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Shift4 Payments Review

Phillip Parker

I'm the creator of this website and a professional merchant account rate and fee negotiator. I help businesses drastically lower their processing costs with existing or new merchant account services. I've also appeared in popular publications such as INC Magazine, The Atlantic, The Los Angeles Times, Detroit Free Press, Computer World Magazine, and several others. Contact me if you need advice with your credit card processing.

Schedule a call with me today. I don’t sell merchant accounts but I can help you:

  • Choose the right processor for your business.
  • Lower your fees with your current processor.
  • Offer guidance with funding holds and TMF Match List.
  • And more! Just ask!

Shift4 Payments Overview

Rating

3/5
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Most Recent Comment

Rating

3/5
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Website

Most Recent Comment

*Earning your trust is our highest priority. We live by the same values we expect to see from the companies we review: Honesty, transparency and respect. With this in mind we wish to inform you that we may in some cases, but not all, receive referral income if you choose a provider that we recommend. This income does not influence our strict editorial standards or our recommendations. Our mission is to provide you with the best information regardless of generating income.

Harbortouch’s Parent Company

Shift4 Payments is a merchant account provider that currently functions as the parent company of Harbortouch. Shift4 Payments was created in January 2018 when Lighthouse Network (Harbortouch’s former parent organization) acquired Shift4 Corporation, a payment gateway provider based in Nevada. In February, Shift4 Payments proceeded to acquire three POS providers focused on the hospitality industry called Restaurant Manager, POSitouch, and Future POS. It appears that all of these products will be absorbed into the Shift4 brand. In fact, it’s possible that Harbortouch itself could rebrand as Shift4 in the future.

Shift4 Payments Location and Ownership

Shift4 Payments is headquartered at 2202 N. Irving St., Allentown, PA, but it’s possible that the company will merge its operations with Harbortouch’s facilities at 2202 N Irving St, Allentown, PA. Shift4 Payments is a registered ISO/MSP of Westamerica Bank, and Jared Isaacman is the CEO and Don Isaacman is the president of Shift4 Payment and of Harbortouch.

Shift4 Payments Review Table of Contents

  • Costs & Contract: Shift4 Payments offers a one-year contract with no early termination fee and options between interchange-plus and tiered pricing
  • Complaints & Service: Shift4 Payments has received more than 100 public complaints.
  • BBB Rating: Shift4 Payments has an “A+” and has received 114 complaints and 34 reviews in the past three years. The company has been accredited by the Better Business Bureau since 2013.
  • Sales & Marketing: Shift4 Payments hires independent sales agents and has received a moderate number of complaints about its sales practices.
  • Rates & Fees: How Merchants Got The Best Rates With Shift4 Payments

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Shift4 Payments Rates, Fees, and Costs

Shift4 Payments Rates, Fees, and Costs

Key Points

Swiped Rate Interchange-Plus or 1.39% + $0.10
Keyed-in Rate Interchange-Plus or 1.79% + $0.10
Virtual Terminal Rate Interchange-Plus or 1.79% + $0.10
Payment Gateway Fee None
Monthly Minimum Fee $25
Batch Fee $0.35
Early Termination Fee None
PCI Compliance Fee None
Equipment Lease Terms 12 Month (locked)

New Contract Terms in Response to Merchant Dissatisfaction

At the time of previous reviews, Shift4 Payments’ terms and conditions imposed a three-year contract term with a costly early termination fee. This was the basis of most of the complaints left by merchants on this and many other consumer review websites. However, Shift4 Payments has revised its terms and conditions in response to this outcry from merchants.

Shift4 Payments’ current terms and conditions convey a one-year contract with a tiered pricing structure. Merchants are charged either an interchange-plus model or tiered rates of 1.39% plus $0.10 for swiped transactions while keyed-in transactions are charged 1.79% plus $0.10. Shift4 Payments does not charge an early termination fee any longer, the most costly fee from its old contract terms. However, Shift4 Payments does require merchants to return equipment within 15 days of the end of a contract, or else it imposes costly equipment fees. Merchants who do not return standard credit card terminals within that period are charged $200, contactless terminals are charged a $300 fee, and POS systems are charged a $500 fee. However, the lack of an early termination fee provides merchants much more flexible contract terms while its transaction rates are much more affordable as well.

POS Pricing

Shift4 Payments is also the owner of 4 different POS system companies: Harbortouch, Restuarant Manager, Future POS, and POSitouch.  The company also serves as a partner to over 300 other POS and PMS companies, providing merchants across different industries with tailormade options for the unique needs of their business.

