Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  02/04/2025

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I was lied to by one of your representatives ( **** *****) and got me to sign up for this service . I was told I was only going to pay ***** a month plus charge the customer 3 percent to which the ********************** service was going to keep half and I was going to keep half. Now I have a charge for ****** that shows up on my account and I called customer service and they said those are fees associated with the account. fees i was never told about when i signed up. This is very upsetting and I am very frustrated that not only was I lied to but manipulated to open this account. Now that I call to cancel , they want to charge me a $495 cancelation fee! This is the contact **** ***** sent me and directed me to where it says ***** service fee on the contact and told me to disregard the other fees that I mentioned were listed on the contact. He said over the phone don't worry about those , I will get those taken care of. I told him if it didn't work out what about the cancellation fee, he said don't worry we can get that waived if you decide not to keep the account. These are predatory practices that lie and deceive people into thinking they are getting something they are really not. I would like to cancel my account and a refund for the fees that I was lied to about and cancel my account without the termination fee.

  

  Business response

  02/11/2025

  Please extend the response time to February 25th as we have not been able to reach the merchant. Mr. ******* can call or text me at ************.

   

  Thank you.

  
  ***** ****
  Director, Risk & Compliance
  Appstar
  Phone and Text: ************
  ******************************
  

• Initial Complaint

  01/13/2025

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I'm here to complain about AMAZON. Last year, around September/24, I bought a $400 Gold Card gift card on my Amazon account ************************* but it was on my husband's card by mistake. My husband didn't know about the card and canceled the purchase at his bank. I found out that the amount of $400 was charged to his card and I received the **** card but I discarded it and didn't use the amount. The bank lost the dispute and we paid for the $400, but Amazon blocked my account, I got in touch and asked them to send another **** card because since I paid I could use the money, but I didn't hear back from Amazon. So I paid for the $400 and was unable to use the money because Amazon didn't send another 400 card and didn't unlock my account. I would like a refund of this money URGENTLY as it has been months since this happened and Amazon has not resolved my problem.

  

  Business response

  01/13/2025

  Thank you for reaching out to this.  However AppStar , legal name Amazon Processing, is not associated with ************************** and this complaint should be redirected to them.

• Initial Complaint

  09/20/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Please return $714.22 and discontinue collections from a disabled U.S. Veteran cancer patient.

  

  Business response

  09/24/2024

  Thank you for reaching out to us.  Mr. ********* account with ********************** was closed April 11, 2024.  The issue *********** is having is with ***************************** the company that owns ************* lease.
  
  As AppStar is unable to alter FDMSs agreement, we recommended that *********** contact them to see what could be done to assist him.
  
  That said, we feel for Mr. ******** and we are willing to work with him to refund some of the fees we have collected as a measure of good faith.
  
  That said, we have been unable to reach Mr. ******** at ************ and are requesting he call us at ************ so we can assist him.

• Initial Complaint

  08/22/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Signed up for ******** services with this company and surpassed my 3-year contract when i decided to bring in a new merchant service company since they have much more favorable solutions for my business. So, going off that I have completed my 36-month contractual obligation i decided to give Appstar a call to cancel and to my amazement they told me I had to pay $495 fee to cancel even though I have completed the 36-month contract. I was told it was because they enrolled me (without my permission or consent) into a 1-year contract which results in a $495 early termination fee. After finding out the fee I took a few days to get my new merchant set up and decided to call again to completely cancel and my attempts were ending by being hung up on 3-5 times and also being told there is no one available to close my account. It's horrible business practices gives me Scam like impressions and all i want is to get my money back and make my experience known so business owners like me can avoid a predatory company like this that promotes deceptive/illegal business practices to keep customers calling begging to close their account while they threaten to charge $495 for an early termination fee for 1 year I did not consent to. BBB PLEASE HELP ME

  

  Business response

  09/06/2024

  Please extend the response time to  9/20/24.  We are waiting to hear back from the merchant.  Thank you.

  

  Business response

  09/17/2024

  Thank you for forwarding this to us.  We reached out to the merchant for further information, but she had limited time to discuss this and was unable to provide us a time she would be available, 
  
  In reviewing the account, we show that the termination fee was waived.  We are requesting that the merchant provide us a copy of her bank statement showing the charge and the originating information for the transaction as we do not believe she was billed the termination fee.

