CSG Forte

Setting up the account was a pretty smooth process. We were assigned a merchant ID and given access to a virtual client to manually charge credit cards. They offer ACH processing with our invoicing software. When we decided to move to a different ACH process we left Forte. I was expecting a hassle cancelling our account, but it was straightforward and easy.

The virtual credit card processing client is very dated as is the navigation for reporting. Unlike Square, Forte charges a different percentage for American Express credit cards (and many of our clients use their business AmEx which created a functionally higher credit card processing rate.

We decided to add Forte to our merchant services suite to process ACH payments at lower cost. Getting our account setup with Forte was very easy as was integrating it in with our business management software (Zoho). Processing payments through Zoho onto the Forte platform was also very straightforward. In all, it had the potential to be a major improvement to our business and to significantly reduce our cost for payment processing, unfortunately it did not work out that way.

Forte's product operated as a bait and switch. We processed a grand total of one transaction on the Forte platform. The day after that first transaction, we received a poorly written email from someone at Forte thanking us for our cooperation with their investigation and indicating that it had now been concluded. That was the first we had become aware of any investigation. Forte indicated in their email that they had opted to close our account and that a subsequent email with additional information would follow. Shortly thereafter, the second email arrived. That email indicated that Forte had opted to close our account for one or more of a number of reasons. The vast majority of the reasons obviously didn't apply (for example, one of them was excessive returns and another was excessive chargebacks -- we'd only processed a single transaction and never had a return or chargeback). Several emails to Forte's "fraud investigator" and customer service failed to produce a more meaningful understanding of why Forte had chosen to close our account after a single transaction. All the personnel would do was parrot the account closing email that we had received that was itself less than helpful.

Either way, we accepted that the account was closed, moved on, and hired another vendor for ACH payments. Given Forte's lackluster customer service it seemed to be a blessing in disguise. That left, however, one final matter.

The product is STRAIGHT FORWARD and very affordable for allowing me to collect ACH and Credit Card payments for my business.

The functionality is low - I'd like to be able to run more reports. The interface is rudimentary - I'd like to see a more sleek dashboard.