As an Instabill review goes, we’ll gladly take it.
For the record, however, we want five stars. Nothing less.
Merchant Maverick, which rates and reviews payment service providers, offered 4 out of 5 stars in a recent review of Instabill. Criteria such as fees, products and services, sales and advertising transparency, customer support and reviews/complaints were among the criteria for the review, written by Tom DeSimone.
The recent Instabill review by Merchant Maverick echoes other reviews in recent years, including that of CardPaymentOptions.com, in which Instabill received a grade of A for its sales/marketing, costs and contract, Better Business Bureau rating and complaints and service.
It’s not easy to please everyone in the business of high risk merchant services, so we’ll graciously accept an ‘atta boy’ every now and then.
The good stuff that Merchant Maverick found
Among several plaudits listed by Mr. DeSimone, Instabill was lauded for:
Consistently finding solutions for very high risk industries
‘The best thing about Instabill is its ability to set up accounts for even the most risk-prone businesses. Even businesses like tech support providers in India or online gambling websites can usually get up and running with Instabill.’
Instructional and educational information
‘I like the Instabill customer support center’s educational material, which contains accurate, fair, and reasonable information.’
Transparency of merchant account fees
‘Unlike other processors who post misleading teaser rates on their website, or simply don’t disclose any rate or fee information at all, Instabill is different. They provide a merchant account fees page dedicated to explaining why they can’t give you a firm quote on either rates or fees without more information about the nature and size of your business.’
Customer support (we know we’re good at this)
‘Instabill handles customer service and support in-house, which means you’ll be dealing with a more knowledgeable and experienced support staff.’
OK…So why only four stars?
It’s not easy being a high risk payment processor. As we are partnered with many competing processors through our reseller program, we’re not sure it’s possible to be in the high risk payments space and not get the occasional complaint. Below is what Merchant Maverick found questionable in its Instabill review:
- Testimonials: The use of stock photos and solely first names with our customer testimonials on our website, according to Merchant Maverick, brings into question their legitimacy. We understand. Our testimonials, however, are legitimate (read more here), but we prefer to keep our merchant testimonials to first name and stock photo.
- Credit Card Terminal services: We’re glad Merchant Maverick has brought this to our attention because, frankly, this is an area in which we would like to improve. Currently, we offer POS terminals through a partner, which our merchant account managers will gladly refer merchants.
Since he brought it up…
Along with Instabill testimonials and reviews, Merchant Maverick also touched upon complaints. The majority of merchant complaints we’ve seen center around the withholding of funds when a merchant account is closed. Instabill often inherits the blame for this, but is the acquiring bank that withholds funds, not the payment processor.
The unpredictability of acquiring banks is part and parcel of being a ‘high risk’ merchant.
With that, Merchant Maverick, we are grateful for the good words.
A fair assessment of our assessment, Instabill! We’ll consider your points during our next update. For the record, we are not “a high risk credit card processor that rates and reviews other payment service providers.” We are an independent review company and not a payment processor ourselves.