Know how you'd leave before you sign. What the FTC's Toast complaint says about POS exit terms

What happened

Heads up: on October 29, 2026 the Federal Trade Commission and eight states sued Toast in federal court in San Francisco. The complaint is about fees, add-ons and how hard it is to leave. Toast disagrees with the allegations and says it will fight the case, so everything below is what the government alleges, not what a court has found.

The filing says restaurants are enrolled in auto-renewing subscriptions that average about $900 a month, depending on terminals and add-ons. It says some owners were charged for extras like timekeeping and payroll they never agreed to. It says canceling takes 30 days' written notice that isn't spelled out at signup, and that owners who do cancel can owe $150 for every month left on the contract. One owner, the complaint says, was billed $5,318.87 after four years and refused a refund. Restaurants that close for a while still pay $85 a month. And if you have a Toast Capital loan, switching providers can make the whole balance due at once.

Toast says it has cooperated with the FTC since mid 2025, that its restaurant customers negotiate their contracts, and that the subscription law the FTC is using doesn't apply to business to business agreements.

What it means for you

Say you're moving to a bigger space in March and your POS contract runs to October. Seven months left, at the fee the complaint describes, is $1,050 before you've moved a single table. That number is an example built on the complaint's figure. Your contract has its own.

The point isn't Toast. Every POS contract has an exit, and almost nobody reads it on the way in. Switching a register is never just the hardware. The fee for leaving, what happens to the terminals you were given, and any loan tied to the account can add up to more than the new system costs. Those three numbers belong in the conversation on day one, not the day you need to leave.

If it were my counter

I'd want three answers in writing before I signed anything, from any provider, us included.

1. How do I cancel, and how much notice do you need. 2. What do I owe if I leave early, in dollars per month, not a clause number. 3. What happens to the hardware, and to any loan or advance tied to this account.

Any provider should be able to answer those in plain words. If someone changes the subject, that's your answer. And if you're already in a contract, pull it out this week and find those three lines. Knowing the exit cost now is what turns a bad surprise into a planning number.