[ask] first time use sambapos

I guess its the lingo being used. “Close” is the wrong word. Close means close. “Merge Tickets” is grayed out. It’s all a bit fuzzy

Frankly, it’s the most unintuitive system I’ve ever seen. Think about an iPhone; “Settings” has most of the things you need to use the phone successfully. On this system, things you NEED to do are buried under categories where you’d never think to look. Setting up tables is under “Entities”? really? Setting up how you create tickets is under “Departments”? I don’t even know the difference between “Select Entity” and “Create Ticket”.

You can tell this was written by a programmer. I use the word Entity to a restaurant manager and they just tilt their head.

I have a blank ticket on my screen, I have to close or settle it to get to the management screen? Half of the time when I click “Main Menu” it does nothing. No error. No message. I just can’t do it.

On SambaPOS, “Settings” sets up a computer, not a POS system.The menus are cumbersome. (I personally hate tabs). I dont like that I have to highlight things to select modifiers or “portions”. When I select tea it should display the portions. Click Click. Not Click, highlight, click.

I found a video with a nice table layout. Table, Waiter settings. Where is that stuff?

Then I see people in forums asking how to do things, with answers like “Search is your friend”.

Maybe you can do all of these things with another week of training.

This system reminds me of WordPress. Taxonomies, term taxonomies. term relationships. A mess designed by a mad man.

I was joking about the 10 minutes, obviously More like 1/2 a day. You don’t have an objective view of this product, sir, because clearly you’re totally familiar with it. This is like Linux. Great if you know how to use it. Otherwise, buy a MAC

Entity actually makes sence as a term.
You can have more than just tables.
Have seen people use for;
Tables
Customers
Rooms
Gift Vouchers
Employees
Bookings
This gives you the power to customise the system to how you need it.
Is it potentially a bit more involved than off the shelf software… YES but you can do alot more and make the system how you want it but only once you have spent a bit of time to learn how it works.
This is the same as any software.
Have you ever installed something you have not used before and knew every setting and where it is and every term used in the software?

There might not be any orders on the ticket but if you have added something and canceled there is still a ticket open just with no orders and a ticket has to be closed before you can get out of POS.

In your menu go to that category and click edit product properties. The third column ins ‘auto select’ tick this and it will then promp you for portion and tags.
This is not automatically forced/left as optional as you can create multiple buttons for same product and predefine the portion.
For example I have setup pints and halfs on a berrs category where there are two carlsburg buttons, for which I have edited the button header to be carlsberg pint and carlsberg half and set print and half in the portion field for the button so I have two buttons one for pint and pone for half but using the same product.

The last system I had to use you had to have seperate PLUs for each - Pint, Half, Shandy Pint, Shandy Half - NOW THAT WAS CUMBERSOME :wink:

There might be more options in the back end than your used to but this is to allow us to set them as we like rather than being hard coded.
Yes it takes longer to get used to all the terms but ultimatly it allows you to have a system which works how you want it to rather than just how the programmer wanted it to work.
If you want to just install and add products and off you go then maybe you would be better off with an alternative off the shelf software.

1 Like

Is there a configuration option to select a seat number per table?

Im not sure if that was an answer to my question or just a random post. I’m referring to assigning a seat number to items. so you can split bills by seat.

@Danial if you could explain your aim a little it would help with providing a sugestion.
If you could explain how your workflow would ideally go it would help allot.

I am guessing you want to start as one ticket so that the orders go to kitchen as a single print but then to split the the ticket into per seat tickets for payment?

I can think of some posibilities myself but will wait a little to see if anyone with a setup for that in place already wants to chip in.

some systems allow you to include the seat number for each item, so 1) runners know who ordered what 2) the bill can be organized per person when printed and 3) the bill can be split automatically by seat.

Do you really have intentions of using Sambapos or are you here to just spark an argument on its features vs what you think it should be?

Clearly you don’t understand what and why Sambapos is different. Please if you want to use Sambapos and ask for help we will surely help you but if you just want to come here to prove how bad it is or how inferior it is then move along your not helping the project.

Everything you mention can be done in Sambapos and it can be done exactly to your specifications. Yes you need to learn how to configure it because by design it’s different than most. You really sound unhappy with Sambapos and your certainly entitled to be. So maybe you should just get one of those thousands of wonderful alternative pos systems you so kindly compare too.