• Initial Complaint

  08/06/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  AVOID! They promised they were cheaper than the processor I was using but ended up being much much more expensive. Processing fees as high as 10%. CRAZY. And after being assured by the salesperson there was no contact term or cancelation fee, I find out charge $500 if you want to stop using their service. SCAM

  

  Business response

  08/12/2024

  Thank you for reaching out to us.  ***** to receiving this complaint, it appears ****************** had resolved the issue with one of our *********** associates.  Based on data provided to the associate by ******************, the account was closed and the final fees waived. 

  
  We rely on merchants working with us by providing us insight and data to resolve these issues and would like to thank ****************** for his assistance.

  Customer response

  08/12/2024

  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me.  I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.
  
  Regards,
  
  *************************
  
   
  

• Initial Complaint

  07/22/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  This is a extremely deceptive and bait and switch operation. Salesmen on the road lie outright about the terms of their service then ghost you when you contact them to question the fees after ************* is trying to extort me for added on cancelation of service fees again and again after many checks have been cleared in an effort to pay them off. Contracts are predatory and so is First **************** systems.

  

  Business response

  07/30/2024

  Please extend response time to August 15, 2024.  We are waiting to get more detail from the merchant as to the specifics of the complaint.

  

  Business response

  08/12/2024

  Thank you for forwarding this to us.  After talking with ****************, it became clear that this complaint should have stayed with First American as it revolved around additional fees charged after the account was closed and the closing fee collected.
  I would like to thank **************** for his help in identifying and resolving this.  Based off his input,we reached out to *************************** at First American and he agreed to waive the additional fee pending the merchant accepting this resolution through the BBB.
  AppStar relies on merchants working with us to resolve these issues and we would like to thank **************** his assistance in resolving this in a timely manner.

• Initial Complaint

  07/16/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I have had AppStar drawing money out of my account that has been in active for years. This account was thought to have been closed years ago. Now that I have found the issues the are now telling me that I just missed my contract window by 14 days and I now need to pay them $500+ to close this out even after they have taken ****** every month for the last 8 years. They put the customer in a ****** situation threatening more charges if you cancel. Their only answer was to cancel my current service and come back to them so they can take more money from this scam of a company. They took the money it is what it is. I don't want to send them any more money. I just want the account closes and this done!!!

  

  Business response

  07/23/2024

  Thank you for forwarding this to us to address.  Reviewing the account the merchant, doing business as ******** & ******* signed an application to process credit cards with AppStar on July 17, 2012.  He trained on the equipment July 23, 2012 and our last contact with him prior to 2024 was October 26th, **************************** settling a transaction. He last settled May 16th, 2016.

  
  ******************** signed an agreement that renews yearly to prevent an interruption in service.  At no point prior to 2024 did he contact us regarding closing the account.  That said, it appears that Mr. ********* current company failed to follow through on closing our account.  It was this that prompted our representative to offer to bring him back on board.

  
  In consideration of the length of time ******************** has been with us, we have waived the autorenewal on his account and have submitted the account for closure with no termination fee.

• Initial Complaint

  07/15/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  A man by the name of ***** came by my business in 2021 and wanted to process my credit card processing. He guaranteed it would cost me ***** a month and that was it.. well my last 5 months of processing it was costing over $200 a month and we prossessed about $500 a month. Costing us close to half of what we where processing.. they guaranteed that we could cancel if any other company could beat the processing price. I shut down my bank account so they couldn't keep charging me. Now a different company called ******** says I owe them about $1700 for a supposed lease for 60 months that I believe had a 0 added after the 6 when the contract was supposedly signed. I believe appstar should pay the supposed lease. I believe I over paid them for years and all I am requesting is that they get me out of the mess they got me in.

  

  Business response

  07/22/2024

  Thank you for forwarding this to us to review. ****************,doing business as ******* Small Engines, signed an Agreement to process credit cards through AppStar Financial on April 23, 2021.  At the same time, **************** signed a non-cancellable sixty month lease for $39.99 with ***************.  AppStar partners with *************** because they require that the merchant verify the terms of the lease after the merchant has trained.   This is usually a week after the merchant signs the Agreement and the Lease.