One of Shift4 Payments’ move notable companies, Harbortouch, provides merchants with the option between 2 different POS systems: Echo POS and Elite POS. Each merchant agreement conveys some pretty basic pricing. Echo POS charges a monthly fee of $29 per system, while Elite POS has a $39 monthly fee for each. Echo POS charges an installation fee of $150 for the first system and $100 for any additional. While the Elite POS merchant agreement does not include an installation fee, per sey, there is a $250 fee for additional wiring needed to install a POS system. Though neither agreement includes an early termination fee, merchants who cancel their contracts must return any POS equipment within the prescribed period in their merchant agreement or being charged and equipment return fee of $500.

In addition to those fees, each POS agreement details a range of products and services and their additional monthly costs. These products and serves are categorized as optional add-ons and come with additional monthly fees, though they can be purchased outright at a one-time cost as well. Other less expensive items, from employee authorization cards to printers and scanners are billed as one-time purchases.

Virtual Terminal and Payment Gateway Pricing

In addition to its storefront payment processing services, Shift4 Payments’ terms and conditions also disclose the cost of its virtual terminal and payment gateway services. Shift4 Payments charges 1.79% plus $0.10 per transaction and a batch fee of $0.35.

Your Agent’s Word Is Not The Final Word

Although these are the company’s official terms, the company’s use of independent sales agents means that transaction rates and fees may vary from agent to agent. A representative of the company confirmed in the comment section of this review that any verbal guarantees made by sales agents will not overrule the language in the company’s contract, so merchants are advised to trust the documentation above an agent’s word. Multiple merchants have described a situation in which a sales agent verbally agreed to waive or alter certain fees and then failed to follow through on those changes. There are also multiple claims that agents failed to disclose the contract length and early termination fee associated with the company’s POS agreement. If you suspect that you may be paying too many hidden fees, we recommend obtaining a cost analysis from an independent fee reduction service.

A New Grade for New Contract Terms

Shift4 Payments’ approach to POS sales has received mixed reviews. Yet, the basis of most complaints concerns issues with the company’s previous terms and conditions; primarily the costly early termination fees. Since Shift4 Payments has revised its terms and conditions for its merchant agreements and POS systems, we award the company a “B” in this category. Though there are many monthly charges and some one-time fees that come with the Echo and Elite POS systems, the flexibility merchants have with no early termination fees and shorter one-year contracts mitigates the expense of those costs drastically from the company’s previous policies.

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Shift4 Payments BBB Rating Summary

Shift4 Payments BBB Rating Summary

Key Points

Product & Service Complaints 62
Billing & Collection Complaints 45
Advertising & Sales Complaints 1
Guarantee & Warranty Complaints 0
Delivery Complaints 3

Note: We have adjusted this company’s BBB rating according to our own standards. To better understand why we adjust BBB ratings, please see our Rating Criteria.

Over 110 Complaints

The Better Business Bureau has changed Harbortouch’s name to Shift4 Payments, LLC and is using the same profile it previously used for Harbortouch. As a result, Shift4 Payments has been an accredited business with the Better Business Bureau since 2013. As of this review, the company currently holds an “A+“ rating with the BBB and has had 111 complaints filed against it in the last 36 months. 62 of these complaints were related to product or service issues, 45 had to do with billing and collection, 1 was classified as an advertising issue, and 3 were delivery problems. Of the 111 total complaints, 24 were successfully resolved. The remaining 87 complaints either were resolved to the merchant’s dissatisfaction or did not receive a final response from the merchant.

What Merchants Say

Shift4 has also received 35 informal reviews to its BBB profile. 32 of the reviews are negative while only 3 are positive. One recent review describes customer service issues:

I wish if I have never went with with this company they are ruining my business they have on hold for almost 11K and they wont return back to me customer service is so rude they canceled my account for no reason and there reason of having this much money is because they say that my account is under a high risk of dispute like come on of course any company in the united states is under the high risk of dispute. I do not want to deal with them anymore all I am asking to have my money back immediately they have it on hold for almost one year and there is another $4000 they have on hold and they will not review it until after 180 days !! like come on I already done the service for my customer and I am the one who is losing money here.

Customer service is an integral part of a merchant service provider. Merchant’s should review their options for the best available customer service.

A “C” Performance

Taking into account the company’s complaint total and resolution ratio, we have adjusted the BBB’s rating to a “C.”

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Truth In Marketing & Advertising

Truth In Marketing & Advertising

Key Points

Employs Independent Resellers Yes
Advertises Deceptive Rates No
Discloses All Important Terms No

Same Organization As Harbortouch

Shift4 is simply a combination of Harbortouch, Shift4 Corporation, and a few smaller POS companies. As a result, the sales experience for merchants who sell their products should be similar to the standard Harbortouch experience.

