fiserv icici merchant services won't settle my 4.6 lakhs transaction.

[Bhagat Singh]

i took ICICI POS machine on 3rd june 2023. accepted payment of 4.6 lakhs on 7th june. instead of settling my money they put entire amount on hold for 540 days. customer service is arguing and not helping at all. i have provided all documents and everything but still no resolution. they says their final decision is 540 days hold and may hold for indefinite time after 540 days.
i asked to take their machine back and refund those payments back to customers cards. but they denied that too.

what can be done against fiserv???
icici merchant services is denying any help. they simply say contact fiserv.

no such terms or conditions or schedule of charges was disclosed was explained before hand.
machine was installed by taking a simple OTP.

should i ask customers to file chargeback against me?? so they can get their refunds as bank isn't my bank settling the payment to my account.

i have already lodged a complaint to RBI ombudsman.

can anyone guide me how and where can i file case in consumer court??
can i file it myself or should i consult a lawyer??

 

[sxchzy]

i took ICICI POS machine on 3rd june 2023. accepted payment of 4.6 lakhs on 7th june. instead of settling my money they put entire amount on hold for 540 days. customer service is arguing and not helping at all. i have provided all documents and everything but still no resolution. they says their final decision is 540 days hold and may hold for indefinite time after 540 days.
i asked to take their machine back and refund those payments back to customers cards. but they denied that too.

what can be done against fiserv???
icici merchant services is denying any help. they simply say contact fiserv.

no such terms or conditions or schedule of charges was disclosed was explained before hand.
machine was installed by taking a simple OTP.

should i ask customers to file chargeback against me?? so they can get their refunds as bank isn't my bank settling the payment to my account.

i have already lodged a complaint to RBI ombudsman.

can anyone guide me how and where can i file case in consumer court??
can i file it myself or should i consult a lawyer??

Ask them to give in writing why have the put the funds on hold.
Secondly if possible cancel the transaction from your end.
Thirdly you would be able to approach consumer court only if rbi doesn't give a satisfactory response.

 

[VISHESH_BANSAL]

i took ICICI POS machine on 3rd june 2023. accepted payment of 4.6 lakhs on 7th june. instead of settling my money they put entire amount on hold for 540 days. customer service is arguing and not helping at all. i have provided all documents and everything but still no resolution. they says their final decision is 540 days hold and may hold for indefinite time after 540 days.
i asked to take their machine back and refund those payments back to customers cards. but they denied that too.

what can be done against fiserv???
icici merchant services is denying any help. they simply say contact fiserv.

no such terms or conditions or schedule of charges was disclosed was explained before hand.
machine was installed by taking a simple OTP.

should i ask customers to file chargeback against me?? so they can get their refunds as bank isn't my bank settling the payment to my account.

i have already lodged a complaint to RBI ombudsman.

can anyone guide me how and where can i file case in consumer court??
can i file it myself or should i consult a lawyer??

I have seen many cases like this with Payu Merchants and Long time Ago someone shared a trick which is working
with the help of Pine Labs POS Mobile App. In that App also funds of many people are blocked for Accepting Payments via Cards But timeline is not 540 days and but Pine Labs Assured that after XXX days amount will be credited to the Bank Account.

So I think there must be clause in Tncs otherwise Pine Labs and Payu is a renowned name in POS terminals and Online Gateways and would not dare to do such practices without any solid reasons

Usually this Happens when Gateway/POS Provider assume such txns are fake and they put on hold.

In such a short period of Span you accpeted such a big Amount.
Over a period of time gateway gets an idea of Monthly/Daily Volume but you accepted such a huge txn within a week.
Obviously any gateway will classify it suspicious.

And one more point, under whch business category you applied for POS ?

You applied for POS as an individual merchant/Sole Proprietorship/Company

All these factors are considered to deem the accpeted payment as suspicious/Fake

Do you have GST invoices against such Payments ?

In such cases PineLabs and Payu asked for the GST invoices to proof txns are genuine or not

 

[gurbina]

Sounds like PayPal where somewhere in their TnC you agree to them to freeze your funds for like half a year for whatever they deem suspicious and that they don't even have to tell you why. And for the merchants it is way worse when they do it and sometimes goes on for over a year.

It is just ridiculous and unfair practices, specially while you're actively collaborating on getting the transaction cleared up and there's nothing pending from either side.

 

[Bhagat Singh]

Ask them to give in writing why have the put the funds on hold.
Secondly if possible cancel the transaction from your end.
Thirdly you would be able to approach consumer court only if rbi doesn't give a satisfactory response.

They're not telling anything. No terms and conditions were disclosed. Nor did i sign any schedule of charges. Icici merchant services says fiserv have your money only they can release it. Whereas fiserv is not helping saying we will not release money for 540 days even after that not sure. I have provided them customer ID proof and phone numbers along with chargeslips as they asked. But they say there decision is final and they will decided what to do after 540 days.

