Glass front vendors - Not an easy decision!

[ScottV]

I walked the floor at Las Vegas earlier this month, and talked with almost every vendor manufacturer. They all puport to have the "only true" vendor style machine, whereas their competition is a modified hybrid. I bet I heard that comment from every booth that I stopped at.

The Shurvend seems like a solid unit, but I have read opposing views about it on this site. Kleen Rites mega vendor seems like a unique machine (especially with the cold drink trays in the bottom half) but I was hoping to get a rear load machine for location that I'm installing it in.

Can any of you give me pro's or con's on these or other machines that would help to make my decision. Spending $5K on a vendor is not something you want to do without as much due diligence as possible.

Thanks in advance,
Scott V

 

[Whale of a Wash]

I am with you, I felt the same way as you a year ago after the show, I bought one machine then from shurvend, and I liked it so well i got two more later in the year. Mine also have the Drinks, they sell , but most will tell you, I did it to get rid of the coke machine, and keep all the profit. I am currently thinking about a fourth, and possibly fifth. The one I wanted to flush mount, and shurvend has a security door available, and the way i understand it, some sort of lazy susan to turn the machine inside to load it. From what I remember shurvend made some of their machines to replace the crap on the market that the owners wanted to replace after a couple of years of trouble. Meaning they would fit in the same hole. Mine have the credit card option , if you or anyone else emails me , i'll email you what the machine emails me everyday, with the previous days sales.
John

 

[Randy]

I?m a relative newcomer to the car wash industry (26+ years) so what little I know about vending machines you could put in a tumble. There is only one vending machine I?d even consider buying and that would have to be a Shur-vend vender. It?s built by a car wash operator for the car wash industry. All the rest of the vending machines are pretty much junk!!!

 

[washme1]

I have a Mega Vendor. My only complaint is that the narrow columns are just a bit too narrow to vend Little Trees effectively. I've tried several different spirals with different number of slots. The trees will vend but I usually find the items in the rear have not stayed seated in position as they moved forward. My drink sales decreased from what I was generating from a soda vendor. Could be due to the fact that the new vendor does not face the street or possibly, the customer doesn't realize the drinks are cold. The plexiglass window quickly gets scratched up. I had a compressor fail, the supplier replaced it for the cost of shipping. I bought mine from my local vending machine distributor for $4195.

 

[MEP001]

We're planning to add a glass-front machine, and I intend to go with ShurVend for one main reason: it's the only machine and company I've never heard anything bad about. Yes, the Mega-Vendor is a little cheaper, but have you ever tried to get support from Kleen-Rite? I don't mean to knock them, but you can't pick up the phone and get someone who's been hands-on in the field for 20 years and knows their way around stuff well enough to answer your questions. A friend even told me that a "tech" from there said a Paloma PH28 series heater would be enough to supply a 4-bay wash with hot water. Hello, it states in the specs that the maximum flow rate is 7.4 GPM.

 

[Bubbles Galore]

I just purchased the new Half-Pint Shurvend in February. What a great machine! I get more compliments about its ease of use and reliability that I can't believe I waited this long to get one.

Jim was always willing to answer any questions I had. If I had another site that needed a vendor, I wouldn't hesitate for a second to purchase another one.

 

[Uncle Sam]

ScottV—

See http://forum.autocareforum.net/showthread.php?t=3442

 

[Uncle Sam]

Now if the answers to all of these questions is YES, then you can analyze the values you are going to receive for the $5-7K you are going to spend for vending, and make “your due diligence” decision. The decision becomes easy!

Uncle Sam

 

[rph9168]

Buy the Shurvend. They are the best on the market and have the best customer support you can find anywhere. That is an unbeatable combination in this or any other business.

 

[Micah Savell]

It doesn't matter what you pay for it if it doesn't work and do the job properly.
Even though we tried hard to be diligent and make the right decisions unfortunately we made mistakes.

In the beginning I just couldn't bring myself to pay the extra bucks for a ShurVend unit. Although, I received nothing but good reviews about their products and people. The first time I bought a D & H Vend Master rear load and that proved to be a horrible mistake. Second time I bought a Vend It from Industrial (also rear load) which also proved to be a bad decision. Both machines were problematic from day one and the real problem and ultimate betrayal was the lack of support from the manufacturers. Finally I replaced both of them with ShurVend. A good decision at last! Had I done this in the beginning I would have saved thousands not to mention the grief and loss of time.

I can tell you one thing for sure. You have never experienced customer service like Jim and his staff will give you if and when you need help. They are good people and dealing with them will be a pleasure.

 

[crewchief97]

Vender

I ordered a new half pint jr rear load this week. I hope it works out ok in my small town. I have a very high number of customers that will wash their car 2 to 3 times a week. They like to keep the wheels shined!! I think if I vend the right products it will do ok.