by Ben Dwyer Central Payment, which also goes by CPAY, is a “joint venture” with payment processor TSYS. Headquartered in California, it offers payment processing services to businesses all across the United States. Curious if it’s a good fit for your business? This overview will go through the company’s services, equipment options, reviews, and more.
Payment Processing
CPAY enables credit and debit card acceptance for Mastercard, Visa, American Express, and Discover for in-person or online payments. In-person transactions can be processed with countertop credit card machines or POS systems or via mobile device with the Central Pay card reader and app. The company offers next-day funding.
In-Person
Traditional brick-and-mortar retailers and restaurants can accept cards securely in-store using a countertop top credit machine or a full-fledged point-of-sale system. Chip card-capable options are available, allowing you to take advantage of the latest security features for card-present transactions.
Mobile
If you need to take payments on the go, the CPAY mobile reader and app works with Apple and Android devices. The reader connects via headphone jack and offers magstripe reading capabilities. A chip reader is not yet available. You can still accept chip cards by running them through the magstripe reader, but you’ll assume liability for fraudulent transactions per the EMV Chip Card Liability Shift. With the mobile reader, you can perform functions including sales, voids, refunds, accepting gratuities, adding products to your store, and sending email receipts. You can also capture digital signatures on compatible touchscreen devices.
Online
Ecommerce businesses can take transactions securely online using the popular Authorize.Net payment gateway. You’ll be able to implement powerful anti-fraud tools such as Address Verification Service, Card Verification Value, and 3D Secure. Correctly utilizing anti-fraud tools can help protect your business and your customers when accepting payments online.
Card Compromise Assistance Plan
As a TSYS company, CPAY offers the TSYS Card Compromise Assistance Plan (C-CAP), essentially a form of data breach insurance for business. It helps with the costs associated with a data breach or suspected data breach at your business. If you choose the plan, you’ll be covered in certain situations regarding breaches.
If you need help, customer service is available 24/7, in 5 languages. (English, Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, and Vietnamese.)
Gift Cards
For businesses looking to sell gift cards, CPAY offers the MyGiftCentral solution, letting you choose from pre-designed cards or creating your own custom card. Cards are loaded at the time of purchase, with the customer choosing the amount.
CPAY Rates and Fees
It doesn’t publish rate or fee information, but CPAY does reference a price guarantee. The company states that it will beat or match any processor’s rates. It also claims to have no cancellation fee, allowing you to leave at any time.
You can request a quote from CPAY to review in private and compare with other processor’s quotes. Try CardFellow’s free quote comparison tool.
Equipment
CPAY offers free equipment, with a caveat. You’ll need to stay with the company for a set amount of time. If you cancel before that time, you’ll need to choose whether to return the equipment or purchase it. CPAY also warns businesses against leasing credit card machines, which is good advice as equipment leases are typically very expensive.
Related Article: Are “Free” Credit Card Machines Really Free?
The company offers traditional countertop terminals from Verifone, a CPAY Mobile reader for smartphones/tablets, RiO point of sale systems, and the Authorize.Net gateway for online payments.
Central Payment Reviews
On its website, CPAY displays customer testimonials that include the reviewer’s name and business name. Clients say that they appreciate no hidden fees and great customer service. Reviews on independent websites, including Google Reviews and the Better Business Bureau, are a little more mixed.
Central Payment currently has 42 Google Reviews, totaling 2.6 stars. The negative (1-star) reviews complain of error-prone software that randomly ran credit card transactions, state that the company wouldn’t let the business out of the merchant contract, wouldn’t close accounts, took back equipment that was allegedly free for the business, charged early cancellation fees despite cancelling on time, and that rates were more expensive than promised due to hidden fees. Some reviewers also complain about poor customer service.
A representative from Central Payment responded to the negative reviews to offer the company’s side of the story. In the case of accounts that weren’t cancelled Central Payment explains that customers were given the cancellation procedures but didn’t provide notice of cancellation. In response to claims of expensive rates, the representative references Central’s price match guarantee, and advises clients to call in for a rate review if they think another company is offering better pricing. In other cases, Central asks the reviewer to call to resolve the issue without elaborating or attempting to clear up the complaint in the reply.
There are no 2 or 3 star reviews. The positive (4- and 5-star) reviews are the exact opposite of the negatives, praising the company for free equipment, helpful management, fast funding, knowledgeable staff, and great rates. Some reviews mention excellent customer service and technical support. Several of the 5-star reviews simply rate the company without providing text commentary.
Better Business Bureau
CPAY has been accredited with the Better Business Bureau since 2006 and boasts and A+ rating, but doesn’t have a lot of positive info to justify that grade. The company has 2 positive, 2 neutral, and 41 negative reviews as well as 158 formal complaints.
One of the positive reviews if from an employee, not a customer. The other positive review states that it was easy to get set up. The neutral reviews say that the actual fees charged differ from the quoted fees and that the company is difficult to deal with, lies about equipment, and won’t let the business cancel the merchant account.
The negative reviews say that CPAY continued billing after cancellation, that the business was unable to run cards but CPAY wouldn’t end the contract, that setting up an account was a problem from the start, that there are lots of hiden fees, and that the company makes verbal promises that it goes back on once a business is with CPAY.
CPAY responded to many of the negative reviews, in some cases referencing that they offered partial credits or refunds, but also noting that it’s the customer’s responsibility to ensure accounts are closed.
