Washworld Woes

[GCAS]

I am new to inbay automatics. I bit the bullet and purchased 4 new WW Razers each w/ DRB XTP's in April to replace my old machines as well as to tie into my unlimited system we have in place at our EE. I have heard great things about the Razors, so I was very excited to get these things installed and going. From what I heard, we got the first 4 machines that had the new updated control boxes with new software. Since we had those things installed they have been nothing but headaches and I have lost a lot of money waiting for WW to get their act together and get it figured out. Here is a list of problems we have had and some we still have. 1) The machines came from the FACTORY wired wrong and not according to drawings. It took my installers a full day to figure out the problem and correct the issue. Washworld later acknowledged it, but this could have been avoided. 2) Once installed, the machines had and still has MAJOR software issues. It took our our guys a couple of weeks because WW initially blamed it on the pay stations. DRB had a guy fly out to correct some small issues which was great, but the WW machines would behave erratic and any wash that had a dryer package acted erratically (See video below). 3) The remote would not control the machine correctly. 4) Buy ups don't work. AT ALL. We figured out folks would purchase the buy up and the machine did not have the software programmed to give it to them. Come to find out, WW released these machines WITHOUT fully testing the new controllers. So that makes me and my machines the new test dummies. Thanks WW. Way to get it wrong. The support guys have been working it, I haven't heard a peep from these guys up top for making a decision to release these giant paperweights and use my company as a test bed for their mistakes. My distributor is working hard to get it figured out, but they are not programming experts. Its been about 45 days strong since we got these machines installed and we still got issues.
New buyers BEWARE before you pull the trigger on these machines. Not sure if anyone else has had the same experience. See below videos.

https://youtu.be/CZNCu3RTU6o

https://youtu.be/XzVLBsXje1Q

https://youtu.be/zjY2M-9ql98

 

[DiamondWash]

It says video is unavailable for all 3 links.

 

[GCAS]

Sorry.Try it now.

 

[tdlconceptsllc]

Thanks for sharing the info. Washworld should stand behind there product and pay for it I think. That's a shame you where the test wash and hope they get it right for you. I have heard 1 story of a razor messing up new from the factory couple months ago. Hope it works out there good machines when right. Keep us posted on this

 

[Overachiever]

I'm surprised they haven't already swapped out the new control boxes and or software with the older versions to get it working correctly while they figure out the glitches on there end. As a software engineer myself, first thing we do is roll back to the older stable version if the new version starts costing a client money.

 

[GCAS]

Thanks. We are currently trying to figure out a good solution. Its very frustrating nonetheless. I'll keep you posted.

 

[sparkey]

It doesn't matter if your installer is a software expert or not. Wash world locks the program down so you can't access it. If it wasn't locked down you could troubleshoot it yourself if you knew PLC programming. I am a controls engineer for a very large company. It was really irritating buying one of their machines and not be able to troubleshoot it myself.

 

[mac]

Ah the joys of new and improved ! You would think that when a company does this they would first do a beta test machine somewhere and run it for a few months.

 

[rph9168]

Many companies unfortunately use their first customers that buy the equipment for their beta test. Personally I have always felt it was a risk to buy any new model of equipment until it has been out a while and I can talk to the people that own and operate one. I saves a lot of trouble to wait until all the bugs are worked out.

 

[DiamondWash]

I agree there is ALWAYS going to be bugs in a new system and yes unfortunately the first few customers including myself will/have experienced things not seen in the engineering bay, I don't know how many times I've been on the phone with a company (not WashWorld) tech support dept explaining what the system is doing and they say "it can't or shouldn't be doing that!" so I make videos or take pictures to be the best way of explaining things to them.

 

[water guy]

There is a very reputable Washworld Distributor in New Braunfels Tx that is very good maybe give him a call if your still having problems.

 

[robert roman]

Thanks. We are currently trying to figure out a good solution. Its very frustrating nonetheless. I'll keep you posted.

I find it hard to image that a company such as WW would not disclose such information to you prior to deposit.

If this happened to me, as you have stated, I would be speaking to an attorney rather than disclose information in public forum.

R&D is expensive but necessary. PDQ learned this lesson when it rushed to market to replace 4000.

 

[GCAS]

Ah the joys of new and improved ! You would think that when a company does this they would first do a beta test machine somewhere and run it for a few months.

Exactly. We are making some headway on it. A lot of the bugs are getting worked out as we speak. Still not 100%, but progress is being made.

 

[GCAS]

I find it hard to image that a company such as WW would not disclose such information to you prior to deposit.

If this happened to me, as you have stated, I would be speaking to an attorney rather than disclose information in public forum.

R&D is expensive but necessary. PDQ learned this lesson when it rushed to market to replace 4000.

Don't want to rush going to an attorney as a first resort. Its much easier to work it out in hopes they will do the right thing and make it right. If not, then that's another discussion.

 

[Mike_T]

As a Washworld distributor I can assure you they will do whatever is required to reach a complete and satisfactory resolution.

 

[water guy]

How did everything work out?

 

[GCAS]

How did everything work out?

So far it worked out well. They sent a team out to work through issues and fine tuned my machines. So far so good.