Coleman, B&C Credit Card Processing Issues and Losses

[1DAVID711]

Is there anyone else out there who has experienced income losses from using the Coleman-B&C card processing through the Swipe n Clean system. We have lost over $40,000.00 over the past three years with this system. When we notified Ed O'Hanrahan (Coleman) and Juan Gutierrez (B&C) of the issues we were astounded to find many uncomfortable things. 1) The B&C/Coleman Swipe n Clean system is not and has not been for quite some time, PCI Compliant. 2) Juan told us personally that B&C had no intention of becoming compliant (they are currently using another companies gateway to "skirt" the compliance issues) and in fact would in the near future stop processing cards completely. 3) The Swipe n Clean system stores ALL of your customer's credit card financial information related to a transaction on an "unprotected" hard drive at your site. 4) Coleman has known of these issues for years and done nothing to warn their system users of the risks, nor have they made any effort to either stop B&C from continued processing or forced them into compliance. This is a "proprietary" system owned exclusively by Coleman and they have denied any responsibility for securing us from loss.. At the most recent ICA event in Las Vegas we found that these issues with Coleman systems were well known (and have been for years) throughout the manufacturers and suppliers. We are interested in speaking with others who have experienced similar losses from these systems. Please feel free to contact us at : autospasaz@gmail.com if you know of any wash operator who has experienced similar problems.

 

[MEP001]

Wasn't the Swipe n Clean discontinued a few years ago?

 

[slash007]

How exactly have you lost 40k over 3 years from it?

 

[1DAVID711]

Over the past three years we have been "missing" some transaction. Each time we would contact B&C to have them enter the system through the "back door" to try to find out what was going on, since they are the "exclusive" administrators. They could never find anything! On March 23rd of this year, while "searching" for a different malfunction, they "found" over 6000 transactions worth $40,000.00 that had not been batched or transmitted for payment. They "force batched and processed" all of these transactions (without including the original transaction dates and times or authorizations). Naturally they are all way beyond the amount of time for processing. Not only did we lose the income from most of those transactions, we have to date been assessed almost $10,000.00 in "charge back" fees by Chase Paymentech and Visa/Mastercard, as well as our own bank. B&C explained that the transactions somehow got "lost" in a "pending cloud" and they never knew where to look for them. During this time we repeatedly contacted Coleman and B&C to inform them that customers were saying they were not getting charged for their purchases at our site. We then informed B&C that some customers complained that their information had been compromised and their card info used in other states for purchases, when they had never been in those states. B&C has denied any responsibility for the losses or damages. It was during these conversations that Juan informed us they were not compliant and did not intend to be.

 

[1DAVID711]

We would caution anyone still using the Swipe n Clean platform to contact Ed O'Hanrahan at Coleman to discuss how you might avoid such losses. When we purchased our washed four years ago, no one made us aware of the previously existing issues with this operating platform. We are only now finding the depth of the issues and that they have been ongoing for years. It is my understanding that they (B&C and Coleman) have decided they will no longer "support" that Swipe n Clean operating system, effective immediately. When I spoke with Steven Weeks about this he simply laughed and stated "your not the first or last". Since notifying Ed of our losses and our intent to hold them (B&C and Coleman) liable for all losses and any associated costs, they have entered our system (through that back door) and "locked the database". We now have no way to do our fleet billings nor can we determine remaining values on previously issued gift cards which will increase our losses. If anyone else is currently using the Swipe n Clean system, beware and get proactive now before it is too late.

 

[slash007]

If your database is locked, it is very easy to unlock it. Search the forum, I had the same issue and was able to unlock it easily.

 

[1DAVID711]

If there is a specific place on the forum, I would appreciate the tag or date. This is the first forum we have joined, but felt it necessary to gain more insight and to warn other users. Thanks.

 

[slash007]

Here you go:

"Just spoke to JC and it is very easy. You just rename the .mdb in the database folder to .mdb.old and then rename the .rep file to .mdb. It then creates a new .rep file when it batches at night. Works great and was simple. "

 

[Kevin James]

Welcome to the wonderful world of being a car wash owner - operator. The best advice I can give you is to immediately shut down the Swipe and Clean system and talk to an attorney to see if you have any legal recourse, I highly doubt that you do but it never hurts to talk to someone. You really need to do some homework, find a better system that will fit your needs and one that is PCI compliant. It’s my understanding that it is very, very expensive for these companies that have credit card system to become PCI compliant.

 

[1DAVID711]

Thanks "slash" and Kevin. slash, We will try to get into the computer the way you explained. We have obtained an attorney and they believe that JCC has great liability, and in fact believe that if this issue has been occurring as long as the manufacturer reps we spoke with at the ICA show say it has, there is probably an opportunity for a major class action against JCC and B&C. We have already changed one site over to the Hamilton system and will be changing the other over as well quite soon. We have been able to establish through sources at JCC and personally with Juan Gutierrez at B&C that similar issues have been happening for years. Employees at Chase have also verified the same information. We are in hopes that JCC and B&C will step up and make this right without actually filing legal complaints, but if they do not we will pursue not only restitution but also complaints through Federal consumer protection agencies. According to representatives at Chase, this issue has been so big that Chase sales reps have been restricted from "boarding" merchants who are using JCC/B&C processing systems. Our attorney believes there has been intentional and maliciously negligent behavior on the part of B&C and JCC in not ceasing processing when they knew these issues existed and that they had fiduciary responsibilities to protect the merchants. I guess we will see what JCC says soon. Thanks again for your help.