Real time reviews of locators

[kandyking]

A little over a month ago I contracted Kickstart for the placement of 25 machines and it was going slowly so I decided yesterday to add some orders with the other big names I saw reviewed on this site for comparisons sake.

Kickstart: Sent an order for 9 triple head candy and 15 toy on 3/28. They still have 3 triple head candy and 11 toy locations to place for me. The locations thus far are hit or miss but I am reserving judgement. The communication has been great but the results very slow.

Locators R Us: Sent them an order for 10 triple head candy and began working on 4/30. So far nothing

First Choice Locators: Sent them an email request on 4/30 and no response. Called on 5/2 and left a message and still no response. Are these people still opened for business? I can not even place my order thus far. It does not bode well.

Eddie Bauer: Eddie has had great communication thus far and I just placed my order for 6 double head candy tonight.

I will give status updates as anyone provides a location or worthwhile communication.

If you have any other locators that you would like to see in the contest, please let me know. I have a warehouse full of machines that need placement so I will gladly give anyone a try who comes recommended via a member of this site.

[PerformaVending]

I would be very interested to see who comes out on top at the end of this! Thanks for providing the arena to determine who really is the "best" locator service Kandyking!

[kandyking]

Day 2:

Kickstart: sent another toy location that looks quite promising and is now 5 out of 15 for the toy location order I placed on 3/28/12 (1 month and 6 days ago).

First Choice Locators: Finally sent the needed paper work for me to place my order. $50 a machine with no up front fees. I ordered 5 machines and was told I will be placed into the rotation on Monday 5/7/12 (5 days after order was placed).

Eddie Bauer: No further action today but communication last night was great. Heard from them up until 11:30 p.m. They seem promising. I was told I would be placed into the rotation on 5/4/12 (2 days after order was placed)

Locators R Us: No communication yet and still no locations (4 days since initial order)

[dperry]

Day 2:

Kickstart: sent another toy location that looks quite promising and is now 5 out of 15 for the toy location order I placed on 3/28/12 (1 month and 6 days ago).

What kind of toy machines are you placing? How much did they charge you for a toy machine placement? Is the location worthy of a toy machine or just candy/gum?

I ask because I contracted with KS to get some toy locations. The locations they gave me were more suited to candy or gum, yet they charged me twice as much as candy/gum locations.

[caserri]

I contracted with KS to get some toy locations. The locations they gave me were more suited to candy or gum, yet they charged me twice as much as candy/gum locations.

That's why I never understood why anyone would pay extra for that. They call the same places no matter if you buy the candy or toy package. Might as well just buy the cheapest package and decide on your own what should go there.

But then again, I could be wrong. I've never used Rob but knowing him like I do, all of his "options" seem like nothing more than ways to boost his revenue on the same service, partner.

Sent from the pay phone at 34th and Vine using Tapatalk 2

[kandyking]

There is no difference between the toy and candy locations but I negotiated a package in which I paid no more for the toy locations so I gave it a shot. As it stands, I will probably replace the bulk of the toy locations I was given with candy. If you are paying for the upgrade, it is not worth it at all in my opinion.

[kandyking]

Day 3

Kickstart: No Action

Locators R Us: still zero locations and the order was started 5 days ago

First Choice Locators: They said they will not start looking until 5/7/12 so no action yet as expected.

Eddie Bauer: 2 Automotive locations given today (the first day I was placed into the rotation). 2 out of 6 on the first day. Eddie seems to be pulling into the lead. I will place the machines tomorrow and scope out the locations.

Does anyone have any other locators they want me to throw into the mix?

[Donovon]

Are you locating some machine yourself......... If not... I bet if you were you would be in the lead... )

[kandyking]

Day 6: No action over the weekend

Kickstart: No new locations in 4 days

Locators R Us: No locations in 8 days! I sent them an email this morning pointing out that they promised to give me 3 to 5 locations a week. I still have not heard from them

First Choice: Today is the first day they said they would start looking but no action yet.

