not know anything other than what is on the script that they are reading from. For the record, this is coming from a previous customer who did approx. $300,000.00 worth of credit card transactions each year, for the past several years.

7 years ago

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Hetal Joshi Lexington, MA

This company is a BIG SCAM... STAY AWAY FROM THEM.... I used them for 2-3 months as a start up - and saw huge fees tagged for minimal processing - After calling and cancelling the account in June of 2016... the company kept pulling money from my account up until Jan 2018... When caught stealing money and asked for refund for the funds that were withdrawn after cancelling the account - they finally closed the account and said we cannot process a refund... Extremely unprofessional customer service - continued with the script without listening "sorry sir - your request for refund has been denied as we cannot find your cancel form in our system"... when asked for appeals and escalation process - "we don't have any supervisor or appeals process sir"... " I am the highest you can talk to in this organization"... I have documentation with every date and person I have talked to... and they still would not honor their own negligence to cancel the account and continued to steal money from my business account... STRONGLY RECOMMEND TO STAY AWAY FROM THEM....

7 years ago

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Terri Chippewa Falls, WI

I have a small restaurant and have used Mercury as CC processor for 5 years before VANTIV took over. We canceled w them and thats when the trouble started. We switched our old POS ( w the help of NATIONAL SYSTEMS was set up w/ Mercury, because their POS unit was only compatible with) to Square. We canceled w Vantiv and thought everything was fine. A week later we got a call from Vantiv and was told we made an early termination of contract & breach a contract w them. The rep said there was 18 months of the contract left and we owe Vantiv $9,000.00...wth. They never mentioned anything to us about this at the time of cancellation. How is it an early termination? Well we found out that there is an auto renewal which we had no idea about. We were never told by our original set agent w Mercury. The monthly fees went up every month when we had them too. This was the reason we chose to leave them. They hired collections to harrass us and now a law office has called us...we cant afford this fee let alone just trying to keep our heads above water everyday. We dont know what we are going to do. WORST EXPERIENCE EVER!

7 years ago

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Julia Harrell Chesterfield, MO

“I think your company is outstanding! I recently called into Vantiv and was surprised (and thrilled) to get a rate review which substantially lowered my rates.”

8 years ago

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Greg Phoenix, AZ

Vantiv has been a great company to work with for many years. Updating and staying new and fresh. great response to questions . Product is working great for us. They have been very informative and helpful!!

8 years ago

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Thomas Luchin Denver, CO

Vantiv hit us with so many monthly fees and charges, including but not limited to "Compliance", that we contacted them regarding how to at least alleviate the compliance fees. When told we could opt for an annual fee, we asked how much of the already paid monthly fees they would apply and were told "None". When we followed up with "Account Retention", we were finally assisted with this issue. However, the follow-up from even that department was so poor that we ultimately decided to provide a 30-day notice and cancel our account. We did finally receive the refund of previously paid monthly compliance fees, but the lack of customer care and the extended amount of time it took were way beyond acceptable. We would not recommend Vantiv to any small business.

8 years ago

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Amanda Gill Baltimore, MD

Spoke to customer service regarding new fees on my account that were added without my knowledge. Representative agreed to remove future fees and reimburse the last 3 months of fees. When the representative sent over the contract for me to sign off to remove the fee, she had changed my initial term length to 3 years without telling me. Had I not reviewed the contract, I would have been locked in to a 3 year contract without be informed of the change. I addressed the issue with her and she agreed to send a revised contract with my current term length. I never received the revised contract and she never followed through. I am preparing to switch merchant services providers.

8 years ago

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Diana Simonson Gansevoort, NY

Vantiv withheld funds from a client claiming the IRS "made them do it" because of a bad EIN number when the EIN number is valid so there appears to be no way this can be fixed. He has also been subjected to numerous undisclosed fees including a $20 a month non-PCI compliance fee which can't be fixed even though the server is PCI compliant because they require the EIN for PCI compliance (even though there's no logical reason to do this) and then claim the EIN isn't valid. It appears that if we close the account, they'll nail us with a nearly $300 early termination fee. This company feels like a total scam at this point. I wouldn't recommend them to anyone and am in fear for my other clients who have accounts with them - just waiting for funds to be withheld and the nightmare to begin for them.

