6.40 Test and Conclusions (Problems)

[RollerBall]

Dale, I've stayed with 6.39 up to now because it's pretty stable but now that 6.40 is beginning to settle down I decided to give it a try. This is what I've found so far.

1. I've been using serial printers (CBM, Epson, Star) without problems save for one minor printing glitch that I can live with (CR missing after printing purchase total) for a very long time so I know they work fine. Howver, gift cards print on serial printers in a totally unformatted way - in particular with no CRs at all.

2. Also because the gift card print is totally unformatted, it does not print the footer properly, which is left in the printer and then prints out on the top of the next receipt.

3. Even on a standard receipt which printed fine in 6.39 in parallel and serial, the 'Remaining Gift Card Value' bit that has been added has no trailing CR so the receipt messes up.

4. I do not understand how you are trying to make gift cards work. When you sell a gift card you want to know that you have done, what went into the till, what value was put onto the gift card and what the total gift card balance is as a result. Wouldn't it be possible to create an entry in the stock file, say, that is the total running gift card balance but that isn't included in regular stock file printouts and in the total value of the stock file? It would probably be the easiest way to do it without creating another data file.

5. Then when a gift card is redeemed, the system is very weird. You press + to close the sale and the payment options come up, including gift cards. If the customer wants to pay by gift card, I think that then you sould be forced to redeem all or part of the gift card first before any other payment method (possibly a Y/N question and enter the amount to come off the card if not the full card value). Once you enter the amount paid by gift card it should then show the amount being paid from the gift card and the remaining balance which you should then be able to pay by any of the other methods. In fact what happens is that the system goes into a totally irrelevant 'Check Payment' routine. If you hit the Esc key twice (which you should not have to do) it goes back to the kind of screen I've just described but then it shows the full purchase total as still being due. It's very messy even though in the end the numbers seem to compute correctly.

6. I think it's essential to have an entry on the main menu to find the value left on any gift card. If a customer walks up with a gift card and asks for that figure there's no way of telling them even though the figure is being held by the system.

7. When you close the till you have figures for the value of gift cards sold and redeemed. Good - you can give that to your accountant who will be very happy. However, I think you definitely need to have a figure for the total running gift card balance (as mentioned above) otherwise you have absolutely no way of reconciling your bank account which is a total break from earlier versions.

Well there you go. Hope this is helpful. As things go I couldn't use the gift card system although if it was working as I've described above it would be an excellent add-on. It's nearly there but I think not quite.

EDIT

How strange - I added an edit a half hour ago and now it's vanished.

Anyway, I found the Gift Card report that shows the value left on any card so that's fine, thanks. But the payment thing is a problem. I just did a sale for less than the value of a gift card, paid for it by gift card and then it still went into the 'Check payment' routine. After hitting Esc twice, got a screen showing that payment had been made but then had to put in a zero payment by another method to get out of the loop.

Also, when you sell a gift card, the date on the gift card portion of the receipt doesn't format as per posconfg - it still shows the (illogical for us) US format although the date format on the receipt itself is OK.

[Andrew]

Quick note regarding your edit not showing up. Are you sure you clicked "Submit" and not "Save"? Save on this new version of phpBB just saves your post as a draft and doesn't publish the post.

[RollerBall]

Could easily have been something as simple as that Andrew. When you get to a certain age you even amaze yourself with some of the daft things you do sometimes.

Don't laugh ..... it'll happen to you one day

[RollerBall]

Any feedback on this one Dale? I think what's needed is as follows.

1. As on current screen, gift card payment option.
2. If selected, value on card comes up. Then you are asked how much of the total you want to pay from the card with a 'press Fxx' for whole card value if the card value is <= bill total
3. Amount paid from card is then entered and deducted from the total owed, new total is shown and next payment option is selected.
4. Sale then completed in the usual way and receipt printed with gift card line shown as at present in 6.40

If the value of the card is exhausted the sales person should then take it back to prevent the customer coming back with a dead card and claiming the shop has 'lost' an outsanding amount.

5. Total sales shown in closing report with value of gift cards sold in the session and the amount taken from previously sold gift cards against sales in the session.
6. If possible, new running total of gift card balance, although that's not essential. In fact on second thoughts, best if this is obtainable from a new daily report - opening gift card balance, gift cards sold, gift cards redeemed, closing gift card balance.

The 6.40 system is pretty close to this I think but not quite.

[daleadmin]

I am thinking on this. Sort of

[RollerBall]

I am thinking on this. Sort of

Know the feeling. Sums up my whole life really.....