Shift4 Payments Customer Reviews

This company sucks…total crooks taking my money for almost two years after not using it then they charged me a $456 cancellation fee to get out of the priveledge of paying them every month for nothing. I hate doing business with companies in today’s world that require a contract because if a company can’t offer a great service on a month to month basis then they rely on bad business practices and the hope that business owners are too busy to monitor their annual contracts.

I posted this feedback regarding Shift4 payment processor….when I looked back at my comment it wasn’t super clear that I was talking about Shift4 who is a terrible company I will never use again.

Support is abysmal. Staff could never fix monthly report so that daily batch matched their monthly reporting. we called in with an issue, a support ticket would be generated, but that ticket was never followed up on.

Absolutely the worst I have ever dealt with. Grew too quick and put in hidden charges everywhere. Customer service do not have a clue. It is like walking into home depot. Any question you ask, they look the same information you can online. It is a shame that smaller companies sold out and are left with this disaster.

While I was reconciling my bank statements with my QuickBooks in preparation for my income taxes I found that Shift4 in the month of August 2023 had made 2 large deposits. When I added my daily credit card payments for the days that Shift4 had not deposited the funds, they did not match up to the 2 large deposits that Shift 4 made. I contacted Customer Service regarding the missing funds, I was informed that my complaint was not within the 30 day limit and therefore I had no recourse but to take the loss although they took the money from my customers. Needless to say I was not happy to Shift4’s response and I was furthermore told that I should have read the contract. I called back to Customer Service to at least get a breakdown so that I could proceed with my tax preparation. I was fortunate enough to get a very helpful individual by the name of Ediea who went through all of the days in question. She was able to tell me that on 7 days some transaction did not go through for some odd reason. I never got any notification from Shift4 that there was a problem with my transactions not being able to be processed. It’s strange that out of the entire month of August only 10 consecutive days Shift4 had a problem processing my transactions.

My main point in filing this complaint is to bring to the company’s attention that although I might not have noticed within the 30 day limit, they also have a responsibility to their customers to process the transactions and if there is a problem the customer should be notified. Shift4 should not take the stand of “sorry it didn’t go through” therefore it’s your (customer) loss and our (Shift4) gain.

In accordance with their contract we tried for months to find a solution before going to arbitration. All they ever did was shift blame. Now, they are simply trying to run out the clock on a small business they crushed hoping the lawyer fees alone will make us go away. A classic example of big business stomping out the little guy.

Here’s where we are: Until June 2023 I was a small business owner in Kansas for nearly five years. During that time my business survived the unimaginable, a global pandemic. Despite this catastrophic event, my business survived. The ultimate demise of my business is the direct result of our credit card processing company, Shift4, and their egregious errors that resulted in my business closing, costing the livelihoods of six employees and myself.

In late October 2022 the credit card machine provided by Shift4 began to error out. The date on the machine began resetting to December 31, 1969. Shortly thereafter, I noticed our daily batch totals were not “tying” we were not receiving money for all transactions. I reached out to my local contact to bring this to his attention and was initially assured, though the batch totals were inconsistent as posting, the money was being collected and applied; we were receiving full payments.

In mid-November 2022 I reached out to my local contact to address the issue again. The credit card slips again read 12/31/1969. It was during our annual holiday sale; our most prosperous time of the year, and we did not receive full payments. I also made several calls to technical support (which is in their call log and my emails). The “customer service” would temporarily fix the problem by resetting the date, but no one would admit any correlation between the incorrect dates and missing money despite my suggesting one was impacting the other. Onus has been completely on me from discovery, to follow through, to proof the machine was reverting back dates by providing individual, original receipts and daily batch settlements. I’ve spent countless hours (daily for 8 months) working on the grievous errors that ruined my business. I have been unable to accurately balance my account since November of 2022 until the date I had to shutter my dreams. My business was making a profit, but since it was not being collected, my cash flow dried up. Then the catastrophic mass reconciliation, supposedly “fixing” the problem, that was done on April 11th, 2023 was not only too little far too late, but the proverbial nail that finished off my business.

