AIB Merchant services

southernstar · 04-03-2010 8:35pm #1

Are they on work to rule the same as the civil service?

Their sales department don't seem to be answering their phones- I've been trying to get through to them for a week. So far I have rang them 5 times and emailed the general sales email address twice and I'm getting pretty annoyed now.

The people in Elevon got onto me as soon as their was an inkling through Sage that we could be looking for a merchant services setup.

We bank with AIB, we want to be set up with AIB, but they are making it very difficult for us.

TheCostumeShop.ie: Ronan · 07-03-2010 1:44am

No that sounds about normal in my experience. Certainly if your doing online business it worth going with a different merchant who's more educated about online credit card processing.

I made the same mistake as you when i started out, i thought AIB merchants were the same business as the AIB bank. Its not, it's a totally different company altogether. They don't work closely with the AIB branch / account managers.

southernstar · 07-03-2010 2:12pm

Thanks for the reply.

Who did you end up going with?

We need Dynamic Currency COnversion and a quick technical fix so are going with the Realex/ Fexco/ AIB solution.

podgeen · 07-03-2010 3:51pm

I have dealt with AIB-MS on a number of occasions and not experienced any difficulties but I have heard stories similar to Ronans just never experienced it myself.

Realex work with a number of other merchant banks so you have other options. Here is a list of merchant banks who work with Irish merchants.

Dave

TheCostumeShop.ie: Ronan · 07-03-2010 7:41pm

@Southern Star, I use Worldnett & Elavon. Both very good. Realex are great too and ofcourse they work with everything. I've heard good things about Ulster banks merchants too, but haven't worked with them myself.

Out of interest did you get a letter in the last two weeks telling you you have to pay for their course on PCI DSS? I know a company did, even though they have a hosted payment page - in other words they pay Realex for PCIDSS compliance but they insisted that he should pay them for a service he clearly doesn't need.

J_Wholesale · 07-03-2010 10:47pm

TheCostumeShop.ie (Ronan) wrote: »

... I use Worldnett & Elavon. Both very good. Realex are great too and ofcourse they work with everything. I've heard good things about Ulster banks merchants too, but haven't worked with them myself.

We were going to go with Worldnet, but they kept lowering their prices every time we spoke to them and told them that someone else was charging less. The whole experience with their rep felt like horse trading - fine if you're dealing with a market trader, but you expect banks to be honest and up front about their costs. If they lower them at the drop of a hat because the competition have quoted a cheaper price, how can you trust them to not be overcharging you when you haven't shopped around?

TheCostumeShop.ie: Ronan · 08-03-2010 12:58am

Your confusing, merchant bankers with banks. Totally separate kettle of Fish, however in my experience banks do exactly the same when applying for Loans. Its always worth shopping around.

If the merchants are fighting over you for a new account you must have something they find very attractive. Congrats.

Gstore.ie (Tony) · 08-03-2010 1:24pm

Just my 2 cents guys I am with AIB and have found them to be very good, maybe I just got lucky. I managed to get hold of a actual persons email address and dealt with her directly and found her to be excellent, very responsive and any issue I had even if not AIB related they were always willing to discuss.

I went with AIB as I have all my personal stuff with them but when looking around Ulster Bank seemed to get great reviews so they could be worth a look too.

TheCostumeShop.ie: Ronan · 08-03-2010 7:35pm

Gstore.ie (Tony) wrote: »

Just my 2 cents guys I am with AIB and have found them to be very good

Good relevant to what though Tony? I thought they were good when i first started with them too cause we didn't know any better. Then my companies got a little bigger and they were insisting we pay €20,000 on audits we didn't need & couldn't afford or they would cut off our income stream within 48 hours. No one in Ireland was qualified to do such an audit. Still they were a bank and my attitude was they must know what they are talking about. It turned out the financial regulator prevents them from touching accounts like this without 30 days written notice. They just assumed since they were bigger than us we'd roll over, fall in line with what other outdated business models do and not consult laywers. Later the same person admitted she had no idea what she was even talking about and just wanted us to do business a way that was easier for her.

