Roz
Well-known member
Has anyone installed the Hamilton Goldline IDTech credit card reader with the retrofit doors? Would love to compare notes with anyone who has the GL IDTech reader (offline via phone).
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Hamilton Goldline IDTech upgrade doors
- Thread starter Roz
- Start date
soonermajic
Well-known member
What is that?
Roz
Well-known member
You can upgrade an existing Goldline that just has a Magstripe swiper for a credit card reader to a new reader that can accept the chip via insert, swipe, or tap. IDTech makes the reader. It looks nice but requires the customer to press a green button prior to use. Can also accept all forms of tap to pay. That said I would wait until the bugs in the system have been exorcised.
soonermajic
Well-known member
why not just do Cryptopay & CryptoTap? That's what I did, & it works absolutely flawless!
Roz
Well-known member
In hindsight that would have been something to seriously consider. Since Hamilton does not support use of CryptoPay devices I wanted to go with their solution as we have other issue with their equipment now and then and did not want finger pointing.
do you have a tap plus?
Or tap with swiper?
did you just add the CryptoPay or buy a new door from KR? We have CryptoPay on everything else so that would have been a better approach.
do you have a tap plus?
Or tap with swiper?
did you just add the CryptoPay or buy a new door from KR? We have CryptoPay on everything else so that would have been a better approach.
soonermajic
Well-known member
I have Cryptopay swiper & a seperate Tap. Not the Plus version.
I bought the retro kit from KR. It's not a new door, just sticker.
I bought the retro kit from KR. It's not a new door, just sticker.
Roz
Well-known member
I am familiar with CryptoPay for my vacs and bays. I am giving it some serious consideration as the IDTech readers are proving to be a bear to get to work properly on a consistent basis. CryptoPay now offers a Tap Plus version but you need to ask for it from KR as it is not currently listed in their website. Sounds like a super easy install having spoken with their tech support. Wish they supported the graphic display but that might just be a minor hit.
Roz
Well-known member
I doubt it is the reader. It’s their controller software has undocumented features.
it will reject credit card use and disable the bill acceptor until I physically reboot the GL. Happens randomly. I suspect the cause is a customer trying to use the reader without going through the exact proper sequence or an ever so brief internet outage (such that not perceptible by users). System is not resetting properly or handling error states properly.
A new controller version is supposed to be released tomorrow so hopefully a solution on hand. We shall see.
I had a brand new commander that had this issue. It ended up being the reader. It would not disable the bill acceptor though but my machine was a commander. It would work for 10 cards in a row then stop working, Got it replaced and have not had an issue since. Im assuming you still have warranty. I would get it replaced and if that does not solve it go for the controller next for sure.
Roz
Well-known member
Interesting. Short (now) funny story that’s related.
So I finally convince Hamilton to replace the readers as these doors are brand new.
I get the two readers and swap them out. The replacements were reconditioned readers as you could tell that someone had used them before. They seem to be ready to work out of the box so I test them with my credit card. The charge is credited to the previous owner of the readers. Clearly the work on them was minor or not at all. I quickly track down the previous owner who is a very nice guy. He told me of his challenges with the commanders. I will not rehash them here but now things are smooth for the last month for him. Let’s just say that he had a lot more patience or tolerance than me with respect to the time frame for a solution.
Readers now reprogrammed for my wash but that process is flawed too as it relies upon our friends at WorldPay who are super easy to reach. The new readers have the same issues so I finally convinced the powers that be that the bugs are in the error handling code in the controller software.
Being an engineer and camping out at my wash for a solid two weeks I gave them a fortune of data, log files, and observations.
Finally at 4PM yesterday we receive and upload the latest controller software 1.4.4 which appears to have fixed the issues. I do not want to jinx us but I tried all the cases and it seems to have much better error handling such that reader does not take down the GL station. I seriously doubt the issues were ever in the readers as all they do is read a chip, mag stripe, or tap WiFi. The brains are the controller and it was not being smart in the way it handles any customer who does not follow the precise way to make a purchase. Select wash first, press pay with credit card next, then use the reader. MANY or most customers do not read anything so they were inserting the credit card before any selection made or cc button pushed. They would then leave the wash in frustration and leave the system in a locked state until I could hard reboot it. New sw seems to have figured out how to handle the various paths a customer can take and handles them properly.
Bottom line is to check your Hamilton for controller upgrades available as they do not send out notices like software companies that an upgrade with fixes is available. They like to wait until someone has a problem before mentioning the new SW. Hope we can get back to just washing cars now as I am mentally exhausted.
So I finally convince Hamilton to replace the readers as these doors are brand new.
I get the two readers and swap them out. The replacements were reconditioned readers as you could tell that someone had used them before. They seem to be ready to work out of the box so I test them with my credit card. The charge is credited to the previous owner of the readers. Clearly the work on them was minor or not at all. I quickly track down the previous owner who is a very nice guy. He told me of his challenges with the commanders. I will not rehash them here but now things are smooth for the last month for him. Let’s just say that he had a lot more patience or tolerance than me with respect to the time frame for a solution.
Readers now reprogrammed for my wash but that process is flawed too as it relies upon our friends at WorldPay who are super easy to reach. The new readers have the same issues so I finally convinced the powers that be that the bugs are in the error handling code in the controller software.
Being an engineer and camping out at my wash for a solid two weeks I gave them a fortune of data, log files, and observations.
Finally at 4PM yesterday we receive and upload the latest controller software 1.4.4 which appears to have fixed the issues. I do not want to jinx us but I tried all the cases and it seems to have much better error handling such that reader does not take down the GL station. I seriously doubt the issues were ever in the readers as all they do is read a chip, mag stripe, or tap WiFi. The brains are the controller and it was not being smart in the way it handles any customer who does not follow the precise way to make a purchase. Select wash first, press pay with credit card next, then use the reader. MANY or most customers do not read anything so they were inserting the credit card before any selection made or cc button pushed. They would then leave the wash in frustration and leave the system in a locked state until I could hard reboot it. New sw seems to have figured out how to handle the various paths a customer can take and handles them properly.