  
  In ****************** case, ******* was unable to reach him at the business and called him on his cell *************) on April 29, 2021 to verify the terms of the lease.  This is the same number **************** provided in his complaint.
  We contacted **************** to review the lease and the statement that the processing was supposed to cost him $49.99 a month.  Starting April 2021, **************** charged a 3%surcharge to his clients. In 19 of the 38 months the account was opened, the net fees (surcharge collected - processing  fees - the lease payments) was less than $0.00.  Meaning **************** collected more than the cost of the account and lease combined. At the time the account was closed in June 2024, **************** had collected $643 more than his expense.  Meaning the program was not only covering expenses but generating income.

  
  Over the term of the lease, which ends in 2026, the average monthly cost will be $7.48 per month which is significantly less than the $49.99 promised ****************.  Based on this,we have to decline ****************** request to payoff his lease as his savings were significantly greater than what was initially promised.

• Initial Complaint

  05/09/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  We have been with this company for 11 years now: In Aug 2023-we decided to close the account, but were unable to do so, as we were informed to reach back out in December, once the contract renews, & write a written letter stating that we want to close the account. The reason for closing the account is because the terminal would not work whatsoever and in order to get it working-we needed to purchase a new one...this happens roughly every 3 years. Well lo and behold-the terminal automatically did an update in Oct and started operating again...so the problem was never in the device, but technical side. Once we reached out on Dec 7 to close the account-we were informed that the account has already been renewed for another year, & that the early termination fee is $595! On top of this, our contract was breached-because the fee for being non-pci compliant is $9.95/mo and they were charging us $19.95/mo-without any warning of price increases. They said they cannot refund us for this mistake. WHY? HOW? So they can breach a contract with no punishment, but the minute we try to close the account-they want their $! Now they have attempted a collection process on us because they claim we closed the account-which we did not! and they claim that they are unable to process our payments for ***** and May of 2024-but they have withdrawn payment and i have emailed proof the funds have gone through-but the financial agent has stopped responding to us. This company is a fraud and a scam-they clearly know how to get money out of people. We have returned the terminal to them and have decided not to use them-but they are continuing to charge us for "processing fees" even though we havent processed with them for 2 months now. What is going on? How much more can they take? Considering the many years of being their customer, all we want is to end the contract, without penalty, We reached out to them in December when they said the contract will end. And this is how they treat us??

  

  Business response

  05/23/2024

  Please extend the response date to June 7th, while we resolve this with the merchant and our partners.

  

  Business response

  06/10/2024

  We would like to begin by thanking the merchant for giving us extra time to address this with our partners.
  
  Reviewing the account, the merchant last processed a transaction for $322.11 on March 7th, 2024. 
  
  The account was closed May 6, 2024 as a result of the *** rights being revoked. 
  The last fees that cleared were for February 2024. 
  As a result of the returned fees and the annual PCI compliance, the balance due was $805.61 and the merchant settled with our ***************** for $692.30. 
  Based on the cost of the processing and as resolution of this matter, AppStar is able to refund $675.64.  The merchant is only covering the cost of the transaction while AppStar is covering the remainder of the processing costs for March through May 2024.
  We are offering this resolution for two reasons: V & L Auto Sales was a client in good standing from December 2012 through March 2024 and they experienced a technical issue which we failed to resolve in a timely manner.
  
  We would like to thank V & L for the many years they were with us and hope that we can provide them with services in the future. 
  
  Execution of this refund is pending the merchants acceptance of this offer through the BBB

  Customer response

  06/10/2024

  
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution would be satisfactory to me.  I will wait for the business to perform this action and, if it does, will consider this complaint resolved.
  
  Regards,
  
  ***********************
  
   
  

• Initial Complaint

  03/12/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Sent in documents to get business information switched to the new business name was told it would take a week. Here almost a month later still not fixed and non of *********** are in my account. I have spoken to everyone in the office and no one understands their jobs nor does them. They quick to send you documents to sign but never finish with there job. Been calling the past week to get this resolved and still have gotten no where.

  

  Business response

  03/25/2024

  Thank you for forwarding this to us. We would like to thank ************** for her assistance in completing this.  That said there was a delay while we worked with ************** to have  her father, ********************* doing business as *****'s Auto Repair, sign the Docusign and to submit a supported bank source document.  he banks source documents of our partners are very strict and we have very little leeway on what they will accept. Unfortunately, the document we received necessitated a legal name change be completed first. That was completed today and the bank change is now in process with an estimated completion date of 3/27/24.  

   

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