I have noticed some Harbortouch “complaints” popping up on the internet lately and can’t help but think how many of these posts are from competitors that are unhappy with our free POS business model. For decades now, the POS industry has existed by selling or leasing touch-screen POS systems for tens of thousands of dollars. This resulted in absolutely enormous commissions to the sales people and merchants stuck in a VERY expensive investment.

In January 2011, I announced the free POS initiative. Since that time, we have deployed tens of thousands of free POS systems. Those merchants, prior to this initiative, presumably would have paid tens of thousands of dollars to the traditional POS resellers and vendors. The reason those deals came to Harbortouch is because we are substantially less expensive. We give the hardware, software, support, onsite installation, onsite training free of charge. Yes, there is a service agreement of $69/month. It is really no different than the free cell phone you get when you sign a Verizon or AT&T service agreement. The difference is, you would have had to pay for service with any traditional POS reseller in ADDITION to the very expensive cost for the hardware and software. There is no denying the dramatic economic savings a business owner will realize when they sign up for our program compared to the more traditional options. That is the driver behind our growth.

When you consider how many lost opportunities this growth means for our traditional competitors, it is not surprising that many of them are upset about this loss of business. Especially considering the enormous commissions that are associated with the traditional lease/ purchase method of selling POS systems. It is not surprising that many of them would go online to write these anonymous and frankly false representations of our service. It is important to note that most of the complaints do not have any real contact information associated with them.

Harbortouch is not a new phenomenon. I am the founder and CEO of the company and we have been in business for 13 years. We handle the credit card processing services for over 140, 000 merchants nationwide and processing in excess of 10 billion dollars a year annually. We have been named to the Inc. 500 list of fastest growing companies in America for five consecutive years. We have over 300 employees, 24×7 technical support and nationwide onsite service. Since we launched our free POS initiative in the beginning of 2011, we have deployed over 11, 000 touch-screen POS systems. We have numerous business, media and professional accolades. We are not a start-up that just threw together this crazy idea of free POS systems and then failed to stand behind it. The program is a tremendous success and it appears our competition is not very happy about that.

I am constantly working and always available to field e-mails personally from interested merchants. Similarly, any merchant that is not fully satisfied with our service is welcome to contact our 24×7 technical support department or e-mail me directly.

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Jared Isaacman

jared@harbortouch.com