The reality is that between October, 2022 and April, 2023, approximately $9500 (around $2000/month) was not deposited into the business account from transactions processed by Shift4 Payments. I had already been scrambling to “make up” the money that should have been in my account all along. I was trying to run the business with a severe deficit. The mass reconciliation noted above, executed by Cassandra Funk and Shawn Brice, was done without any prior warning to me or my clients. Suddenly, my team and I were inundated with angry calls from our guests who were charged six months late for services, often for multiple visits. Shawn Brice provided a letter addressed to only me as a “non-apology” apology, after the fact of enraging our clientele. In this letter Shawn Brice stated, “we took immediate action to correct the issue”. If this was the case, why did it take nearly 6 months and rack up back charges of over $9,000? And after all this, Shawn suggested we use the letter to show our guests to alleviate their concerns. And, yes, Shift4 did have the right to push through these payments. However, just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should without any forethought. These actions of Shift4 and its representatives caused enormous reputational harm and severely damaged the goodwill of my business.

During the period between 10/15/22 and 4/18/23, to keep our business running with these deficits Shift4 incurred we had to come up with about $22,000 on our own to fill in the gaps Shift4 caused. These are monies the business was left without that should have been available to secure a strong business; i.e. – tangible damages. Furthermore, finishing out our obligations under the lease amount to $44,000. Any and all future revenue of my business is gone through no fault of my own. I expected our business profits to exceed $70,000 in 2023, $100,000 for the next five years at least.

I have also well documented severe, treatment-resistant depression that lasted months and has required twice weekly treatments since December, and is still ongoing.

Ultimately due to these issues, I was forced to close this business that I have poured my heart and soul into. Not only that, my family has put every additional cent from our savings into this as well as ask family for financial help for the business. Leaving us with an SBA loan of $150,000.

Shift4 seems to be under the impression their only culpability is reconciling the actual financial aspect. I don’t believe this to be the case. This business was to be a future I had been building towards for years.

I can’t properly convey the distress this situation has caused over the last eight months. I am as upset as some of our (former) guests though I would like to settle this as fairly and amicably as possible.

They continue to ignore this situation and, as stated above, are hoping to run out the clock.

I am happy to say, Shift 4 does have a few decent people working in their company. It just took getting to the right person. My issues with Shift 4 have all be resolved.

Shift4 took over another payment system I’d signed up for years ago and never used. I signed up for a system that charged a minimal % fee per transaction, because I do very few transactions per year. When Shift4 took over they, without my knowledge or consent, started charging me a monthly fee and did so for years before I noticed it. When I finally requested a cancellation and refund they said they can only refund the last three months. THIS COMPANY LITERALLY TOOK MONEY FROM MY ACCOUNT EVERY MONTH FOR YEARS WITHOUT MY KNOWLEDGE OR CONSENT AND REFUSED TO RETURN IT. THESE ARE SOME OF THE MOST UNETHICAL UNCONSCIONABLE BUSINESS PRACTICES I’VE EVER EXPERIENCED.

Worst Customer Service EVER

Hidden Fees, Unannounced contract changes!

During COVID, to protect themselves they implemented an Autorenewal one year contract. However, I was in the middle of a three-year contract. When I asked about being notified about this contract change, they said I needed to refer to their website.

I have cancelled all there services yet they are still charging my bank account. and I can not get anyone on the phone who will take responsibility for this???

STOP PAYMENTS through your bank immediately! AND get a ticket # if you call them. I sold 2 business (with equipment that they transferred to new owner) and they still deduct money from my account every month despite dozens of calls to various departments. It’s been 2 years. I would have done earlier but I didn’t check that bank account very often. Everytime I called someone was taking care of it, but they would tell me there was no ticket #. Someone actually started a new account under my closed one!

We have been in business for almost 20 years and this company is, by far, the most untrustworthy payment processor company we’ve encountered. We were “advised” to switch to their service at no charges and no contract. Right after we switched over, we found out we have to pay for their integration software (along with is annual fee). When we tried to cancel, they told us the hardware they sent us has a CONTRACT. How deceptive! Now we’re stuck with a credit card processing company that tries to swindle us at every turn. That’s terrible.