8 years ago

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Ron Shuali, M.Ed. Highland Park, NJ

Vantiv took hundreds of dollars from my account, blamed it on a mistake that they weren't responsible for and then after it was discovered they were at fault, took forever trying to blame everyone else but themselves. They offered no compensation for my time and inconvenience other than a worthless I'm sorry email. Then again debited my account wrongly after I was promised no mistakes would occur again. Stay away and make sure your credit card processor doesn't use them unless you want them to have access to take money out of your account whenever they like.

6 years ago

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Scott Beaverton, OR

Just another credit card processor that starts out with low fees, and then start upping them month after month. Started out at only $2.50 on a month my website didn't sell anything. Then went to $12.88, then 37.88, then 57.78 !!! And! The website wasn't even ON THE INTERNET! Yeah, those last high fees was for a website THAT DIDN'T EXIST! I had taken it off the web. Wouldn't refund a DIME! RIP OFF COMPANY DO NOT USE UNLESS YOU LIKE BEING RIPPED OFF!

7 years ago

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Maz Marietta, GA

Be aware be aware be aware be aware be aware Vantiv is the Most shady and worst company I Ever known.1-in case of any problems you can not get no one to tell you what’s going on.2-they will take 60% of the sales for a month and blame it on IRS when when you call IRS ,irs doesn’t know what the heck vantiv talking about.3-they will make mistake on ur tax forms and headache To get it solve.4-NO customer service for ur issue but if they want you you have all kind of ppl call you from vantiv.stay away stay away stay away

7 years ago

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Trish Huntsville, AL

They called our business and told our manager the owner approved changing processing companies and walked her through how to set up our cc machine—luckily she realized she had better confirm with an owner and The owner NEVER told this sales person to switch or had even talked to him. He was hoping the sales clerk would blindly change and we would never know!! very shady and unethical!

7 years ago

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Mary Hamer Missouri Valley, IA

Had to laugh at prior review because it is my complaint exactly! Wait on hold, finally talk to someone who then puts you through to another dept where I've been waiting now for 15 min. My call was because of the "Other Fees" in other words HIDDEN FEES on my statements since Vantiv took over from Mercury. Our business is seasonal, so I had no charges in January.. but OH you do get charged anyway to the tune of $47. So what is the next HIDDEN FEE?? Want to get out of this partnership before they bleed me dry.

7 years ago

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Lawrence Hardy Port Saint Lucie, FL

Probably one of the worst ideas I ever had was getting this POS system for my business Poor Customer Svc. Poor Customer svc hours and support. Even worse functioning system. Great when it works. It has not worked for a continuous 2week period since I got it in July. I would look elsewhere.

7 years ago

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Dale Julio Somerville, MA

This company Uses multiple sub Businesses that Keep you under contract no matter what. They do not clearly state this in there sales pitch. I was told I had 30 days to back out. Yet when I did I was told that the cc Machine lease could not be terminated early. when i tried to dispute I was told the sales person no longer worked there so there was nothing that could be done. I now have a cc machine that is still in the shipping box un opened. The customer service has been horrible. No call backs a bunch of run around. I will be contacting my states Attorney General.

7 years ago

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Julianne Pomona, CA

The company needs to have a contact person that can handle 1 problem throughout. I've been hand over to many reps and needed to repeat myself many times. However, this rep said that rep told you that and it's not part of our policy. So 1 rep blames the other and my problem doesn't get solved. And I need to contact their customer service for the exact same problem every few months.

8 years ago

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Clayton Wheeler Solana Beach, CA

Vantiv's customer service, Billing and Collections, Product and Service is all mediocre at best. This company claimed that their was a breach in my system, and after I went through all steps to verify that I was compliant and there were no weak spots, they charged me $2500 for the "review" of this so called breach. I see this as picking my pocket and should be illegal. After I reached out to Vanity for months they offered me no resolution unless I signed up for a new 3 year contract. A bunch of crooks!