They made silly mistakes, over charged a lot and are difficult to contact. In fact they still charge me for an account we shut down 6 months ago. Today i had to cancel direct debits to stop they taking money not owed again, despite refunding the money on the previous same mistakes they still make over and over. Its at the stage now when any further contact and i'll be billing them because they shouldn't need to be told how to do their job.

Then this PCI DSS issue, the risk department said they know nothing about PCI DSS to me. If you have a hosted page with a payment provider (I don't think they allow using gateways without hiring a consultant of their choosing - they don't recognize the world leaders in the field on their list of acceptable consultants), then the payment processor takes the PCI Requirements.

Still while doing due diligence on a company i'm buying at the moment i found a letter telling them they had to pay for a course to understand PCIDSS which the company have outsourced to REALEX, a rather credible company in this area.

Sorry to rant on, I just think maybe as your company continues to grow it's worth considering checking the alternatives available in terms of better prices, better knowledge and far superior service.

IrishCitizen · 06-08-2010 10:41am

TheCostumeShop.ie (Ronan) wrote: »

.... i thought AIB merchants were the same business as the AIB bank. Its not, it's a totally different company altogether. They don't work closely with the AIB branch / account managers.

AIB Merchant Services used to be part of AIB. 18 months ago AIB-MS was 'hived off' as a 'joint venture' between AIB and a U.K. company called First Data.

I have had a merchant account with AIB since 2003. Suddenly (sometime 2009) I got letters from Essex saying they were doing a 'credit review' as I take deposit payments in advance.

This came to a head this year when AIB-MS (via an Essex lady working for First Data) required a deposit of €100,000 to cover their peak risk.

Called my AIB branch -- they did not even know of the new arrangements. They also have no control so in effect AIB Bank no longer provide merchant services with a business current account.

Essex lady writes to tell me they propose to take €10,000 per month for 10 months. Naturally this is not acceptable. Nothing happens....until now when I discover that 2 separate debits for €10,000 each made from my current account. Completely unauthorised.

Branch can't/won't help. AIB-MS will return the €20,000 and cancel the facility with immediate effect.

PETER

southernstar · 06-08-2010 10:45am

Wow. they are looking for 10k deposit off us too- despite the fact that we've had another business for 5 years (and can get as much EIB money as we want from AIB).

We still havent set it up.

TheCostumeShop.ie: Ronan · 06-08-2010 10:51am

Jesus Peter, that sounds horrific. Definitely contact the financial regulator as they cannot make an adjustment to your account or withdraw 10k without giving 30 days advance notice of a change in terms. 100k would cause so many businesses to shut up shop, given that everyone is to the wire on costs at the moment. I can't believe the gov let them away with this when every business that closes down increases their dole spend.

That really makes my blood boil. PM me your email and i'll give you a contact for a really good contact in Elavon who might be able to help you out.

MizDorry · 26-01-2012 11:57am

Sorry for dragging up an old thread, and this is a rant alert. AIB Merchant Services should be avoided at all costs. They are totally incompentent, will change terms and conditions at will and without notifying you - e.g. added a minimum monthly charge to my secondary account without any notice or information whatsoever. Then claimed that they had written to us, then said oh, it shouldn't be applied to a secondary account, then claimed that they never said that and continued to apply it.

They are so frustrating. You spend hours trying to get through pressing this button that button the other button to get through to some Essex Girl or boy who tells you in a snooty voice they can't understand what you are saying.

I have had this account for 8 years. They have reduced me to tears of frustration three times over the past 12 months.

Don't go near them if you can possibly avoid it.

I've tried getting in touch with Streamline, but they don't answer emails either. Elavon wouldn't accept the business unless it was turning over 1,000,000 a year (that was 8 years ago) - god, am I going to have to go back to Worldpay?

tippbhoy · 04-02-2012 1:52am

MizDorry wrote: »

Sorry for dragging up an old thread, and this is a rant alert. AIB Merchant Services should be avoided at all costs. They are totally incompentent, will change terms and conditions at will and without notifying you - e.g. added a minimum monthly charge to my secondary account without any notice or information whatsoever. Then claimed that they had written to us, then said oh, it shouldn't be applied to a secondary account, then claimed that they never said that and continued to apply it.

