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.
13 Responses
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.
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
How is this a scam? I went to Merchant Links Website and it looks like Shift4 purchased them.
https://www.merchantlink.com/
https://www.shift4.com/merchantlink/
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.
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
Horrible nightmare company.
Hi Steve,
Could you please elaborate on your experience to give other merchants an idea of how it went?
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
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
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
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
Plus a per transaction fee starting at 3 cents
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.