When we began CitrusKiwi 9 years ago, no merchant processor would touch us. No surprise really. Brand new company, owner brand new to the USA, no credit history. We had a lot going against us. So we went with PayPal. And, for 9 years, they have provided reasonably good service. Yes, they're expensive; yes, their reporting is a joke; yes, their search and filtering is an even bigger joke. But at least they gave us an account and they've improved from when we first signed up. But, finally, it was time to move on.

So, we signed up with Total Merchant Services. Setup was slow - well over a month to get the account in place and connected with Authorize.net. On top of that, we were never sent any documentation regarding our account - didn't know how to log in even! So, we processed a few transactions, and, despite the initial issues, business seemed to be working. Until last week....

I had a couple of clients say they were having issues setting up their payments. Then I began to get declined emails - Error code 38 - "The Global Payment System identification numbers are incorrect. Call Merchant Service Provider."