Real time reviews of locators

[Pitstopped]

Received 5 locations from LRU today. One good restaurant, three nail salons, and a dry cleaner. I am turning down the dry cleaner. They came through with the 5 locations, we will see how good they are and if they relocate the dry cleaner. Over all pretty pleased so far.

[kandyking]

REVIEW OF REPLACEMENTS OF POOR PERFORMING LOCATIONS

Locators can not solely secure quality locations because they can not be familiar with every neighborhood in the world. What they can do, however, is replace any poor performers with better locations and stand behind their warranties. The difference between a disgruntled customer and a customer for life is how you handle a problem. Below is my review of how the locators I have reviewed handled my replacements.

1) LOCATORS R US: As usual, the leader of the pack is Locators R Us who replaced 9 poor performing locations for me in a timely manner with seemingly better locations. They did this without any issue and without any fuss and have secured my business for the foreseeable future.

2) FIRST CHOICE LOCATORS: They also have given me replacements without any issues and have dealt with me in a professional and timely manner

3) EDDIE BAUER LOCATORS:They have agreed to replace a poor performing location and even sent me a replacement but the replacement claims to have never gotten a call and that the point of contact is someone they have never heard of. I chalk it up to mis communication and Eddie Bauer has agreed to find a replacement for the replacement. It has been a little over a week and nothing yet.

This is where the good news stops:

4) KICKSTART LOCATIONS: Owing me quite a few replacements due to poor performers they sent me ONE in 3 months and that 1 was located in New York and I am in Florida. Kickstart continues to be the most over priced and under performing locator in the business in ever stage of the process that doesn't involve taking your money . . . they are quite proficient at that.

5) RISING STAR: It takes a special kind of company to be worse than Kickstart but Rising Star has managed to do it. Every single placement they have given me thus far has been rejected at the door or, at best, within the first few days as soon as an owner arrives. I have been begging for replacements for months and now their emails are bouncing back and their web site is down.

BEWARE OF RISING STAR! That star is falling at a rapid pace. They are seemingly going out of business so don't let them take any of your money with them.

[caserri]

Great follow-up King, thanks!

I've had my suspicions about Rising Star for some time but having never used them, I kept my mouth shut. Its nice to see my thoughts about them weren't far off.

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk 2

[PerformaVending]

I recently spoke with Rising Star locators on behalf of Reliable-Vendor.com (Rick Dendy's site that I write for). This is the email I dispatched to the rest of the Reliable-Vendor.com crew after I got off the phone with them. For anyone who hasn't dealt with them, this is what you can expect:

"I just got off the phone with Rising Star Locators. I'm in the process of convincing them to take an interview with Reliable Vendor, akin to what Ron did a week ago.

This is NOT going to be easy.

The lady I spoke with (Angie Cambron) was particularly hostile, and she's the one in charge. I explained we would like either an interview with them (which took a lot of explaining, she seemed to think I'd be coming down to do it in person so that was weird) or submit a write up about who they are and what they do for us to use. Free advertising for them, in effect.

However, the longer I spoke with her the stranger things became- she wants me to send her a written explanation of "what I want" by snail mail "within 30 days". When I explained I just wanted some basic information, she told me "Well, we already have a website, have you been there?" and then proceeded to give me her locator sales pitch.

After she was done (I chose not to interrupt her), I attempted to explain what it was we're doing at Reliable-Vendor, and how it's basically free advertising for her while we help new vendors find quality businesses in the vending world. I mentioned that I was working with other vendors from VENDiscuss, and she did not like that at all. She had nothing good to say about VENDiscuss, and was rather surprised when I told her she was recommended by some other vendors. She said something like "I'll never go there again." I've got nothing. I thanked her for her time and I'm not even sure where I'm at anymore.

Even though I spoke with her for about half an hour, I don't think she understood what I was talking about, as she kept trying to sell me locating services. I'm not sending her anything in the mail, because that's stupid. Why would she want something hard copy when I've sent her all the details and more by email already (though she mentioned she doesn't check it very often. Yikes!)."

In summation, Rising Star is a faltering operation, and judging by what I experienced, they aren't going anywhere fast. I also noticed that their website disappeared the other day, and I'm sure their service line isn't far behind. If anyone chooses to go with Rising Star, watch out. It's what I'd call a "sinking ship".

