Avoid Using Total Merchant Services and Groovv
Total Merchant Services equals dishonesty and small business owners should avoid this credit card processor at all cost, especially their Groovv services.
In September 2014, we saw an advertisement online touting "never pay for equipment again" by signing up for an account with Total Merchant Services.
The FREE Groovv tablet wasn't actually Free. Once we realized it would cost us $75 a month, we immediately returned the equipment. Tracking number here
So..normally this would be the end of the saga...but no. It seems TMS had signed us up for TWO accounts..and we didn't know it.
How did that happen you ask? Well, the day after we signed up online,we get a phone 
call from a guy named "Brian" who tells us our online application didn't go through and he needs to do it on the phone.
And, guess what? Even though we returned the original Groovv tablet, we still get socked with $70 a month charges from Global Services and we didn't catch it for over a year because of the large number of transactions that go through that account each month.
Yes, we should've audited that account better, but it slipped through the cracks.
Ok..so we're out over $800 at this point. That's when we cancelled that account.
We knew we'd never see that money again but lesson learned right?
That's when the harassment started from Total Merchant Services. They wanted us to return the equipment or they would start collection proceedings against us.
We'd already returned the equipment. No, they said, not on the 2nd account. The one we never agreed to open. The same one they stole over $800 of our money from our checking account.
Well, we argued back and forth for a few weeks and we disputed their last credit card charge, which is when we realized you only have 24 hours to dispute an ACH, which is what the Credit Card companies send through your checking account.
And, to make matters worse.. 6 months after we closed that account and disputed the charge, Total Merchant Services reached into our bank account AGAIN.. UNAUTHORIZED and STOLE over $586 and claimed it was LEGAL because of a MERCHANT AGREEMENT WE NEVER SIGNED!
Yep.. when they emailed me the "original" contract, there isn't a signature anywhere on it.. just a bunch of numbers at the bottom.
No business is going to knowingly sign up for 2 accounts less than 24 hours apart, and have BOTH accounts going to the same checking account.
Total Merchant Services is a fraud. And apparently we're not the only ones TMS has hosed.
Read some of the reviews at http://total-merchant-services.pissedconsumer.com/ a consumer advocacy website.
This victim wrote....
"After equipment was returned they kept charging and to stop the charges they require another fee of 299. I had to close my bank account. The also have another company name Groovv. It is the same thing. Very bad customer business practices.
After equipment was returned they kept charging and to stop the charges they require another fee of 299. I had to close my bank account. The also have another company name Groovv. It is the same thing. Very bad customer business practices.
Another victim of Total Merchant Services wrote this review...
"Unethical practices, high fees. Example, After opening an account they insisted on sending CC readers out right away; Even though I wasn't ready to use them. I was told there would not be any charges until the CC readers were used.
Not true, they began charging $73.00 per month. After realizing my checking account was being debited by Global services I found out it was actually "Total Merchant Services" behind the debiting of my checking account. Therefore, realizing something wasn't right, I tried to contact Global services; not easy to do especially from another country and 8 time zones away. So, Global Services refered me to Total Merchant Services. After approximately a 20 minute wait, I talk with someone that states the only way to stop the xharges is to close the account. So, i told him to close the account. He replied, that will cost you $399.00. Asked why, he stated it's a early cancellation fee. WoW!
He had no empathy or consideration to the fact that the equipment was never activated, and no transactions ever processed or that the CC reader/ shipment was ever opened.
Finally, don't consider these companies for anything. They are more crooked than the World Banking system."