Cashless Catering - Who would everyone recommend?

[sonofsanta]

As someone who needs to upgrade/replace a 9-year-old NRS system this year, this thread makes for very depressing reading.

 

The trust-e system we've got is actually alright--simple enough for relevant staff to handle, but details enough to do things like menu rotas, pre-ordered Xmas tickets for us--but as said, Civica as a company are horrific. It feels like we get nickle-and-dimed on every support request despite paying significant sums for equipment warranties every year. Any support feels begrudgingly given. I was really hoping there was a better alternative out there, but then I read this thread, and now I'm sad.

[kingoranks]

Like others have said, there are NO winners here. We use cunninghams- call every two to three days.

[maxrebo]

To be fair to Iris\Biostore, they have got better, we had a horrendous time during their install in our school and the following few months.

We had moved to them just as they were moving over to IRIS, so i have a bit of sympathy for them from that point of view.

 

Their support department needs more work though!

[psydii]

Just thought I'd add an update: We have had three tickets with AMI / EasyTrace in the last few months. All dealt with swiftly, and none were caused by faults or failures. 10/10.

 

My cautions around good administrative practice and not launching the service at the start of the year still stand.

[fiza]

I have to say we have had no major issues with Biostore since install 4 years ago. Initiallly when they were taken over by IRIS the helpdesk system was changed and it took a while to get help sometimes but once you get to the Biostore Engineers they are very good and can fix any issue quickly. I would say we are very happy with Biostore, having come from Cunninghams which was always a nightmare.

[m4rk]

We migrated to Vericool the other year, our catering manager was pleased with the experience.

[sonofsanta]

Well in today's exciting revelations: did you know that if you pay annual maintenance to Civica for their cashless system, the terms and conditions mandate a 6 month notice period for cancellation, that must be delivered by post and explicitly cannot be sent by email? Utterly bloody ridiculous, how can a notice period be half the bloody contract length!

 

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[6Foot2]

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Off topic: Are you OK, @sonofsanta?

[sonofsanta]

Off topic: Are you OK, @sonofsanta?

 

 

Really not

The maintenance is on the order of £3k a year. It's only half a dozen tills and a cash loader! It's always been overpriced! Then they've nickle-and-dimed for every job anyway, and taken months to respond! The maintenance has never included software maintenance and so they were unable to resolve our latest problem because our server is out of date and guess who's fault that is, motherflippers?!

 

It is probably not wise for them to get me in this mood just as we're about to discuss a potential upgrade and renewal!

Edited March 22, 2022 by sonofsanta

[dapaulio]

School I worked at must be nearing 10 years ago we invested in Vericool for our cashless system linked with biometric and parent pay and personally never had trouble with them. Fast friendly support! I left the school 3 years ago so can’t testify to their support efficiency now but I know fact today they still use Vericool and still have the original tills which a few years before the end of my tenure I was actively arguing for funding to upgrade them as they were creaking then and noticeable beginning to require more and more support. And if I’m going to say anything negative their hardware is expensive which is mostly the reason the school not upgrading. as time goes on those tills creak more and more but seems to be like tanks. But credit where credit is due if the tills lasts 10 years nearly as theirs have done. economical value is not that expensive. In comparison to other catering companies who have been rightfully shredded in this post Vericool stand very much polar apart from these others and based on my experience then would highly recommend.

[6Foot2]

Really not

The maintenance is on the order of £3k a year. It's only half a dozen tills and a cash loader! It's always been overpriced! Then they've nickle-and-dimed for every job anyway, and taken months to respond! The maintenance has never included software maintenance and so they were unable to resolve our latest problem because our server is out of date and guess who's fault that is, motherflippers?!

 

It is probably not wise for them to get me in this mood just as we're about to discuss a potential upgrade and renewal!

 

I hope you can take some solace that you now find yourself in: You are (almost) ready to renew or replace your cashless system. It seems a no-brainer to me that you would go down the replacement route (given your history as I understand it) I also envy you a little: When the time came for our systems to be upgraded or replaced, I was shut out completely, even though I was told I would have input. The solution that was chosen was the one I would have put last in the list of potentials. When they were selected I was told that my support wouldn't be needed, but once they had secured the contract, my support for the canteen was called upon more than ever.

 

I hope you can make a good choice, and I hope you find a way to improve your lot.

 

All the best.

[Jcx500]

Bio store was the last one I used in a educational environment. Had no faults with it throughout usagae

[DrBeaker]

I hope you can take some solace that you now find yourself in: You are (almost) ready to renew or replace your cashless system. It seems a no-brainer to me that you would go down the replacement route (given your history as I understand it) I also envy you a little: When the time came for our systems to be upgraded or replaced, I was shut out completely, even though I was told I would have input. The solution that was chosen was the one I would have put last in the list of potentials. When they were selected I was told that my support wouldn't be needed, but once they had secured the contract, my support for the canteen was called upon more than ever.

 

I hope you can make a good choice, and I hope you find a way to improve your lot.

 

All the best.

 

Exactly this - it's a RISK of not IF but WHEN they fail.

 

What will they do WHEN they fail? That's a BUSINESS issue, not an IT issue.

 

By not replacing them, they've accepted the risk and and admitted the negligence involved. Ignorance is no defense.

