Marketing
Browse BeeKash Payment System’s website and you are sure to be impressed. It is designed very well and has a well-intentioned user interface. It offers up a lot of details about the features and services it offers and nothing presented was overtly misleading or deceptive. When we left the site, we left with a good understanding of the products and solutions they offered. All content was straightforward, and there were no signs of gimmicks. BeeKash uses multiple mobile platforms to get its name out there. It is current and uses Facebook and Twitter to post about news that is relevant to those in the industry. Also, it has a LinkedIn profile but you gain anything more about the company from this page than you could if you were visiting its website.
Honesty
With so little upfront information about contracts, partners, or pricing, we feel it is impossible to determine BeeKash Payment System’s level of honesty. The payment solution business offers no confusing rate structures or misleading starting prices. However, again, the information it presents is very feature-focused. The business offers little in terms of the specifics, like pricing, that merchants really want to know. Since BeeKash isn’t luring customers in with salesy discounts and promotions and we found no complaints of dishonesty, we would have to consider the business pretty honest.
Sales
Like many other merchant service providers, they use independent service agents (ISOs) and resellers to bring in new clients. As a partner, a reseller can set their own pricing. Though there have been no reports of resellers using aggressive sales tactics to gain customers, this doesn’t mean it doesn’t or hasn’t happened. Any payment processor, such as BeeKash, that allow partners to sell their products and services at their own prices are setting themselves for potential customer service issues. Since no complaints were found about resellers failing to disclose pricing and terms and conditions, we think it is fair to say that BeeKash must keep a close watch on their partners’ selling practices and strategies.
Support
Though customer service representatives were courteous and quite thoughtful in their explanations, they wouldn’t share the information we wanted to know most until we were ready to move forward with an application. Unfortunately, this is common with most businesses in this industry. What we did like, is that no matter who you spoke to on the phone, each’s answers were pretty consistent. That is something we don’t find often. Though we wished they had been more forthcoming with details, especially when we pressed for specifics about contact terms and processing rates. However, we contend that they were knowledgeable and had most of these answers and could have spoke about them very articulately but were trained to focus instead on the features of its products. Despite the vagueness we experienced, we feel that merchants who were willing to move to the next step in the application process would be met with honest, professional responses when they called.
Staff Availability
Though we got the best responses via phone, the calling situation is tricky. BeeKash does not promote a phone number, email address, or live chat as a means to contact its staff. Instead, BeeKash encourages customers who have support issues to use its online ticket system and for new customers, to use its inquiry form. There is a phone number and email address affiliated with this business that is floating around in the digital space but neither were active. We didn’t have another viable way to reach BeeKash until a representative finally answered our inquiry form.
We have to admit, we found this pretty strange and unsettling. Customers need a quicker way to reach staff with problems and questions and we didn’t feel this was the best way to handle it.
A 24-hour live chat option would be a great way to encourage feedback and answer questions.
Staff Responsiveness
It took more than a day for someone from BeeKash to respond to our inquiry form submission. Hands down, we had a much better experience over the phone than with the form we submitted.
Pricing
BeeKash provides no pricing details on its website. Potential clients will need to submit an inquiry form and ask for details directly. Be prepared to get little substance unless you plan on moving forward with an application.
There is no mention of whether BeeKash charges setup fees, monthly fee, PCI-compliance fees, or requires a rolling reserve. We understand that is an approach used by many merchant service providers, however, we don’t like it and we don’t think it serves customers well. With all things being equal, some may find this more honest than those merchant account providers that dangle “starting at” rates, which most business will never qualify for, in front of merchants.
Termination Fees
From its site, it is clear that BeeKash requires a contract. According to its LinkedIn profile, BeeKash doesn’t require long-term contracts and doesn’t charges cancellation fees. However, the lengths of contracts and whether they automatically renew were not shared. Also, it is unknown what the terms are when a merchant does want out of a contract, like whether it has to notify BeeKash a certain number of days in advance. Additionally, BeeKash requires no yearly contract to use its payment gateway. Obviously, more specifics would be helpful but no early termination fee is a plus.
Hardware Costs
Though BeeKash Payment Systems does not include costs to buy or rent equipment, it does offer its fleet of BEESWIPE integrated point-of-sale terminals and MBeePay systems for contactless payments. All of its equipment and software run seamlessly with it gateway.
Complaints
Not a single positive or negative comment or review could be found on any consumer watchdog site or in the digital space. Though we would like to say that this is positive for BeeKash, we are suspicious. Also, this is likely not an accurate picture of any customer service issues since BeeKash has a partnership program in which independent sales agents are reselling their products and services. Since it doesn’t disclose any of its resellers, it hard to really say if this is a true portrayal of customer satisfaction.
