Some Sales Reps will use any tactic to try to close a deal, and sometimes these tactics border on being scams. One new merchant sales scam that businesses need to watch out for is prerecorded messages that go right to their voicemail. These voicemails may include several similar themes to the ones mentioned below.
- They say their business merchant rates and or processing fees are going to increase.
- The call does not include the name of the company calling the business owner.
- The voicemails are left after hours or go right to voicemail.
- The voicemail claims that if the business owner does not call back, then they are approving a rate increase.
These calls are meant to scare business owners into contacting the number provided because they think their merchant processor is going to raise their fees if they do not. However, once the business owner contacts the number provided, the person on the line still will not identify the company they work for even if the business owners ask them directly. Rather the person on the line may say they are from “your merchant provider.” They may then say that if you do not sign the new merchant account paperwork that you will receive in the mail your rates will go up.
If you have received a voicemail like the one mentioned above the best thing to do is not to call back the number. If you are concerned about your rates increasing, you can call your credit processor and check to see if they placed a call to you about raising your rates. Also, if your receive one of these voicemails, you can do a quick google search of the number left on the voicemail, and often search results may indicate the number is a scam or at the very least not from your merchant provider.
Even though these types of merchant sales calls are scams that are meant to trick business owners into thinking their rates are going up, it is still possible even if you did not fall victim to this scam you are falling victim to paying too high merchant processing fees. Make sure you are not overpaying for merchant services by looking at your statements and identifying any all fees and the percentage of totals revenue you’re paying to your merchant processor.
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