In this internet age, before most people purchase a product or service, they search online for reviews of the product or brand. What people say about the brand helps form a measure of trust or distrust in the minds of prospects. If you search LADCO Global Leasing Solutions online, you will find enough reviews to make you distrust the service. Yet, it is only fair to analyze how the company runs its operations.
Information Accessibility
For any customer interested in the services of LADCO Global Leasing Solutions, the first sign that something might be off is that the equipment leasing provider does not have a website of its own. This appears quite surprising for a company that seeks to establish itself as a ‘global’ business. Therefore, a search for such a service might not turn up meaningful solutions.
However, further research would reveal that the company relates to Elavon, a payment processing solutions outfit. It is not exactly clear what the relationship between the two companies is, but LADCO seems to provide equipment leasing with merchants’ payments processed through Elavon. There doesn’t seem to be much to this, but Elavon’s low rating on review platforms such as Better Business Bureau leaves much to be desired.
In any case, the lack of accessible information on LADCO Solutions and its operations is a turn-off for many prospecting customers. How do they gain customers at all, especially when so many LADCO complaints are documented online.?
Many businesses operate online today, and a website is just an online version of a physical address, which every business must have, to attract customers. Host Merchant Services is one of the fastest-growing credit card processing outfits for customers partly because of its high information accessibility. HMS also provides low-cost equipment leasing options. Combining this with payment processing means merchant transactions with HMS are centralized. This makes for better coordination than the dispersed arrangement between LADCO and Elavon.
Costs
How does LADCO Solutions, which has no website or visible online information, gain customers? It does this by operating through Elavon, as explained above. Most LADCO products are bundled with Elavon merchant accounts contracts. As such, many customers never find out that they had signed a contract with LADCO indirectly when they sign up for Elavon’s card processing services. By then, they are met with settling prohibitive costs.
LADCO Global Leasing Solutions deals with equipment leasing services. However, these are priced so high beyond the reach of many ordinary merchants. For instance, many equipment leases are more expensive than the actual cost, rendering such arrangements unnecessary and even possibly negatively impacting the merchant. In addition, monthly fees for leases can be as high as $90. Many smaller scale and even medium scale customers cannot afford LADCO pricing such an amount for equipment leasing.
One of the factors that keep drawing people to reputable alternatives like Host Merchant Services is the prioritization of affordability. In terms of equipment leasing, HMS has low-cost equipment leasing options. More so, merchants who use HMS can qualify for free equipment once they have processed a high enough volume of transactions. It is worth noting that since Host Merchant Services provides its own credit card processing solution, the company doesn’t bind customers into a contract with a third-party service like LADCO does.
Contract Terms
According to LADCO reviews online, there are certain complaints that make one suspicious of how the company operates. In fact, it gets worse when one considers the terms of the contracts. On public forums, LADCO customers have come out to make complaints about the company’s suspicious contract models. For instance, LADCO almost never discloses its contract terms, particularly the length of the contract; at least, initially.
By the time most merchants discover they have entered a binding contract and choose to opt-out, they would be met with harsh cancellation policies. According to reports and complaints, contracts can last up to 2 years and any merchant who wants to terminate a contract must pay the full sum for the rest of the months.
It is so serious that many merchants have threatened lawsuits, and some have even gone ahead to do so, claiming the company is a fraud. In fact, LADCO has been forced to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in lawsuit settlements. Because LADCO operates through Elavon as a payment processing solution, it is impossible to exclude Elavon from criticism for allowing such contracts under its radar.
Considering that LADCO has been in existence for over 25 years, the experience from them is quite disappointing. When newer companies like HMS came onto the scene, they quickly established themselves by introducing merchant-friendly terms. For instance, unlike many companies, Host Merchant Services is quite unique in its decision to not charge early termination fees. Yet, despite the freedom to leave contracts many times, most customers see through their contracts and even re-apply due to stellar service.
Customer Service
Many customers have indeed gone to the internet to register their complaints about LADCO’s shady practices. However, there has been no response. The company does not seem to have a public face who can be held accountable. This makes it difficult for customers to channel their complaints properly.
Due to LADCO’s obvious association with Elavon, some customers have tried to reach the latter company to register their complaints and even threaten lawsuits. However, Elavon consistently holds that it maintains separate customer service channels from LADCO’s, and they can’t handle the latter’s customer service requests. Therefore, most customers who try to contact customer service reach a dead end.
Customer service is the backbone of any business. If it fails, the business starts to quickly lose its reputation. On the other hand, businesses established on the foundation of non-compromise on customer service standards seem to perform better in the market. Such is HMS, which continues to prioritize customer satisfaction. On major review sites, HMS maintains the lowest rates of complaints, and when they do occur, the resolution rate is high.
Conclusion
According to public reviews, any merchant opting for LADCO Global Leasing Solutions will run into contract challenges. More so, it’s difficult to resolve problems due to non-existent customer support. On the other hand, Host Merchant Services, in business since 2010, has managed to quickly build a loyal customer base. This is due to offering low rates, fast customer support, and straightforward contracts. The choice is yours.
