TabbedOut Credit Card Processing 2023: Reviews & Complaints
(866) 626-8045 Note: As of 2023, the TabbedOut website has been gutted. It appears they are still in business, but we will monitor the situation.
Company Overview
TabbedOut is an SaaS (Software as a Service) company that enables a business’s customers to pay their tabs via a mobile phone app. Designed for businesses in the bar and restaurant sectors, TabbedOut also provides merchants with the ability to offer loyalty programs and discounts to customers who pay with TabbedOut. TabbedOut was launched in 2010 and has since secured partnerships with Harbortouch and Cayan to increase its use within restaurants and bars. The development group behind Tabbed Out, ATX Innovations, also offers UNION POS as a restaurant-focused POS solution. As of 2022, TabbedOut is advertising as “TabbedOut by UNION” and TabbedOut is now available through the UNION app, which may mean the company is transitioning in some form.
Article Summary
Before we dive in, here’s a short summary of what we’ll cover:
- TabbedOut’s various payment processing services.
- TabbedOut has very few negative reviews from the restaurants that use it.
- TabbedOut’s app has very good reviews in the various app stores.
TabbedOut Payment Processing
TabbedOut positions itself as a unique solution for the hospitality sector, providing a mobile payment platform that allows patrons to open, view, and settle their bar or restaurant tabs directly from their smartphones.
Integration with Point of Sale Systems
TabbedOut integrates directly with numerous Point of Sale (POS) systems. This ensures that the payment process is not only smooth for the customer but also for the establishment’s staff and management.
Secure Payment Processing
Security is a top concern for any payment solution. TabbedOut ensures that customer payment information is securely encrypted, reducing the risk of data breaches and fraud.
Marketing and Customer Insights
Beyond payment processing, TabbedOut provides businesses with tools to harness customer data. This feature allows establishments to understand their clientele better, design targeted marketing campaigns, and drive customer loyalty.
Promotions and Loyalty Programs
To assist businesses in enhancing customer engagement and repeat business, TabbedOut offers a platform for creating and managing promotions and loyalty programs, all integrated within the mobile payment experience.
Direct Customer Feedback Channel
An additional feature that TabbedOut offers is its ability to facilitate direct feedback from patrons. After settling their tab, customers can provide immediate feedback on their experience, granting businesses invaluable insights.
Location & Ownership
TabbedOut is neither a merchant account provider nor a POS system, but it does integrate seamlessly with both of these services. Merchants are free to use TabbedOut with their existing POS systems and credit card processors. TabbedOut is developed by ATX Innovations, an Austin, Texas-based company with headquarters at 804 Congress Avenue 5th Floor Austin, TX 78701. Google also lists 1214 W 6th St #220, Austin, TX 78703 as an address for TabbedOut. Alex Broeker is listed as the CEO of TabbedOut. Jeffrey Kalikstein is listed as a founder.
Table of Contents
- Costs & Contract: Appears to charge a flat monthly licensing fee in order…
- Complaints & Service: Complaints number more than 100 on…
- BBB Rating: Has a no rating with the Better Business Bureau and has received…
- Sales & Marketing: Does not appear to hire independent sales representatives and has not…
TabbedOut Customer Reviews
Here's What Their Clients Say
| Item | Result |
|---|---|
| Total Online Complaints | 100+ |
| Live Customer Support | Yes |
| Most Common Complaint | Buggy Performance |
| Recent Lawsuits | No |
Consumer-Driven Complaints
There are no negative TabbedOut reviews to be found on the usual merchant complaint forums, indicating that the service is not a scam or a ripoff. The current version of Union (where you can access TabbedOut) has an overall rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars from 12,800 reviews on the iTunes App Store, The app has a rating of 4.4 out of 5 stars in the Google Play Store based on 6,660 reviews. One consistent TabbedOut complaint is the lack of available service in a user’s area, resulting in the app defaulting to businesses in Austin, Texas, where the company’s headquarters are located. If you have your own TabbedOut review to make, please do so in the comments below.
TabbedOut Lawsuits and Fines
We have not found any outstanding class-action lawsuits or FTC complaints filed against TabbedOut. Dissatisfied clients who wish to pursue a non-litigious course of action against the company should consider reporting it to the relevant supervisory organizations.
TabbedOut Customer Support Options
Issues cited by consumers include software bugs, invasive permissions, and a low number of participating clients. However, the complaints posted in these forums are almost entirely posted by users rather than business owners, so they will not heavily impact the company’s grade in this category. TabbedOut provides a phone number and a contact form on its website for its users, which is close to what we expect of support options offered by top-rated companies in the merchant services industry.