[kandyking]

Does anyone have a phone number for Rising Star? I would like to attempt to get a refund and their email address is no longer active.

[caserri]

I mentioned that I was working with other vendors from VENDiscuss, and she did not like that at all. She had nothing good to say about VENDiscuss.

Excellent!

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk 2

[PerformaVending]

Just a minute King, I'll look it up, I think I still have it on file.

Here it is- pulled right from their contact page. Thank goodness for screen-caps!

"Angie Cambron (Operations Manager)

My direct line is (870)203-9005"

Good luck King!

[rdendy]

I used pat-n-bob locators today, was rough, asked for 3 new loc's, took righty & lefty about an hour and a half

[onecent@atime]

REVIEW OF REPLACEMENTS OF POOR PERFORMING LOCATIONS

Locators can not solely secure quality locations because they can not be familiar with every neighborhood in the world. What they can do, however, is replace any poor performers with better locations and stand behind their warranties. The difference between a disgruntled customer and a customer for life is how you handle a problem. Below is my review of how the locators I have reviewed handled my replacements.

1) LOCATORS R US: As usual, the leader of the pack is Locators R Us who replaced 9 poor performing locations for me in a timely manner with seemingly better locations. They did this without any issue and without any fuss and have secured my business for the foreseeable future.

2) FIRST CHOICE LOCATORS: They also have given me replacements without any issues and have dealt with me in a professional and timely manner

3) EDDIE BAUER LOCATORS:They have agreed to replace a poor performing location and even sent me a replacement but the replacement claims to have never gotten a call and that the point of contact is someone they have never heard of. I chalk it up to mis communication and Eddie Bauer has agreed to find a replacement for the replacement. It has been a little over a week and nothing yet.

This is where the good news stops:

4) KICKSTART LOCATIONS: Owing me quite a few replacements due to poor performers they sent me ONE in 3 months and that 1 was located in New York and I am in Florida. Kickstart continues to be the most over priced and under performing locator in the business in ever stage of the process that doesn't involve taking your money . . . they are quite proficient at that.

5) RISING STAR: It takes a special kind of company to be worse than Kickstart but Rising Star has managed to do it. Every single placement they have given me thus far has been rejected at the door or, at best, within the first few days as soon as an owner arrives. I have been begging for replacements for months and now their emails are bouncing back and their web site is down.

BEWARE OF RISING STAR! That star is falling at a rapid pace. They are seemingly going out of business so don't let them take any of your money with them.

Same experience with rising star We have sent them a a few other locators to our lawyers for collections on money we sent and never got a location. As far as underperforming and their promise 3 out of 5 were bad and one place called today because there are going out of business all this is and We prepaid on a supposed special for 6 that we have had to hand over to our lawyer. I appreciate a good locator and the bad business people that run the others makes it hard to trust these folks. My advice is dont let it go beyond 35 days from payment for a refund or a replacement. If they havent placed or replaced a location get your money back if they refuse report them to whom ever you used to pay them with on the 35th day dont wait another second for your money or location.

I used pat-n-bob locators today, was rough, asked for 3 new loc's, took righty & lefty about an hour and a half

Im lost

Just a minute King, I'll look it up, I think I still have it on file.

Here it is- pulled right from their contact page. Thank goodness for screen-caps!

"Angie Cambron (Operations Manager)

My direct line is (870)203-9005"

Good luck King!

She wont answer i have called 7 times in the last 7 days

[rdendy]

Was joking around using old guy slang for my feet. Was just saying self locating is still a viable option , these locators are hit or miss.

[onecent@atime]

Does anyone have a phone number for Rising Star? I would like to attempt to get a refund and their email address is no longer active.

We asked for a refund at the first of the month she stated no refund but she would honor the placements 3 replacements and( 6 advance placements from june 16th) and as of the today the last placement was the 18th of june. She wont answer the line and her emails bounce back.

[PerformaVending]

You guys aren't going to believe this.

I just sent an email to Rising Star asking what was up on behalf of Reliable-Vendor.com, and wondering where they had gone to. I sent it out, and not 5 minutes later- I get a phone call from them.

Here's what I understand- they are switching from Yahoo! Buisness to another format, which is why the website is down. She didn't say when a new website would be up. She said that due to the transfer, some clients haven't been spoken with yet about the changes.