Eddie Bauer: They sent me 2 locations last Friday (day 3). 1 of the two locations told me that he explained to the guy on the phone that he needed to ask the owner and, as it turns out, the owner said no. So 1 location and 1 wasted trip thus far from Eddie. I wrote Eddie and Franco about what took place about 10 hours ago but, as of now, no response

Things are looking grim in the world of locating. Just to add something to the mix, I have begun locating only when I happen to be at a location patronizing the establishment. It has been 3 days and I am 1 for 4 but I need to grow at a much more rapid pace. Does anyone have any suggestions? I am willing to add other locators to my experiment, just send me their contact info.

[PerformaVending]

Things are looking grim in the world of locating. Just to add something to the mix, I have begun locating only when I happen to be at a location patronizing the establishment. It has been 3 days and I am 1 for 4 but I need to grow at a much more rapid pace. Does anyone have any suggestions? I am willing to add other locators to my experiment, just send me their contact info.

Yikes. Things are not looking good at all! Thanks for keeping us all posted KandyKing, this will doubtlessly serve as a great guide to which company deserves new customers.

[mission vending]

Things are looking grim in the world of locating. Just to add something to the mix, I have begun locating only when I happen to be at a location patronizing the establishment. It has been 3 days and I am 1 for 4 but I need to grow at a much more rapid pace. Does anyone have any suggestions? I am willing to add other locators to my experiment, just send me their contact info.

Just another reason to get serious about self locating.

[dogcow]

Day 6: No action over the weekend

Kickstart: No new locations in 4 days

Locators R Us: No locations in 8 days! I sent them an email this morning pointing out that they promised to give me 3 to 5 locations a week. I still have not heard from them

First Choice: Today is the first day they said they would start looking but no action yet.

Eddie Bauer: They sent me 2 locations last Friday (day 3). 1 of the two locations told me that he explained to the guy on the phone that he needed to ask the owner and, as it turns out, the owner said no. So 1 location and 1 wasted trip thus far from Eddie. I wrote Eddie and Franco about what took place about 10 hours ago but, as of now, no response

Things are looking grim in the world of locating. Just to add something to the mix, I have begun locating only when I happen to be at a location patronizing the establishment. It has been 3 days and I am 1 for 4 but I need to grow at a much more rapid pace. Does anyone have any suggestions? I am willing to add other locators to my experiment, just send me their contact info.

what county are you in, i know some locators in florida

[kandyking]

I deal in Broward and Palm Beach counties right now. I am willing to use ANYONE you send me because the ones I am using now just are not getting the job done.

[kandyking]

Day 7: No action at all today but I did add a new locator into the mix. I welcome a start up and recent poster on vendiscuss to the race, General Vending Services.

Kickstart: No new locations in 5 days. They continue to disappoint. It has been more than 5 weeks since my initial order and less than half of it has been filled.

Locators R Us: No new locations in 9 days and no response to an email sent 48 hours ago. I have no idea how they are still in business.

First Choice: No locations since they started looking 2 days ago

Eddie Bauer: No new locations in 4 days and one of the locations they sent me got rejected by the owner. I emailed them 48 hours ago about the rejected location and still have heard nothing from them. They started out strong but are fading fast.

General Vending Services: I just signed up for 3 locations at the cost of $29.99 each. I have high hopes for General Vending because the other 4 have set the bar so low that these newbies are bound to exceed my expectations.

As always, if you have ANYONE new that you want me to try or ANYONE you have used that you think is worth a look, let me know.

[PerformaVending]

I'm looking forward to the new gang's performance. They could not have arrived at a more perfect time to show off their skills!

[kandyking]

Day 8: Placed a call to Howie Goldstein http://www.vending-locators.com/ and although his prices seemed fair ($40 to $50 a pop with a minimum of 25) for in person locating, he seemed like a bit of a jerk to me so I am not sure I will use him. I will have to mull it over and perhaps give him another call and another shot to put a better foot forward.

Kickstart: No new locations in 6 days. Speed is certainly not their strong suit and the quality of their locations has been a crap shoot

Locators R Us: No new locations in 10 days and no response to an email sent 72 hours ago. This is borderline ridiculous

First Choice: This is the third day they have been looking and landed me 2 locations. Granted the locations are in break rooms but they are in break rooms of very large stores in the mall with many employees so I will give it a shot. Those machines will be placed tomorrow.