TabbedOut Customer Service Number
- (866) 626-8045 – Toll-Free Customer Support
TabbedOut Online Ratings
Here's How They Rate Online
| Item | Result |
|---|---|
| BBB Reports | 0 |
No BBB Complaints
ATX Innovations, Inc., the developer of TabbedOut, currently maintains no rating with the Better Business Bureau based on 0 complaints filed in the past 36 months. This clean complaint record may be due to the fact that complainants are unlikely to seek out the developer of an app to complain about the app, but it nevertheless indicates that the company itself does not attract complaints.
An “A” Rating
Given the total absence of complaints about the company, we agree with the BBB‘s rating in this case, but readers should be aware that there is reason to be skeptical of the BBB’s rating system.
TabbedOut Fees, Rates & Costs
A Closer Look at The Contract
| Item | Result | >
|---|---|
| Cancellation Penalties | Unclear |
| Monthly & Annual Fees | Yes |
| Processing Rates | 0% |
| Equipment Leasing | N/A |
Undisclosed Monthly Fee
The only potential client cost addressed in TabbedOut’s official materials is the fact that the service does not charge a per-transaction fee of any kind. According to the FAQs section of its website:
TabbedOut is free for consumers. We have no service charges or incremental fees associated with our service. You can use the app to pay bar and restaurant tabs and get rewarded with offers at no additional charge.
Other standard contract details are hard to determine, although a company blog post mentions that adding TabbedOut to a Harbortouch POS system will cost a small monthly fee. In general, it appears that the most common cost of adding TabbedOut to an existing POS system is a flat monthly licensing fee that varies depending on a client’s payment processor, POS system, and business profile. For this reason, we recommend pairing TabbedOut with a budget-friendly payment processor to keep overall costs low.
No Negative Reports
We are currently unable to locate any TabbedOut complaints that mention early termination fees or that describe this monthly fee as excessive or unfair, so we will award TabbedOut an “A” for now. If you have any specific knowledge of other standard TabbedOut fees, please share that information in the comment section below this review.
TabbedOut Employee Reviews & Sales Tacitcs
Should You Work For Them?
| Item | Result |
|---|---|
| Uses Independent Resellers | No |
| Telemarketing | No |
| Misleading Marketing | No |
| Discloses All Important Terms | No |
Partnership-Focused Marketing Strategy
TabbedOut appears to market itself primarily through strategic partnerships with POS providers and credit card processors. Many POS systems now arrive with the option to add TabbedOut for an additional monthly fee, and processors like Cayan are beginning to promote TabbedOut to their clients in the restaurant industry. The company’s consumer app is also being marketed through more traditional channels, including the TabbedOut website and physical signs at client locations.
No Deceptive Tactics
There is no indication at this time that TabbedOut employs independent sales agents or telemarketing in an effort to advertise its services. There are also no TabbedOut reviews that mention deceptive sales tactics by the company, and TabbedOut’s website does not list any misleading rate quotes. We are therefore awarding the company an “A” rating at this time.
This compares favorably to our list of best credit card processors.
Our TabbedOut Review Summary
Our Final Thoughts
TabbedOut rates as a useful POS solution according to reviewer feedback. The app streamlines the checkout experience and enables clients to better engage customers, and it does not appear to cost more than a flat monthly fee. Although the cost of the service appears to vary for clients, it is not receiving any complaints of overpricing or predatory terms. Readers in restaurant businesses should be sure to understand all potential costs of using TabbedOut before signing up and should consider pairing the service with a highly-rated restaurant merchant account provider.
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Steve Schuler
Have you read anything about cyber security recently? Like maybe how scammers overlay QR codes with fakes that take you to an app install? And how you should NEVER say yes to an install that is triggered by a QR code?
Well, that’s what restaurant QR codes that are set up on this app do, if the app is not already installed. I spent a lot of time at a restaurant tonight because I couldn’t believe this was happening. A friend who had apparently previously already installed it ordered for me. Later on, I Googled to figure out what was going on.
The whole concept here is wrong from a consumer’s standpoint, and possibly from a restauranteur’s as well. TabbedOut is seeking to become a payment middleman. Don’t we already have Google Pay, CC companies, ad nauseum?
If the label next to the QR code had explained that it REQUIRED the TabbedOut app, I might not have been so frustrated, but I have to say the chutzpah of the blatent middleman grab for private data would still have left me appalled.