HomeGauge now dictating payment service provider

Seems to be the case, lots of odd changes.

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Just to give you a comparison…

Using Stripe through Spectora, we are at 2.75% + 30 cents per transaction. I don’t think they differentiate between debit and credit cards but I could be mistaken. If they do it is not in the literature that I could find. I also couldn’t find any info on chargeback retrieval, or arbitration rates, and luckily have not had any of these yet.

If you are doing over $500k a year in transactions, Spectora will give you a custom rate.

Note: Spectora offers Stripe as their only in-house processor. You cannot use your own processor if you want payments to be integrated into your “dashboard.”

https://support.spectora.com/en/articles/2862012-why-use-spectora-payments

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Guess I won’t be moving to spectora…

It’s going to be tough finding a reporting software that will let you integrate any processor you choose. Lots of behind the scenes things need to be set up and constantly maintained to make this happen. Honestly, I don’t blame HG for narrowing it down to one.

Your best bet might be to take your payments “offline” and remove them from your reporting software altogether. Especially if the 2.95% HG wants to charge is double whatever you are paying now. Wherever you are getting the 1.48% rate, I would stick with them!

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Yeah, our existing pricing is below most. HG told me they modeled it after Guardian, who looked at our pricing and couldn’t match or save me anything.

The thing here most are missing is the principalities of it all. Not just the fees. They’ve provided a progressively negative product, increased the fees substantially, and now to have the same expensive shitty user experience, I have to switch my merchant services at my expense or switch my provider, also at my expense AND time.

They’re banking on people staying for convenience. I won’t be this time, I’ve already notified them, so I have 20 days remaining before I’m cut-off.

I get the principle of it and you should do what is best for yourself. The reason I am honed in on the fees is because of what you wrote…

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Yes, and it will. For me, the difference will add a few thousand dollars. I have other ways I’d like to utilize those funds.

I’ve luckily tested two other options, so I have a head start on my switching software.

I have not asked for anyones counsel on what to do, simply making it public so that new inspectors or established ones looking to switch can see the antics over time when making a choice for themselves.

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I still would like to know who your current processor is that has a much lower rate. I might switch to them, lol. A few thousand dollars saved in credit card fees is huge and I wouldn’t want to switch either if I was saving that kind of money!

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Well then quit your whining and crying and change your software. Sounds more like you want to join a commiseration club than take action. Here we’ll start you out with an award of entry to one of those clubs.

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the guys at HIP are great, they can possibly work up your HG template to work with HIP.
I dont use their mobile or office software for scheduling, Just their desktop software, its great, its the most customizable report software out there.
I use NXT INSPEKT for my administration software. I love it, Easy to use, easy for clients to schedule, Easy payment processing. You can pick anyone you like as long as they can setup a Authorize.net Gateway. it allows you to pass on the Cc fees to the invoice, you can add discount codes (coupon codes) you can give clients, agents etc.
very customizable.
and they were giving 5 years for free for nachi members, Not sure they still are, I think its 6 months free right now.

wont hurt to check it out.

I’m not sure you understand how that works there you little short-bus rider… mind your own.

Thanks for posting something helpful for others who need it… unlike the little chihuahua above you.

So HG is forcing you to use into a specific credit card processor which will cost you money.

Seems simple:

  1. Complain to HG. They will determine if your business is meaningful to them.
  2. Or operate outside of their system.

Everything else just seems like noise.

We use Home Inspector Pro (HIP) for our reporting software. We use ISN for our back office stuff… And we use Guardian for our CC, also does ACH E-Check. Our rate with Guardian on the average is right at 2% and it is seamless through ISN… You can choose what company you want to use with ISN. ISN charges $6 per job/address.

HIP also has an Office back office program, and they use Guardian as well or you can choose the company you want. We might be changing to HIPO(Office) over the next year, it is a little less than ISN but, we have been with ISN for about seven years and it is difficult to switch when you are comfortable with what you are using.

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I’m seeing a good number of inspectors moving away from traditional credit cards to other platforms like Zelle, Venmo or direct ACH transfers

You also have the option of adding a convenience fee for credit card processing. It’s becoming more common as an accepted practice.

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We use Venmo, HG doesn’t have the option to accept it.

Anyhow, as I said above, I’m not looking for advise or suggestions on what to do. I’m just putting it out there so that inspectors looking for options can see the issues. I wish there were more when I chose HG, but at that time the issues were minor and customer service team was easy to work with. Things have definitely changed.

I’ve already moved to another platform. Already remedied the problem. Something like this should be known for someone looking for new software. That’s it. Having to change your services so all payments move through HG is not a small thing.

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If you take a few minutes to Google “who owns Home Gauge software” you will start to understand all of the changes that were made and why their service is not so great. Don’t expect any improvements. It’s just another subsidiary of American corporate greed now.

I have never seen the need to integrate payments into the inspection software apps. Just use whichever payment app you want separately. Integration doesn’t save any significant amount of time for payments. And if you do integrate, you can bet your financial data is not private.

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I’ve always used PayPal… it’s not entwined in their (HG) software etc. but I just incorporate a link for payment in my initial appointment confirmation (PayPal and Venmo)

I use their calendar (for appointment emails) and TRM but I don’t allow clients or Realtors to schedule via their calendar…

I’ve been with them for over 15 years almost exclusively using Companion and then finishing on desktop with seldom any issues. The fee increase is something I’m concerned with but with the Extra Care subscription it offsets my Homegauge Services fee(s).

Best of luck to you and all of us as these changes happen.

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I got the email too. The below statement is very hard to believe. If there’s any truth to it they wasted 90% of it.

the last 3 years, we have invested over $10,000,000 into our software

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They used the same contractor that set up Obamacare…

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