YP Electronics - has anyone heard of this?

[johnson]

Hi all.
I have a three lane system from YP. I understand that P&H have outsourced support to PCMS and in the process made the management team redundant. I have been speaking to one of the sales men made redundant who have told me all about the dodgy dealings that have been going on...

As a starter does anyone else who uses YP know that the 'health check' calls I get most days are not to check the telephone line for support calls but to actually download my sales data so that they YP or P&H can sell it to a company for vast amounts of money???

I've also had it said to me that Sinqua has over a thousand bugs outstanding and the new owners plan is to fix the top 10 issues that cause most support calls and ignore the rest!. Apparantly they plan on making the support people redundant in 5 months and there people in Coventry only want to deal with issues they can fix by reading a script?

I've heard more that worries me.. Has anyone else and is there anything we can do? I don't see why we are paying nearly £100 a month to be treated like this.

Regards

Chris

[retailworld]

Hi Chris, and welcome to the forum.

I haven't used either personally. However, I've never actually heard anything positive with regards to YP. Then again, people are usually less quick to praise.

Whilst I cannot validate the claim you've made above, what data are they allegedly downloading exactly? And what use would it be to anybody?

[m8internet]

It is very common for companies in the supply chain to sell sales data
This helps compare the amount sold, amount delivered, amount in production, and so on

However I would refer to your contract if you want to stop transmiting such information
Equally, you could make a DPA request to YP Electronics to release all your company data for your inspection

[MikeMusgrave]

Chris

'Vasts amounts of money' I expect the salesman (ex-employee with a grudge) is winding you up - have you asked P&H how much?

[Newsboy]

MikeMusgrave, £1/4 million split 2 ways - for doing next to nowt - sounds pretty vast to me - I'd be wanting answers

[jpatel]

It is true, I don't know what's happening now since the takeover, but prior to this I have been contacted by 'Dave' to check my line is working to allow the support team to remote support me. I since learnt that what he was actually doing was manually pushing my weeks worth of sales data accross broadband because the auto system had failed. I questioned this but they produced a doc I had signed - the user group and there is something in the small print, that allows them to do this - i had signed it on installation apparantly. Anyway they sell it to one of these companies who produce stats as Newsboy says for quite a few pennies. I would check if you signed this user group, it seems odd they connect over on the sly to get it!.

[jpatel]

On the plus side I never upgraded to Sinqua, it doesnt surprise me about what you say, the new owners arent going to fix a fundementally flawed program - i'm waiting for them to push there own product on me when my very old system dies, but i wouldnt go for it having looked at their website, im no multiple. So will be going elsewhere. There's hardly anyone left to support sprint as it is, i think now they have 4 support people, only one who knows sprint and he's left to start his own shop. Can see the YP brand dissaprearing soon, probably within 5 years as you say. Any recommendations of alternatives?.

[MikeMusgrave]

Ok so I was wrong, that's a few £££££££ - but I didn't join the User Group - need to make a Data Protection Act request to find out what data they have on me and what they do with it

[m8internet]

need to make a Data Protection Act request to find out what data they have on me and what they do with it
The DPA request will only reveal the information they hold, not what they do with it

[MikeMusgrave]

The DPA request will only reveal the information they hold, not what they do with it


Ok, but if they hold it, they need to explain why, as they don't have the right to take it in the first place

[m8internet]

Sadly they do not
The DPA only requires that stored data is available for inspection

It's the same with personal information which I requested from Tesco
Once the data is processed, what they do with it from there is up to them

[jpatel]

Surely if you havent signed the usergroup authorising them to take your sales data for whatever purpose, and they connect over without saying what they are doing, even going so far as to lie as to what they are doing... this must be breaking the rules of data protection, never mind the rules of common courtesy.

