Thank You CCI Card System

[Anonymous]

Today was one of the busiest days at one of my mats thanks to CCI. My competitor has a CCI system and his store was down all day Sunday. I had his customers coming in saying they are glad I use quarters because they had problems there before and will never go back. I let few wash for free if they gave me their card. I hope its still down tomorrow. Imagine every customer he looses could equate to $500-$1000 per customer per year.

[dzender]

Technology certainly has its downfalls. Like you, I prefer good ole American coinage.

[Kitty]

VH

Somewhere in your post is an underlying message which has nothing to do with your enthusiasm with having a good day at the cost of your competitors system failure, if that is what is indeed what had happened. We welcome real complaint issues with details and facts when bringing unflattering claims against any company so we many help address any issues. This is part of the Coinwash.com value. I think there is more to this story than posting an unflattering post against the system and for you to post something so vague is taken as an unprofessional statement as a post that has an agenda to simply attack the company.

I have read and re-read your message and my impression is that your goal of the post was not to gloat over a great day but to discredit your competitors system, CCI.

While I won't be deleteing this as unnecessary personal direct attack against the company because card systems may fail at times and I will not censor posts. I know from reading the post CCI initiated last week you and he had some discussions, therefore you know this issue was pointed out on that thread, so again, I'm not sure your agenda? I will point out for future reference this will happen to your coin store when your grid line goes down, how will you respond then?

Personally, I think you could have used better judgement with this post and I don't think your goal of the post was anything but a dig to the system and not a personal gloat for a good day, and I'm not sure your reasons?

[Lemon]

I hope its still down tomorrow. Imagine every customer he looses could equate to $500-$1000 per customer per year.

Did you ever think what goes around comes around.
Did you ever think about helping your brother Laundromat out?

You win the Lemon award for helping out your NJ brother.

Good job have you asked for help on this site ???? Brother....
-------------------
Here is one you asked and our GREAT techs and you fellow Laundromats brothers came to your support--- YES ???What is the best way to remove the pulley on a 35lb unimac from the shaft on the basket.

[srhaz]

There have been many discussions here on how to squash your competition. One of the top answers is always 'offer something different and it may come out better'. Members here have commented on type, like getting customers due to tops vs the competitions fronts. And also manufactures, like customers prefering SQ Horizons due to glass vs Maytag neptunes because of no glass. Hotter dryers, more efficient this and that, all to lure your competitions customers over to you. And if there is someone here who's underlying dream is to NOT put his competion out of business, I would like to know their thoughts as to the benifits of keeping their competion around. Helping them? Unless Katrina hit them my help would be nill.
Lemon, this is a truthful question for you, what kind of help are you suggesting?
VHLaundry offered a different product, and in his market, it worked for him. And he let us know why. I'm truely sorry the U.S. Mint is not a sponsor for Coinwash.

[Anonymous]

How about if the message where just re-written as follows:

"Thanks to a high-technology card system, my competitor has been down for an entire day, forcing his customers to my mat. There are advantages to having a low-tech, coin op mat - something to consider for those pondering a card-system store"

Nothing wrong with pointing out a potential problem w/o bashing an individual company.

[Anonymous]

All I did was state a fact. How should I have helped my competitor? let the customers wash for free and send him the bill?
I would still consider a card system if I built a new mat but for now I am glad when my comps system carshes.
How many people here go and help the comp fix their machines when they are broken? I doubt many and I am sure most owners are glad when they see their comp has numerous broken machines.

[Lemon]

Nothing wrong with pointing out a potential problem w/o bashing an individual company.


I'm real sorry you feel that way Sir. It's a sad state of a fare if you’re waiting for something catastrophic to happen such as a hurricane or what not to help your fellow man.

But that is your choice. Such people as you come to this site to IN PROVE your business. I did not see any FIST fights at the Clean show?

I saw ideas and thoughts, to build and make the Laundromat experience a greater business.

I really don't know what kind of help I would have given, But to gloat
Of a mishap is sad.

Healthy competition is one thing and a good thing. You never no when you might need a helping hand too.

Look you're here at this free site to gather information not to stick a knife in to some one back.
So sorry for you…

It was a really nice thing that you gave some free wash too some---- true.

[Anonymous]

Am I the only one that thinks LEMON is actually 'COINWASH' in hiding ??

[dzender]

I've never heard of such a crazy thing ... offer a free wash because your competitor's card system is down?

I don't think VH attacked anyone - simply stated what is happening at his store.

If the other stores card system is down, what do you expect customers to do? Wait a few days? Bologna! These people have laundry to do and need to get it done. If VH happens to pick-up a few customers out of the deal, so what? That is just business!

