Hamilton Goldline IDTech upgrade doors

[Roz]

Has anyone installed the Hamilton Goldline IDTech credit card reader with the retrofit doors? Would love to compare notes with anyone who has the GL IDTech reader (offline via phone).

 

[soonermajic]

What is that?

 

[Roz]

What is that?

You can upgrade an existing Goldline that just has a Magstripe swiper for a credit card reader to a new reader that can accept the chip via insert, swipe, or tap. IDTech makes the reader. It looks nice but requires the customer to press a green button prior to use. Can also accept all forms of tap to pay. That said I would wait until the bugs in the system have been exorcised.

 

[soonermajic]

why not just do Cryptopay & CryptoTap? That's what I did, & it works absolutely flawless!

 

[Roz]

In hindsight that would have been something to seriously consider. Since Hamilton does not support use of CryptoPay devices I wanted to go with their solution as we have other issue with their equipment now and then and did not want finger pointing.

do you have a tap plus?
Or tap with swiper?

did you just add the CryptoPay or buy a new door from KR? We have CryptoPay on everything else so that would have been a better approach.

 

[soonermajic]

I have Cryptopay swiper & a seperate Tap. Not the Plus version.
I bought the retro kit from KR. It's not a new door, just sticker.

 

[Roz]

I am familiar with CryptoPay for my vacs and bays. I am giving it some serious consideration as the IDTech readers are proving to be a bear to get to work properly on a consistent basis. CryptoPay now offers a Tap Plus version but you need to ask for it from KR as it is not currently listed in their website. Sounds like a super easy install having spoken with their tech support. Wish they supported the graphic display but that might just be a minor hit.

 

[Fatboy769]

@Roz, what issue are you having with the IDTech readers

 

[Roz]

@Roz, what issue are you having with the IDTech readers

I doubt it is the reader. It’s their controller software has undocumented features.

it will reject credit card use and disable the bill acceptor until I physically reboot the GL. Happens randomly. I suspect the cause is a customer trying to use the reader without going through the exact proper sequence or an ever so brief internet outage (such that not perceptible by users). System is not resetting properly or handling error states properly.

A new controller version is supposed to be released tomorrow so hopefully a solution on hand. We shall see.

 

[Blanco]

I doubt it is the reader. It’s their controller software has undocumented features.

it will reject credit card use and disable the bill acceptor until I physically reboot the GL. Happens randomly. I suspect the cause is a customer trying to use the reader without going through the exact proper sequence or an ever so brief internet outage (such that not perceptible by users). System is not resetting properly or handling error states properly.

A new controller version is supposed to be released tomorrow so hopefully a solution on hand. We shall see.

I had a brand new commander that had this issue. It ended up being the reader. It would not disable the bill acceptor though but my machine was a commander. It would work for 10 cards in a row then stop working, Got it replaced and have not had an issue since. Im assuming you still have warranty. I would get it replaced and if that does not solve it go for the controller next for sure.

 

[Roz]

Interesting. Short (now) funny story that’s related.

So I finally convince Hamilton to replace the readers as these doors are brand new.

I get the two readers and swap them out. The replacements were reconditioned readers as you could tell that someone had used them before. They seem to be ready to work out of the box so I test them with my credit card. The charge is credited to the previous owner of the readers. Clearly the work on them was minor or not at all. I quickly track down the previous owner who is a very nice guy. He told me of his challenges with the commanders. I will not rehash them here but now things are smooth for the last month for him. Let’s just say that he had a lot more patience or tolerance than me with respect to the time frame for a solution.

Readers now reprogrammed for my wash but that process is flawed too as it relies upon our friends at WorldPay who are super easy to reach. The new readers have the same issues so I finally convinced the powers that be that the bugs are in the error handling code in the controller software.

Being an engineer and camping out at my wash for a solid two weeks I gave them a fortune of data, log files, and observations.

Finally at 4PM yesterday we receive and upload the latest controller software 1.4.4 which appears to have fixed the issues. I do not want to jinx us but I tried all the cases and it seems to have much better error handling such that reader does not take down the GL station. I seriously doubt the issues were ever in the readers as all they do is read a chip, mag stripe, or tap WiFi. The brains are the controller and it was not being smart in the way it handles any customer who does not follow the precise way to make a purchase. Select wash first, press pay with credit card next, then use the reader. MANY or most customers do not read anything so they were inserting the credit card before any selection made or cc button pushed. They would then leave the wash in frustration and leave the system in a locked state until I could hard reboot it. New sw seems to have figured out how to handle the various paths a customer can take and handles them properly.

Bottom line is to check your Hamilton for controller upgrades available as they do not send out notices like software companies that an upgrade with fixes is available. They like to wait until someone has a problem before mentioning the new SW. Hope we can get back to just washing cars now as I am mentally exhausted.

 

[CClaus]

Good job on finding a solution.