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What we found
Half the shop's card volume comes in over the phone, the way repair work actually gets approved. Every one of those keyed-in payments was billed at a downgraded penalty rate. The statement called it non-qualified. We call it charging a shop extra for answering its phone.
Riding along were two monthly fees for services nobody at the shop could identify. On statements, mystery guests always seem to eat well.
Representative examples based on typical merchant savings. Individual results vary. Real client stories are added as merchants agree to share them.
What changed
The audit flagged the keyed-in penalty and the setup was corrected through the processing partner: phone orders now run with proper address verification at fair rates, and the counter terminal earned back true card-present pricing.
That recovered about $4,200 a year without changing how the front desk takes a single payment. Free to the shop, since the processor pays us only when a merchant switches and saves.