Why didn't my customers tell me this??

[Anonymous]

A little light hearted story for a Friday afternoon.....

I was at the laundromat last night, and a guy was getting ready to use one of my W-124s. I vend these at $2.50 using a coin slide. The coin slide holds $1.25, and the customer has to load it up twice and make two pushes.

Well, out of the corner of my eye, I saw this guy push in the first set of quarters, and bomm-ala-bing, the machine kicks in and starts working. "Did I just see what I thought I saw?", I ask myself.

After his load finished and he was drying, I went over and put $1.25 in the coin slide and pushed it in. Sure enough, the machine was working on $1.25. Just to make sure, I ran the other two W-124s. They both required $2.50 to get going.

Funny thing is, during the last few weeks' collections, I noticed that this machine (the one working on $1.25) was getting a lot of use. Couldn't figure out why everyone liked this particular machine so much. Well, now I know.....

And my wife doesn't understand why someone (meaning a customer) didn't tell us about this!

Have a good weekend.....

[danskines]

That's horrible..... People are always looking for a way to scam..............

[David]

I run an unattended mat, and so watch my surveilence tape just about everyday. I can tell when a particular machine will start giving washes for less than the listed sale, as the machine will start to get more turns. When I collect, I check those machines for turns, and I'll usually find that it is in fact, giving a turn for a quarter less.

As a matter of fact, I've got two slides on my list to fix this weekend.

Another day in the life...

[pete f]

Customers tend to tell you when they got cheated a quarter, not when they cheat you.

Once in a great while someone wil report something like that to me, but rarely. I use my machines at random just for this reason.

[buddy]

I have started to replace coin slides in my W74 and W124s with
Drop Coins from Keltner and Setomatic. They work great and prevents lot of the downtime and maintenance problems inherited in slides.

I like keltner better It is more robust and more reliable but aesthetically Setomatics are better.

Keltner's is a black box that sticks out where as Setomatic is silver color and flushes in so it doesn't look like it was added on afterwards.

They are exteremely easy to install.

[Anonymous]

Hey Buddy,

What is the price of the Keltners? I have a BDS book in front of me, and I'm looking at the SR-1, FL-1, & the TK-1 models. Any advice on which model to get?

Also, where can I find info on the Setomatics?

Do they come with instalation instructions?

Thanks,

-dave.

[buddy]

Keltners are sold at many parts store. I bought mine about 2-3 months ago for $155 a piece. It is very easy to install just unplug
the connector from coin slides timer and connect keltner connector and replace coin slides with keltner box. It fits perfectly in the housing using the same bolt as Coin Slides. It will take about five minutes to replace coin slides with Keltner Coin Drop.
You chane the number of quarters required by using DIP switches.

Setomatic is slightly more expensive about $190. It retrofits almost the same way as Keltner except that they have two loose wires that need to be connected to the power source - I just connected it to Wash Relay on #5 and #6 position on the relay.
Setomatic also set the vending price by using DIP switches. You can get more info from www.setomatic.com

I am not sure which keltner model but I bought it on-line from one of the parts store. They had only two models 110 volts and 220 volts. I got 220 volts because my Washers are 220 volts.

I haven't had a single problem with any of these coin drops since I installed it back in June.

I will let you know the URL of on-line store once I figure it out where I bought it from.

[Anonymous]

Buddy,

Excellent. I appreciate the tips.
Thanks!

[buddy]

Dave, you can buy Keltner Coin Drop at www.Laundryparts.com

WS CDROP-K COIN DROP CONVERSON, WASCO KELTNER 220V $149.90

You can get more info on Setomatic at:
www.setomatic.com

[Anonymous]

More thanks, Buddy.
I appreciate your help.

[JSVLaundry]

What is a "coin drop"

What are the exact benifits?

[buddy]

Coin Drop is an electronic coin-drop mechanism as opposed to coin slides use in older washers.

[Todd]

Dave , I had a problem like this a month ago, just bend the metal level up a bit on the start mech so that it is closing the switch on the left of the coin mech , while the right switch is open, then when the money is inserted it should operate on the correct amount of pushes

[buddy]

Actually you dont have to bend the metal piece. The microswitch
is adjustable because it is screwed into a slot rather than a hole.

You just loosen the screw on the microswitch that's above this metal piece and you can slide it down or up little bit and screw it back on.

[JeffLange]

JVS,
You really own a laundromat and don't know what a coin drop is?

Good Luck

[Anonymous]

Todd/Buddy,

The level was bent forward..... I straightened it, and everything works just fine.

I was in the store early Saturday morning. My plan was to get a dryer going that some parts came in for, then investigate the W-124 money thing.

While I was working on the dryer, a lady came in and ran three loads through that one particular W-124. She knew it would work on $1.25 instead of the required $2.50. She didn't touch any of the other W-124s.....

After I finished with the dryer, and she finished her washing, I popped the top, saw the bent arm and straightened it. Worked fine.

Funny thing is, later that afternoon she stopped in to do more laundry. Went straight for her favorite W-124 - but now it was fixed. Boy, the look on her face when it didn't start on the first push. She actually looked over at me (I saw her out of the corner of my eye), and it appeared as though she was just about to say something, but decided not to. She loaded the slide up again and started her laundry. Then she loaded another W-124 and did some more....... The look on her face, was.... shall we say "priceless"?

I just wonder how long this has been going on.

Thanks.

[pete f]

a picture is worth a thousand words? Wish I had seen it, are you supprised they did not complain the machine was "fixed"!~
The closet thing I had happen to me was a machine I have has a varible pricing, so I charged 1.75 for the extra wash cycle on hot. The regular price was 1.50, 1 wash, 3 rinse. I had 1 machine at the end of the line get used alot by a certain ethnic clientel.. one nite I spotted the reason.. the 1.75 price was 1.50. So the next day I changed it. (coin drop, computer type) I was in the mat the next nite, when many of the certain customers were there, and watched them load that machine, and try for program 6. Well, supprise supprise. For some reason the machine does not get the action it used to. I did watch a customer begrudgenly put in that extra quarter..