8 years ago

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Adrienne Jarrett

Excellent customer service! I have received prompt and effective help from your folks every time I have phoned with a question or problem!

8 years ago

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jackie K Canton, OH

Vantiv has been pleasant and easy to work with as compared to other credit card merchants. Their customer service staff is very knowledgeable and friendly.

8 years ago

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Frank Noto Edison, NJ

Hello, New Merchant beware! They earn an F for answering phones in a timely manner! As a merchant first you call and wait for at least a half hour; then you ask a detailed question and they transfer you to another department and you wait anywhere from a half hour to an hour for service. I have mostly been on hold for 44 minutes while I'm writing this review.

9 years ago

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Mike McKinney Gary, IN

Extremely disappointed with their processing. Was sold to them from Payline Date. New fees every month, no customer service. No agent to contact directly. Last month paid over 5% all in for my processing. Not happy, but takes time to switch.

7 years ago

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Lindsay Albers Phoenix, AZ

We've never had any problems. Everything's fine and we haven't had to contact Customer Support even once.

7 years ago

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Alex Marks New Orleans, LA

Do not use this company! I canceled my service and they are now trying to get $5,700 from us for 'liquidated damages' which is absurd. They are not to be trusted. The experience was terrible from beginning to end and there is far too much to say so just stay away!! Do not trust Vantiv ever.

7 years ago

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Pierre Scotto Lebanon, PA

Vantiv should contact me on a yearly basis and look at the amount of transaction we do My business have increase on a yearly basis

8 years ago

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Edith Hoffmeister Rochester, NY

I have worked with Vantiv for a few years now and always had my questions answered and been able to get problems and discrepancies solved quickly.

8 years ago

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J&C Consign and Design Tampa, FL

I'm very upset that you are charging me $495 to close my account. This was never stated to me when I opened my account. My store is going out of business, I'm not switching to another company. That is a lot of money to charge a business to close an account.

8 years ago

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Dan Joihnson Elmhurst, IL

I would not recommend this company to anybody. Our credit card machine has not worked in a week. We have spent over 6 hours on the phone with customer service and tech support only to be transferred from 1 person to another with no resolution to our issue, They do not provide the service we pay them for.

9 years ago

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Dan Pluta Raleigh, NC

Everything is running smoothly and we have not had any problems. We’re satisfied.”

7 years ago

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Donna Szczepaniak Fenton, MI

Worst Company ever! Do not sign a contract for your own good!! Do Not Use! They will over charge you for everything, and then when you try to leave they will hit you with more and more fee's!! Scam!!

7 years ago

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john skolnick Los Angeles, CA

i have never had to think about it which i reckon is the best because it just means it works good

7 years ago

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Bretta Badeau Carlton Oconto Falls, WI

The Vantiv representative was very patient with me on getting our machine to work. I felt I was in good hands.

8 years ago

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Jack Richardson Eugene, OR

Vantiv is very poor on follow up. I called twice about the same thing and was unable to get anyone to help me to simply close an account. I was never called back. But of course I was continually billed.

8 years ago

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Marta

The customer service is excellent. And the fees are the lowest out of all merchants.

7 years ago

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Marla Dixon, IL

We are happy with our service and you have "great" customer service!

8 years ago

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Debbie inYuma Mesa, AZ

“Great business, excellent customer service, awesome overall payment processor.”

8 years ago

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Sharon

Always friendly and helpful folks on the other end of the phone!

8 years ago

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Be Embley-Stoll Negaunee, MI

Always super helpful! Wonderful to work with, great follow up as well.

8 years ago

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Marie Naugatuck, CT

Vantiv has great customer service and online portal.

8 years ago

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Jeff foss Skowhegan, ME

This company has the worse customer service ever spoke with. They pass you along until they send you to voice mail. What a joke

8 years ago