Bottom line is to check your Hamilton for controller upgrades available as they do not send out notices like software companies that an upgrade with fixes is available. They like to wait until someone has a problem before mentioning the new SW. Hope we can get back to just washing cars now as I am mentally exhausted.
Roz
Well-known member
So last week I installed our sixth IDTech CC reader associated with new Hamilton Retrofit/Upgrade doors on our Goldlnes - IN LESS THAN A YEAR. Yesterday that replacement unit permanently went south with the dreaded TAMPERED message (in less than one week!). I know it was not tampered, it is just the IDTech way of saying the hardware sucks and will not work anymore so you need to send it back for a replacement.
Now waiting for Hamilton to ship us our seventh unit to install. From what I hear the IDtech CC units that Hamilton uses are failing at an abnormally high rate. No idea why Hamilton sticks with them and does not embrace the CryptoPay Tap Plus unit. Someone at Hamilton is stubborn and shortsighted!
This is frustrating and costing us business between happening on a weekend and 2-3 days it takes them to get us a replacement.
Ugh, appreciate the space to vent....
Now waiting for Hamilton to ship us our seventh unit to install. From what I hear the IDtech CC units that Hamilton uses are failing at an abnormally high rate. No idea why Hamilton sticks with them and does not embrace the CryptoPay Tap Plus unit. Someone at Hamilton is stubborn and shortsighted!
This is frustrating and costing us business between happening on a weekend and 2-3 days it takes them to get us a replacement.
Ugh, appreciate the space to vent....
DakotaHoskins
Active member
Roz
Well-known member
good questions. No canopy and we do not close the doors unless the temps are going to be low (below 45).
That said the paystations are not wet and I never see water on them.
Maybe we should install a canopy but frankly we should not need to spend another $10K per paystation so the cc reader does not fail.
If water was the issue I would think that IDTech would see an error code that indicates water as the issue, or the machine would short out.
I wonder if their tamper software has a bug if a customer inserts or swipes a cc incorrectly. That would make more sense and is a common error from the people who never read anything and think the readers are space technology. If IDTech or Hamilton was able to view a log file to determine exactly when the code started I would look on the video to check the weather conditions and see if water came out of the bay or a customer did insert the card backward. In looking at the water on the ground it does not appear to be even close to the Paystation.
We discovered the issue on Saturday. If the issue happened on Friday we did have a strong storm. Anyhow we cannot reset the units. They need to be returned to IDTech which is another design flaw.
Stuart, is the cc reader on the HTK or Commander in a specially designed housing on the door or is it mounted to the door like the GL such that 100% is outside the door’s protection?
I suspect that part of the reason we are going on unit #7 is due in part to Hamilton only sending us refurbished units as a replacement and not new never used ones. They send them back to IDTech for fixes and have no way to know what was changed on the unit if anything or if IDTech just reinstalled the IOS.
Upon further thought it is a shame that they cannot see exactly when the issue starts so we can review the video. Only issue we have ever had on our ICS machine at a different location is when some idiot thinks the credit card reader is for inserting coins. Happened four times in nine years at that location. That could explain a tamper situation I suppose. But just a hypothesis
That said the paystations are not wet and I never see water on them.
Maybe we should install a canopy but frankly we should not need to spend another $10K per paystation so the cc reader does not fail.
If water was the issue I would think that IDTech would see an error code that indicates water as the issue, or the machine would short out.
I wonder if their tamper software has a bug if a customer inserts or swipes a cc incorrectly. That would make more sense and is a common error from the people who never read anything and think the readers are space technology. If IDTech or Hamilton was able to view a log file to determine exactly when the code started I would look on the video to check the weather conditions and see if water came out of the bay or a customer did insert the card backward. In looking at the water on the ground it does not appear to be even close to the Paystation.
We discovered the issue on Saturday. If the issue happened on Friday we did have a strong storm. Anyhow we cannot reset the units. They need to be returned to IDTech which is another design flaw.
Stuart, is the cc reader on the HTK or Commander in a specially designed housing on the door or is it mounted to the door like the GL such that 100% is outside the door’s protection?
I suspect that part of the reason we are going on unit #7 is due in part to Hamilton only sending us refurbished units as a replacement and not new never used ones. They send them back to IDTech for fixes and have no way to know what was changed on the unit if anything or if IDTech just reinstalled the IOS.
Upon further thought it is a shame that they cannot see exactly when the issue starts so we can review the video. Only issue we have ever had on our ICS machine at a different location is when some idiot thinks the credit card reader is for inserting coins. Happened four times in nine years at that location. That could explain a tamper situation I suppose. But just a hypothesis
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Tamper is a security feature, so not surprising unit has to go back to get reset.
Are you getting clean power consistently? That could cause this as well, I was having a sinilar issue with another brand of reader at my retail store a decade ago on 4 cash registers. A high quality UPS solved that issue for us there. Brown outs were causing our issue, and UPS solved it. Readers thought they were being messed with due to low voltage, so they would go into tampered mode and game over - new reader time.
Can you keep a rotating spare to minimize downtime while troubleshooting this issue?
Are you getting clean power consistently? That could cause this as well, I was having a sinilar issue with another brand of reader at my retail store a decade ago on 4 cash registers. A high quality UPS solved that issue for us there. Brown outs were causing our issue, and UPS solved it. Readers thought they were being messed with due to low voltage, so they would go into tampered mode and game over - new reader time.
Can you keep a rotating spare to minimize downtime while troubleshooting this issue?
