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 Aloha pos help manuals 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 Aloha pos help manuals. 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 Aloha pos help manuals. 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.