Coastal Pay offers many services for businesses, including check processing, e-commerce and online payment solutions, and analytics.
Coastal Pay is an ISO/MSP of Elavon, Inc. and Wells Fargo Bank, NA, Concord, California, and was founded by Kavan Thanasith and Travis Chrisman. It also operates as Costal Labs, a CBD producer.
Coastal Pay offers a three-year contract through First Data (Fiserv) with a $495 early termination fee, has received more than 60 public complaints, and has been accredited by the BBB since April of 2019.
Coastal Pay’s basic agreement involves a three-year agreement with an early termination fee of $495 and a separate four-year equipment lease through Northern Leasing.
In addition to a $495 early termination fee, Coastal Pay charges its customers $189 per month over four years for equipment that costs under $500.
Coastal Pay’s website advertises its virtual terminal and payment gateway services. However, pricing for these services is not disclosed on the website.
Coastal Pay is a provider of merchant accounts, but their contracts, PCI compliance and monthly minimum fees prevent it from competing with the cheapest merchant accounts.
Coastal Pay has a high volume of complaints regarding aggressive sales tactics, nondisclosure of contract terms, misrepresentation of fees, exorbitant termination fees, difficulty cancelling service, and hard-to-reach customer service.
Coastal Pay has appointed an independent law firm to respond to merchant complaints. This approach is uncommon in the industry, and the law firm’s responses are atypical.
Coastal Pay’s website boasts a 24-hour technical customer service phone number and a promise to respond to all written inquiries within 24 hours. The company’s customer service team is completely unresponsive.
Coastal Pay has received 8 complaints in the last 3 years, 3 were resolved to the merchant’s satisfaction, 3 were resolved to the merchant’s dissatisfaction.
Coastal Pay appears to utilize a combination of independent sales agents and telephone appointment setters to market its services. This strategy is commonly linked to elevated complaint rates in the credit card processing industry, and Coastal Pay is no exception.
Coastal Pay does not guarantee it will pay the early termination fees of previous processors. If the merchant claims that an agent made egregious verbal misrepresentations, Coastal Pay holds the merchant accountable for the terms of the contract.
A former sales employee of Coastal Pay states that the company’s sales agents “go off of the Straight Line Persuasion System by Jordan Belfort,” while another employee of the company has reported that he was badgered into appointments by the company.
We found no misleading rate quotes on the Coastal Pay website, but complaints regarding the company’s sales force have lowered its score in this section to a “D”.
Coastal Pay rates as a substandard merchant services provider in this review. We recommend that merchants instead opt for a top-rated merchant account provider.
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