Banjogirl

I am still having problems with my Parentpay. I can't imagine why anyone would go near it at the moment, given all the well-publicised problems. Why are public services so bad at running things, and choosing technology? At the moment I'm having to deal with yet another incompetent government agency. Is it because they don't produce a profit that they are so profligate with money and don't seem to worry when the service they get from other companies is so terrible?

Your bursar sounds as if she has a lot of good sense!

School told me happily today that the school cashless system and Parentpay were now talking. Unfortunately I had to tell them that actually they're not! Back to the drawing board for them I suppose. I'm a bit tired of it now. It appears from the Parentpay apology on their website that the problem isn't necessarily with the cashless system but with the communication between the two.

Your reply is interesting because Parentpay encourages parents to phone the school when they have a problem but that just means the school is told multiple times of the same problem. I feel really sorry for schools who have got involved and are now having to field angry and anxious parents when there's nothing they can do but apologise. I've tried not to be cross with school but they don't really help themselves as they've put nothing on their website. If they put something on the front page saying there are no updates and that it's the same for everyone and children can still get their meals then parents wouldn't need to ring. I know they don't want to advertise this huge problem but we need to know. I'm wondering how long before it hits the press... I think my son is taking money until this mess is sorted out!

And I really hate companies whose names have a capital letter in the middle. Especially ones connected with education.

I have an account with HMRC, not their IT suppliers (who are terrible too!) so naturally if I have a problem I go to HMRC. But I do have an account with Parentpay so i do have a relationship with them, and when their system isn't working for me it's natural to ask them what's happening. For them to say we don't know and we don't care isn't very helpful. I was in our local primary school this morning. They have just started with parentpay and it's not working. The secretary is not the cheeriest person ever but i did feel very sorry for her as she's obviously fielding a lot of flak about parentpay and she was being very nice to people who were understandably frustrated. When schools start with Parentpay do they have a couple of months where they test it out before parents can use it? A lot of the problems seem to be teething troubles which should have been sorted out before it went live. I know cashless systems are good for schools but they're not neccesariy good for parents and schools shouldn't assume that they are just because that's how it looks to them. I really like the idea of being able to pay for large things like trips online but at the moment I'm constantly worried that the money I've paid has disappeared as I can't see what's happening. It might seem like just a few teething troubles to the school but it's already cost me quite a lot of money (my son buying stuff I didn't even know was for sale, and my not knowing because that part of the system is broken) and it feels very wibbly-wobbly. At least with real money you know when you've got it and when you haven't!

I'm sure what you say is right but I've had children at the school for eleven years and none of them have ever been bullied for their money or lost it or had it stolen. From my point of view there used to be a system that worked and now there is a system that doesn't work. I can't se what my child has bought because the system is broken, which meant he went on a spending spree in the first week, spent all his money and I had no idea. I didn't know there was pizza to buy at break, or chocolate milkshakes, because the school doesn't advertise that on their shiny, 'healthy schools' website. I've reduced the amount my son can spend each day now but that means he can't save up to have something special one day. He's getting no practice at budgeting. I am a customer of Parentpay. Just because they don't charge me doesn't mean I don't have a relationship with them. I don't want to keep bothering the school every time something goes wrong, which from my two weeks' experience is all the time. It's not the school's fault that Parentpay is useless and I don't want them to think I'm making a fuss all the time. I have a nice relationship with them and I don't want to spoil it by complaining about something they're powerless to fix. Parentpay wouldn't be inundated with parents' problems if their system worked!

I'm so glad I've stumbled on this forum. I've had loads of problems with parentpay, as a parent, and their service is dreadful. For everything that is wrong they blame the parents or the schools, even the fact that their website broke due to unexpected demand (at the start of term. Who would have thought it?). They won't talk to parents at all and are incredibly rude and unhelpful. They just keep telling me to send an email but they never reply to them! I really hope the school ditches them and goes back to money. I think it's much better for children to see the real coins in their hot little hand and appreciate that when it's gone it's gone, rather than having a seemingly endless supply of money to buy whatever unghealthy delights the school offers them. Just heard from school that it's their cashless till thingy that won't talk to Parent pay, but it seems to me it takes two to tango and both companies should be working to sort out the problem as they seem to have no idea what's wrong and are assuming it's something in the cashless system. I really don't care. I just wish they'd fix it!