[m8internet]

Sadly not
It all comes under confidentiality contracts and not the DPA
The DPA is simply limited to personal information

[CyberMirage]

I can confirm that your sales data is sold to Manufacturers/3rd party business intelligence agencies and since the take-over by PCMS group all existing developers have been made redundant leaving little to no knowledgeable support for the existing systems.

How many of you are SiNQUA customers? - and how many are happy with the product idea but not the company or support provided?

I'm curious, as an EPoS developer myself with knowledge of YP Electronics' systems I'm keen to see what sort of interest there may be out there for a new system, with all features of SiNQUA/Sprint but at a fraction of the price and written by somebody who has an interest in epos and retail rather than self profiteering.

[CyberMirage]

At the point of take-over by PCMS (started in January) - SiNQUA had 1,467 outstanding known bugs/issues, 99 of which were classified by YP Electronics as MAJOR.

[jpatel]

Not been funny CyberMirage but I can easily deduct that you were the EPoS developer at YP (the main guy..) who programmed the software with over 1,467 bugs, i would have to pass on your offering.

Anyway, reading rave reviews on the so called improvement in service... are they taking the mick?? I get a fantastic reference number nowadays and then no support, what goods a number. I could rant all day about P&H and PCMS but it would do no good. Has anyone out there got an alternative support package, any companies that can support me so I can stop throwing my money down the drain??

[CyberMirage]

jpatel. I'm actually a friend of one of the developers that used to work there and have seen some of the code that she had access to.

I'm actually from an e-commerce background but have recently moved into windows based systems. Once I heard how poorly the system she worked on was "managed" and yet used by hundreds of customers in the UK I began thinking that with a little assistance from her and proper input from retailers it can't be that difficult to make something a LOT better.

[jpatel]

ok... Mr Ian, I am been told that it is you, google leads me to your website http://www.miragesoftware.co.uk/ shame its not complete. It's OK to be you, maybe you were badly managed into producing software that didn't quite work.

[jpatel]

At last!!!

Found XR Solutions eventually, emailed them- enquires@xrsolutions.co.uk and they guranteed me a call back within the hour or my money back, but so far they've sorted me out as i've called. They're supporting anyones epos system but they've hired people who used to be on YP's support desk who know sprint and sinqua. If the office number's busy they've given me personal mobile numbers of 5 lads and the MD's so no waiting.

YP told me that my hardware was too old to support and Id have to buy sinqua and new hardware (about £7K!) but they have quoted me to upgrade my hardware only so I dont have to change my sprint.

Very happy, if anyone want's there details let me know.

[jpatel]

Hi All

Just thought i would give XR a recommendation - Been using them now since November. Great responce times and excellent knowledge of epos. Thanks Guy's would recommend.

You now owe me a free months support! Only kidding.

[yingxuy]

Difficult to have the left support, because it is the sprint, I think now there are four people to support only one who knows his left Sprint and began his own shop. You can see the YP brand dissaprearing soon, probably in five years, as you said.

[Shoaib]

October 2010 - i made the fatal error of up grading my sin qua epos system for Reposs - i did so as they came recommended by the federation of Newsagent. Big mistake, the federation gets paid for every recommendation and only recommends Reposs. The system is so slow, i need 2 tills to cope where i used only one till in the past. Worst still, their software is some 20 years old, with a few extras added over the years, and while it works on windows, it is not a windows programme. There is next to nil training and the support staff who are in a hurry to get you of the line. The customer bills are a nightmare as no one understande the billing.

This was a great error , i only wish i had stuck with my Sinqua system.

[johnsonofsandhurst]

Don't be tempted by Beanstore (P&H and PCMS' new epos). I had that installed in May last year. It's truly awful. To put it into perspective i find myself wishing i had my Londis Laser system back.

[jpatel]

I'm thinking of upgrading soon waiting on my epos company, xr to release their own system, but would like some alternatives to compare, what's the problems with Reposs and Beanstore? I'm used to yp's system but it has issues and I think it's time to try something new. Who's the leader out there for CTN's, with large home news deliveries?