2 Likes

This is not about driving off anyone who criticizes the system; in fact, given your (in my opinion), very aggressive attitude and derogatory questioning, I am very proud of and impressed by the calm, educated responses you have been given thus far. I think if you re-read your comments and the responses thereto, you will find that the speed, quality, and helpfulness of the responses is indicative of the caliber of this product and it’s community.

Common courtesy is quite simple: If you have a question, ask it or read a tutorial. Don’t bash it because you don’t get it…it’s not like you’re paying money for it. @Danial

Don’t misunderstand me, I’m not saying criticism isn’t welcome; it’s the manner in which such criticism is presented which is disturbing to me.

5 Likes

I was just about to offer a sugestion of a solution for the per seat allocation but as kendash said are you actually intending to use?

Per seat might be something you want but ALOT of people don’t want that type of feature.
It is achievable but needs configuring, and due to flexability of samba you can configure it to work the way you want it to.

There are plenty of forum members willing to help with suggestions and direction but you don’t seem interested.

As kendash has tried to say The whole thing with samba is that it is NOT a premade off the shelf solution.
Some time is required to learn the basics of setting stuff up and if you did that you would most likely change your tune and appreciate that emre has specificly done most things to allow us to customise the system rather than push features he thinks we should use.

To reiterate kendash, if you are actually looking to use SambaPOS stop being such a naysayer and put forward your questions in a logical way.

If I was going to do a per seat setup I can think of a couple of routes using order states which might work nicely but am not going to type out a bunch of directions if your just going to ignore and say something like why isn’t it preprogrammed that way.
As it has been explained many times that that is not what SambaPOS aims to achieve, the aim is to allow us to all make our own setups to our own spec, not just use a system emre has hard coded for us.

I can understand if this is a concept which you might not understand but if it is so ‘cumbersome’ and rubbish why is there so many happy users.
In short this is the way it is, emre is not going to jump to your requests and hard code a bunch of features you think it should have when so far they have been achievable with some customisation already.
If you don’t want to learn the software it’s probably not right for you but that is the way the software is, it allows users to take control of their own setup.

4 Likes

If you scroll up you’ll see that I merely asked if it was possible.

Yes but every time you get a response you just say ‘well thats cumbersome’ and take a pop at something else.
As the other person just said your tone clearly gives the impression of someone not interested in the answer but just wanting to rave about what they don’t like.

1 Like

If you say so @Danial.

If your serious about using SambaPOS please ask your questions, if not find another forum to rant on.

You say you just asking and not just trying to criticise but if thats the case offer some reasoning for your opinion rather than just saying, why isn’t it like that and thats cumbersome…

Your only real example of it being cumbersome was about clicking and highlighting an order in order to select product tags (modifiers).

When I offered you the solution of selecting ‘Auto Select’ you just moved on to the next thing to complain about.

Its not what your saying as we know that virtually all points are solvable (and you not interested in the solution) its your manner in your posts.

As already said,

IF YOU WANT HELP AND ADVICE, PLEASE ASK AND YOU WILL GET ANSWERS

IF YOU WANT INSTALL AND GO SOFTWARE YOUR BETTER OF ELSEWHERE.

SambaPOS is not a simple install and go software, its a highly customisable tool to make your own POS setup. If you can’t appreciate that maybe it just isn’t for you.

I’m 6’5" and very happy :slight_smile:, are you the short man with small man syndrome :stuck_out_tongue: - seriously, am only kidding with that bit, not looking for an argument.

3 Likes

My point is that you get irritated by my criticisms because there’s truth behind them.

This is a serious question. When you have a product, the default configuration is usually suited to the most prevalent type of user. You buy a iMac, and it works out of the box for the majority of people who are just browsing and doing regular stuff. You buy an iphone and you can make calls and get messages without any configuration. If you want to retrieve your gmail, it’s a bit more complicated.

Who is the default configuration of sambaPOS targeted to? What can you do with it right out of the box? You keep telling me “few people want to do that”?

I think it was you who lambasted me for suggesting that the sample setup should have some modifiers. Even the tiniest venue with a handful of menu items is going to have small and large of something, or will need to have rare, med rare, etc for burgers or something. You spend hours a day in the forum walking people through doing things that just about everyone should want to do; put together a few samples that illustrate how features work.

And the facility to add ‘modifiers’ is there out of the box, its called order tags.

It wasn’t me who knocked your suggestion about having some sample order tags in the sample data set. QMcKay replied with a string of answers to your questions and he agreed that that wasn’t a bad idea and it might be a good thing to put a couple in there…

No one is looking for an argument, but virtually everyone of your posts claims that SambaPOS is ‘Cumbersome’ without much justification and those you did give examples of simple solutions were given.