She gave me this email to pass on to "Concerned parties" to contact her: angiek28@yahoo.com

Call her at (870)203-9005 now. She's there RIGHT NOW.

Good luck!

[rdendy]

You guys aren't going to believe this.

I just sent an email to Rising Star asking what was up and wondering where they had gone to. I sent it out, and not 5 minutes later- I get a phone call from them.

Here's what I understand- they are switching from Yahoo! Buisness to another format, which is why the website is down. She didn't say when a new website would be up. She said that due to the transfer, some clients haven't been spoken with yet about the changes.

She gave me this email to pass on to "Concerned parties" to contact her: angiek28@yahoo.com

Call her at (870)203-9005 now. She's there RIGHT NOW.

Good luck!

Way to go performa

[JuJuVending]

Update:

** First Choice: INCREDIBLE WEEK!! Secured two flagship department stores at my area's largest mall -- Macy's & Sears!!!

(There was a thread in a different forum about places to use UTurn Terminators... I now know the answer: Macy's and Sears!!) I went back to both locations for a check-up, and -- for places with this much action, I can definitely see the benefit of doubling up on products, or buying a few bags of potentially polarizing candy. (Anyone know of any good suggestions for polarizing candy? I was thinking Hot Tamales..? LOL... I like 'em, but I'm wondering how everyone else does with them..? Are there some other options you'd recommend..?)

** LRU: Excellent placement in a busy, upscale sports bar... I went back to this location to check-up on it -- and it's on pace to break the $40 threshold in its first month!!! (Granted, it's only been there 10 days, so I'm still crossing my fingers!!)

I plan to take this next week off to help care for a family member who isn't feeling so well... But I'm excited to place my next orders -- with both Gayle and Sonya -- in about 10 days. Thank you, ladies

Edited August 16, 2012 by JuJuVending

[caserri]

Sounds like we now have 2 very good bulk locators

A more accurate statement would be, "sounds like we now have an additional very good bulk locator." I've been singing the praises of First choice since the review I posted in 2007.

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk 2

[Rick]

Now that we've identified First Choice and LRU being head and shoulders above the competition, I'm starting to wonder if we as members could negotiate to pool our contact information and zip codes for more of an "open-ended" relationship with these locators and receive a group discount?

Maybe Casseri could set up a payment option right here on the forums (after negotiating a contract with LRU and 1st Choice) and act as sort of a broker for these locating companies. For instance, I could go into the Vendiscuss store, click on LRU, number of locations, enter the zip codes, etc. and make my 50% payment. Then the locating companies could confirm that I'm part of the Vendiscuss collective.

I for one will be purchasing several locations from both First Choice and LRU in the near future and I can honestly say that this thread is 100% responsible for that. There should be a way to negotiate a discount rate because of that.

[PerformaVending]

Now that we've identified First Choice and LRU being head and shoulders above the competition, I'm starting to wonder if we as members could negotiate to pool our contact information and zip codes for more of an "open-ended" relationship with these locators and receive a group discount?

Maybe Casseri could set up a payment option right here on the forums (after negotiating a contract with LRU and 1st Choice) and act as sort of a broker for these locating companies. For instance, I could go into the Vendiscuss store, click on LRU, number of locations, enter the zip codes, etc. and make my 50% payment. Then the locating companies could confirm that I'm part of the Vendiscuss collective.

I for one will be purchasing several locations from both First Choice and LRU in the near future and I can honestly say that this thread is 100% responsible for that. There should be a way to negotiate a discount rate because of that.

That's an awesome idea!

[allstar2200]

Here is my new experience with Kickstart Really starting to wish I was reading the form before signing up with rob (only 2 more machines left with him at least!)

So this is the best yet......I walk into a mens salon that specializes in older mens haircutting, walk in to speak to the woman and she goes so glad you are here I wanted to have to come in to show you what I told the lady on the phone about the part we have no space

Email to Rob response:

Hey partner! Great to hear from you. My apologies about those that didn't work out.

We go through a check list on the phone when we're with them about things to cover. The biggest issues occur if the contact we spoke with isn't there and at those businesses with foreign workers where there may be a language barrier.

I'll speak with our team though about these. Thanks for letting me know. Have a great one!