[Coinwash]

It is a known fact that he/she is Lemon

It's a Vote of about 5 or 6 members from all over the site.


We get emails everyday asking and telling us thing we never post.

One time we even fired someone because of you all....


This site is here for you...God loves you any way ;)

[Kitty]

The moral of the story is not whether or not you can be happy with the fact that your competitor lost business because of a system failure or how whether or not you decide to help your fellow man.

Healthy competition is one thing, I for one would capitalize on every weakness my competitor may have even if it was for one afternoon.

My dissatisfaction was with the post in itself and the delivery in it .

[Coinwash]

The moral of the story is not whether or not you can be happy with the fact that your competitor lost business because of a system failure or how whether or not you decide to help your fellow man.

Healthy competition is one thing, I for one would capitalize on every weakness my competitor may have even if it was for one afternoon.

My dissatisfaction was with the post in itself and the delivery in it .

BINGO Kitty

[ajay]

All I did was state a fact. How should I have helped my competitor? let the customers wash for free and send him the bill?
I would still consider a card system if I built a new mat but for now I am glad when my comps system carshes.
How many people here go and help the comp fix their machines when they are broken? I doubt many and I am sure most owners are glad when they see their comp has numerous broken machines.

I do. I not only help him but I also sent him my contact to help him when I couldn't. I also sent him a guy to replace his machines, gave him numbers of distributors, etc. I believe that we are placed in this world to help one another. When the purpose is finished, we will be as well. Money is something that comes and goes! It's a gift from God for us to use on worldly goods. Don't wish anyone any harm - especially a hard working businessman..........But your comments have merit. As much as I was convinced that I would love a card system, I would hate to think what will be happen if my computer went down on a Sunday. I will likely look at redundancy. If the customers really hated the card system why did they only come when the card system was down - Conveniency might have something to do with it. With all the benefits of a card system, even when few customers are lost, you still win at the end of the day.


To help him or yourself - you could've contacted him to put sign that would send his customer to you so they wouldn't feel stranded "sorry our computer is down please go to our friend. for your inconvenience you will get a free soap or a 1 free wash. Again I apologize for this inconvenience".

tx for the post

ajay

[Anonymous]

I have to agree with the poster, after the long winded thread we recently saw about how great CCI is it is refreshing to see someone point out that these things do go down and they can cost you big bucks when they do. One must question the company's tech response if a store can be allowed to be down for over 24 hours during the busy weekend time period.

And why should the poster help out his competitor? Odds are it is a newer store that was built to hurt him and probably took business from him when it opened. He did the right thing in offering some customers free washes and collecting the cards from the competitor. This is called competition. What did the competitor ever do to help him that he should turn away that guys lost business. Let's get real here.

[Kitty]

You can agree with the poster and I can disagree with you all the way.

As I discussed at the start of this thread it is crystal clear there is an alterer motive to why this thread was started and I hope others out there will see this as well and understand why in this post. It is clear we have many posters who have have other motives in regards to manipulating what people think.

I don't believe any of you are on the inside of this situation VH brought up. Coinwash.com wants the message of the good the bad and the ugly of the industry to be printed on the pages here, but none of you have brought facts and details which would be the sensible thing when dealing with a negative issue in any business relationship. I think you gentleman, would want the same in regards to your business.


Extraplay, how can you assume the problem is the card system and not at the store level? Could be a variety of issues and none being an issue of the system itself, wouldn't you agree? Unfortunatley you all took an assumption that it is the company's issue prior to finding any real details. I do not believe any of you are privy to whether or not the competitor contacted the card systems technical support so why should you give any negative reporting? Again, do you have other motives?

[Anonymous]

You can agree with the poster and I can disagree with you all the way.

As I discussed at the start of this thread it is crystal clear there is an alterer motive to why this thread was started and I hope others out there will see this as well and understand why in this post. It is clear we have many posters who have have other motives in regards to manipulating what people think.

I don't believe any of you are on the inside of this situation VH brought up. Coinwash.com wants the message of the good the bad and the ugly of the industry to be printed on the pages here, but none of you have brought facts and details which would be the sensible thing when dealing with a negative issue in any business relationship. I think you gentleman, would want the same in regards to your business.


Extraplay, how can you assume the problem is the card system and not at the store level? Could be a variety of issues and none being an issue of the system itself, wouldn't you agree? Unfortunatley you all took an assumption that it is the company's issue prior to finding any real details. I do not believe any of you are privy to whether or not the competitor contacted the card systems technical support so why should you give any negative reporting? Again, do you have other motives?



