User Reviews Overview
About Harbortouch POS
Harbortouch is a restaurant POS system designed to help small and midsize businesses manage inventory, promotions and employees on a centralized dashboard. The platform enables administrators to gain insights into sales reports...
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- Industry: Food & Beverages
- Company size: 2–10 Employees
- Used Daily for 6-12 months
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Review Source
Better Servers
Prior to inventory I know what was sold and have a clear idea of exactly what I should have. Expressing this in team meeting has slowly brought the matching closer and closer..meaning less alcohol theft by staff.
Pros
Ordering tableside is great, no more going back and forth bother guests because a server has a MOD question. No one looks incompetent and as a business we look on point and there is no concern from guests out food quality is also a question.
Cons
It made me as a manager look bad!! The staff I wondered about anf seemed to have the most problems with were great on paper. Following sales and percentages I saw that a server I thought was ditzy and annoying but needed...had consistently the highest alcohol and wine sales across the board. I could see who was selling what, when and how they affected bottom line. Then I could coach servers on selling points, it's also a way to teach more about our products. I guess that's the least thing.!!
- Industry: Chemicals
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
STAY FAR AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY
My experience with this company is non other than a nightmare.
This company charges ridiculous fees because most people don’t look at their bill closely and I would URGE YOU TO REVIEW YOUR BILLS FROM THEM!! They charged me excessive fees and when I called to discuss it they lied and told me they were overcharging me and would refund/credit me. They never called back which is THEIR MO. The woman [SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN] is a liar and is very unhelpful. They try to make it so that you cannot cancel their services by lying and telling you that they never received the cancellation forms.
I personally sent their cancelation forms back to them after they finally sent them to me which was worse than pulling teeth. They received it and still continued to charge me fees. My bank was instructed not to accept any charges from them because they are fraudulent. They still continue to try to attempt to charge my account for monthly fees after being cancelled. I have no ongoing contract with them and they still continue to create fees. They are a disgusting company and I will be filing a BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU COMPLAINT. I would stay far away from this company. And If you currently use their service check your bills. This isn’t a review because I found someone cheaper because cheaper isn’t always better. This is a review because this company is trying to shake me down for money that is not owed to them. They are a disgrace
Pros
I liked paying to overnight their Terminal and wiring back to them.
Cons
STAY AWAY FAR FAR AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY
Response from Shift4
Joe,
We are disheartened to hear of the frustrations you've encountered during your cancellation process and would like to sincerely apologize. We would like to speak with you further to learn more about your concerns and work to resolve them. At your convenience, please send your Merchant ID number along with your contact information to [email protected], and one of our team members will reach out to further assist.
- Industry: Food & Beverages
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
STAY AWAY
I have made a few big mistakes in running my business over the years.
Among the top 2 are getting involved with harbortouch.
I was told by the salesman that there was a three year commitment.
During that three years I experienced a multitude of issues, and paid over 5% total for my "free" system.
the first red flag was that I went into it with some concerns, but was told there was a 30 day period that I could return the system.
A couple weeks in, when I called with some concern over the operations, I was told that the 30 day period was up, because it started the day the order was placed, and NOT the day it arrived two weeks later. That was the first indication that they were operating in bad faith.
for the next few months every time they did a system update, it took place at noon. that was a busy tie for me, and the system shut down completely for 30 minutes or longer. Customers who couldn't pay just left.
I called every time this happened of course, and got zero response. No consideration for the fact that they were costing me revenues.
There are many flaws in the system. The pool on employees contained all the staff that was ever employed, with no way to clear out all but the current employees, making it difficult or impossible to use. They could not calculate the hours for the staff.
the daily reports had the credit line and the cash income line in random order day to day. Gift cards were treated as income when sold, and were treated as income when redeemed, so there w
Pros
Nothing.
The screen has no ability to modify the placement or order of buttons.
constant updates occurred during open hours, locking the system up for 30 minutes.
the reports put different categories of revenue in a different order each day, randomly.
Cons
there was very little in the way of reports to track sales.
couldn't track daily sales to compare from year to year, or track which hours had high or low sales.
labor was the worst.
once an employee was in the system, they were always in the way, with no way to change their status o inactive to get them off the screen.
Sales of gift cards were considered revenue, redeeming gift cards were considered revenue, so you paid income tax on the same income twice.
and the gift cards were expensive, of course.