Independent Sales Team

Harbortouch hires independently contracted sales agents (ISAs) to resell its merchant account services. This is a standard practice within the industry that often results in unregulated or unsupervised agents reselling a provider’s services without effectively disclosing contract terms. On this website and elsewhere, reports are common of a Harbortouch sales representative promising to waive fees or provide month-to-month contracts only to fail to follow through, leaving the merchant on the hook for some unfavorable contract terms.

“Free” Equipment Promises

Online complaints seem to indicate that a common point of miscommunication has to do with Harbortouch’s heavily promoted deals for free equipment or a free POS system. Harbortouch likes to phrase its promotion so that the equipment itself is technically free, but it requires the merchant to sign an automatically renewing, three-year service commitment so that Harbortouch can recover its upfront costs. In this way, the merchant still has to pay for at least three years of access to the equipment, which to some merchants may seem indistinguishable from having a long-term equipment lease.

30-Day Trial Period

Some merchants also report that they agreed to receive free equipment or software but cancelled before receiving or implementing these services, only to be charged with a cancellation fee in the amount of the remaining cost of the multiyear contract. Merchants who cancel before the Install Date should only owe a $250 restocking fee. After the Install Date, Harbortouch offers a 30-day trial period. If merchants cancel after this 30-day period has concluded, then they will be responsible for the full cost of the service agreement, despite the claims of any sales agent. If merchants cancel within the trial period, they are still responsible for fees incurred during the trial period as well as the costs of shipping equipment back to Harbortouch.

Contract Survives Your Business

A smaller number of merchants claim that they were not made aware of the fact that they are responsible for the full cost of the service agreement regardless of whether or not their business closes permanently. It appears to be Harbortouch’s policy to enforce the terms of its agreement even in the event that a merchant goes out of business.

Continued Complaints Despite Training

A Harbortouch representative has stated on multiple occasions that the company offers rigorous agent training and has procedures in place to discipline ISOs that act unethically. The company also clearly discloses its service agreement terms in its paperwork and requires follow-up communication with merchants after they open an account. However, Harbortouch still routinely receives complaints that describe misrepresentation or nondisclosure by its independent sales agents. This indicates that despite the company’s admirable efforts, a significant number of merchants are still having a negative experience with Harbortouch’s sales team.

A Precautionary “C”

Shift4 Corporation enjoyed a very low complaint total before its acquisition by the Harbortouch team. It’s therefore possible that Shift4 Payments will adopt the practices that minimized complaints at Shift4 Corporation. However, Harbortouch’s management team is still at the helm. As a cautionary measure, we will therefore assign Shift4 Payments the average grade of “C” that we assign Harbortouch in this category. If you believe that you were deceived about the terms of your Shift4 Payments contract, you can find and eliminate hidden fees with a third-party statement audit.

Sales & Marketing Example

Our Opinion Of Shift4 Payments

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An Average Option for Most Businesses

Shift4 Payments receives the same rating as Harbortouch at this time for a few reasons. The company was created when Harbortouch’s ownership group acquired Shift4 Corporation, and that ownership group remains in charge of the organization. Shift4 sells Harbortouch’s entire lineup of products with no change to Harbortouch’s contract terms. Even the BBB considers Shift4 Payments to be Harbortouch’s new name at this time. We will be sure to monitor merchant feedback about this company to see if it differentiates itself from Harbortouch in any meaningful way, but for now merchants are likely to obtain a better deal from a top-rated payment processor.

Phillip Parker - Creator of CardPaymentOptions.com
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Why I'm Qualified to Write About Credit Card Processing

I’m a small business owner who previously worked in the credit card processing industry. I started this blog in 2009 to help other business owners by exposing credit card processors that engage in unethical marketing, rate and fee trickery, and fine-print-contract schemes. Over the last decade, I’ve reviewed hundreds of merchant services providers which has helped to educate over 5 million businesses on the nuances of credit and debit card acceptance. I’ve appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Inc. Magazine and a host of other publications to offer insight on the subject of card acceptance. 

I offer merchant account and credit card processing consultation for the following needs:

  • Selecting the right credit card processing services for your business.
  • Reducing credit card processing fees with your current merchant account provider.
  • Negotiating credit card processing fees when changing merchant accounts.
  • Strategies for reducing and recovering funding holds and chargebacks.

 

Schedule a call with me today!

 

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Leave Your Review For Shift4 Payments

14 Responses

  1. Harbortouch and shift 4 customer service is horrible the system has went down 4 times in less than a month and has cost me to lose more than $557.00 in revenue. You call for Tech support can’t get anyone to answer the phone. This is the worst system I’ve seen.

