Source for replacement unitec modem?

[Greg Pack]

Just took over managing a four wash package for a bank until they find a sucker, uhhh, buyer. Wow, these washes had been severely neglected for several years. The places are very dirty and nearly everything is broken in some way, shape or form. I opened the first on Sunday, and managed to get the second location back open late last night.

Anyway, one of the WSII's is missing the modem. As we Unitec users know they are very proud of their equipment. To an extent I can support paying a premium to help keep the doors open, but not when it extends into hundreds of % markup over street price. This is a low income community and credit card usage will be low anyway, payback will be slowwww. I thought I remember seeing a thread a while back about modems being purchased elsewhere for about $100.00. The unanswered question was is there something proprietary or special about the modem, or will an off the shelf unit work?

Any help here would be appreciated!

 

[DavidM]

I don't know too much about this, only what Unitec told me when I recently needed to replace a modem. Their justification of the cost is that it is more than a modem. It contains all of the credit card programming information to allow the machine to accept cards. I don't know if that is all true but I didn't have time to research because my modem died three days before Christmas and I couldn't afford to be without credit card acceptance.
It seems like a lot of money to me for what you get but overall Unitec has been a pretty good company so I grudgingly paid for their modem (actually upgraded to high speed clearing while I was spending money).

 

[mac]

Unitec is pretty clever on this. While it's possible to get a modem for under $100, theirs is more than that. It has proprietary software. I do keep a spare in stock on these.

 

[soapy]

In one of the more recent carwash magazines in the back there was an ad for a company that sells remanufactured carwash electronics. I don't have the ad with me but I know it was a company with 3 initials starting with the letter R. They also will have a booth at the ICA coming up. I am going to get them on my supplier list since it could save big money for me in the future. When I get home tonight I will try to post the name if someone does not beat me to it.

 

[soapy]

try store.rdm.net. They sell rebuilt electronics for the carwash industry.

 

[MikeV]

Unitec has a replacement / swap out service for it's distributors. Ger a replacement for around $150.00 and return the old one as a core. If you don't send in the old one, they will charge you $700.00 .

 

[Tom Thumb]

Last month brought remanf. modem from unitec $ 595.00 , must return my old one for a credit of $700.00 or they will charge me $1495.00 for the remanf.Same price of new unit.
FWIT.

 

[Greg Pack]

Thanks for the input guys. It appears I'm not eligible for a refurbished modem price because the original modem has disappeared. I'm working twelve hour days right now and I've flat run out of spare time to fool with this. A Unitec dealer saw my forum post and sold me a new one for refurbished price. I'm waiting for it to arrive. I'm now awaiting a speaker,keypad,and card reader for the other machines.

I heard someone say this: Unitec could just about give away their machines and still make good money selling parts. I'm beginning to believe that.

 

[bandali]

I know this is an old thread, but wondering if any Unitec owners in the past 2 years have come up with alternate sources for these WashSelect II modems?

Unitec's price is still the same: $1500 new $600 refurb (provided you send in the old one).

I called the modem manufacturer (DataCap Systems) and they confirmed that Unitec does proprietary programming with the unit.

 

[cleaning up mud]

is any other any better? hamilton etc?

 

[mac]

Better is a relative term. There are different ones out there. Hamilton doesn't have all the features of the Wash Select, but in engineering terms, is a more robust design. And parts are cheaper. American Changer makes the Pay Station which is the less expensive of them all. If you are in the market for one take the time to see them in person, with the door opened, and talk to the owners.

 

[Greg Pack]

is any other any better? hamilton etc?

I've owned quite a few WSIIs but just two Hamiltons. I really don't have any trouble out of the WSIIs and they have SO much more built in features that I utilize. Both are expensive to repair when they break. My vote is for the WSIIs.

Can't speak of standard, but I know they have an inexpensive unit out.

American Changer lost me years ago- not looking back.

 

[MEP001]

Hamilton's new HTK has a lot of impressive features including paying out a vac token, upselling a particular option on a wash, giving back bills as change, and it even takes the "PayPass" or whatever they're called RF credit cards.

 

[Greg Pack]

Hamilton's new HTK has a lot of impressive features including paying out a vac token, upselling a particular option on a wash, giving back bills as change, and it even takes the "PayPass" or whatever they're called RF credit cards.

I completely forgot about the HTK. I bet it is nice. Not cheap though....

 

[MEP001]

It's really nice. It makes the GoldLine look like a piece of crap.