The point remains that SambaPOS is not an out of the box solution and that is how it has been designed, it is not trying to be an instal and go solution.

Is there a lack of documentation… no… there are many thorough tutorials on how to do things which if you read you will begin to appreciate the power SambaPOS gives the user.
Yes it can be tricky sometimes to find the exact tutorial you need without knowing the right search term but there is a list of the most popular tutorials on the pinned ‘getting started’ post.
There is also a growing wiki.

If you don’t have the time to read tutorials and increase your knowledge of the software then you don’t have to but you will struggle with SambaPOS.
At some point in this thread 99% of your questions have been addressed.
If you wish to move forward constructively then ask your questions but I am feadup with trying to explain the principles of the software.

As has been said many times now SambaPOS is not designed to be an out of the box solution.
Most people who use it will not use any of the default products, categories or order tags as they will create their own.
If you want to ask productive questions please continue but I am not going to flog a dead horse any more if your not interested in using SambaPOS.

2 Likes

@Danial I can see you obviously want to spend time here asking your questions and giving your feedback on what you don’t think is good, etc etc… however I just want to say a couple things:

The default sample data is there so you can understand how a (very basic) setup works. It has all the building blocks in place to build upon. If a small business wanted to, they could quite easily run their business off the sample setup (I am not saying it is perfect, but it IS possible).

I have looked at and used many other POS software in the past and can say SambaPOS is the only solution I have ever seen that offers flexibility to do simple to advanced things with no programming required, and it puts the user in control of how their system should work - they don’t need to change their business workflow to use the POS, often it’s the other way around.

Now I don’t know what category of user you are, but here are 2 suggestions:

If you are a restaurant / business owner - there are many tutorials and help here in this forum, as has been said many times above. Many very advanced features you can add to your setup for zero cost except your time. Some tutorials have a Database Tools file you can just download and import and it’s setup for you. Other features you can add via Configuration Tasks and more of such will be added in the future (for V5). If you use V5, you have a lot of great new features and modules like custom reports are included, and the cost is only $99. V4 also is very good and is free.

Yes you can get more off the shelf solutions but they cost more and often don’t do everything you want as well. With SambaPOS you can make it do what you want and there is a great community here that many times offers support in minutes 24/7 - I have not seen a paid product before have such good support and remember, all those on the forum here are volunteers who are believers in the product and what it can do, often you post a question and one of the experts here will reply you. If you pay $$$ for a off the shelf product, you can call their often 9-5 support and you get a junior to answer your call who likely has to pass it on to someone else unless it’s something very easy. And they are probably charging you monthly / yearly for the privilege of having such support. I know which one I would prefer…

If you are a reseller or looking to be one - Then SambaPOS is great for you too. There are many doing this already - myself included as well as JTRTech and others. If you are a reseller, then you can easily get around those issues of the sample data. Depending on your local market, you firstly just setup your base install and add on all the relevant features you need. Then you use that base install (database) as the basis of any setup for a new customer. As a reseller it is unlikely you are giving your customer a setup file to install - you usually are providing a solution. It is the solution you make your money from - whether it be the hardware or customisation of the software or the ongoing training and support. Either way, SambaPOS gives me and other resellers a product we can customise to our business needs and usually provide any feature a customer requests.

Anyway I know some of that was said already, I just wanted to put those 2 main points across so you can see ways of using SambaPOS if you want to. We are here to help and are happy to help. :slight_smile:

5 Likes

Once again you are missing the point @Rob or whatever you want to call yourself this time.
SambaPOS is NOT a ready to go solution and is not offered as a ready to go solution.

Yes a higher price for a fixed ready to go solution for however much a month may suite many but SambaPOS if for those people who want a sytem they can setup themselves and make work in their own way but thats a a point you fail to egnolage.

You say the forum is condecending but thats more likly the same response a arrogant rude person would get on any forum…

PS, you more likely got blocked by the forum iteself not Kendash… Discourse (a leading forum platform) has counter span rules which prevent a brand new user posting too many times in the first day of joining. If you have ready comunity guidelines etc and more than one or two posts it increases your user level as you are more active untill you can feely post as much as you like.
You are missing the point of all the replies given to you which is why you have been given a cold sholder after the 3rd or 4th reply about the same thing people get fedup that you are not paying attention to their replies.

Anyway, as has been said the whole time you clearly made up your mind about SambaPOS long before you started your rant so good luck you and hope you find a system more to your liking.

2 Likes