Credit card merchant services is one of the major services provided by a credit card bank.
Who needs Credit Card Merchant Services?
As a credit cardholder, you deal directly with the merchants on your purchases and deal with the Credit Card Customer Services on your disputes and complaints.
Just like a cardholder, a merchant also need services and supports from the banks. The section for unit in the bank that handle complaints and provide supports to the merchants is the Merchant Service Department.
What are the common complaints?
There are several common complaints by merchants:
1. Non receipt of payment.
Non receipt of payment is the most common complaint raised by merchants. Such complaints can be due to several reasons. Some of the common reasons are:
a. Computer Glitch. The payments to the merchants could be affecting by a computer glitch. Usually such problem is only temporary. Everything will revert to normal, once the computer system is rectified. So be patient.
b. Settlement Problem. There are several reasons that can lead to this. The most common one is the merchants forgot to perform terminal settlement at their sides. This can happened especially the merchants have high staff turnover rate. Other less common reasons are corruption of terminal’s data (usually due to lightning strike or sudden power failure). Under this circumstances, the merchants have to follow up closely with the banks to resolve the issues.
c. Problem transactions. In certain countries, the banks can withhold the payments if they have ground to suspect the merchants are involved in suspicious activities. This is the most difficult issue to settle and it can takes more than a year on extreme cases.
2. Terminal faulty.
Without terminal, the merchants are unable to accept credit cards at their sites. This could mean loss of income for the merchants. Under this circumstances, the merchants should immediately report the terminal faulty to the banks so that action can be taken as early as possible.
3. Sales slips out of stock.
When the business is too good, the terminal’s sales slip rolls could run out of stock very fast. Without the sales slips, the merchant’s business could be affected or encountered a lot of unpleasantness with their credit card customers. Therefore it is best to keep track of the sales slip stock and make early request if stock runs low.
4. Connection problem.
Very seldom the merchants have terminal connection problem with the banks. Although such occurrences are rare but it does happened. So if you are encountering this problem, check your telephone line first. If you are sure that it is not caused by the telephone lines, call the banks immediately for supports.
5. Chargeback.
The banks have the right to chargeback the merchants for transactions that are not accepted in accordance with the procedures set by them. Such problems could lead to financial losses to either parties depending on its nature. Usually chargeback’s will create some unpleasantness between both parties.
If you are a merchant and wish to cut down the risk of credit card acceptance losses, read and follow the card acceptance procedures set by the banks closely.