Top Harbortouch POS Alternatives
- Industry: Restaurants
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Daily for 6-12 months
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Review Source
False Promises & Eggregious Functionality Issues
You cannot imagine the sad experience we have had with Harbor Touch. When we had to reboot the POS multiple times, every day, for 2 months straight, during busniess hours, we obviously had some very upset customers who had to wait up 20 minutes while the system came back up and then, many times, STILL did not work. Some guests were able to pay with cash or agreed to leave their CC info with our promise that we would destroy the information later once the system was up an running again, but if you run a business with CC, you can imagine what a mess this was. HT was terrible in rectifying the issue for us and allowed us to struggle, literally DAILY!, for months before they finally sent out a new everything and fixed the issue. We COMPed so many checks due to guest frustration that could not be recified and lost innumerable customers (which will have a lasting impact on our business). For the financial burden that HT caused during this time, they appeased us with the promise of a $275 credit and another $100 credit which WE HAVE STILL NOT RECIEVED. It's very sad to say that they say whatever they need to keep you "quiet" and don't follow through with their promised. Simply put, Harbor Touch proves time and time again that they do not care about YOUR business. And of course, they continue to take their fees and CC processing charges out on regular schedule, all the while promising the world, and delivering on nothing. So, so sad. Stay FAR away.
Pros
User friendly POS face for employees to use during business hours is easy to read (large font) & simple to learn.
Cons
If you want to see accurate payroll daily, if you think you will use this system to keep accurate track of your employee's hours or have them clock-in using this system, if you want the credit card processing to work properly every time you run one, or if you want customer support that fultills it's promises, then sadly, Harbor Touch is not for you.
Response from Shift4
Danielle,
We would first like to express our sincerest apologies for the complications and frustrations you have experienced with Harbortouch and your Point of Sale system. Since our beginning, we have made it our mission to serve our customers to the best of our ability and provide them with exceptional products, services and support to help them run a successful business. It is disappointing to hear that you have experienced the opposite, and we are going to evaluate the rough patches and work to resolve them and improve them moving forward. We would also like the opportunity to speak with you to work through any outstanding issues and make this right for you. Your account has been located in our database and someone from upper management will be in contact with you shortly to discuss. In the interim, if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to [email protected] and we will be happy to assist.
- Industry: Retail
- Company size: 2–10 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Liars & Thieves
I’d rather step on legos barefooted for 10 miles than use this company again.
Pros
We’ve been with this company for 4 years. Only having signed a 3 year contract.
Due to covid, we had to move our store and severely downsize to be able to keep our doors open. This meant getting rid of the 2 POS systems we had with Harbourtouch and going with something cheaper.
When we called to let them know to cancel, we were told it’ll be taken care of. Well, wouldn’t you know it, the contract wasn’t canceled and they kept charging. They then tried to tell us, we automatically renew for a year if we don’t call at the 3 year mark. Which is a lie and shady business.
That was 4 months ago. Three of which, we received some sort of charge.
We have been told for well over a month that they’ll give us back the funds they stole. We’ve lawyered up and will see how it goes.
DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THEM!
They’ll lie and steal from you.
Cons
It crashes. Constantly. Be prepared to deal with loss of sakes and upset customers.
Response from Shift4
Mandy,
First and foremost, we would like to sincerely apologize for the difficulties you have faced during COVID and with closing your Harbortouch account. We were able to locate your account in our system and it appears that the refunds you were inquiring about have been successfully processed. Please allow 3-5 days for the refund to be issued. If there is anything you need in the interim, please email [email protected] and one of our team members will get back to you as soon as possible.
- Industry: Retail
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
72 hours takes on a whole new meaning with them
They have a basic reporting system. Very inefficient for any type of inventory control. Their customer service was okay - they have been fortunate to hire good people but their terms and contracts are deceptive and not industry standard.
Pros
It was easy to install and the customer service reps I dealt with over the years were mostly all helpful and friendly
Cons
As we grew, this system no longer met our needs. As per the contract, I called on the day I was told to call to cancel the commitment. That was 7 days ago and I still have not received the neccessary paperwork. I was initially I would receive them in 72 hours. When I called to inquire where the documents were, they said it was 72 "BUSINESS HOURS". In other words, 9 DAYS!!. and they are continuing to charge me in the interim.
I am still waiting for my documents. They don't have fine print.. it is miniscule, so buyer BEWARE! I have terminated other merchant accounts before but by far they have been the least transparent and the most difficult to deal with
Alternatives Considered
Square Virtual TerminalReasons for Switching to Harbortouch POS
I thought it would help with inventory- Industry: Medical Practice
- Company size: 2–10 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
DON'T DO IT!!! Terrible...
