EPOS Till System and consumer rights

lisaallsop

I was looking for a till system for my shop, and was given the hard sell from Card-Saver (www.card-saver.co.uk) who I already had an account with for our card reader. After about 3 weeks of repeated phone calls (sometimes several a day-can I request them to look at the call record?) I agreed to seeing an online demo and subsequently agreed to having one installed and second one later in the year when we anticipated opening a cafe. This was mid-January. This was a verbal 'special price form my manager but only for the next 24 hours' deal with nothing in writing with costings and discounts. Since then the plans for the cafe have fallen through thanks to the current situation and I no longer need the second till.

I had been asked to provide a complete stock list and prices so the engineer could add this before installation, however after repeated requests from me they agreed for me to send a partial list so I could see how it worked and that I could do this myself as and when I had time. By now it was mid February. 

The terminal was installed on 3rd March. The engineer was unhappy as it hadn't been configured correctly, it took him 2 hours longer to install than usual and he was unable to show me more than the switch on and of  basics. I had been invoiced for a full month (February) before it was installed.

Since that date there have been so many issues about things not working properly, and basic functions that I should have been shown at the start have taken weeks to resolve, and even longer once lockdown was implemented. Some examples include: the 'back office' system consistently fails to upload any data; I am unable to take payment for card transactions over the phone selecting 'card payment' on the till (customer has to be present) so I have to input the sale as cash and do a manual card payment which goes straight to my bank account rather than through the back office.  

I have spoken to engineers from the manufacturing company Bleep who have expressed their frustration that Card Saver have not been able to resolve the issues I was experiencing and that it reflected badly on their product. The usual scenario is that Card Saver have to contact Bleep, then they either call me back or Bleep have to.

I have sent a full complaint to Card Saver, and the response, after two weeks, has been that I had a 90 minute conference call with training: i.e a chat (certainly not 90 minutes long) with tech support on 15th March after my repeated requests for help; and that I chose to insert product data myself, which is not part of the complaint as I asked to do this as I would need to be able to as our stock changes constantly. My complaint was that the method of inputting the data had not been clearly explained to me and a hastily put-together (read inaccurate) instruction sheet was eventually sent, and there continued to be issues with the system updating.

I have asked for my contract to be terminated. I don't think this is unreasonable but was wondering what my consumer rights are in this situation. 

Thanks in advance!

Aylesbury_Duck

I don't think you have any because this is a business contract, not a consumer one. You might get more useful help from a business forum.

lisaallsop

Ah ok ... I thought it might be the same in terms of rights. Thanks!

Aylesbury_Duck

You could try your local Chamber of Commerce? They may be able to advise or point you to a suitable resource. 

lisaallsop

Thank you! 

eddddy

No consumer rights as it was a business contract.  But you can still rely on contract law.

So, for example, if there's been a serious breach of contract, or a serious misrepresentation, you might be able to terminate the contract.

I'm not particularly familiar with the retail technology industry, but it seems strange to enter into a contract for something as complex as an EPOS system without a written contract; data sheets explaining the system's features; user guides; and written confirmation that the EPOS system can do what you require. 

Supersonos

lisaallsop said:

I was looking for a till system for my shop, 

It amazes me that someone who owns a shop doesn't understand the difference between a consumer purchase and a B2B purchase.

Manxman_in_exile

Why don't you try the small business and charities board?

lisaallsop

Thanks eddddy  I had expected something like this to be the case, it's been a series of unexpected problems right from the start; and Supersonos not terribly helpful and I thought this was a place to ask questions without being judged? I obviously realised this was a business agreement however I was simply asking for advice. Good luck with your judgemental attitude.
I'll have a look, thanks Manxman_in_exile, I haven't had to use the forum here before so after having a look thought this was the best place to start!

Supersonos

lisaallsop said:

 Good luck with your judgemental attitude.

Thanks!  And good luck with your shop.

lisaallsop

We're doing fine, 4 years in...