You are 100% correct we don't KNOW that it is the card system that took down the store. It could have been an electrical fault, or the water company may have shut off the water due to non-payment. But the poster sure makes it sound like it is the system. And we further infer that from his saying, "I had his customers coming in saying they are glad I use quarters because they had problems there before and will never go back." Which indicates that there have been problems with the CCI system before. I know of three stores that have CCI systems. One has had great luck with the system - the other two have had significant problems. The ones that have had problems got no support from their distributors on the system.

One has to further assume that any owner in their right mind would be on the phone with CCI (which claims to offer 24/7 support) if their store was down during the weekend. But you are correct, we only know what the poster has told us -- so it is possible that the CCI system was working fine and all the other equipment just would not operate for some other reason.

[Coinwash]

Just the Facts, Please. Names, places,

Who, Where, ???

Inquiring minds want and need to no !

[Kitty]

VH,

If you gained a few customers at the competitors expense, I am sure you are pleased, gaining something for doing very little will give you satisfaction if you find it is profitable ~ good for you.

However, I have a problem with you posting a derogatory statement over a company that you have no facts with the issues, especially when that company does business with Coinwash.com. As a member of Coinwash.com I'd think you would have better judgement.

I do not however have a problem if you bring factual statements about any company that does do business with Coinwash if you bring details outlining the dissatisfication towards the company that justifies the statements. Coinwash.com wants to discuss this type of content only with facts for fairness to the company in question. When there is a post that makes a statement that has no merit and is falsely mistated or misleadling and derogatory ~ be prepared to catch hell from me ~ . In conclusion, just be prepared to back up your remarks.

I'm not thrilled with the back up provided so far from this post...a laundromat customer is not a good source or contact for the topic and the problem is still so vague but deemed as a "computer problem"..Would you appreciate such vague discussion whether positive or negative if the poster had little knowledgle of what they were speaking of???

Suggestion, think twice about posting vague statements without facts and details.

[DaveLevenson]

I write as a relative newcomer to this industry (bought my first store four months ago) but as an experienced computer consultant (nearly 40 years).

I think the point of the original post is that a card system introduces the possibility of a single-point failure that can take down the store. It is certainly not the only one. My store has only one water-heater. I also have a single water line, gas line, and electrical service. Over the past four months, I have experienced three electrical power failures of 4 hours duration or longer. Two of these happened on weekends. Presumably, my competitors each have their own weak points. Some days, I win; some days I lose.

As has already been stated, we don't know the details of the failure, so it is premature to point fingers at a particular manufacturer or at a particular technology. Computer systems can be made redundant, and I can install a second water-heater. It's a business decision, like deciding how much insurance coverage to buy. We can reduce the probability of a total failure, but no matter what we do, we cannot reduce it to zero.

Let's all recognize that every store can have a total failure. Let's be careful when we gloat. Let's not blow a single incident out of proportion.

[Kitty]

Yes, Dave exactly my points...thank you for bringing your thoughts to this thread.

and...as relative newcomer are you having fun in laundryland...:)


Kitty

[DaveLevenson]

and...as relative newcomer are you having fun in laundryland...:)
Kitty

Yes, Kitty, I'm having fun, and thanks for asking! I bought a small unattended store several months ago. I have recently hired attendants, altered the building, and am attempting to create a WDF business. (Got some big red and white signs in my windows; I'm meeting with the advertising salesperson at the local newspaper in a day or so. I would like to reach 100 lbs/day of WDF in 90 days or so. Starting from zero a few weeks ago -- is that a reasonable goal? Did 26 pounds this morning!)

Doing something new is fun. Learning is fun. I have learned much from this board, and continue to do so. I'll be at the CLA seminar in NYC this Friday. Every day something new seems to happen. (Last week, a customer inadvertently dried a ballpoint pen in one of my dryers -- what a mess!)

[Maywood2]

I personally didn't react as strongly as Kitty or Lemon did... Yes, he didn't have many details (it wasn't his store that had the problem, after all). He only had what his customers told him. It would be great if the owner of the store that had the problem was on this site to give us the inside scoop, complete with details of the problem/resolution.

But in the absence of perfect/complete/first-hand information, it is not a bad thing for people to hear about possible issues (note I said "Possible", so please don't flame me).
If we only talked about the things that we could document or prove in a court of law, the dialogue here would be a lot less far-ranging, and ultimately less useful.

Maybe he could have been more tactful, and maybe someone could find further info on the problem. But if someone's customers said their competitor had ten BRAND-X machines out of service last weekend, that could be helpful information to someone on here. I wouldn't view that as an attack on BRAND-X. As always, the readers need to take everything on here (on most websites, actually) with a grain of salt.
Some people do have their motives, which affect their postings. Careful readers will filter out those when making their decisions.