Connollys Systems Ltd in Redditch

We went with Connollys on the recommendation of our then Booker cash and carry rep. and man what an ultimately bad decision that was.

I should have realised when Paul Connolly turned up to give us a demo. of how the product worked and did not seem to be listening to anything I was saying. Instead kept rambling about how untrustworthy staff are without making any further point on this.

Unfortunately I went against my instinct and we ordered two epos till systems from them. For a year or so everything was fine and then we had a problem with one of our till systems and we have not stopped having problems with both software and hardware.

The length of time it takes for these clowns to make repairs defeats the whole purpose of having an epos system, it throws into chaos your whole system of reporting, offering promotions and everything else you might need an epos system for.

I can understand having hardware and software problems its a part of the life cycle for most products, but to the extent and duration we have suffered tells me this company does not have the necessary technical expertise to support their own products.

They also do not understand the meaning of maintenance, which is not only offering a repair service, but also maintaining the customers business which in this case should have been a replacement machine, thus not compromising the customers need for implementing an epos system in the first place.

I have lost count of the number of times we have sent our epos tills back to these clowns for repair, but at present we must be on 4 weeks and counting only to be told the machines we now have are obsolete and parts for repairs are no longer available. Thanks for the heads up Connolly.

So we are a till down and a new one will cost £1500 and our other till regularly halts on loading with an 'unknown checksum error' When this was made known to these people, their response was to go and buy a keyboard to override the error. Therefore this must mean another £1500 expenditure.

There is no way we will have any further dealings with Connollys Systems Ltd and would urge anybody who is thinking about using them to stay away and avoid like the plague.

Well after speaking to a fellow store owner local to me who rang me at 8am on Sunday morning saying "Can you help, my Epos isn't working" I felt duty bound to help him as I recommended him to Connollys Computer system some 7/8 years ago.

Long story short, I managed to help my fellow store owner into getting his system to work, to an extent, but the phone support contract he pays for is none existent on a Sunday.

Now here's the real story about Kevin Connolly! Some may I am slagging him off, which I am/will be, some will say that it is slander but everything I am saying is true.

A little background about me and my relationship with Kevin Connolly aka Eziscan, KSC Leasing Ltd and every other variant of his 'business'. I purchased my machine back in 2009, I am a self confessed tech geek and know what is what when it comes to a computer and software.

The software running on Kevin's EPOS systems was (I believe it has now changed) made and created by Gold UK Scanning Systems Ltd, by a chap called Steve (Steve has no relation with Kevin and his many businesses except for supplying the software)

Back in August 2014 I had an issue with my EPOS, the hard drive failed and lost all my data! I was immediately on the phone to Kevin asking what he could do, I will try and be summarise the conversations a little:

Kevin the HDD is dead

You haven't got a Hardware contract with me anymore, I can't do anything for you

Oh? Well you haven't asked me to take one out.

Ok, take a new one out and I will come and sort it out.

That's good of you Kevin, thanks.

Later on he comes up to my store, didn't have anything with him other than a screwdriver! He takes my hard drive out and trying plugging it in to my portable cradle (which I had to go and get from home!)

It turned out it was dead. I explained if he can recover the data than brilliant and that we could do with it back ASAP, I agreed to drive from Stafford to Redditch some 1hr 30mins drive there and then the same back to collect the EPOS system so we had it for the next days trading.

So he sorted it out and I drive the 3 and bit hours to collect my EPOS. All was well, I handed over the £375 (ish, can't remember the figure) to him for a new Service Contract.

I was happy again, my till was intact and only half a days trading records lost, not too much of an issue.

The EPOS system at this point was in an 'Unregistered State' which basically meant I needed to get a new licence key from Gold UK, the people who made the software. Kevin was going to sort it out with Steve.

A week later it happened again!?! Luckly at this point I was backing up all my data onto another hard drive and had a spare hard drive, so I popped off the cover to the EPOS and replaced the hard drive so I was back up and running in 20 mins.

I rang Kevin and told him of my issue yet again!

His response was this:

I'm not fixing it, you don't have a service deal.

But I paid you almost 400 quid for a new one!

No you didn't you paid to recover your data, I'm NOT fixing it, end of.
He puts the phone down to me!

So annoyed at this I rang him back and explained I'm not bothered about a faulty hard drive as I've fixed it myself but I want my EPOS registered.

Then the web of lies started!

I was calling Gold UK for help as Kevin didn't want to know me.

So summery was this:

Kevin rang Gold UK (aka Steve) and told him "Don't let him re-licence his machine if he calls you" (it took some convincing to get Steve to admit this but he finally did)
Kevin denied this, time and time again, it took me a recorded phone call (a copy of which you are free to ask me for, there are 2 calls, a 5 min call to them talking to 'Bruce' who blamed Steve at Gold for ALL the problems and a 20 min call from Kevin, where he slags him off within the first 1 minute) just email gcgigo@gmail.com

So the bottom line is this Kevin is a conman he is not a trust worthy person, he is liar and cheat.

I have just listened to the phone conversation's again and I chuckle at his lies, it really is funny listening to him trip over himself after not remembering the lies he previously told me, there is also a 30 min call to Steve if you want it too. I also have email logs if you want to see them too.

After this saga was finally resolved Steve from GOLD UK wrote to the majority of Kevin's customers to explain that he no longer has any agreement with KSC and Connolly's Systems and that any software that Kevin has 'given out without licence' was being illegally used.

Anyway, I hope no one uses Kevin and his 'business'.

Absolutely shocking customer service, as a social club we bought 3 epos till systems and since they were put in we have had problems on a regular basis. Like the other reviews they told us parts were no longer available and that we would have to purchase new software to upgrade the till systems. Also took 3 months for a engineer to come on site to attempt to fix the issues at hand. Avoid at all costs.

One star is one too many... Complete Micky mouse setup... Stay away at all costs.. Bought a till 7 years ago apparently brand new!! Not quite!! Been sent away twice to be repaired at £300.00 per time and 2 months later again packed in.. Tried to phone company on sat for support, none available, have an answerphone service with a mobile number to which a lady answered with a Redditch accent saying I had the wrong number!! If that is the case why have you never reported it... Left a message, 2 days later still no response.. Just want my £300 pound back for last repair, seeing it never lasted 8 weeks... I also put an order in for till rolls 2 weeks ago, still not received them either...

I have been a customer of this company and regret the day I picked up the phone to them. This company has the most disgusting service I have ever come across in my life. Once the money has been taken you are relying on yourself to solve any till issues.

To anyone who values time and money I advise you to go elsewhere. Do not use this company unless you enjoy banging your head against a brick wall and wasting money on tills that do not work properly.