Their customer service is very bad also. Once they manage to get you to sign the contract, that’s it. No more help.

100% worst company on the planet. Do not trust these people. They mess with your statements and combine them so you can’t tell what you are being charged for in a batch. We also had charges come into our account for 4 months prior. Customers calling and screaming that they were illegally charged.

This company has the worst customer service and policies. They make it extremely difficult to get out of contract and even when it’s expired they automatically renew it without a formal/courtesy call.

WORST COMPANY EVER LIES AFTER LIES DONT TRUST AND GET IN THIS MESS!!!

A long hard stretch it’s been But Shift 4 has made good on all their promises and have fixed 95% of all the problems we have had. I have used Future POS for a long time and believe it to be one of the best POS software’s. DBS is our dealer and they have been through a lot to make good on our system.

I was just inquiring about the service. Now, I keep getting a DocuSign forcing us to sign.

I don’t know how to get rid of this company.

the rep is from Southfield Michigan I would not ever give any information.

be careful it is not a good company to do business with.

I too have been continuously charged monthly, although I have not used them since 2018. I will be blocking them through my bank. I had cancelled them when I moved my business and used square. I contacted them again and cancelled. I ended up with them through the acquisition of my previous company. I would love to participate in a class action lawsuit against them. They are thieves and prey on businesses whose resources are spread thinly. I can’t even get anyone on the phone. I waited for “the next available representative” for 25 minutes before I hung up.

Horrid business!!!

3dCart and Shift4 payments …. what a joke. I never had an issue with 3dCart until Shift4Shop took over and changed payment processing. Free website if you use Shift4 payments .. okay, sounds good. NO. They decided I didn’t meet their criteria for card processing and closed my account, in closing they also said they refunded every credit card I processed through them. Not only did my customers receive their product but they also received it for free. This has been a NIGHTMARE and getting my money back seems to be impossible. Stay away, use someone else. I’m using Square again and not having any problems.

100% worst company on the planet. Do not trust these people. They mess with your statements and combine them so you can’t tell what you are being charged for in a batch. We also had charges come into our account for 4 months prior. Customers calling and screaming that they were illegally charged. Good luck explaining to tech support that speaks in broken English. We sold our company and they gave all of our data to the new owners and then locked us out. We cannot do quarterly tax payments nor end of year processing because they dropped our database. I contacted the State Attorney Generals office so hopefully they will get sued.

I switched companies because shift4 is corrupt. when we switched (which is now 2 years and 4 cancellations later) they never topped charging us! we still pay $500 a month even though its been 2 years!!!! Even though we returned everything right away!!! Two years later and a million phone calls later which they right out lie to you on each call! you don’t think any company would do that right? No, they are soooo overly nice, say you have done everything right, say they owe you $money and they are returning it to you now…NOPE…they just repeat that you never cancelled, even though you have done it 4 times already and they LIE! Save yourself a major heartache…DO NOT TRUST SHIFT4.

Unbelievably incompetent!!!

I have been a Future user and support for 10 years. After being purchased by Shift 4 and being forced to switch hardware the past 4 years have been the most frustrating and stressfull of my life. And non of it has been Covid related… In one instance they direct shipped me three seperate stations, three weeks in a row, with No Hard drives. This was to replace a station they had just installed one month earlier… Follow that up with the EMV devices only working half of the time. Then they sent me four different sets of replacements, non of which worked. Most recently I was sent yet Another station to replace an on going issue, and they station they sent me doesnt fit and I was told by the dealer I should just buy my own because shift 4 can’t help.

I could go on and on. Please at all cost avoid dealing with this company, at least in the North East.

This company has the worst customer service and policies. They make it extremely difficult to get out of contract and even when it’s expired they automatically renew it without a formal/courtesy call. So we returned 1 of the 2 equipment they sent us (cause I could not find the second one) then when we found the second one they said they never even received the first one! Luckily I kept the tracking number but even with that they could not verify what we returned. So they withdrew $200 from our account until they verify what was returned. WORST COMPANY EVER LIES AFTER LIES DONT TRUST AND GET IN THIS MESS!!!

