Firefly/Granbury Tech Support

Is anybody else using them? We have them in 2 stores and since Granbury took over, tech support has been horrible. There have been times where it was days before I got a call back. I called for a quote on a new system and still haven’t heard back. About 1400 a year per store and I end up having to fix a lot of problems myself just through trial and error. We are looking at outfitting another store and I am left with do I switch to revention or suck it up and deal with poor tech support. I like Firefly as a system and have been using it for so long that I know my way around it and really like that it is so open to the end user. I like that I can fix a lot of problems on my own which I won’t be able to do with revention. So to end my rant, anybody else having problems or is it true that everybody’s tech support sucks.
Dustin

What sort of problems are you having that you have to fix yourself - or even call tech support for?

Doesn’t it just “work”?

Since you asked… Credit card processing errors, Tickets not printing (Printing randomly turning off on server). Order stuck open and won’t close. Trying to schedule system upgrades. There are more, but that is what came to mind. WHile I understand there may be some operator error somewhere along the way, for what tech support costs I at least expect a call back to say “Oh, ________ happened, it’s fixed” even if it is the fault of one of my employees. If all pos systems just worked forever with no issue then there would be no reason for tech support and I imagine a lot of pos companies would go out of business. Admittedly, a lot of problems are attributed to the interface to the credit card processing. LIke I posted, My issue is not with the software/system itself it is with tech support. I don’t know where else to ask for pos feedback, I just don’t want to continue with the same company if I am not alone in my problems and hoped some others might chime in.

Yes, we have had problems as well. Like you we like Firefly but if you cannot get service what good is the very best system any company can produce? We have tried to work with them and not explode realizing that being acquired by another company often creates a lot of upheaval. The last few weeks they have done a pretty decent job. Most of the people we talk to are nice people trying to do the job. Most of them that we talk to are old Firefly people. Maybe the new parent company is cost cutting to the extreme? Whatever, it has not been a smooth transition.

It has all become clear to me in the past week, what is actually going on. It apparently is not directly the Granbury switch that is the problem. It is a Problem but not the main one. I think Granbury has poorly handled the current situation and has abandoned a vast number of customers. I am sure some of their current customers are well aware of all of this and I would love for you to shoot me a PM. If you are not aware of any issues I am just going to say, if you can, take your apron off and put on your lifejacket and jump ship. Only my opinion…

We’ve experienced poor replies from tech support as well. Like you, sometimes I wind up fixing something myself and then they call a week later to follow up with a call I’ve made. The tech people themselves are great to work with.

Currently we have some hardware issues and they have told us that they are no longer supporting the hardware they sold to us about three years ago. My only option is to purchase brand new equipment.

Needless to say, we are looking into a new POS. We may not change but if we have to start buying new equipment we might as well look into it.

This is a dicey situation.

If you really know the basic issues and you can get emergency support on ‘system down’ issues I’d probably look to limit or eliminate my yearly contract costs and go self-help?

I had a similar experience with a store running Volanté POS way back in 2002. The owner could fix all the day-to-day issues, the staff were excellent on the phone, and all the hardware was Epson or IBM so they just stuck with it and it’s worked for them.

Things like chip-pin support, and newer payment options like the prospect of BitCoin mean that sticking with older software will become a problem in the future but for now it could help you manage your bottom line and avoid expenses?

I was about to dump tech support and hope for the best. We too had problems with hardware, they kept telling me I needed to upgrade and then they wanted to charge crazy prices for workstations. I started just picking up hardware elsewhere and setting it up myself.
I was already planning on doing a system in one of my other stores that is still pen and paper. I even tried to get them to quote me on a new system and after three calls I made my decision that I was done with them. I ultimately decided to switch everything over to a new system for all three stores. It is really sad, I have been using their system for about 7 years now. A lot of the tech guys are still there, but honestly if I don’t get a call back it doesn’t matter. From what I can tell, a security breach (that had to do with how they had the system set up for remote access) has led them to pretty much ignore anybody with credit card processing issues.
It all started when granbury took over. Even before that they stopped providing updates, etc that they were supposed to be doing as part of our support contract. MY main issue comes down to having credit card issues and the system not being secure, and a lack of updates. Some of their most touted features (remote access, automatic updates etc) really can’t be used if you want to maintain PCI Compliance with the credit card industry, they don’t tell you that. Only in the past 2-3 months have they started notifying me about system updates.
Hopefully it is ok to post this link. I have nothing to do with extreme pizza, but I know some of their stores have had a lot of issues. I am told most of the systems that were breached were Firefly.
http://www.extremepizza.com/Security_Breach_Notice.pdf
I really feel like they have tried to keep everything quiet and have not kept their customers informed.
Sorry if that got a little long winded.
D

Wow! Thanks for the link MrHowie! I am a retiring professional in the pos system business (GeminiComputers) and I’d not heard about that breach at all! :shock:

If other clients are effected and not getting told you really did the right thing with coming forward!

I have in my days taken on clients that were with smaller companies and I have been amazed at the way the remote access was setup, and in one example we found the technician had installed a management console that allowed him to connect to all his clients with one password, the same password as the current store. You can imagine how that could be abused!

My favorite security setup story was a small convenience/camping supply store in the middle of Kansas with no local support. They had an entire lane setup and running as a spare, and everything they did was remote support. Amazingly, the owner had his nephew setup the security so that if you put in a password the connection fails. If you connect as a guest, it just sits there, and after a few mins you’ll give up. If you don’t give up and leave it, after 5 minutes exactly, it just connects! I haven’t talked to him in a few years but he never had any issues any absolutely refused to put a password on the connection because he was afraid of getting locked out.