I inherited this system when I bought the company. From the very beginning, it was bad...but I didn't want to mess with getting a new merchant account. But after spending a year with the system we just couldn't work with it anymore. So, after being completely dissatisfied...I called to cancel the agreement. They informed me that I'm in some contract and I have another year (it just renewed 3 days ago). Which is complete BS...I inherited this agreement. It costs them nothing to turn the system off...we didn't eve lease our equipment...it's ours. So, they are now forcing me to stay in some BS agreement? Ok...we'll see.
Pros
Nothing. We got the money that we processed through them...so, that's the only positive.
Cons
Their reporting is terrible. Very difficult to reconcile with transactions when doing bookkeeping. Their customer service is the worst. Long hold times. It's like they are stuck in the 1990s w/ their technology. It takes 2 business days for the funds to hit your account. My new merchant account deposits everything the next day.
Response from Shift4
Matt,
We would like to first extend our sincerest apologies for the troubles you've faced during your time as a Harbortouch customer. We work tirelessly to constantly improve our technology in order to provide our customers with the best equipment and service possible, so we are disheartened to learn about your negative experience with your POS system. After looking into your account, it appears that one of our support team members has already reached out and left a voicemail with information on next steps to cancel. If there is anything we can do to further assist you, please do not hesitate to reach out to us at [email protected], and we will work to resolve this issue.
- Industry: Restaurants
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Beware
The first month we had the system, the company had an internal glitch and lost about 450 individual transactions worth about 16k. It took a while to figure out what was going on. After about three weeks they had to manually re-enter all of those transactions. Most people seeing the transactions on their account called wondering why they were being charged others just disputed the charges. Then they realized they hadn't entered the the hundreds of dollars in tips so added those separately. It was a nightmare and they took no responsibility. I needed to write a letter to a VP or someone and got a nominal compensation for the damage that was done to my brand. I recently changed to Toast and have had a hell of a time getting out of this company's clutches. They are incredibly difficult to deal with in the break up process. Just don't get involved with them to start with.
Pros
The software worked well. The people at tech support were wonderful.
Cons
The system itself was pretty easy to use.
Response from Shift4
Joseph,
We would like to first extend our sincerest apologies for the troubles you've experienced during your time as a Harbortouch customer, and we are sorry to see you go. If you would like, please feel free to email us at [email protected] so we can better understand how your merchant experience could have been improved and resolve any outstanding issues there may be.
- Industry: Real Estate
- Company size: 2–10 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Cancellation made hard
Their system for cancelling is awful. Look at the other reviews about this.
Pros
The service was adequate for the last 9 years. The only rather strange thing I found was that the monthly statements they send have information, name and contact phone number, from a different service on it. I had to remember not to call the number on the statement if I had any questions.
Cons
Harbortouch refuses to allow their services to be cancelled other than on an annual basis. They claim that information is out there somewhere, but it is not evident at all. If the date is missed, then Harbortouch will charge you monthly service fees for the full year, even if you aren't using their services. Apparently even 9 years of usage doesn't get you a break. If my business ever needs to use credit cards again, it will not be through Harbortouch. It's a shame, as up until the cancellation attempts, I wouldn't have had any reason not to go back to them.
Response from Shift4
Christopher,
We sincerely apologize for the troubles you have experienced with closing your account. We would like the opportunity to speak with you to better understand your concerns and work with you to resolve them. If you'd like to discuss this further, please send your Merchant ID number as well as your contact information to [email protected] so we can review your account and try to resolve this issue.
- Industry: Food & Beverages
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
You lose more than you win
Awful
Pros
It is cheap,
Cons
The layout, theme, support, any sort of extra integration you may need (Website, online ordering platforms) forget about it, slow running, wastes a tremendous amount of paper.
Response from Shift4
Dan,
We are saddened to hear that you are more than dissatisfied with your Harbortouch POS system and apologize for your negative experience. We work hard to develop user-friendly products that deliver exponential value to our customers. We would like the opportunity to understand more of your concerns and work together to determine a solution that will work well for your business. At your convenience, please send an email to [email protected] with your Merchant ID number and best contact number. Once we have this information, someone from our management team will be able to review your account and contact you to discuss this further.
- Industry: Arts & Crafts
- Company size: 2–10 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
The WORST POS! Held MY DOLLARS for 6 months! ARTISTS!
WHAT A NIGHTMARE! My business grew despite this cumbersome checkout process and when the time came to move this company HELD my dollars AND CONTINUED to milk my business account for endless over charges that were all made up! I had to fight for months to get my money back and then they STILL went into my account to take even MORE! SAVE your money and invest in something else! These people are scam artists!
Pros
NOTHING! This system completely stinks and the service is terrible!
