Retail Merchant Services Review

Monday, June 1st, 2020

Retail Merchant Services is a U.K.-based merchant account provider, providing customisable solutions for businesses across the U.K. and Ireland. They offer safe and dependable payment solutions to help businesses accept credit card payments. This equips them to, not only  expand their customer base, but to retain them as well. 

Some of their offerings include debit and credit machines with “same day settlement” capabilities, EPOS terminals, e-commerce gateways, merchant cash advance, virtual terminals, as well as Pay by Link.  

Back in February 2017, RMS was purchased by an investment firm by the name of TCV. Kevin O’Keefe is the CEO of RMS.

What We Liked

• All-inclusive payment solutions for a wide range of businesses
• Customisable  solutions
• Competent and friendly customer service
• Seamless integration with other online shopping carts

What We Didn’t Like

• Significantly high number of merchant complaints
• Three-year renewable contract
• Higher than anticipated fees
• Poor customer service 
• Pricey equipment leases

Overview

Retail Merchant Services is an Independent Sales Organization (ISO) and merchant account provider that is based in Milton Keynes, U.K.  Launched back in 2007, RMS currently provides 27,000 businesses in the U.K. and Ireland processing for e-commerce, mobile, and retail. 

Marketing

Retail Merchant Services appears to market its offerings and services predominantly by the use of cold calling and independent sales agents. 

Sales 

As previously mentioned, RMS markets its services by using cold calling methods and independent sales agents to draw in new customers. Unfortunately, the widespread use of independent sales agents have resulted in an industry-wide problem of a high number of merchant complaints. This is directly tied to the fact that these sales agents work on commission and there is little to no supervision on their practices. 

Specifically for RMS, many merchants have complained about the “nondisclosure of contract terms”, “high-pressure sales tactics”, and “misleading claims by sales agents.”

Support

Trustpilot has shown RMS to have a total of 92% of excellent customer services reviews. Many merchants have lauded individual sales representatives by name, noting their politeness, patience, their willingness and success in resolving their issues, and competency. 

However, these glowing reviews are overshadowed by the overwhelmingly high number of negative customer reviews throughout the web. Cardpaymentoptions.com, reportedly received an excess of 200 complaints about RMS. Some of the most telling issues include “undisclosed fees”, “higher-than-expected rates”, “poor customer service”, and “expensive equipment leases”. 

Some merchants have gone so far as to call out RMS as a “scam” or a “ripoff”. 

Although they have been shown to not be of much help to most merchants, Retail Merchant Services does offer customer service support through phone and email.

Pricing

Many merchants who have provided reviews have reported that the typical RMS contract is for three years with automatic renewals after one year. There is an early termination fee of £180. There is also a £96 “terminal refurbishment fee” after cancellation. More fees include: a PCI compliance fee up to £100 per year, a monthly minimum fee which is variable, as well as a 36-month terminal lease that is not cancellable. 

Merchants have also reported being charged rates of 2.65% plus an additional £.19 for transactions that are keyed in manually, with additional monthly fees that are £10.

Although RMS does feature payment gateway services and its own virtual terminal, very little is revealed about their pricing model.