What Merchants Really Think About Shift4

“$2000 annual service and maintenance fee put on my bill for July. (We own our equipment outright… We have never got a printer, pos terminal or any other device other than the EMV readers…) … $20 Lighthouse portal (to access their website, you pay for that) … Month End billing (they charge you to create your statement)… they increased that 250%… Quarterly there is the new 'Debit Enablement Quarterly' fee of $20… They added a new $34.99 for 'online ordering enablement' which we don't have online ordering.”

19 upvotes, 84 comments. The post that sparked a wave of Shift4 fee complaints.

“Premium Support and Service $75 a month ($900 a year). Lighthouse Portal (access to their website) $20 a month ($240 a year). Monthly admin fee $35.50 a month ($426 a year). EMV maintenance fee $10 month per unit ($960 a year). Annual Program fee $250 x the number of POS terminals… ($1000). $3526 in yearly junk fees… took the CC rip on my credit card processing over 4%.”

6 upvotes. Detailed fee breakdown showing $3,526/year in non-processing charges.

“Had shift4 since last October, there is not a one thing I like about this company… My monthly statement has never been consistent, too many hidden fees with no explanation. This company is horrible and bunch of predators trying to leach on hard working small businesses.”

“We just got hit with $1300 (WITHOUT NOTICE mind you) after the $100/mo fees plus a percentage of all sales. We were just charged the same amount in January but supposedly signed a 3-yr deal in March to avoid these charges. We're now unable to make payroll!”

Merchant unable to make payroll after surprise Shift4 charge.

“I was just charged a $1,975.00 fee...with NO notification, or explanation...how dishonest & unethical it is to take that kind of a fee from someone's account.”

“This account has not been active nor used since 2017/2018... charged a maintenance fee of $1,247.00.”

BBB Complaint #25119363. Charged $1,247 on an account unused for 8 years.

“I was never notified of the January annual fee that they took out for about $800+ and then they said it was an annual fee... they charged us again of almost $1300 on August.”

BBB Complaint #25150948. Double annual fee without notification.

“When they left Shift4 the termination fee was originally $2.8k… Upon switching to Toast, Shift4 said that the termination fee is now $16k because their policy changed in the last couple months. The restaurant owner doesn't have email receipt of the original termination cost since it was just a phone call with support.”

12 upvotes, 72 comments. ETF jumped from $2.8K to $16K between calls.

“I switched to shift4 from square. There is not a one thing that I like about shift4. I tried to reach out to them and they said it will be 10k if i have to cancel it considering the 30 day cancellation period. How do I get rid of them without paying 10k.”

5 upvotes, 17 comments.

“We are stuck in a long term contract for another two years and on a month notice getting slapped with a $2,000 no reason f u fee from Shift4… Also they said the cancellation terms were 'amended' so getting out of this contract would cost me around the lines of $50k.”

Merchant quoted ~$50K to exit their Shift4 contract.

“Contract Section 13(a) references separate small-print legal terms dramatically changing obligations. Attempted cancellation resulted in ~$63,000 or $950/month termination fee. Additional $1,500 fee effective August 15. Continued $3,750 monthly charges for uncanceled previous POS system.”

~$63,000 ETF buried in SkyTab contract Section 13(a).

“I asked about canceling my account and told my cancelation fees are $36000. WHY, that is ridiculous.”

BBB Complaint #25129300. $36K cancellation fee.

“Shift4 acknowledged that our salesman misled us but is requiring us to pay a $15,000 cancellation fee after we have only been working with them since February.”

BBB Complaint #25133864. Shift4 admitted sales deception, still charged $15K ETF.

“$19,000 cancellation fees, hidden charges, and annual renewal fees of $1,000-$3,000. It is 100% a scam with excessive monthly equipment fees.”

“If you sign up with Shift 4… immediately and I mean IMMEDIATELY contact their customer service team and state that you want to cancel the auto renew on your contract. Ensure that you get an email that states that… The auto renew is their weak spot, without that, you have the power to walk away without penalty. Do not sign up for more than one year no matter what offer they offer.”

“They lure you in with the promise of free terminal software, but they deliberately conceal the monthly fees and the fact that they will lock you into unfair, hidden contract terms buried in fine print. When we attempted to transition away… they refused to honor the time we had already spent on the platform and claimed the agreement auto-renewed—despite us having the equipment for over a year.”

“SCAMMERS!! Forced business closure. Called early October; CS rep stated payment required through December 6 to avoid early termination. Paid through December 6, received closure email. February 12, bank debited $2,500. Learned charge was early termination fee. Representative stated 'That is incorrect information…no refund' and claimed one-year agreements auto-renew annually.”

Paid through contract end per rep's instructions, still hit with $2,500 ETF.

“They won't take no for an answer, I completed my contract signed in 2017 but, they argue I should have terminated it one month before it expired, therefore it automatically renews.”

“Well shit4's customer support seems to be overwhelmed right now. Wait list is 99 (It's over 100 it stops at 99) deep on the chat and good fucking luck getting through on the phone. And fuck Sky and sarah your AI virtual phone assistants. Their AI phone answering is stuck on a loop I can't get past.”

5 upvotes. 99+ chat queue depth.

“We've documented over 30 instances where we had to call in, escalate to senior managers, and yet never received resolution. Cases were marked as 'resolved' automatically after five days, even though nothing had been fixed or explained.”

“waiting for 53 minutes to speak to someone about my bill being inaccurate AGAIN is ridiculous. DO BETTER!”

“TRASH — have had them for 5 months, case numbers keep piling up and hold times for support are insane, 2 hours to get a live rep tonight. System is complete trash.”

“Phone customer support has been effectively replaced by automated bots that are incapable of transferring callers to a live representative.”

BBB Complaint #25126134. Bot-only support with no live agent transfer.

“I was a direct Shift4 sales employee selling Skytab/Shift4Dine and quit shortly after this fee was announced internally a couple months ago, this fee hit on the first of the month when many small family owned restaurants are just getting hit with bills, maybe payroll… I truly am sorry, over the last 8-10 months Shift4 has implemented some predatory practices that came out of nowhere and I couldn't stand behind it anymore.”

5 upvotes. Former sales employee confirms fees were rolled out internally before hitting merchants.

“Shift4 is god awful. I have FuturePOS which was fantastic until Shift4 bought them and locked the software so you could only use them as a processor. Shift4 is constantly creating new junk fees to pad your bill.”

2 upvotes. Merchant trapped after Shift4 acquired Future POS.

“4 years ago I caught @Shift4 overcharging one of my businesses they issued me a refund and then double charged me for something else, we just caught it and were told sorry no refunds you didn't catch it fast enough.”

“Claims by the company that returned equipment was never received are simply too numerous to be attributed to 'accidents.'”

2.9/5 editorial score, 1.15/5 user reviews (27 reviews). Systemic equipment return dispute pattern.

“They show you up front how much your fee of 2.5, 2.8% is when in fact they are charging more then a 14 - 18% overall.”

Advertised 2.5-2.8% rate, actual effective rate 14-18%.

“I called into support and was able to get the $2000 reversed and the $35 online ordering fee removed. I find them helpful.”

6 upvotes. Fee reversal after calling support.

“I was about to break my contract with shift4 until the recent toast outage that left half of my stores in shambles. And the old shift 4 systems worked like champions.”

Shift4 hardware reliability during competitor outage.

“Initially skeptical about unfamiliar company but lower fees than SumUp justified trial. Customer service distinguishes provider—real persons versus automated responses. Outstanding knowledge, genuine kindness, and understanding of small business operations.”