Cons
This software is nowhere near as user friendly as they make it sound. It was cumbersome to set up, a pain to adjust and there where duplicate items. Worse still it was painful to use on a daily basis, constantly having to scroll though pages and pages! I bought this because I thought is was a great deal for a new business. I was WRONG. I should have just paid the upfront cost with my bank and let them handle it or found a better solution.
- Industry: Food & Beverages
- Company size: 2–10 Employees
- Used Weekly for 2+ years
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Review Source
Works okay as long as you're okay with workflows from 1995.
Point of sale operation and tracking.
Pros
Overall works okay and handles medium to high volume usage. Once employees are trained they're typically good to go. Allows us to have as many users as we need. Customer support is rather helpful within the rather restricted scope of what the software can accomplish.
Cons
Most things about it. Software assumes that employees don't make mistakes and always follow company policy. More often than not when we try to accomplish something with it we have to find a way to trick it into accomplishing something similar to what we want.
For instance, company policy is that every entree must have a beverage. After calling support the only way to do this is to setup beverages as a forced choice on every item on the menu however that then means that those beverages are counted as food revenue at the end of the day.
System is obtuse about how to setup items. Items cannot be deleted so when there's a misunderstanding and there's 3 different entries for the same item on the menu, or we decide to change the layout of the dining room we cannot delete excess items or tables leading to clutter in the interface.
- Industry: Restaurants
- Company size: 2–10 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Worst POS contract on the market
RUN away as fast as you can! So many good POS systems out there, this is NOT one of them.
Pros
We had it for 4 years, it was down more than it functioned.
Cons
They trick you with the contract, giving you a 3 year renewal for the processing fees (which you must use Harbortouch for) and a 4 year renewal on the POS operating system. If you do the math, you cannot ever get out of your contract.
Response from Shift4
Andrea, we sincerely apologize for the inconveniences you have experienced with Harbortouch. We ensure to always put our merchants first and strive to ensure they have the best merchant experience possible. We were able to locate your account in our database and someone from our management staff will review your account and be in contact with you ASAP to see how we can correct this for you.
- Industry: Restaurants
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Bad system, worse service
Poor - DO NOT BUY
Pros
It was inexpensive initially, easy set up
Cons
Too many things to list- random outages, lost tickets, loooong support wait times, shady business practices, recurring nonsense fees
Response from Shift4
Brendan,
We would like to sincerely apologize for the troubles you've been experiencing. It's our top priority to provide our customers with an exceptional experience, so we are disheartened to hear that this has not been the case for you. At your convenience, please send your Merchant ID number and best contact information to [email protected] so we can learn more about your concerns and how we can help resolve these issues.
- Industry: Recreational Facilities & Services
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Weekly for 1+ year
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Review Source
Avoid Harbortouch at all cost
I have never taken the time to go out of my way to write a negative review about any company I have ever worked with. My experience with Harbortouch has led me to search out every site that does reviews. It appears that they have disabled Google reviews of their product, and I assume it would be because it would be very bad.
Pros
I purchased because of the ability to get the hardware without an upfront investment. TERRIBLE MISTAKE ON MY PART.
Cons
Customer support, product support, development. It is clear that the business model for this company is to provide a product that looks good enough to get people to sign a three-year contract. I can't imagine that they have much retention after that initial contract
Response from Shift4
Joshua,
We are disheartened to hear of your negative experience with Harbortouch and would like to sincerely apologize. We at Harbortouch strive to provide our valued customers with the best products and exceptional customer service. We would like an opportunity to make this right for you. At your convenience, please email your Merchant ID Number and best contact number to [email protected]. Someone from upper management will then be in touch with you to discuss and resolve these issues.
- Industry: Individual & Family Services
- Company size: 2–10 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Terrible service
Terrible service when trying to solve issues.
Pros
Nothing good for the money. I keep thinking about what My return on my investment and this company is a waste of time!
Cons
Expensive service and when you have a issue they make you wait for a long time on hold!
Response from Shift4
Dan, we would first like to apologize the negative experience you had with Harbortouch. We make customer satisfaction a top priority and are saddened to hear that your experience was sub-par. If there is anything Harbortouch can do for you in future, please email [email protected].
- Industry: Restaurants
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Con Artist
HORRIBLE!
Pros
NOTHING!!!!! This company is a joke, they are thieves
Cons
This company is a joke. once they get you signed up you can't leave without spending thousands of dollars. Even when it comes time when you should be able to write a simple letter to get out of the agreement they come up with some crazy reason why your letter wasn't excepted and how your contract started over. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!!!!!!!!!
- Industry: Food & Beverages
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Daily for 1+ year
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Review Source
Stay away-run away
They have “Fixed” my system over and over. It keeps loosing buttons off of the menu. They cannot find a fix. Needless to say I have lost faith in the system and I do not know if my reports are correct of not.
