Machine unpluged

[eagle90301]

yesterday was an interesting day. Went up to service my machine yesterday afternoon. The machine was unplugged and had 2 out of order signs on it. I asked the first staff member I saw what was wrong with it their answer everything is getting stuck and people kept using it after they put the signs on it so the unplugged it. A total of about things were sold I asked why they did not call the number on the machine to tell me about the problem I got a blank stare I chose to plug it in throw a few things into it and leave. did not adjust anything figured it was better to leave than to start telling. I called up one of my contacts and told him the problem he said he would look into it 5 min later he called me back and i continued to voice my displeasure with the staff I explained that maybe a formal memo needed to come out to explain how to call about problems with the vending machine and to reiterate that no staff member should EVER UNPLUG MY MACHINE WITHOUT MY SAY period no questions asked he agreed and understood how mad i was ( I have had this # for over a year posted on the vending machine)

This by the way was the best day of the year so far 95*+ weather with my machine in the building leading to the pool

Then I have the "good" staff that call me ASAP when I am out of several items or something happens with the machine no matter how small the problem. This staff member has aploigised several times for calling every time I tell them no problem I rather you call and it be nothing than you not call and have major problems.

Sorry to all those who read my rant but I had to vent and get it off my chest

[mission vending]

yesterday was an interesting day. Went up to service my machine yesterday afternoon. The machine was unplugged and had 2 out of order signs on it. I asked the first staff member I saw what was wrong with it their answer everything is getting stuck and people kept using it after they put the signs on it so the unplugged it. A total of about things were sold I asked why they did not call the number on the machine to tell me about the problem I got a blank stare I chose to plug it in throw a few things into it and leave. did not adjust anything figured it was better to leave than to start telling. I called up one of my contacts and told him the problem he said he would look into it 5 min later he called me back and i continued to voice my displeasure with the staff I explained that maybe a formal memo needed to come out to explain how to call about problems with the vending machine and to reiterate that no staff member should EVER UNPLUG MY MACHINE WITHOUT MY SAY period no questions asked he agreed and understood how mad i was ( I have had this # for over a year posted on the vending machine)

This by the way was the best day of the year so far 95*+ weather with my machine in the building leading to the pool

Then I have the "good" staff that call me ASAP when I am out of several items or something happens with the machine no matter how small the problem. This staff member has aploigised several times for calling every time I tell them no problem I rather you call and it be nothing than you not call and have major problems.

Sorry to all those who read my rant but I had to vent and get it off my chest

Well this is strictly my opinion but I think you way overreacted to the situation. It doesn't matter how hard you try you will never get all your customers "trained" to call you if there is a problem. One thing to remember is that these let you into THEIR business to provide a service and make money off of them. Again my opinion, but you were lucky that the guy didn't tell you to come pick up your machine when you "continued to voice your displeasure". No harm comes to a machine when you unplug it, its possible that something MIGHT happen when it gets plugged back in without turning off the interior power switch but that is a very rare occurrence. I've only seen it happen once that I can recall. So the only thing you "lost" is some sales, no big deal, these things happen from time to time and there is nothing you can do about it.

I've said it before, this is a service industry and by definition you WILL eventually lose every account that you have, most of the time by no fault of your own so you've got to grow faster than your attrition rate in order to survive long term. Why potentially PO your contact by going postal on him about some fool taking it upon himself to unplug your machine? Just a thought.

[eagle90301]

Well this is strictly my opinion but I think you way overreacted to the situation. It doesn't matter how hard you try you will never get all your customers "trained" to call you if there is a problem. One thing to remember is that these let you into THEIR business to provide a service and make money off of them. Again my opinion, but you were lucky that the guy didn't tell you to come pick up your machine when you "continued to voice your displeasure". No harm comes to a machine when you unplug it, its possible that something MIGHT happen when it gets plugged back in without turning off the interior power switch but that is a very rare occurrence. I've only seen it happen once that I can recall. So the only thing you "lost" is some sales, no big deal, these things happen from time to time and there is nothing you can do about it.

