FIS Worldpay Review (Formerly Vantiv)

Pros

• Large international processor
• Interchange-plus pricing available
• 24/7 customer support

Cons

• Three-year contract with automatic renewal clause
• Early termination fee of up to $295
• Extensive use of independent sales agents
• High complaint volume

What is FIS Worldpay?

Worldpay is a well-known name and one of the largest global payment processors. The company was founded in 1989 and went on to help pioneer internet-based payments back in 1994 – one of the first in the market for this service. WorldPay has since been acquired by Fidelity National Information Services (FIS).

With a company of this size and scale, you expect to see a very high number of merchant complaints. In the past, Worldpay had managed to maintain a relatively low complaint volume for a company of its size, but that changed recently when the number of complaints doubled. One issue that stands out about Worldpay is that many merchants are unhappy about the early termination fee.

Products & Services

WorldPay’s ability to integrate with third-party bookkeeping and point-of-sale (POS) software is a notable strength, as is its international reach, which encompasses over 125 countries and 300 payment types.

Products and services include the following:

Fees & Rates

Although FIS Worldpay has disclosed some pricing information in the past, the current version of the company’s website only contains price quotes for UK customers, and even then, they appear to be the lowest advertised rates, which is a typical marketing gimmick used with tiered pricing.  Unless you actually like being bombarded with calls from pushy sales agents, we recommend that you avoid handing over your personal contact information and simply call the sales department yourself when you’re ready to obtain a quote.

With a company like Worldpay, it’s imperative that you negotiate with a live sales agent for a better deal rather than meekly accepting the first quote you’re offered. You should be able to ask for – and receive – an interchange-plus (cost-plus is another name for it) pricing plan with lower overall rates. You might also be able to lower some of the costs of your fee schedule.

Sales & Advertising Transparency

With no disclosure of processing rates or fees on their website, Worldpay doesn’t offer much in terms of advertising transparency. However, the company does still include a large volume of educational material. While this is a valuable resource for new merchants who want to learn about how credit card processing works and what to look for in a merchant account provider, it’s a poor substitute for specific disclosures regarding pricing and contract terms.

As we’ve discussed above, Worldpay’s website looks nice and very professional, but it offers very few specific disclosures about the company’s products or services. There’s limited disclosure of pricing (as noted above), but it’s specifically for the UK market. Annoyingly, the website will direct you to the (very limited) UK pricing pages even if you’re starting from a different nationality’s landing page.

Wordpay merchant services employ a combination of in-house sales staff and independent agents. The in-house team seems to do a reasonable job, but the same cannot be said for the independent agents. We’ve seen many complaints alleging misleading and dishonest sales practices on their part, including the failure to disclose important contract terms (such as the existence of an early termination fee). We recommend that you contact Worldpay’s sales team directly rather than work with an independent agent, if possible.

Contract Length & Early Termination Fee

Worldpay, formerly Vantiv, offers a standard three-year contract term with an automatic renewal clause for one-year terms after that. Unlike most other processors, the company provides a prorated early termination fee (ETF) schedule, rather than charging you the full amount regardless of when you close your account. The following fee disclosure is taken directly from the Worldpay Customer Processing Agreement:

(a) $295.00 per location if such Early Termination occurs on or prior to the first anniversary of this Agreement,

(b) $195.00 per location if such Early Termination occurs after the first anniversary of this Agreement and before the second anniversary of this Agreement, or

(c) $95.00 per location if such Early Termination occurs on or after the second anniversary of this Agreement and before the third anniversary of this Agreement.

While this is a better deal than the industry standard, it’s worth asking to have your ETF removed entirely when negotiating your contract. Many competing merchant account providers no longer charge any early termination fee, so it’s a reasonable thing to request. Just be sure to get it in writing.

With the recent round of mergers and acquisitions, your contract may contain a different early termination clause than the one described above. Be sure to read your entire contract thoroughly before signing up for an account so you’re aware of any potential penalties you might be liable for if you decide to close your account early.

