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TouchBistro Review

Phillip Parker
Phillip Parker

I was tired of watching unethical merchant services companies take advantage of unsuspecting business owners, so I built this website and wrote hundreds of reviews to expose their shady business practices.

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TouchBistro Overview

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5/5
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A Flexible Restaurant POS System

Launched in 2011, TouchBistro is an iPad-based point-of-sale (POS) system designed specifically for the merchant accounts in the restaurant industry. TouchBistro operates on a local wireless network and can run on either a single iPad or on multiple iPads connected to a local server, which can be an iMac or a MacBook. TouchBistro is partnered with Cayan, Moneris, Chase Paymentech, Square, Worldpay , iZettle, Tyro, Premier Payments, PayPal Here, and RBC Caribbean as its preferred payment processors, so it appears that merchants will need to open a merchant account through one of these companies in order to use TouchBistro at this time.

TouchBistro Location and Ownership

The company is headquartered at 1100 – 85 Richmond St W, Toronto, ON M5H 2C9, Canada and also maintains offices in Vancouver, LA, New York, and Chicago. Alex Barrotti is listed as the founder and CEO of TouchBistro.

TouchBistro Review Table of Contents

  • Costs & Contract: TouchBistro offers variable contract terms through a number of payment processing partners.
  • Complaints & Service: TouchBistro has received more than 10 public complaints.
  • BBB Rating: TouchBistro has an “A+” rating with the Better Business Bureau has received 1 complaint and 2 reviews in the last 3 years.
  • Sales & Marketing: TouchBistro does not appear to hire independent sales representatives and has not received any merchant complaints about its sales practices.
  • Rates & Fees: How Merchants Got The Best Rates With TouchBistro
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TouchBistro Rates, Fees, and Costs

TouchBistro Rates, Fees, and Costs

Cost Summary

Swiped Rate 2.99% + $0.15
Keyed-in Rate 2.90% + $0.25
Solo Plan $69 - $105
Dual Plan $129 - $209
Team Plan $249 - $359
Unlimited Plan $399 - $539
Set Up Fee $200
Early Termination Fee $0
PCI Compliance Fee $0
Equipment Lease Terms None

Four Pricing Plans

TouchBistro’s pricing starts at $69/month, with customized flat monthly pricing, billed annually with distinct fees for software or a bundled plan including hardware.

The flat cost of the TouchBistro software license does not include the costs of credit card processing through TouchBistro Payments, or one of it’s affiliated processors. TouchBistro Payments offers customized rates.

It is likely that fees and terms will vary depending on the provider’s partner offering the contract, so merchants should be sure to inquire about all associated costs. Although Worldpay and Moneris are not particularly cheap merchant account providers and have been known to charge early termination fees, it is possible that these companies extend special terms to merchants who are signed up through TouchBistro. The company does assess a $200 set up fee for new accounts. At this time, there are no specific complaints about the contracts enforced by TouchBistro’s processing partners, so we will assume that most merchants find their rates and pricing acceptable. TouchBistro advertises Chase PaymenTech, TSYS, and WorldPay among its partners. The rates in this review reference Chase PaymenTech which the company lists as its first partner.

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TouchBistro BBB Rating Summary

BBB Summary

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

One BBB Complaint

TouchBistro currently has an “A+” rating with the Better Business Bureau, and has not received BBB accreditation. The company has received 1 complaint in the past 36 months. The lone complaint has been resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.

What Merchants Say

TouchBistro has also received 2 negative informal reviews on its BBB profile. The negative review describes issues with customer service:

Have had horrible experiences with their customer support. Had an issue in May 2019 where a customer mistakenly put in their pin number instead of a tip amount. This resulted in a $2000+ tip for a $8 item. The system didn’t flag this and let it go through. We didn’t detect this until the next day and then had a horrible time trying to get this canceled. We called in to ask for advice 10+ times and everytime we had to wait 15-45 minutes to speak to someone. When we did speak to someone they didn’t know what to do or gave us bad advice. We never could get this to stop processing. After a certain point, we cut a check to the person because they were going to get bank fees for being overwithdrawn. At that point, their bank filed a complaint and got the money back through that. Fortunately, the customer hadn’t cashed the check and ripped it up for us. Then, ***** (who processes the credit cards) canceled us due to this large money amount. We didn’t have credit card service for a day at our business until we could get that corrected. TouchBistro said they would give us a meager refund for our troubles, but they had troubles getting that to us and it has been 8 months and we are still waiting. Now, they aren’t even responding to emails to their customer support.

Excellent customer service can help users better understand how to effectively integrate their merchant account services into their business. This is especially true for POS systems which require often include expensive setup fees.

An “A” Performance

In light of this information, we agree with the BBB’s rating for the purposes of this review, but merchants should be aware that there are valid reasons to be skeptical of the BBB’s reviews.

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Truth In Marketing & Advertising

Key Points

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

No Sales Complaints

TouchBistro primarily relies on conventional advertising and a network of resellers to market its services. The company hands over most of its credit card processing pricing to its payment partners and does not employ a team of independent sales agents. As a result, there is a very low likelihood of scammy sales tactics from TouchBistro. This is confirmed by the overall lack of TouchBistro complaints related to the company’s salesforce.

No Misleading Advertising

We also have not found any misleading rate quotes or guarantees on the TouchBistro website or in its ads. It prominently displays its pricing on its website and offers transparency that compares TouchBistro favorably to top-rated iPad POS systems. We therefore will assign the company an “A” rating in this category.

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Our Opinion Of TouchBistro

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A Capable Restaurant POS Option

TouchBistro rates as a solid iPad POS option for small- to medium-sized restaurants according to all available information. The service is available for a reasonable monthly cost and offers a number of useful functions for the day-to-day front-end operation of a restaurant. The service is not recommended for larger businesses at this time, mostly due to its limited feature offering for administrative purposes. It is also possible that contract terms through the company’s partner processors may vary, so merchants should be sure to read their agreements carefully. Restaurant owners considering TouchBistro should compare the service to highly-rated payment processors that come packaged with restaurant POS software to get the best fit for their needs.

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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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They do not rock – they suck. $$$$ LOST

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I regret signing up with Touch Bistro! I have three restaurants using the TB system and 50 employees signing in/out to track hours for payroll. The TB system is riddled with problems. Reports are inaccurate making it impossible to rely on them for tracking hours for payroll, etc.. TB is aware of the problem and every time I call, they assure me the problem will be fixed, but it never is. Over the past 10 weeks I’ve had to call support 8 times, spending on average, 45 minutes to 1 hour on hold each time. I’m always told my problem has the “highest priority” only to find out the next day that is still wrong, having to start from scratch waiting on hold again. Small business owners don’t have hours to waste trying to track down accurate reports. Do yourself a flavour and look elsewhere for a POS. I’d have been better served by a pad and pencil.

This post will help: Best Restaurant Merchant Accounts

-Phillip

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We wanted to put a POS system in our fairstand. Checked it out and liked that TouchBistro specifically mentioned fairstand and small businesses. The person who answered the phone told us they weren’t interested and said he would send us the name of another company that we may want to call. Really!!! And he didn’t even do that! The real test of a company is how they treat the smallest of customers, and apparently they do not value their customers enough to even sell them the tools needed, not to mention the program.

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