Imagine that you work for a house cleaning company.
You go door-to-door, selling people on your integrity and trustworthiness to do the job, and hope to make an honest living.
After you clean some residences one day, you head back home to unwind.
As you open the door, you notice messages vibrating on your phone.
“Hey Phil,” starts one customer, “WTF did you do?!”
You’re puzzled as you left their house spotless.
Before you can call the customer back, another message comes in.
“OMG my kids will never be the same! You’ve ruined their innocence you piece of sh*t!”
Your heart starts pounding. Sweat forms at your hairline and slowly drips down your face, which is growing hot in panic.
What the hell is going on, you think to yourself. I cleaned these places flawlessly.
You worry about your reputation. Will I ever recover? I need to figure out what the hell is happeni-
Another message hits your phone.
“You sick f*ck. Even the m*therf*cking dog?!”
Your fingers tremble as you call the customer back.
And the previous customer.
And the one before him, too.
Only then do you learn something that makes your stomach drop…
After every cleaning, your employer would enter the house, wait patiently for the family to return, and force intercourse with every animate object in the house.
Every.
Single.
One.
Even the pets.
You need to warn all your customers about this.
Need to call the authorities.
Suddenly your phone start ringing.
On the caller ID is… your employer.
You pick up.
“What the f-“
“Shhhh!” comes the reply.
“I’m going to call the cops right n-“
“No you won’t,” chuckles the voice on the other end.
“What do you mean I won’t?”
“Read your contract. Third page. Number 6. Section B.”
You desperately flip open your laptop and pull up your employment agreement.
Your eyes scan the third page, your heart beating in your throat.
During a period of ten (10) years following the effective date, you shall not… interfere with, disrupt… any relationship between the Company and the Merchant.
“Holy sh-“
“That’s right. I own all your customers. They are mine to do with as I please. If you alert the customer or even the authorities, you’ll be in breach and you’ll owe me all monies collected, and all monies due in the future.”
“How can this even be legal?”
How is this legal, indeed.
But this isn’t a hypothetical: this is the reality for tens of thousands of merchants.
It might not be forced sexual intercourse (yet), but the Company is barging their way in and stealing the livelihoods of these merchants through deceptive tactics and unscrupulous fee increases while ruining the reputation of their resellers.
Welcome to Shaft4.
You only wish we made up the punitive contract language.
There’s 86-ridiculous-pages of a Shaft4 reseller agreement to prove we aren’t lying. Here’s the part you care about, though:
There’s not even a codified, impartial process for evidence: if Shaft4 thinks you somehow interfered with the merchant, you lose.
Contract language this one-sided tells us Shaft4 knows they’re irrelevant in the market.
Think about it: why else release such a trash agreement? The reputational risk isn’t zero.
An animal only chews off its own leg in desperation.
Up next: Shat4 contracts with the governing jurisdiction set in space, where even the aforementioned contract will look fair by comparison.
So what can be done ? Or what do you suggest ?
Not sign with Shift4, for starters.
Ridiculous terms not unlike ‘amendments clauses’ in Merchant contracts, whereby the provider has the right to change the contract w/o the merchant’s consent and sometimes w/o and ‘opt-out’ period for the merchant.