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Harbortouch can harm your business financially when you're trying to open! We chose the company because it seemed the cheapest, but watch out -- they are not cheap and they will cost you in the long run.
The Harbortouch rep assured us our bank account would not be charged until after the shop was open, but that did not happen! We were never in possession of anything at all from the company -- no register, nothing -- the internet was not even set up when they started charging us.
The company does not operate with normal business practices -- that is, they run you around in circles on the phone. The customer service reps seem like newby automatons trained not to satisfy customer complaints, so it's an endless loop. No higher-ups, supervisors, etc. will satisfy your complaint. Once they attach to your bank account, you will have to close the account and pay them a cancellation fee in order to disassociate with them.
Weeks later I discovered that the bank account was overdrafted hundreds of dollars. I discovered they were also charging $30/month in processing fees which they never tell you about -- and the restaurant was still under construction!
Harbortouch promised call backs that never came, and only after having my bank call them, refunded a small portion of what they took out of my account. The bank did not cover the other overdraft fees.
Though they promised it would not happen again, afew weeks later they went into my bank account again (business still not open yet) and the bank then took money out of my personal account to cover the harbortouch fees. I had to close the account and also put a stop on it. In addition, they do not tell you that you have to cancel both with them and with their bank.
They said if I want to cancel the fee could be either 250.00 or the remainder of the contract. Only by persistent calling, I got them to agree to the 250.00 to cancel, and they promised it was the end of the fees -- not true!!
It is now 5 months later and they are still sending letters saying we owe a balance for processing fees, and threatening collections as well. When we called a few days ago after a new round of 'balance letters, they said the company would "write off" the balance and that I would receive a call back as well as an e-mail confirmation -- neither of which happened.
The complete unresponsiveness is scary. I've never dealt with a company so irresponsible, so it comes across that it's set up as a scam to attach to accounts and then make it very challenging and costly for people to cancel. How could cancelling take several months, during which time they charge you?! This could have been much worse, but even though it was several hundred dollars, it still hurt setting up the business at a critical time before opening.
4 Updates & Rebuttals
morningskies
Philadelphia,Pennsylvania,
Harbortouch Charged My Business for Absolutely Nothing!
#5Author of original report
Mon, September 23, 2013
What happened to my business should never have happened. If the only way the company allows situations to be corrected is through the sales rep, something is wrong. Why is there a Customer Service number, then, if that is the case? The sales rep I got stuck with, said that only Customer Service can solve the problem, and Customer Service told me that is correct, yet they did nothing and demanded money -- again, for absoluately NOTHING -- no system, no register, no transactions, and again, the business was not even open. Why, when I complained, did a supervisor or anyone higher up not care to get this resolved, but instead left it up to the lower-level Customer Service people who simply said I had to pay? If the people that Jared has working for him do not care enough to correct something like this, then why would he?
As a matter of fact, I had received an impersonal "We want you back" e-mail from Jared's e-mail; however, I responded and asked who was actually writing -- I never received a response -- nothing!
Whether or not you have satisfied clients is no excuse for what happened in this case. There has to be accountability past the sales reps. Even so, if Harbortouch was aware that businesses were being charged in advance of opening business, why would the company have a stance that it is only up to the sales reps to rectify the matter? Why wouldn't anyone higher up than Customer Service make sure that you are not charged for nothing? Someone can't walk into my business, hand over hundreds of dollars and get NOTHING. That's what happened here.
Curtis S
Contact
#5UPDATE Employee
Mon, September 16, 2013
I would go to your sales rep and have them take care of it. Any good hard working sales rep will have them fix it ASAP. One reason why it matters which sales rep you do business with.
Jared, the CEO has posted his email address in numerous replies on this website. It is Jared at harbortouch. I left the rest out for it is obvious and to avoid unnecessary spam.
By the way, Harbortouch is not a scam. They have been in business for years and have over a 100,000 clients. I personally have hundreds of clients with them and they are happy of course.
morningskies
Philadelphia,Pennsylvania,
Harbortouch does not respond/rectify matters!
#5Author of original report
Fri, September 13, 2013
In response to the Harbortouch employee:
One obviously does not get to the point where they feel they have to expose a scam unless you have exhausted all means. Harbortouch was not responsive to the situation, even after all the financial trouble the company caused. In fact, it was unlike any other company I ever dealt with, in that it seemed like once they 'got' you, it was your problem. No matter how many times I said the business was not open yet, it made no difference and I still had to pay.
The agent said that only Customer Service could take care of the problem; however, Customer Service said we signed, so we were stuck with the fees, and that was that. We tried many times. We also tried to no avail to get an address or e-mail where we could write to the "CEO" who I can only assume is also completely irresonsible for the damage that his company Harbortouch can cause to small businesses.
If I were the CEO of a company, I would certainly want to know when someone needs to contact me to discuss a major problem with the services 'offered'.
Yes, as you point out, they charge BEFORE service, possession of register/Point of Sale system, and before your business is open! You suggest they are fixing this problem, while they are still charging what must be many, many businesses before they are open?
Not only that, but as my report states, they continued in these scam-type practices by demanding a huge amount of money to CANCEL a service that was never begun. In my opinion, Harbortouch should be fined a huge sum of money for all the damage in lost time, money, and stress/aggravation they cause.
Curtis Stevens
Refund of Fees
#5UPDATE Employee
Mon, September 09, 2013
Hi,
I'm not from the corporate office so I cannot comment on everything you addressed but I can explain a few things, which I've done before on this website regarding other complaints.
POS fees - merchants are not supposed to be charged any fees related to the POS prior to install. Their billing system was charging the quarterly fees every 3 months regardless if the merchant was installed yet or not. I believe they should be fixing this issue. You are definitely entitled to a refund on those charges. Simply reach out to your sales rep and they should take care of it for you. It's important to go with a Harbortouch sales agent that will be there for you, today and tomorrow as all deals must go through one of their independent agents.
Merchant account fees - they are charged by the bank. Since the bank charges the fees, they can't stop the billing once a merchant account has been approved. The first month is free and then the fees start to kick in. They can only refund after the fact, which they never have a problem with anytime I send in this request on behalf of my merchants.
Just stay on top of them and I'm sure everything will result in a fair outcome for all.
Curtis Stevens
Harbortouch Independent Sales Agent
www.harbortouchs.com