Eddie Bauer: No new locations in 5 days and no response to a complaint that I sent them 3 days ago.

General Vending Services: I just signed up 24 hours ago but thus far the communication has been fast and professional. Lets see how they deliver. I am really rooting for them because this industry needs a good locator.

As always, if you have ANYONE new that you want me to try or ANYONE you have used that you think is worth a look, let me know.

[rdendy]

First Choice: This is the third day they have been looking and landed me 2 locations. Granted the locations are in break rooms but they are in break rooms of very large stores in the mall with many employees so I will give it a shot. Those machines will be placed tomorrow.

First Choice also got me a couple of breakroom locations in large mall stores. Be sure to use chocolate, both stores requested it as they are mostly female and and when I service the PMM are almost always empty with very little use on anything else I have tried. I am going to a MM & PMM only next time I service.

[kandyking]

Thanks for the tip. What do you average from these locations?

[rdendy]

Thanks for the tip. What do you average from these locations?

Well the averages aren't great tbh. One is around $16 for a double, or 8 a head, so far but they also have 2 full line snack machines in their break room. They also didn't request or have a chocolate offering until my last service because the manager had requested skittles but no one was eating them.I am pulling it and relocating if it's the same average next service. The other one averages $40 for a double, but that's almost all in PMM.

[GW]

you better watch the first choice locations every week, I have a dud I pulled and they will not replace the location, plus piss poor communication, EPIC FAIL.

[rdendy]

you better watch the first choice locations every week, I have a dud I pulled and they will not replace the location, plus piss poor communication, EPIC FAIL.

I didn't have that experience with them but then I didn't ask for a new location and it's past the date to do so. The communicated with me and had my order of 3 locations in 2 days after I signed and returned the contract. I hate you had such a bad experience but I am unsure if it's typical.

[mission vending]

I didn't have that experience with them but then I didn't ask for a new location and it's past the date to do so. The communicated with me and had my order of 3 locations in 2 days after I signed and returned the contract. I hate you had such a bad experience but I am unsure if it's typical.

From reading previous experiences it seems that many locators are very inconsistent in how they deal with their customers.

[kandyking]

Day 9: I added a couple of locations, have one waiting and got a couple of excuses.

Kickstart: No new locations in 1 week. The kickstart slide to the bottom of the pile continues. Rob send an email response saying "Hey partner! Great to hear from you. We're working on them as we speak. My apologies for the delay." Sadly, his apologies do not magically turn into quarters in the machines I have sitting in my warehouse. 11 out of 24 placed in a month and a half. Kick Start really is not living up to it's reputation.

Locators R Us: No locations in 11 days but FINALLY a response to my many emails sent beginning 4 days ago.

"Sorry we are having some issues here right now since there are a lot of vendors who haven't sent us reports and payments yet (not to mention our email messed up earlier this week). Thus compromising our operation especially our internet phone because we need to pay those. As a small locating company, we just rely on our client's prompt report and payment. Anyway, we are trying to fix this and hoping we can get back on track next week."

It was not encouraging but at least it was honest. Every business hits obstacles from time to time. They were honest about it and if they rebound next week to send good locations quickly, I will give them another look.

First Choice: I placed machines at the 2 break rooms they got me yesterday. One seems VERY promising and the other had 3 other machines there. I still left my machine there because the others seemed empty and in a much worse condition than mine is in. First Choice is living up to their name thus far. 2 out of 5 locations placed. These guys are well on their way to a re-order.

Eddie Bauer: Sent a new location today. It is a Tailor in a strip plaza and really does not seem too promising but it is a new location. Thus far Eddie Bauer has provided 3 out of 6 but 1 was rejected by the owner so the current count is 2 out of 6. Franco also FINALLY replied to my email and said he will replace the rejected location.

General Vending Services: It has only been 2 days but nothing yet.

As always, if you have ANYONE new that you want me to try or ANYONE you have used that you think is worth a look, let me know.

[kandyking]

I just added Rising Star Locators to the mix with 5 triple head candy machines for $35.00 a piece paid after the location is found. They will be added to tomorrows report.

[PerformaVending]

Wow- I really thought someone would have pulled ahead by now. Again, thank you KandyKing for providing the perfect arena for the locators to battle it out!