Not worth the free website. These guys are holding a deposit 5 days = not 48 hours – they suck and I am ready to go back to paying for my site and using Square which posts payments the same day.

I haven’t used shift four since October of last year but they are still charging me every month up to $200 for no transactions! The messed thing is it varies as if I have different transaction totals each month! Horrible company! Not an intelligent one, I can see the lawsuits!

Horrible experience with this company!! Never go with them. The worse customer service.

Shift 4 took over my merchant card services in 2020 and their sweet talking lies about GREAT rates signed me into a contract which auto renews your obligation every year for another year. I was lied to and told I am only obligated for first year.

Then they told me to sign up for harbor light online access to get reports and statements emailed. I did but didn’t get any statements for a year. Also he conveniently failed to mention that it costs $17/ mo for something that should be included in all their other B S monthly fees

Well the rate he promised was a lie. I got charged 2.5 times that. And every 3-4 months they raised their fees. They again lie and blame the CC companies for all of them.

I called this year before my renewal and complained and wanted to renegotiate and lower rates but they again lied and said we’ll call you right back. They didn’t. I called a couple of more times and finally they said it’s too late to cancel as your contract auto-renewed!

I left these crooks and went to my local banks that appreciate my business and are not i e cold thieves. I have to pay their monthly fees for 11 more months but it’s worth it just to get rid of them and stopping the $$ hemorrhage. STAY AWAY OR CUT TGEM LOOSE.

Shift AWAY from Shift4. Since 2018 acquisition of Shift4 by HarborTouch processing, customer service has dropped significantly. When Covid slowed the economy, Shift4 was quick to start removing THEIR fee from every daily deposit (instead of previous monthly debit) but when there are issues on their end causing ‘funding delays’, they’re slow to act causing 24 hour delays in deposits into merchant accounts. We’re moving to a new processor ASAP.

Shift 4 payments SUCKS!! Don’t ever ever never use Harbortouch because of shift 4 payments!!!!!!!🤯😕

I was lured to Shift 4. From day one it was a disaster, they just called and changed me over and no one even talked to me. Then I kept getting tips declined. I spent hours on the phone everyday. Then they were getting some of the tips , but I spent more time trying to track which tips were paid and which weren’t. I was finally after 2 weeks told they had a maximum tip and if it was over 20% it would decline. They tried to blame the banks at first. I said in 7 years I have never had a tip decline on an approved sale. Then they said they fixed the problem. Yet I still had the problem, everyday 5 to7 tips declining. Then I called them on the phone one day to fix a tip, and they voided an approved sale of $50. I called back and they said they tried to rerun it and it declined. I said you were at fault not me. They refused to pay it. Tips kept declining. I finally after 4 weeks switched back to my old processor. Now they want to hold me to a contract, which they failed to live up to and charge me $60 a month for a year. Worst company, worst customer service and most incompetent people I have ever worked with. BEWARE. They prey on small businesses..

I have been with Shift4/Harbortouch for 4 years due to a signed contract. Every part of Shift4 is a horror story. They are totally incompetent and over charge bigtime. They have a unwritten policy of ripping you off for the duration of your contract and then they know they will lose you; but make a huge profit from you until you can get out of the contract… which will of course cost you. I wish I could post who I am going to next because I am going to be saving a ton of money.

Shift4 or HarboutTouch

In February of 2020 I signed an agreement to get a new POS system from HarbourTouch systems

In March Covid-19 hit and killed the bar and restaurant business. Luckily I had not taken delivery of ANY equipment, absolutely NONE. So Shift4 was really not vested in anything. It would be really simple for them to just cancel.

I called and explained that I am closed and losing money and that they have no equipment here and nothing really invested. I asked them to please cancel all the paperwork and that I may be going out of business and have lost my life savings.

Shift4’s response to that was: but Sir, you signed the paperwork, you can cancel after one year.

I explained again that you have done ZERO processing and have ZERO equipment here, please cancel everything. Again the reply was Sir you signed the paperwork.

WHAT A HORRIBLE HEARTLESS COMPANY. DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH SHIFT4

Shift4 or HarboutTouch