Parent Pay anyone use it?

[william_tropico]

Hello,

 

We are currently looking a cashless payment systems (for catering) and one we are currently looking at is ParentWay. Does anyone use this? is it easy to use? value for money etc?

 

Any information would be great.

 

Thank you,

 

Will

[Steve21]

We use it here, the only thing I really dislike about it (but this may well be the same for other companies) is you have to manually load all staff members into it. It'll only sync students automatically from SIMS etc.

 

Apart from that always found it good, reponse to any issues has been quick etc.

 

Steve

[twin--turbo]

Been using it for 2.5 years on 2 sites with staff and pupils. had a few issues in that time but generaly it just works.

 

Rob

[pcstru]

We use it and integrate with Nationwide's cashless system and CMIS. We have had the odd problem - particularly with Free School Meals. We sometimes experience ping-pong with the suppliers when we try and resolve these issues (they 'blame' the other one). On the whole though, it seems to work well and generally requires little support.

[FragglePete]

Just in the process of setting up now; seems ok so far.

 

Pete

[john]

On the whole good product and service especially in more recent times I had large issues a couple of years ago but its been much better in recent times due to work ParentPay have done

[william_tropico]

Thank you for all your comments. I will pass them onto the powers that be

[pete]

We use it here. Your biggest hurdle will be getting parents ("but I always pay with a cheque/cash") and staff (ensuring trip letters and things are coordinated) using it.

 

So whatever you pick, ensure you make it easier for people to use it than not.

 

There is a potential data leakage problem if you turn on reporting in the sync tool, however. If you have kids eligible for free school meals and there isn't an end date set in their record (this is SIMS for us), you will get a plain text email with a list of student names and a "you haven't set an end date for this kid". Turning the reporting off fixes that, but it's rather sub-optimal.

[william_tropico]

Your biggest hurdle will be getting parents ("but I always pay with a cheque/cash") and staff (ensuring trip letters and things are coordinated) using it.

 

This seems the way with most things in education

 

Thank you for info on SIMS though