@6Foot2 we had similar. Get calls from the canteen - X isn't working. Well, contact the cashless catering company then, that's what we pay support for. I don't get paid for it, get a bonus etc or cashback if I solve the problem with THEIR system.

 

ESPECIALLY annoying when the cashless catering company has the gall to tell the canteen staff "Get your IT support to look at it, it's only a PC, get your IT team to connect a monitor to it" - No mate, that's your bloody job, that's why the school is paying YOUR company for YOUR support.

 

All factors you need to consider.

[6Foot2]

...@6Foot2 we had similar. Get calls from the canteen - X isn't working. Well, contact the cashless catering company then, that's what we pay support for. I don't get paid for it, get a bonus etc or cashback if I solve the problem with THEIR system.

 

ESPECIALLY annoying when the cashless catering company has the gall to tell the canteen staff "Get your IT support to look at it, it's only a PC, get your IT team to connect a monitor to it" - No mate, that's your bloody job, that's why the school is paying YOUR company for YOUR support.

 

All factors you need to consider.

 

It was the same when I left, but I understand now that circumstances (preferences) have changed, and they look like throwing out the current provider in favour of another. Only this time it looks like the entire canteen staff will go too: Last time the standing staff were retained (TUPEd over) All my work assisting the (then) new provider will be lost in favour of who knows what, and in less time than the duration of the lifetime of the current agreement. I guess they'll pay their way out of that.

 

What a mess. I hope others can avoid similar!

[lmgtfy]

Really not

The maintenance is on the order of £3k a year. It's only half a dozen tills and a cash loader! It's always been overpriced! Then they've nickle-and-dimed for every job anyway, and taken months to respond! The maintenance has never included software maintenance and so they were unable to resolve our latest problem because our server is out of date and guess who's fault that is, motherflippers?!

 

It is probably not wise for them to get me in this mood just as we're about to discuss a potential upgrade and renewal!

 

Did you get anywhere with this? They are trying to pull the same trick with us insisting on a 6 month written termination. I asked them for proof that we signed a contract stating this and they are saying that they are all working from home so are unable to provide this!

[sonofsanta]

Did you get anywhere with this? They are trying to pull the same trick with us insisting on a 6 month written termination. I asked them for proof that we signed a contract stating this and they are saying that they are all working from home so are unable to provide this!

 

 

They sent us a copy of the contemporary terms and conditions from the time we signed the contract for a software upgrade 3 years ago and it did indeed include a provision for Term that stated it would continue until cancelled with 6 months written notice. But we did argue them, with much grumpiness and complaint, into confirming that they will not now require us to serve notice. Pointed out that (a) 6 months notice on a 12 month contract is absurd (b) they've dropped this from their current T&Cs, so they can't claim it's standard practice if they don't do it anymore © they didn't send us the renewal quote until 4 months before, so if you want to have 6 months' notice, you need to send such quotes at least 7 months before. Also had the leverage that this will have bearing on our decision for a new system in the next few weeks.

 

So it is an argument you can win. Good luck...

[Rob446]

Might be bumping a dead topic here, but we're looking to tender for a replacement for Cunninghams at the moment. Our contract is nearly up and the support we've had from them has been rare and of poor quality. There seems to be a culture of poor customer service in their support team that they are unable or unwilling to address.

 

Who should be looking at? From this thread I've seen a few:

 

Biostore

NRS

Easytrace

LiveRegister

Vericool

 

We are a Bromcom school, do they offer their own cashless catering system, through MCAS, maybe?

 

We'd like to have fingerprint devices as well as PINs for each user, our Revals are being used less and less so happy to ditch them and go online payment only. Our main requirement however, is a reliable system that will run things like day end reports automatically, but with timely and competent support should we need it.

[maxrebo]

Our experience with Biostore (now Iris) hasn't been a great one! it's got better as we`ve gone on, but their support now consists of a portal with their 1st line support technician having limited knowledge.

 

I get them impression most of these companies are the same now though.

[fiza]

We are with Biostore and the product works great. The support has gone down hill since Biostore got taken over by IRIS. The support guys are great but now it is so hard to get hold of them and it feels like the support team has been scaled down but their workload increased! Luckily the the system is very stable and we don't need to contact them too often unlike when we were with Cunninghams but that is another story!!

[psydii]

Still very happy with AMI EasyTrace / Infinity+, no biometrics.

 

Having spare hardware on site though is essential if shipping lead times are too long for SLT's expectations.

[fiza]

With Biostore we have mainly Biometrics but for those that don't want to provide Biometrics we issue RFID Cards. There are Biometric and Card readers on all tills.

[Rob446]

With Biostore we have mainly Biometrics but for those that don't want to provide Biometrics we issue RFID Cards. There are Biometric and Card readers on all tills.

 

Is there an option for a PIN rather than a card?

[fiza]

Is there an option for a PIN rather than a card?

 

There is an option for pin code but as we have never used it I am not sure how it works.

Pins seem insecure to me. The students would have to say the pin to the cashier in order for them to type it in. Other students would find out what it is and then.......

[junz]

There is an option for pin code but as we have never used it I am not sure how it works.

Pins seem insecure to me. The students would have to say the pin to the cashier in order for them to type it in. Other students would find out what it is and then.......

 

What tills do you use?

[fiza]

What tills do you use?

 

We use Aures Yuno tills https://aures.com/uk/yuno-ii/ purchased direct from Biostore.