Regards,

Rob

Edited August 17, 2012 by allstar2200

[Nate9303]

Here is my new experience with Kickstart Really starting to wish I was reading the form before signing up with rob (only 2 more machines left with him at least!)

So this is the best yet......I walk into a mens salon that specializes in older mens haircutting, walk in to speak to the woman and she goes so glad you are here I wanted to have to come in to show you what I told the lady on the phone about the part we have no space

Email to Rob response:

Hey partner! Great to hear from you. My apologies about those that didn't work out.

We go through a check list on the phone when we're with them about things to cover. The biggest issues occur if the contact we spoke with isn't there and at those businesses with foreign workers where there may be a language barrier.

I'll speak with our team though about these. Thanks for letting me know. Have a great one!

Regards,

Rob

I had the same kind if experience with them. Rob sent me to this detailing place and the owner said something like this: I told the guy on the phone this place would be bad. No one waits here, I have no employees, and I hate candy. But, you can put it here.

So I emailed Rob and he apologized and got us another spot (not a whole lot better sharing space w two other machines). But, why send someone to such a horrible spot? I'll just keep locating my own. Lol!!!

[bbeckl]

I think rising star is trying to drum up biz by calling old customers . Im not sure id use them again , but i must say a phone call from rising star is more than ive got from either LRU or first choice .

Edited August 17, 2012 by bbeckl

[allstar2200]

Hey Everyone! Not to Hijack but have a review from Rising Star today......got a Chinese restaurant location from Angie and I walk into the hall and there is a triple vend....I walk out thinking here we go again she must work for Kickstart by giving junk locations...........and then it hit me, what do I have to lose? I walked back in and was able to secure a rack with only a 20% commission (originally just wanted the machine but I figured 20% would keep her from changing her mind when I deliver) . Angie was able to provide me a good lead A+

Even Kickstart provided 1 good location today - a very large convenience/tobacco store......the other location kickstart provided closed at 4 before i got there =/ Kickstart is now at a C+

[BigRedvender]

I deferentially will sing praises of First Choice 2 excellent locations 2 fair to good locations from the initial look. I will find out on the 27th when I run the route. If they do do stellar then I plan on placing a few more with them. I have a couple of eagle and NW doubles that need to be placed.

Locators are us 1 shared location which was a car Dealership 1 old ladies hair salon I figure I would give it a try left a single with MM's in it. the thrid was a dry cleaner. Declined on Small garage. Still waiting for its replacement. I hope it comes soon.

[JuJuVending]

Now that we've identified First Choice and LRU being head and shoulders above the competition, I'm starting to wonder if we as members could negotiate to pool our contact information and zip codes for more of an "open-ended" relationship with these locators and receive a group discount?

Maybe Casseri could set up a payment option right here on the forums (after negotiating a contract with LRU and 1st Choice) and act as sort of a broker for these locating companies. For instance, I could go into the Vendiscuss store, click on LRU, number of locations, enter the zip codes, etc. and make my 50% payment. Then the locating companies could confirm that I'm part of the Vendiscuss collective.

I for one will be purchasing several locations from both First Choice and LRU in the near future and I can honestly say that this thread is 100% responsible for that. There should be a way to negotiate a discount rate because of that.

I think that this is a great idea, and I'd love to be involved with this!!

Casseri -- is there anything I can do to help facilitate the set-up??

This forum has (already) helped me so much -- and really eased the learning curb.

[Rick]

I think that this is a great idea, and I'd love to be involved with this!!

Casseri -- is there anything I can do to help facilitate the set-up??

This forum has (already) helped me so much -- and really eased the learning curb.

I too, would be willing to help anyway I can.

Sorry for the hijack kandyking - back to the topic at hand...

[JuJuVending]

Dear Caserri, Performa, Rick, and everyone: do you any ideas on negotiating a Vendiscuss membership discount..?

In my opinion, this site provides an invaluable resource -- and I imagine that an endorsement would go a long way toward funneling business LRU and FC. Of course, with that endorsement comes responsibility (for us as well as the companies, to benefit each other.)

I haven't ordered a new location in a couple of weeks -- a family member of mine is sick, and I've been with him as he recovers -- but I plan to order new locations soon. Personally, I'd love to receive a discount -- as well as reward the vending locators that deserve good business.