    Reply

  2. Example of their SCAM marketing::
    (actual email)

    Hello,

    My name is Jimmy Navarro and I am the Channel Sales Manager with Shift4 Payments. We have recently acquired Merchant Link who integrates with Oracle/Micros for your Credit Card processing Gateway Services. Your existing Gateway will be SHUT DOWN December 31, 2019. As such, if you do not upgrade your payments Gateway with Micros, you will not be able to process credit cards as of the aforementioned date.

    I fully understand this may come as distressing news, however rest assured this change is taking place to support your business from a security and technological standpoint, of which I will be happy to explain via telephone.

    Also, here are some of the Major Benefits of switching to the the PCI compliant Gateway:

    NO Gateway Fees – (All Merchant Link Fees will be waived on the Gateway)
    FREE EMV Chip Card Readers (Includes Lifetime Replacement Warranty & Upgrades)
    FREE Pay at the Table EMV Devices (Retail for $699)
    Point to Point Encryption – PCI Validated Processing – $0 PCI Fees
    Offline Payment Mode (Accept PCI Validated Payments with no Internet Connection)
    Match Existing Processing Rates (Your rates will not increase)

    Please call or email as soon as possible to get your paperwork submitted before December 31, 2019 to avoid loss of services.

    Jimmy Navarro

    Channel Sales Manager
    Office: 702.597.2480 x3204 / 702.506.6269
    1551 Hillshire Drive | Las Vegas, NV 89134

    This post will help: How to Report Bad Credit Card Processors

    -Phillip

    Reply

      1. Merchant Link was purchased by Shift4 ~9/2019 and have announced they are shutting down parts of the gateway which include specific connections that do not support EMV processing. If you are using EMV, from my understanding, you’d be able to continue using that solution – however there will very likely be some changes to that service due to the purchase (which is to be expected in any purchase).

        It’s very important anyone using Micros (or any other POS using Merchant Link as the gateway) understand there are multiple options to continue using Micros. Some options include Paygistix, Freedom Pay, and Elavon – but there’s others. I highly recommend talking with your Micros support person and doing your own internet searches to understand all the options available.

        Reply

  3. We had our account compromised where are deposits are made. Harbortouch sent me paperwork to change my account info but they were also going to charge me for the account change. I talked to them about better pricing and not charging me for the routing number change. They were not helpful. I then changed to a new merchant and bank. It has now been a month and Shift4 and Harbortouch still has not released the $4000 they owe me.

    This post will help: How to Make Your Payment Processor Release Your Money

    -Phillip

    Reply

      1. Phillip,

        This is not the place for me to share this specifically, but:

        The “no ETF” are really just a fancy way of saying “NON-cancellable…” I am saying this from experience, on the phone with HT. Not only that, but they seem to attempt to take advantage of you, by spouting misinformation(contrary to company letters, or contracts) about the amount you will owe them monthly for not processing. I would not recommend, at all.

        Reply

  5. This company force you to use your cell phone. I do not have a company cell phone, as I have no need for it, and I will not use my private cell phone for company work. I cannot do some items, because Shift 4 (I do not work for them) force me to use a cell phone. My job is not going to provide me a cell phone for ONE company! Shift 4 since you are having these demands, are you going to provide me a cell phone to work with YOUR product?

    This post will help: Top-Rated Merchant Account Providers

    -Phillip

    Reply

  6. Avoid at all cost. Do not get roped in with their promises of super low processing fees. This processing company does not have consistent processing fees, the come up with new ways to add fees monthly. When you finally talk to the right customer service rep. they say they will remove some of the fees which you shouldnt have been charged but they never credit you. Terminating your account is an absolute nightmare and will cost an exuberant mount. Scam artist at their finest with this processing company

    This post will help: Find and Eliminate Fees From Your Monthly Statement

    – Phillip

    Reply

  7. Shift4 is easily the slowest credit card reader on the market since the invention of the cc reader. If you would rather play with an Atari instead of a PS4, then by all means Shift4 is just for you. Average time per credit card transactions are 26-32 seconds. Most machines average 5-8 seconds so think about that if you work in high volume retail and how much production you will lose. I work with this junk equipment everyday and everyday I make less money because of this slow generic equipment. And feel free to check out their aweful BBB reviews from merchants about Shift4/Harbortouch. Trust me, you don’t want these machines anywhere near your business!

    From The Editor
    This Post Might Help: Best High Volume Merchant Accounts

    Reply

  8. From what we’re seeing in the field, Positouch, FuturePOS, Restaurant Manager are telling merchants to either switch to Shift4 Payments or pay an additional $89.00 per month for using their provider of choice. They’re not correcting anything. I’ll get a correspondence between merchant and Shift4 Payments/Harbortouch

    Reply

    2. I was working with a customer who has a FuturePOS. When he went to switch processors for a better deal, they said it would cost an additional $100 per month plus $0.05 per transaction. I was surprised by this high transaction cost.

      Reply

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