Fool Me Once

I made a very expensive mistake in helping my wife with her business. It is embarrassing to admit my foolishness, but hopefully my lesson learned may benefit some other small business owners out who will heed my advice to be very selective when choosing a merchant service provider.

Last year, I helped my wife choose her merchant service provider for her business. Unfortunately, I did not read our agreement carefully enough and recently had to pay some unexpected fees when she closed her account upon selling the business.

The reason I say unexpected, is because I thought I carefully questioned the salesperson on the phone about the terms of their merchant services. I asked very specific questions about discount rates, monthly fees and terms of service. He verbally told me that it was only a one year agreement (which we fulfilled), he clearly outlined the monthly fee for service, provided the discount rates and assured me that there would no fee for cancellation if we completed one full year of service. Unfortunately, what he said and what was written in the contract that my wife signed did not match up.

The reality is that I was not thorough enough in reading all the documents that he sent to my wife to sign after our discussion. I have no legal recourse and I have no one to blame but myself for not paying attention to the details in this merchant agreement.

If your business is considering choosing merchant services, I suggest reading this article of some fees you can expect to encounter when choosing a merchant service. 7 Merchant Fees to Look Out For. I provide the disclaimer that this is not an endorsement of any particular merchant account service provider.

Remember that a merchant service agreement is a legal contract and no legal document should be signed without some due diligence. When choosing merchant services, you should never feel pressured to make a quick decision. While not all salespeople are disingenuous, the reality is that most merchant service representatives get paid to sell services, not to help you understand the details in the contracts that you sign.

In my case, by not thoroughly reviewing the details in our merchant agreement, I cost my wife and I our planned summer vacation for this year. It was expensive, but this fool learned one more important life lesson. Sacha Guitry once said, "Our wisdom comes from our experience, and our experience comes from our foolishness." At least I can say that I gained some more wisdom.