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Groundhog Sticks Its Neck Out

by Open-Publishing - Sunday 5 March 2006
3 comments

Trade-Exchange Rates USA

Georgia-based ’Merchant Lynx’ credit card processor tries to quiet OfficialWire

WHITE PLAINS, NY — (OfficialWire) — 03/04/06 — Groundhog Enterprises, Inc., a Georgia-based company with satellite offices in Annapolis Maryland and White Plains New York is trying to stop OfficialWire from writing about the company.

In a lawsuit filed in New York on February 21, 2006, Groundhog Enterprises, Inc. is trying to prevent Baou, Inc., publisher of OfficialWire, from reporting on the company’s unlawful and questionable activities.

For several months, Groundhog operated illegally in New York, selling credit card processing and equipment lease agreements through CIT Financial USA, Inc. (now Lease Finance Group LLC) while trading as ’Merchant Lynx Services’ without having established a lawful presence for the company. After complaints from a former employee and numerous merchant customers, Groundhog Enterprises finally registered as a foreign corporation in New York State on January 6, 2006. Then on January 17, 2006, Groundhog Enterprises applied to use ’Merchant Lynx Services’ as a fictitious name. The problem is that by then Merchant Lynx Services, Inc. had been incorporated in New York but not by the company’s chief executive, John Kucyk.

Groundhog is well-known for promoting credit card processing and a $59.99 per month lease agreement. The company promises lower credit card processing fees, but quite the opposite is true. The company ’sells’ a Nurit 2085 credit card terminal and PIN pad (combined retail value less than $300)-requiring merchants sign-up to a 48 month lease (total $2,879.52)-overcharging them by more than $2,500, on the promise of lower credit card processing. Cash buyers are discouraged or are charged as much as $1,700 for the same equipment.

Kucyk trains every sales representative personally. Merchants are not told by sales-reps that they will be charged a $99 annual fee by i-Payment-the company Groundhog uses to process merchant’s credit cards through-nor does Groundhog disclose that its so-called "free warranty and supplies" actually cost $10 each month. These hidden surprises are found in pages 3-8 of an eight-page processing agreement-pages that Kucyk does not give to merchants.

 http://www.officialwire.com/main.ph...

Forum posts

  • I think the whole article is bogus! I have been with Merchant Lynx for 2 years now, and i have reduced my credit card processing fees by almost 200 dollars since I switched to them back in November 2004. Just because a couple of people have had a problem with them doesn’t mean that the whole company is out to screw everyone! Being that I am a store owner, even I understand that you can’t make everyone happy 100% of the time. I hate Ford car and SUV’s, but does that mean that they are bad cars?! NO. I just had a bad situation with them and now I won’t but there vehicles. You can’t win them all.

    • It sure DOES mean you can’t trust them.. Here’s the thing; whoever your credit card processor is has UNRESTRICTED access to your bank account.. This is the situation that phishers and other wire fraudsters dream about. Maybe you’re comfortable with a company with a rep for "cutting corners", but I’m not.

      Ed Reith

    • you obviously are working for Merchant Lynx. This company is a scam.