Customer Service & Technical Support

Worldpay merchant services offer 24/7 customer support via telephone and email. There is no indication that the company assigns a dedicated account manager to help you with your account, although this option might be available to enterprise-level customers.

Based on the comments of our readers, many merchants seem to get sub-par customer service from Worldpay, including unresponsive account representatives and unhelpful customer support staff. Customer service is a common source of complaints about Worldpay, both through the BBB and other consumer protection sites. If you’ve had experience with Worldpay’s customer service, please let us know.

Worldpay Reviews, Complaints, & Problems

Negative Reviews & Complaints

Worldpay is currently not accredited by the Better Business Bureau. It currently has 165 BBB complaints filed against it within the past three years, of which 57 have been filed within the past 12 months. Worldpay’s BBB profile also includes 36 customer reviews, which averaged out to 1 out of 5 stars.

Common issues in public complaints against Worldpay include the following:

• Non-Disclosure Of Contract Terms: Most non-disclosure complaints relate to either the early termination fee (ETF) or the auto-renewal clause that can trigger the ETF even after the initial three-year term is up. This issue usually occurs when dealing with independent sales agents who either don’t fully understand the contracts they’re selling or deliberately withhold this information in order to make a sale. Quite frankly, however, the merchant is also at fault when this happens. Both the early termination fee and the automatic renewal clause are clearly spelled out in Worldpay’s Customer Processing Agreement, and it’s critically important that you read the entire agreement thoroughly before signing it.
• Withholding Of Funds/Termination Of Accounts: This can happen for several reasons. Chargebacks and suspicious charges can easily raise a red flag that will either get you suspended or shut down. You’re going to want to learn how to avoid holds and minimize chargebacks if you plan on signing up with Worldpay.
• High Cancellation Fee: Worldpay charges up to a $495 fee for closing your account early, though this amount may be prorated depending on how long you’ve been a customer.

Positive Reviews & Testimonials

On TrustPilot, Worldpay has accumulated 5,549 reviews to date and currently maintains an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars. Unfortunately, half of the reviewers gave the company a 1-star rating. To make matters worse, many of the 4- and 5-star reviews are anonymous and barely a single full sentence in length. These are clear hallmarks of fake reviews posted on behalf of the company to bring their batting average up. On the plus side, the company has responded to nearly every review, positive or negative.

On the other hand, Worldpay’s customer list includes major international brands like Lenovo, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Target, Google, and Amazon.

Final Verdict

Big payment processors like Worldpay tend to offer services with large corporations foremost in mind. These corporations have the heft and infrastructure to more easily negotiate favorable contract terms. When it comes to small businesses, however, there are numerous payment processors that will offer you a better deal with a month-to-month contract right out of the box.

Complaints about Worldpay continue to come in. Many business owners sign up based on the company’s size and international reach, only to realize later that they’re paying too much for processing and receiving poor customer support. The average small business would be best served by switching their account from Worldpay.

While Worldpay’s approach is still all too typical for merchant services companies, there are enough good processors out there at this point–phoning it in just doesn’t cut it. If you’d prefer to do business with a company that offers better terms and fairer pricing, check out our top-rated credit card companies for small businesses.

Commonly Asked Questions About Worldpay

Credit Card Processor Review Methodology

We evaluate and test each payment processor that we review at Merchant Maverick, placing special emphasis on certain key characteristics in order to generate our granular ratings for merchant accounts and credit card processors.

For payment processing reviews, we use a 24-point rubric to evaluate the provider. First, we look at pricing structure – interchange plus, subscription-based, tiered, or hybrid – giving the most points to providers that provide fair, transparent pricing and docking those that rely on tiered models. Then we examine rates, the presence and transparency of early termination fees, and any additional fees.

We also look at contract length and fairness and test out sales staff and customer service channels ourselves to ensure that the company uses reputable, above-the-board sales techniques. Finally, we take the company’s online reputation into account, reading customer reviews and comments.

Read more about how we rate payment processors.

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