Simply amazing what people will do when they don’t understand.

I’v had diamond touch, there support SUCKS!!! The stadard answer I DON’T KNOW.

Our experiences?
A couple of the tech guys are pretty good to work with

The company communication stinks.

We had a breach of our credit card system. Talked to the bank fraud unit, the local authorities and forensic audit companies. The indication is that the majority of credit card breaches have been with the Firefly/Granbury system from what the people we contacted have said. Granbury, it appears, is trying to distance itself from all of this. They sent out letters to some (?) operators referencing warning notices they had sent previously (not true) and other suggestions that they have made over a period of time. A lot of it is pure smoke.
We have spent several thousand dollars and untold hours trying to rectify the issues. We learned of the problems when customers began calling us about charges on their cards. We made many calls to Granbury. Every time they said there was nothing wrong on their end or with the system. They would say they went in and checked our system and found no problems. So we had to start from scratch with outside sources to figure out what was happening. What a nightmare! It is one thing to have problems but it is quite another to have the company (its their POS system) start backpedaling and be non-reponsive. No thank you and never again.

I requested upgrades so many times. They told us it wasn’t a software issue, but i disagree. A big part of the problem is that they were not providing updates to the pos software or pc charge. Only their newest version is pci compliant and I’d bet anyone with a system that is more than a year old doesn’t have the updates. We upgraded our servers last year and I bought them from Firefly. This was after the pci compliance stuff and they still didn’t give me the pci compliant version. Anyways, the link is to scans of the F U letters they sent. I fully believe that the breach was an internal issue. Funny that it happens less than 2 months after Granbury took over. I am sure people got fired and weren’t happy.
http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy112/dustinisrad/th_grs1-1.jpg

and page 2
http://i783.photobucket.com/albums/yy112/dustinisrad/th_grs2.jpg

WTH?!

I work with Linksys products on a regular basis and the only security flaw in them is how popular they are.

Every router comes with a default password/configuration from the factory. Even more expensive solutions like SonicWall, Juniper, or Cisco branded firewalls I’ve worked with are all fairly generic in default configurations. Worst case you’ll have to contact the supplier to learn the defaults and then you can hack your way in, if the defaults weren’t touched.

To just say “You have a Linksys problem” is remarkably inaccurate and smacks of deep failings between someone technical within the company and someone responsible for delivery of the message to the end clients.

I’m just sayin’…

Yeah the whole thing is just crazy. Apparently the systems were accessed through a hidden admin account that firefly had set up for support. It sure sounds a lot like what happened with radiant. Had I been aware of the account I would have changed the password, like I had done with all of the other accounts that they set up with a password of password or 4Phoenix. If you have a FIrefly system that is more than a year or two old, I imagine that is what yours are. Ultimately, I am under the impression that it is not directly a linksys issue, but more to do with how firefly setup the router for their remote support (eg Remote Desktop). All I got from them was well, security of your system is your responsibility. While their is some truth to this, If they don’t provide me with the information to change default passwords, close ports, etc, I can’t do it. Now their big copout is, we told you to upgrade to a VPN router. Oh really, when was that? In an email I never got in 2008 there is a small paragraph that they have a VPN router, but nothing about why it was needed. But again, I never received this email and only am aware of it because they mailed it out with their nice letter. Not to mention that the way they set it up, it wouldn’t pass a security scan. Seems like something that may have deserved a phone call or perhaps an actual letter mailed out. Had I been told, “Our linksys setup is not PCI compliant, we recommend you upgrade to a VPN router to maintain compliance” I would have done it. My whole other issue is that we upgraded the server in January 2011 and did they give us the PCI compliant version of Firefly? The answer is no from what I can tell. This is well after POS providers were required to be PCI DSS compliant. SO I guess you only get the compliant version if you are a new customer?
Sorry for being continuously long winded. My hope is that if the information is out there, it may prevent somebody from going through the same experience I am. And maybe Firefly will acknowledge some accountability.
D

Oh I guess that makes a bit more sense.

Technically the upgrade to VPN really doesn’t solve the issue but works around it and creates a new issue depending on how it’s setup.

If the VPN goes back to your merchant account provider or payment processor’s gateway, great, it’s really the best solution.

If the VPN merely goes to your POS support center and it’s then securely routed off to the gateway or a processor, then all you’ve done is add a point of failure! I worked with a company that was pitching this approach in a the hopes of selling themselves as ‘more secure’ in the process. They were securing the deposit for the gateway certification when it became obvious to the end clients what was going on and the backlash was ugly. Once people started pulling support for them the cert dried up and it never happened but I’ve been wary ever since to ask exactly what role each provider has in the process so I’m not setting someone up to be paying a middle man that’s just a point of failure and a hungry pocket. ;p

Most companies won’t touch something like this with another person’s 40ft poll. I doubt that you’re going to see much accountability, but I do hope you get better treatment.

Best of luck!

Hi, I’m the Marketing Manager at Granbury Restaurant Solutions. I just came across these posts and I wanted to comment. Please, anyone who has posted here with concerns, I encourage you to send me a private message with your contact information so that we may get these issues resolved to your satisfaction. PCI compliance is a critically important issue and while the FireFly POS system is certified as compliant, we are always working to improve and to educate customers about network security. We do care about living up to your expectations for service and I would like to have a chance to discuss further with you. Thanks!
-Duessa
www.granburyrs.com

Just to play the devil’s advocate here, would it not be more effective for you to PM the people with concerns to make arrangements to discuss the matter?

Lol, they have no intention of doing anything. This was just a public post made to look like they are. A pm would just be more of the same . . .