Credit Card Systems

[washregal]

I am in the process of reviewing CC systems for my wash facilities - so many options.. and so many companies.. Hard to choose. Some things I think are important.

- Choose my own Processor
- Ability to cross market at all facilities
- Loyalty programs
- Remote Capability
- Money Management
- Pay by phone / Chip features
- Wireless vs Wired
- Ability to discount wash's on certain days of the week


Any other things that should be considered.. Also - I am currently 100% token at my facility's all cash.. what kind of bump in revenue can I expect or should I conservatively estimate will be gained when installing a CC System?

My wash's both have decent car count traffic.. one at 10,000 a day and the other at 12, 000 a day. Many customers or should I say potential customers have shied away from my places due to an all cash business. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[DiamondWash]

I have WashCard and all the features you mentioned they offer, I too looked at alot of companies and went with WashCard and sooo glad I did.

 

[washregal]

I have seen washcard - just saw there new Baywash.. Can I ask what kind of cost should I expect to pay per Bay installed? When you put it in had you had credit cards before? If not did it significantly increase your revenue?

 

[BBE]

I think you should highly consider washremote.

www.washremote.com

No, I don't work for them, I have it at all 3 of my self serves, and absolutely LOVE it, support is fantastic, I can text the owner directly basically 24 hours a day and he will text me back. It does everything you listed, plus a few other cool things.

 

[loewem]

You might take some time to understand PCI compliance and how it relates to you/the merchant. https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/. Any merchant that accepts credit card payment is responsible for certifying PCI compliance. Understanding and abiding by PCI compliance should help reduce the risk associated with accepting credit cards.

I can say from experience that accepting credit cards will increase revenue, but I have no idea how to figure out how much it will increase your revenue. I looked at several options and found most to be so expensive that they didn't make sense for me. Some things that I considered were:

cost of the equipment
ease of use from the customers perspective and from my perspective
installation and maintenance costs (could I do it myself or did I need the company to do it)
upgrade and replacement costs
additional and/or recurring costs such as subscriptions and internet (what is the cost of loyalty, fleet management, etc.)
customer service/technical support

Lots to consider/understand.....good luck.

 

[washregal]

BBE -

Wash remote is definitely on the list - There web site is real week - not much info - What is the cost per bay to install ? Wireless vs. Wired? Equipment cost? Will they have pay by phone features? Do I need to consider chip compliance when working with CC systems?

What features stick out with Wash Remote that you have over others like Wash Card? Did you set your web site up to support a loyalty program and will it work with both SS and IBA?

 

[6t7gto]

Subscribing

 

[soonermajic]

Cryptopay....seems to be most owners choice

 

[washregal]

BBE -

Do you think your limited in this if customers do not have a loyalty card? What do you do when the digned up or registered credit card expires? Is there a text that tells the customer it has expired and re register a new card? What are some of the key features you like about washremote over say wash card? Also - can you remotely change pretty much everything? Bay pricing / offer discounts by certain days and times for card members? And or just average washers?

I think you should highly consider washremote.

www.washremote.com

No, I don't work for them, I have it at all 3 of my self serves, and absolutely LOVE it, support is fantastic, I can text the owner directly basically 24 hours a day and he will text me back. It does everything you listed, plus a few other cool things.

 

[washregal]

BBE -

Will wash remote allow me to put a wash pas program together for an IBA and self serves.. meaning wash (1) time a day for a monthly fee in my IBA?

 

[BBE]

Washregal-

Sorry I kind of forgot about this thread. I'll give you a quick rundown of what I like about it, and what it is capable of. The customer signs up and registers their name and the last 4 digits of their credit card number. From there, you can choose all the different types of discounts/things you want to do with it. You can set up discounts for specific days, for example 20% on Wednesdays when the registered credit card is used. It can work like a punch card/loyalty card where the 10th time they use that credit card their wash is free. The customers will also sign up with telephone number as well if they so choose and can receive text messages as well. So it will send them a text and alert them that they received the discount, or tell them that this wash was free, or how many visits they have left until they get a free wash etc.. It can also send "miss you" texts, so if this credit card has not been used in let's say 14 days, it will send them a "we miss you" text and offer them 20% off or whatever discount you set for them next time they come in (the idea being to get them back in soon) It is obviously very flexible with what you can do. The customers can register multiple cards, or log in and update the last 4 digits of their card number at any time.

