Competitive situations, cost cutting demands from restaurateurs and
playing games with quotes to customers have placed some restaurants in
a potentially bad situation. Warranties on point of sale hardware are
not what they were in recent years and to assume that they are places
your restaurant in a bad position.

A large number of point of sale dealers and Internet sites are passing
the full manufacturer’s warranty to the end user. In most cases this
means that you get a 3-year warranty on the entire system. You are
covered for parts and labor for 3 full years. About the only thing
that is not covered is abuse, lightning strikes and other “Acts of
God”.

It wasn’t that long ago that a point of sale system came with a
warranty that covered you for 90 days to at most a year. Different
companies played with these numbers, jockeying for position to gain
your favor. All the time, they were getting the 3-year warranty from
the manufacturer and only passing the 90 day to a year to you.

Through the demands of competition and other forces point of sale
companies began passing the manufacturer warranty to restaurants.
Before they knew it restaurant owners had just placed their
restaurants in the position of being without their terminal for
several days, if not a week or more.

Manufacturer warranty means that the manufacturer or one of their
warranty repair centers is going to repair the product and ship it
back. This requires you to ship the product to the repair center,
have it repaired and then they will ship it back to you. This does
NOT mean that you get loaner equipment while yours is being repaired.

Remember that 90 day to a year warranty that the dealer used to
offer? That warranty usually included loaner equipment for you to use
while yours was being repaired. Once called, the dealer would send a
technician out to your restaurant and bring you loaner equipment.
They would take the broken piece back, send it off for repair and then
come back out to exchange it once it was repaired.

Big difference, especially if you are a small operator with only a
couple of terminals. Even though it may sound better to have a 3-year
manufacturer warranty it may not be as good as you think.

With the dealer warranty the restaurant did not suffer a large amount
of down time but the dealer was making trips, paying for shipping and
loosing money. With the rising cost of doing business most dealers do
not offer the on-site warranty as their standard offering any longer.

There are manufacturers and dealers who are now offering “Hot Swap”
plans that give you the option of upgrading your warranty to include
on-site and loaner equipment. Plans range from $200 per terminal per
year and up.

With regard to warranties do not assume anything. Ask. You need to
know the exact position that you are placing yourself in with regard
to warranty repairs. Just because you are buying from a local dealer
does not mean that they are going to run out a 10:00 PM on a Saturday
and bring you a loaner printer. Chances are, they will not without an
additional charge.

My POS

www.MyPosPrinter.com
www.MyPosTerminal.com