I've said it before, this is a service industry and by definition you WILL eventually lose every account that you have, most of the time by no fault of your own so you've got to grow faster than your attrition rate in order to survive long term. Why potentially PO your contact by going postal on him about some fool taking it upon himself to unplug your machine? Just a thought.

mission

thanks for your input I understand where you are coming from and somewhat agree with you. This machine is my baby It is my only one. maybe that is why I reacted the way I did. The machine used to belong to my contact at the building. I would help him when needed. I have a weird relationship with this account. I used to work for them and as a lifeguard for another company that they hired and took care of the machine. I no longer work at the building at all except for the vending machine. My contact ("Old partner" we still set along good) did not want the machine and sold it to me about 2 years ago. The machine does about $10.00 a week in the winter when the pool is not open. the summer is the time i make my money if the staff take the machine out of order every other day and are not accountable i loose my money.I paied money at the begining of this year to be able to have the machine in the building.(I know bad idea pay based on the sales every month insted but i know what the machine should make. the machine is a combo machine I fill every day sometimes twice a day in the summer) I had problems in the past and wanted to head them off now.

Where do you usually find the internal switches to turn off the machine?

now for my funny day today went in to service the machine and settle up the refund log . after we were all done the person working tells me the machine was acting weird not counting money rightr so i open up the machine pull out the coin mech and find 18 pennies in there with about 10.00 in other US coin jammed in and a few forign coins. I hate it because it puts the machine O.O.S but in a way I like finding the forign coins or the half dollars

thank you again mission for your input on my post i respect what you have to say

[mission vending]

mission

thanks for your input I understand where you are coming from and somewhat agree with you. This machine is my baby It is my only one. maybe that is why I reacted the way I did. The machine used to belong to my contact at the building. I would help him when needed. I have a weird relationship with this account. I used to work for them and as a lifeguard for another company that they hired and took care of the machine. I no longer work at the building at all except for the vending machine. My contact ("Old partner" we still set along good) did not want the machine and sold it to me about 2 years ago. The machine does about $10.00 a week in the winter when the pool is not open. the summer is the time i make my money if the staff take the machine out of order every other day and are not accountable i loose my money.I paied money at the begining of this year to be able to have the machine in the building.(I know bad idea pay based on the sales every month insted but i know what the machine should make. the machine is a combo machine I fill every day sometimes twice a day in the summer) I had problems in the past and wanted to head them off now.

Where do you usually find the internal switches to turn off the machine?

now for my funny day today went in to service the machine and settle up the refund log . after we were all done the person working tells me the machine was acting weird not counting money rightr so i open up the machine pull out the coin mech and find 18 pennies in there with about 10.00 in other US coin jammed in and a few forign coins. I hate it because it puts the machine O.O.S but in a way I like finding the forign coins or the half dollars

thank you again mission for your input on my post i respect what you have to say

Your right that is an unusual relationship. :-\

I can certainly relate to the feeling about it being your baby. It was one those hard learned lessons for me that even though it was my baby its just another vending machine to everyone else and the only they cared about was that it had their Cheetos in it and worked properly.

One of those old country sayings comes to mind... its easier to catch a bunch of flies with honey than with vinegar. By that I mean instead of going off on the people that put money in the machine when they unplug it try something different. When you get a call about O.O.S. get the persons name and when you get to the location find that person, give them a free soda and profuse thanks for taking the time to let you know there is a problem. Over time they will learn that if they pay attention and call you they get a freebie. IMO a much better way to build a relationship and get them to help you out.

[Shaughn]

Your right that is an unusual relationship. :-\

I can certainly relate to the feeling about it being your baby. It was one those hard learned lessons for me that even though it was my baby its just another vending machine to everyone else and the only they cared about was that it had their Cheetos in it and worked properly.

One of those old country sayings comes to mind... its easier to catch a bunch of flies with honey than with vinegar. By that I mean instead of going off on the people that put money in the machine when they unplug it try something different. When you get a call about O.O.S. get the persons name and when you get to the location find that person, give them a free soda and profuse thanks for taking the time to let you know there is a problem. Over time they will learn that if they pay attention and call you they get a freebie. IMO a much better way to build a relationship and get them to help you out.

One of the snags of resorts is that front desk staff rotate fairly regularly, You build up a relationship via free sodas and then they move on and the new guy couldnt give a toss about your machine. he gets a complaint and he turns it off. or he slaps an out of order sign it because some bozo tries his luck and complains he lost his money.

If the "turning off the power thing" keeps on happening and is stressing you out ands costing you sales, then you might want to look at getting a monitoring device that will send you an sms if somebody turns the power off. They arent that expensive and can live inside the vendor. Buy a prepaid data card with some airtime and it will last you for ages. you get the sms and you call them up and ask whats going on. It will scare the hell out of the clerk if you are already holding on the phone for him by the time he gets back to the front desk from turning your machine off. :-)