It also has the fleet/gift card capabilities, which are much more robust than wash cards. The fleet system has really been dialed in and made great by their customers ideas such as myself and a few other guys and washremote has implemented them and created a very well rounded and robust fleet card system. I know one of their customers has over 5000 fleet cards out their with all the companies he has signed up with him.

If you wanted to do what you are suggesting in the last post you would most likely use the fleet card system instead. From there you can set all of those limitations, you would give the customer/company a fleet card and then set the limitations you want to impose. It can be a certain dollar amount per day, per month, etc.. Or a certain number of visits per day, per week etc.. You can set up the locked in monthly amount set to bill and keep their credit card on file and have washremote charge the card a set fee per month and impose whatever limitations you wanted on that account for that customer. I know they have a few people using the fleet system in this manner as a "monthly unlimited" program for IBA's.

Certainly not limited if the person does not have a loyalty card. The system offers so much more beyond just the loyalty program, that's really just one small feature of it. The ability to watch everything remotely in real time and see real time usage of each bay, when it is active, how long the current person has been washing in it, whether they are using cash/credit/fleet/gift, how long the bay has been inactive, etc.. One glance and see that a single bay has been inactive for an extended period of time and the rest have not, or the daily revenue for a single bay is far less than all the rest can alert you immediately to a problem you may not otherwise be notified about like a jammed up coin acceptor. The ability to remotely turn on each bay is also a great feature for trouble shooting things like leaks up in the attic, or anything else like that.

 

[BBE]

Oh also-

Gift cards have the ability to check and refill the balances online, if you have multiple locations then all fleet/gift cards, and loyalty credit cards will work at all of your locations. You mentioned wired/wireless. Wired is always preferred if you can do it, however washremote uses the same hardware for both, so you don't need to order wired, and then have to upgrade something to make it wireless or vice versa at any time. It can also control inputs/outputs as well and monitor equipment, for instance we have it monitoring all of our "wash out of service" triggers on our auto cashiers so it alerts us when one goes out of service. It's monitoring all of our bill changers and air compressors as well. It will send a text message to me if the out of service light comes on on the bill changers, or if the air in the air compressor gets too low.

I agree cryptopay is great, and I know A LOT of washes that throw in cryptopay to get credit card acceptance going quickly and easily. You can't beat it for that. But if you are looking for something capable of much more than cryptopay, you can't go wrong with washremote. If you haven't spoke with the owner directly I would be happy to PM you his contact information.

 

[washregal]

BBE -

Thank you for getting back to me.. some great features for sure.. I can understand cards for fleet purposes.. but would not want to had out separate cards for IBA wash clubs. Thinking if wash remote can manage SS - why cant they manage the IBA as well with that same registered credit card. The system would have great benefits hands down over others if they could pull this off.. Users do not like carrying a ton of cards.. I know I dont.. and I am not one that needs to manage cards. I would rather put the energy and effort into washing cars.

If a user could sign up online with a monthly pass for the IBA - select the wash package they want the system should recognize that registered card and assign it to that wash package - all the user would have to do is go to the wash with that card .. swipe it in the IBA and the machine does the rest - no ex pass type stickers / rfid.. etc..

Reason I am asking all this.. is I am looking at putting in an IBA/ credit card systems / paystations and VFD's.. I want to make sure I go with the right program

How many wash's do you have? Do you find yourself giving out fleet cards to users?

Can you pvt msg me with your detail for a conversation?

 

[Kevin James]

What hardware is required? Is High Speed internet required? Are the swipers in the bays hardwired or wireless? Is there a computer required in the back room? What are the operating fees? Is there a per swipe fee? How much is the gift/loyalty card program?

 

[BBE]

Lots of questions, I'll do my best here.

You CAN manage the IBA's with the washclub, all of the limitations and discounts that I mentioned that you can set for each customer with a registered credit card will work across either your self serve bays OR your automatics, or a combination of both, the customer can choose where to use their card to get the discount or limitation that you are giving this account. You could do the unlimited pay one price thing with the persons registered credit card instead of fleet cards if you so choose. You would just create the type of discount you want to give, and then attach that discount to that persons washclub account with the credit card they have registered. I myself would be leery of doing it that way as I'm 100% sure this person will just pass the credit card around to the whole family/neighbors to go get a carwash and then come back and give the card back, but to each his own.

