Unitec Customer Service

[splashwash28]

I have purchased my last equipment from Unitec. Had a break-in over the weekend and need parts. Called them direct and was told I can't purchase because I am not a distributor. However for a $75 per month fee I can be a preferred operator and then buy parts. Are you serious? I had a distributor who recently went to work for one of the big wash manufactures. And I need no help with installing or getting up and running. I'm fine paying the exorbitant costs of their parts. But not with their service. And yes I will buy temporarily through another distributor. Although they are over 100 miles away. Just hope I don't truly need service before I get my equipment replaced.

In hindsight I wish I still had Hamilton equipment. So much easier to deal with.

 

[Eugene]

They are protecting there distributors . That is what they should do. I sell other things at some of my other businesses and will not sell for someone that under cuts me by selling direct . If they sell direct they do not need distributors then you do not get service because there is no one willing to do it.

 

[splashwash28]

They are protecting there distributors . That is what they should do. I sell other things at some of my other businesses and will not sell for someone that under cuts me by selling direct . If they sell direct they do not need distributors then you do not get service because there is no one willing to do it.

I understand. Just sell it to me at or above retail. Or one of you distributors set up a site where we can buy parts on line. I just need my equipment up and running. And if they are protecting you. Why can I pay a fee and buy direct?

 

[chaz]

Sounds like u can pay a (monthly) fee and buy direct.

I’m a Hamilton guy. Not the cheapest....but great tech and customer service. They do sell replacement parts direct and they will provide service to end users. This is huge cause it can save time especially for critical parts. They do charge a reduced price to their distributors and they can choose to pass on some savings. I believe new equipment only sells through the distributors.

 

[Greg Pack]

I've had great luck with my wash selects. They are as, or even more reliable than my Hamiltons. when the Hamilton failed to upload a CC batch the CC system would lock up until I plugged a programmer into it and did a manual upload. That was extremely frustrating. When I installed crytopay the problem went away. The wash selects just work, day in and day out for Months or even Years at a time. I'm hesitant to pay for tech support because I need it so rarely. I think I've called tech support call twice since they started their little program a few years ago-once to get answers on a non functioning coin mech and another time to diagnose a bad power supply. I can understand and appreciate to a certain extent their protection of distributors, but my distributor is a four hour drive away. It cost me $500 for them to show up on my property before they open their toolbox, and I'd be lucky to get them to show up within a week. So I'm pretty much on my own.

Anyway, its not practical to call and set up an appointment when you have cars waiting to wash and you machine is down and with no call in tech support for the end user it is very difficult for me to consider buying another unitec product. I'm IBA, and am probably small potatoes anyway. Everyone on the supplier side recognizes the money is in the express market with the investor types that don't mind shelling out money for support subscriptions.

 

[pgrzes]

They are protecting there distributors . That is what they should do. I sell other things at some of my other businesses and will not sell for someone that under cuts me by selling direct . If they sell direct they do not need distributors then you do not get service because there is no one willing to do it.

Eugene,
I fully understand protecting their distributors. But what about the customers? Washworld is doing the same thing! What happens when there are no "GOOD, DEPENDABLE, HONEST, TRUSTWORTHY" distributors in your area? Unitechs tech support is horrific. go online and make an appointment? First available appointment is 5 days away? How is that good for the customer that spent 30k on a machine and there is not even a distributor around that you can depend on? My Hamilton that I bought used years ago if I have a problem on a weekend I can call support anytime and get a human. My Unitech I am screwed, could be for days. I like my portal, but I wish I understood more about it. Maybe I can become the distributor in the area? Not sure I would want to take the abuse that I know I would receive, at least in my area as I know most of the guys that have the machines. Wish I spent the few thousand extra for the Hamilton for the support team.

 

[slash007]

I agree, Unitec support setup is horrendous. I used to be able to call and get someone on the phone in the early days, but not anymore. I have to Portals and on one the hard drive dies a miniumum of once per year. They can never figure out the cause and I've purchased at least 6-7 of them so far. It's so bad that I shell out the extra $350 for a backup to put in when the other fails, but then I lose the warranty since it ends up failing after the year is up since it sat for a few months unused. Beats having to get somone on the phone when the machine is down. At least email use to be reliable, but I emailed them last week about several errors I've been getting, and still no human response. Guess they want me to pay for that too.

 

[MEP001]

Why are the hard drives failing? Are they just ordinary off-the-shelf drives? Any idea if it's heat or if they're working themselves to death? You ought to be able to clone the data to a better quality drive, but you might have to have someone autopsy a dead one first.

 

[slash007]

No idea why they fail. I have 2 units. The main(server) unit seems to be ok, but my secondary unit is the one that eats drives. After it first failed, by instinct was to copy the drive to one I purchase myself. The drive was locked and I was never able to figure out how to clone it. They have switched drive brands over the years and I have the same issue in the same machine, so it can't be the drive itself. Unfortunately it's so random no one can figure out the root cause. I know that it is usually proceeded by rando i/o errors, but other than that, nothing else that gives any clues. I've gotten several of those errors the past couple of weeks, so it's about to die again soon. Here is an example. I get them for almost every device connected, like the card reader, coin acceptor etc.

Description: Display IO error

Site: SCW (SCWNC)

Category: DeviceFault

Date/Time: 7/16/2020 3:11:33 PM

Additional Data: -1

Device: FoamBrite

Peripheral: DiscreteIO (3)