Be Wise When Choosing a Gateway for Your Business

When you develop an on-line store - your Gateway can make or break you - as I am discovering right now! We decided to change banks as Webster Bank here in New England is probably the least friendly bank for small business that there is. Well - in closing that account and moving to a new bank - I never considered just how inept our Gateway is when it comes to changing banking information.

Do yourself a favor and don't ever do business with First Date - LinkPoint - they are the most unprofessional group of people I have ever worked with - bar NONE!!! It is amazing to me that none of the departments can work with each other - they have no way of knowing what each department is doing at any given time. More than a week has gone by and our account is still not active - so I have no idea how much money S1 has lost at this point - but I can imagine!

As soon as we have the funds that they are holding for us - oh - that took almost 2 hours before we could find someone that could hold the charges that had come in until a new account was established - we are closing this account and using People's Bank - where are new account is - and their merchant services department.

As a business owner - customer service has always been our strong suit. We do all that we can to keep each and every one of our customers happy so that the word of mouth advertising will always be wonderful. It amazes me how few companies pride themselves on their customer service anymore - and First Data is a perfect example of that!

I don't usually use this blog to blast people or another company - but I do use it to give assistance to other small business owners from time to time - so I felt compelled to do this today.

Just be aware that not all gateway's are the same and that if your bank offers these services it is your best bet to use them to avoid these pitfalls.

Happy Business Building to all...