They are so frustrating. You spend hours trying to get through pressing this button that button the other button to get through to some Essex Girl or boy who tells you in a snooty voice they can't understand what you are saying.

I have had this account for 8 years. They have reduced me to tears of frustration three times over the past 12 months.

Don't go near them if you can possibly avoid it.

I've tried getting in touch with Streamline, but they don't answer emails either. Elavon wouldn't accept the business unless it was turning over 1,000,000 a year (that was 8 years ago) - god, am I going to have to go back to Worldpay?

Worldpay own streamline now.

There's a bit more competition in the market now so I'd try Elavon again, I'd imagine they were euroconex back then so they may have changed.

What's the chances of getting a merchant account off a UK bank? Barclays were keen to get into Ireland but that may be more for large enterprises. Commidea could probably offer a link into that channel. I like to encourage people to buy in Ireland but the first data/AIBMS and Elavon services are jokes, basically non Irish companies now and we're just a dot for them.

Sposs · 06-02-2012 3:06pm

Agree with above AIB Merchant Services are very hard to deal with , give yourself at least 6 weeks from start to finish to get set-up with them, and that's with having everything they need, very slow to do anything and everything needs to be followed up with a signed letter, not a very business friendly set-up.

bogwalrus · 07-02-2012 10:57am

I recently got set up with aibms and got a letter saying there is a minimum monthly charge of 30euro which i did not know about. Also there is a set up fee of 220 which i also did not know about.

I'm really annoyed but is the best option to just deal with it and get on with my life?

Bandara · 07-02-2012 11:05am

bogwalrus wrote: »

I recently got set up with aibms and got a letter saying there is a minimum monthly charge of 30euro which i did not know about. Also there is a set up fee of 220 which i also did not know about.

I'm really annoyed but is the best option to just deal with it and get on with my life?

The monthly charge / setup can be waived if your doing over 250k a year afaik, there will be a monthly equipment rental of between about €18-€24

Sposs · 07-02-2012 11:20am

Just on this, alot of people forget to add merchant fee/transaction fees to their budget, these can become large amounts as you grow so worth planning into your budgets at the start.

Margaret1 · 08-02-2012 8:06pm

This may not be of interest here,(MOD please move this if its in the worng section,) but I recently got a call from Fexco telling me that AIBMS have outsourced the card terminal rental to them and that they are changing the terms of the 12 month rental agreement for the terminal, to a 48month lease with higher charges.I have had to wait 3/52 to get a copy of the lease, as the girl on information said initally I couldnt see it as it was an online agreement and she would have to fill in my details before I could have it emailed to me!!
Got it yesterday and this is not a favourable change. Basically you pay all remainder lease fees minus 3% if you legally cease the contract early.Anyone else in this prediciment? I am considering not offering card payment facilities, although its very handy,but who knows if they can trade for 4 years in this economic environment.

bogwalrus · 09-02-2012 10:15am

Well my lease is for 48months and seems fairly pricey. I too asked for a copy of lease but they were giving me some sort of excuse. Do you think there is a possibilty that there is no actual lease for this current contract?

Margaret1 · 10-02-2012 6:51pm

Oh There is a lease, four pages of small print,gist is, that if you wish to terminate at any stage you pay the fees owed and the monthly minimum fee for the remainder of the 48 months minus 3%.
Waiting for Payzone to get back to me next week re their terms.Only 12 month contract.

Margaret1 · 16-02-2012 7:42pm

Just an update.When I said I wished to cancel my MS account and not take up new lease agreement for terminal, I was offered better terms and 12 month contract.

bogwalrus · 17-02-2012 11:35am

There was no budging for me anyway. I am a new customer though where you are renewing so I imagine they are more flexible. oh well a lesson learned and warning for others.

billybunty · 26-02-2012 10:55pm

Hi, are aib the only place offering merchant services?

AIB Merchant services

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