Don't waste your time and money on SureSwipe!

I signed up for a SureSwipe machine just before a fashion sale I would be hosting that week (in September 2019). I am a not a business owner, I simply required the machine to assist with card payments for a small personal sale I would be hosting. The first time using the machine I experienced issues. The system was down; the app wasn’t syncing with the machine; systems needed to reboot and I couldn’t accept card payments resulting in a very frustrating situation for myself and the customers.

I had to repeatedly step away from my sale to spend time on the phone with a consultant trying to figure out what the problem was. Many calls later and a serious lack of communication, it turns out that the machine wasn’t ‘activated’ (something the agent I was dealing with simply ‘forgot’ to let them know). Weeks passed and I had to use my machine again, this time for a much bigger sale at a market. Again, the troubles with my machine started. I was contacted the day before and asked to do some sort of update, which I did. Directly after the update I tested the machine only to discover that it once again, it was not accepting card payment. I immediately contacted the agent and the call centre to inform them of this and make them aware of the importance of having a functioning machine (something I don’t think they seem to be too concerned about). No one solved the issue that day and no one contacted me again. The morning of my sale I was unable to accept card payments from 9 am to around 1.30 pm. I missed out on an enormous amount of business as people do not carry cash on them. I spent hours on the phone with another agent trying to solve the issue. The first excuse was that the entire SureSwipe system was down (as if this is something that makes the whole situation ‘ok’ because ‘everybody is having issues’). Hours later I was called back to say that the system is up and running and everything should be working, however, my machine was still not working.

I had to perform reboot after reboot and still nothing. According to the agent who was trying to assist- she ‘has no idea what the problem could be’. Eventually that afternoon, by some sheer luck the machine decided to work, allowing me to take only three card payments for the afternoon as the sale only lasted another hour.

The next day I contacted SureSwipe to cancel my machine as I refuse to use the system any longer. I have missed out on actual paying customers and had endless troubles with the machine. In fact I regularly receive emails from SureSwipe letting people know that the systems are down and they are trying to fix the issue. No business can function this way and I would hate to have SureSwipe as a business that needs to run everyday. I specifically asked the agent on the phone if I would be charged another payment for the machine as I refuse to pay anything further and in fact would like to request a payment refund for the previous month as I have yet again missed out on sales. She assured me that I would not be charged again. But, at the end of the month, off came the monthly fee from my bank account. To make matters worse, I STILL HAVE NOT received the money from the three card payments I did manage to take. I saw that the cash hadn’t reflected in my account after the 7 days so I contacted the agent who told me that they ‘couldn’t see that any payments were made to my merchant number’. Thank goodness, one of the customers requested a receipt that sale day which I used to send to the agent to prove that I had taken some card payments. She told me that the merchant numbers didn’t match and asked ‘am I sure this wasn’t my other card machine’. What other card machine??? I have been fighting over the SureSwipe machine for weeks, where would this other mystery machine have appeared at my sale. She laster discovered that there was an issue from Nedbank’s side, and ‘they have found the three payments’ and will sort the issue out. These payments were done on 24th November 2019- it is now 3rd January and the money has not reflected In my account. I have been trying to contact the agent via email but haven’t had a response. And quite frankly I’ve had enough. The absolute lack of competency and communication combined with a terrible system, has made me never ever again want to experience SureSwipe. After chatting to friends who use card machines, none of them have a good story about SureSwipe and have moved over to other service providers. I’m face the irony of the situation is that the agent who sold me the system said ‘they aren’t the best, but they are ok for what you need’. Probably should have backed out then!

I am the client and Sureswipe is the service provider and therefore SureSwipe should be liable for putting the funds into my account. I have no interest in what Mercantile or Nedbank is doing. That is between SureSwipe and the bank. I have no interest in receiving screen shots of emails to ‘prove’ that they are sorting it out from the banks side. How completely unprofessional. If I hadn’t done the digging or investigating into the matter, asking people I recognize on social media to send the proof of payment- SureSwipe would never have. I would have been told that there were no transactions and never been paid my money.

I will be informing other vendors I know about the poor level of customer service and the inefficiency I have experienced using SureSwipe as a service. Using SureSwipe has proved nothing but a detriment to me. A complete joke.