The hardware is the same to retro fit an auto cashier as it is to put an acceptor into a bay. The same hardware is capable of both wired or wireless internet connection. Wired is always preferred if possible, but if not possible, such as a vacuum, you don't need to add anything special to be able to run it wirelessly. It can retro fit onto most auto cashiers, and if you happen to have one that they have not done a retro fit onto before, I know they will figure it out as they love to expand their product offerings and genuinely get joy from doing that sort of work. Custom work is not an issue, I've had many things that were easy add ons they have done for free especially when they thing it's a great idea and will improve their product, other more custom programming they still are willing to do, and are relatively quick and inexpensive about it.

 

[BBE]

We are using the wash remote across all 3 self serve locations (4 bays a piece) 2 in bay automatics, and an EE tunnel. The fleet/gift cards work everywhere.

They provide the hardware, at its core, it's a raspberry pi with a usb swiper (the same swiper that is on a red box unit) these swipers are extremely durable and the read rate in my experience is fantastic, dual head swiper, it can read the card no matter what direction they swipe it. Swipers are all plug and play usb, so they can be swapped onto a different bay without any problems. They will provide the router and ethernet switch as well. I suppose high speed internet isn't technically required, you do need to have a router however. One of my locations that cannot get high speed internet at, I just have a verizon USB dongle plugged into the back of the router and I use the 4G connection, works just fine and fast.

The computer in the back room that is required is a very small form factor pc, it's about the size of the palm of your hand. I just mount them up by the router and ethernet hub in the SS equipment room. If you have multiple locations you will need another PC located somewhere that acts as a "central management server" for all locations to connect into and tie everything together. There are no "per swipe fees" other than what you are going to pay from regular credit card processing. It uses TSYS for processing. The gift/loyalty is no extra, it is part of the software. You will have to buy the gift/fleet cards if you want to do those, those are of course a separate cost depending on how many you want, and if you want a custom design. The loyalty credit card is part of the software as well, no extra for that. The monthly support fees are extremely reasonable, much less than you are going to pay for something like DRB or a POS system (trust me I know). I believe there is an extra charge for more than one location, but at one point we were one location and paying somewhere around 50-60 bucks a month I believe, though don't quote me on that. Bear in mind the support you get is fantastic with being able to call/text the owner basically 24 hours a day.

If there are any other questions you guys can think of feel free to ask away.

 

[washregal]

BBE - I am a believer in the self serve concept - I dont want to be that guy that has to manage a "System" if I can have a user select the wash club and wash type - I want the system to set it up - I dont want to handle anything or go into a pc to control that persons card - it should be just done - If I am in florida - and someone wants to sign up - they should ba bel to do it without me being there and use there car the next minute for that program.

Also - am I thinking straight - my thought process in (1) was per day per month on a signed up credit card for wash club - gives me an advantage in my opinion. I am in between two tunnel wash's that use stickers for their Wash clubs - Most people I know will not just give over their credit card - in my thinking if you can only wash one vehical a ay - and I have allotted for the one vehicle - what do I care if a family of 4 washes all their vehicles several times in that month? Its an advantage to me.. The other clubs are limiting to just that one car.

BBE - where are you located? do you have a website I can perv? I would be interested in how you integrate Wash Remote with your site - as I would want to rely very heavily on the system for (2) locations SS and IBA. You use a wash club service? How many users a month?

 

[washregal]

Also - how long has washremote been around.. www.washremote.. the website scares me.. for a product that is so technical.. and something I would need to depend on every second of the day.. there is ZERO info..

 

[BBE]

You don't need to be there to set it up, the customers will sign up for it online and they will be able to turn around and use it immediately without you even knowing anything about it.

We have had wash remote since late 2010 or 2011 I believe. We were at the time looking for exactly what you are looking for, for our 4 and 2 location and wash remote and the owner were recommended to us by Lisa Lyons (former president of the ICA) and it's been fantastic ever since. I know carwashing is where they got their start, but the inattentiveness of their system has allowed them to expand it to many different industries. Princess Line cruise ships is one of their bigger accounts:

http://www.princess.com/

I agree I'm not a huge fan of the newly redesigned web site, the old web site was much more carwash-centric. But I imagine they are trying to show that they are capable of more than just carwashing as well.

I'll pm you our web site and you can poke around with how a customer would sign up for the wash club.