 

[Bhagat Singh]

Why do you think such problems exist? A foreign system gets in and ties to some domestic provider and their systems don't match?

Or are we just at a point where the tech systems we have created just don't listen to us?

The people at bank says above people are managing this and the above people are just giving commands on a portal they hardly understand.... ¿

Exactly brother. Fiserv is foreign entity providing services to icici merchant services. I was not aware of this. There are many complaints against fiserv. Machine was installed by ICICI bank just by taking a OTP from me. No documents or anything was signed or disclosed. This is fraud.

 

[vaibhav111]

i took ICICI POS machine on 3rd june 2023. accepted payment of 4.6 lakhs on 7th june. instead of settling my money they put entire amount on hold for 540 days. customer service is arguing and not helping at all. i have provided all documents and everything but still no resolution. they says their final decision is 540 days hold and may hold for indefinite time after 540 days.
i asked to take their machine back and refund those payments back to customers cards. but they denied that too.

what can be done against fiserv???
icici merchant services is denying any help. they simply say contact fiserv.

no such terms or conditions or schedule of charges was disclosed was explained before hand.
machine was installed by taking a simple OTP.

should i ask customers to file chargeback against me?? so they can get their refunds as bank isn't my bank settling the payment to my account.

i have already lodged a complaint to RBI ombudsman.

can anyone guide me how and where can i file case in consumer court??
can i file it myself or should i consult a lawyer??

like @VISHESH_BANSAL mentioned You applied for POS as an individual merchant/Sole Proprietorship/Company and how long you were using that POS machine in a month how much you received and Do you have GST invoices against such Payments ? if you have these paper send them to RBI ombudsman & support of that pos company and ICICI.

 

[Bhagat Singh]

I have seen many cases like this with Payu Merchants and Long time Ago someone shared a trick which is working
with the help of Pine Labs POS Mobile App. In that App also funds of many people are blocked for Accepting Payments via Cards But timeline is not 540 days and but Pine Labs Assured that after XXX days amount will be credited to the Bank Account.

So I think there must be clause in Tncs otherwise Pine Labs and Payu is a renowned name in POS terminals and Online Gateways and would not dare to do such practices without any solid reasons

Usually this Happens when Gateway/POS Provider assume such txns are fake and they put on hold.

In such a short period of Span you accpeted such a big Amount.
Over a period of time gateway gets an idea of Monthly/Daily Volume but you accepted such a huge txn within a week.
Obviously any gateway will classify it suspicious.

And one more point, under whch business category you applied for POS ?

You applied for POS as an individual merchant/Sole Proprietorship/Company

All these factors are considered to deem the accpeted payment as suspicious/Fake

Do you have GST invoices against such Payments ?

In such cases PineLabs and Payu asked for the GST invoices to proof txns are genuine or not

Bro no terms and conditions were disclosed beforehand. Nor did i sign anything. Machine was installed just by taking a OTP. I took Machine as individual merchant. I disclosed beforehand that swipe on my shop will be between 4-8 lakhs per month. And I'm not GST registered nor do i collect GST from customers. I have a CSC centre and a franchise of GST suvidha Kendra. I'm also a bank BC of axis bank. I told them that my bussiness provides bill payments , recharges , tax payments, rent payments, cash deposit in bank account, atm services and money transfer. This fiserv company is fooling with me. I asked to surrender thier POS machine they say 5000+GST while icici merchant services said 1500+gst. When i asked to confirm or connect me to senior they say senior will tell you what I'm telling. Than they put on hold and call disconnects. Yesterday when i scolded them they gave me pinelab no. , Whereas pinelabs has told me clearly that machine was installed through bank so they will only deinstall it and deduct charges. When i confronted fiserv again they said go to branch or talk to agent who gave you machine.

 

[jack333]

Are all icici pos machines of finserv?

 

[Bhagat Singh]

like @VISHESH_BANSAL mentioned You applied for POS as an individual merchant/Sole Proprietorship/Company and how long you were using that POS machine in a month how much you received and Do you have GST invoices against such Payments ? if you have these paper send them to RBI ombudsman & support of that pos company and ICICI.

Applied as individual merchant, no gst, i had that machine only for 4 days. Just 4 days.

 

[pprakash11]

Are all icici pos machines of finserv?

Majority I have seen.

 

[Bhagat Singh]

If

Are all icici pos machines of finserv?

If you apply via icici they will give you fiserv machine or you can ask for pinelabs or any other but fiserv will manage everything. So doesn't matter which machine fiserv will control your money

 

[vaibhav111]

Applied as individual merchant, no gst, i had that machine only for 4 days. Just 4 days.

just 4 days, and you though let's do a transaction of 4.6 lakhs where as you applied as an individual, obviously the transaction will look like suspicious activity.