Pros
Zero-zip , don’t trust the FREE, you get what you pay for.
Cons
Everything, cannot trust the system, remember you get what you pay for.
Response from Shift4
Mark, we would first like to apologize for the frustrating experience you have had with Harbortouch thus far. We would like an opportunity to make this right for you. We were able to locate your account and someone from our technical support management team will review your account and reach out to you to resolve these issues.
- Used Daily for 6-12 months
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Review Source
This is BY FAR the WORST POS there is.
The only benefit from this software was my ability to pay for service 3 years after i sold my restaurant, so i wouldn't need to pay for a cancellation fee.
Pros
The only thing that i liked about the software was that older waitresses were able to use it, without many issues. ALSO the salesman was very convincing.
Cons
I did not like the fees, the ABSURD contract length, the fact they like to remind you they have you under contract and if you deviate, they will charge you a large cancellation fee. they do not care about their reviews and their customers. I do not understand why people still use their POS. I sold my restaurant in April of 2015. It is April of 2018 and i'm finally able to get out of the contract.
- Used Daily for 6-12 months
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Review Source
held our money we made on hold after we payed monthly on time worst POS system around!!!
There are no pros to using this system at all beside the fact that sometimes it starts up that is really it
Cons
Worst POS system out there had our money we made in credit on hold and would give us a reason why lost money in credit card sales because of them let alone the days spent on the phone with the company being transferred to different people every couple of minutes and being on hold whenever they didn't have a answer to me if you own a resturant and in need of a POS system stay away from this company it's hard to use very laggy and have terrible customer support. It stinks that used this POS system because I lost a lot of money using it.
- Industry: Entertainment
- Company size: 2–10 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
run around customer service with untruthful info
you get a total run around with customer service. They give you a number to contact your rep, you only get and answering service the rep never calls you back.
Pros
It takes so many steps to get one thing entered wasting to much time.
Cons
no online reports available for the info I need for reporting sales tax
- Industry: Real Estate
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Daily for 1-5 months
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Review Source
HarborTouch's NEW software!!
Worst system EVER!!!!!
Pros
Looks great! Doesn't work! Don't buy it!
Cons
Harbor touch has NUMEROUS bugs in their NEW system. We opened a new restaurant 3 weeks ago and we received the NEW system! What a horrible mistake! the system prints 5 duplicate tickets one minute then doesn't send tickets to the Kitchen the next minute! we have demanded them to replace the NEW system with there OLD system. I would NOT reccomened HarborTouch's new system it's costing us Thousands of dollars daily!
Response from Shift4
Tyler, we want to apologize for the issues that you have been experiencing with your Harbortouch system. We consistently work to ensure that our systems are working properly so that our merchant's can run their businesses as smoothly and efficiently as possible. We would like an opportunity to make this right for you. Please send an email to [email protected] with your Merchant ID Number so that we may address and resolve these issues for you.
- Industry: Food & Beverages
- Company size: 2–10 Employees
- Used Daily for 2+ years
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Review Source
Unreliable, Limited and overpried
we had a lot of trouble with disappearing transactions
Pros
Ease of use, Friendly interface and easy to customizr
Cons
System crashes, unreliable and transactions disapear
- Industry: Restaurants
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used Daily for 1-5 months
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Review Source
Horrible
Pros
Not a thing. Less than zero pros. There are no positives to this software.
Cons
Tech support is a joke. This POS has to be rebooted all of the time and will just crash in the middle of a lunch rush. It hasn't worked in weeks... so very annoying. They tell me every time that they cant help me and it's an issue on my end when literally everything (Phones, Tablets, Computers) in my building work and have zero connection issue. It is always this POC (piece of CRAP).
Response from Shift4
Kristen, we are sorry to hear for your troubling experience you have had with your Harbortouch POS and would like to offer our sincerest apologizes for your inconveniences and frustrations. We would like an opportunity to have someone from our upper management team review your account and resolve these issues for you. We were able to locate your account in our database and someone will be in touch with you ASAP.
- Industry: Retail
- Company size: 11–50 Employees
- Used for 2+ years
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Review Source
Rip off!!!!
Worst mistake ever made! NEVER USE THIS COMPANY! Expect much higher charges than promised by sales reps
Pros
Great promotional offers, only to find out they are nothing like the sales rep promised.
Cons
Constantly crashing. Must call and wait on hold multiple times a week just to activate the system. Complete junk
Response from Shift4
Jason, we would like to offer our sincerest apologies for your experience with Harbortouch. Our customers come first and we are saddened that we were not able to better assist you in this situation.