 

[jack333]

just 4 days, and you though let's do a transaction of 4.6 lakhs where as you applied as an individual, obviously the transaction will look like suspicious activity.

They might have not done full kyc yet

 

[Bhagat Singh]

I have even asked them to refund all transactions to cardholders. If they have problem settling it. Even raised refund request from icici ims application but all requests closed without any refunds or remarks.

Ask them to give in writing why have the put the funds on hold.
Secondly if possible cancel the transaction from your end.
Thirdly you would be able to approach consumer court only if rbi doesn't give a satisfactory response.

 

[Bhagat Singh]

I

just 4 days, and you though let's do a transaction of 4.6 lakhs where as you applied as an individual, obviously the transaction will look like suspicious activity.

Have given them chargeslips and customer Aadhar card and contact no. With invoice as they asked. All transactions were done via pin. . If any dispute arising regarding any transactions they will charge merchant along with penalties. It's not like they will pay from their own pockets.

 

[V360]

Brother - lot of red flags here - would suggest consulting a lawyer in this case and take guidance:

1. You taking POS machine as an individual
2. No GST - so any transaction done will not be considered as a business expense
3. ICICI through Fiserv giving POS machine without taking any acknowledgement - just an authentication through OTP - don't you think the sales person was just trying to meet their months target of selling POS machine. He would have for sure furnished some irrelevant documents to ICICI to roll out the POS machine
4. Transactions worth of 4.6 Lacs done in 4 days for recharges, rent payments, etc. - any Bank will pick these as suspicious

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news - Bank reps have done a miss-selling and it will be very difficult for you to prove that they have not.

So, best is to consult a lawyer asap.

 

[VISHESH_BANSAL]

I

Have given them chargeslips and customer Aadhar card and contact no. With invoice as they asked. All transactions were done via pin. . If any dispute arising regarding any transactions they will charge merchant along with penalties. It's not like they will pay from their own pockets.

Since you are running a CSC, you receive commsions for providing services.

And a Recipt must also be generated in your CSC portal against each service in which Commission is mentioned along with Txn Amount.

You have to Proof that whatever Payments you have received is against a service provided to Customer by Charging a Commission.

4.8 lakhs worth txns is obviously not normal for any Gateway/POS treminal Provider for an Individual Merchant that too just in 4 days.

Even a sole Proprietor POS does not receive 4.8 lakh in one day

That is why most of such Service Provider in my area take the consideration either in Cash or UPI.

You recived 4.8 lakhs for providing which Service ?

Why will anyone pay you via DC/CC for doing Recharges and Bill Payments /Cash Withdrawal/Deposit that too after you charge Commission ?

They can simply use DC at any ATM for Withdrawal and CC/DC at Biller website.


You are hiding some details receiving 4.8 lakh at a time is abnormal.

Since you provided OTP you already accpted their tncs.

 

[Strange]

i took ICICI POS machine on 3rd june 2023. accepted payment of 4.6 lakhs on 7th june. instead of settling my money they put entire amount on hold for 540 days. customer service is arguing and not helping at all. i have provided all documents and everything but still no resolution. they says their final decision is 540 days hold and may hold for indefinite time after 540 days.
i asked to take their machine back and refund those payments back to customers cards. but they denied that too.

what can be done against fiserv???
icici merchant services is denying any help. they simply say contact fiserv.

no such terms or conditions or schedule of charges was disclosed was explained before hand.
machine was installed by taking a simple OTP.

should i ask customers to file chargeback against me?? so they can get their refunds as bank isn't my bank settling the payment to my account.

i have already lodged a complaint to RBI ombudsman.

can anyone guide me how and where can i file case in consumer court??
can i file it myself or should i consult a lawyer??

Fiserv India support

Level 1: Escalation Desk
Email ID: merchantesc@fiserv.com
Phone: 022 41561616 / 044 45608116

Level 2: Escalation Officer
Email ID: nodal.escalation@fiserv.com
Phone: 022 41561616 / 044 45608116

Level 3: Business Head
Email ID: imsbusinesshead@fiserv.com
Phone: 022 41561616 / 044 45608116

Kunal Gothivarekar
Global Business Solutions Head- India @ fiserv
minsri2002@gmail.com
kunal.gothivarekar@fiserv.com (not verified)
+912242294847

Hoping they will solve your problem.

 

[sxchzy]

a

I have even asked them to refund all transactions to cardholders. If they have problem settling it. Even raised refund request from icici ims application but all requests closed without any refunds or remarks.

re you able to cancel the transactions from your end and reverse it?