Lightspeed Restaurant POS (K‪)‬ 12+

Think about it

I have been placed in a difficult situation with very little notice and have been subjected to aggressive threats of imminent monthly high fees of £560 if I do not utilize Lightspeed's card machines and terminate my contract with my current card provider.

I have been prevented from choosing my card provider and have been forced to finish my long relation built with my previous provider who also became a friend, I have never had a similar experience in my 15 years of trading. The worst of all is how tens of emails have been ignored by my account manager, Regional Manager of UK, Ireland and RoMEA and general support. Throughout the entire current week, I have had no success in reaching a representative from Lightspeed, despite having requested contact in advance last week and sending a reminder email this week as well. However, the fear of incurring exorbitant charges made me give in to their effective tactic of ignoring my concerns.

If you still have the option, I highly recommend selecting a POS system that offers the flexibility to choose your card provider. Most or all the POS systems provide this feature, except for LightSpeed.

When considering LightSpeed as your POS system, it's crucial to be aware of a potential issue related to vouchers and gift cards. If you decide to switch to a different provider in the future if you are not happy with LightSpeed, all the gift card QR codes sold by you through LightSpeed payments will not be compatible with the new POS system. This means you would need to stick with LightSpeed to ensure the continuity of these codes.
It's important to note that if you opt for LightSpeed, you will be locked into a contract without the ability to choose card provider, regardless if other providers offer cheaper fees and better customer service.

LightSpeed card machines have been causing a lot of frustration among my senior staff, they are shocked by the changes and claim to have never dealt with such a flawed system before. My junior staff members are reluctant to go to tables and take payments because the process has become needlessly complicated. It's disheartening to see something that used to be so simple for decades now causing so much trouble.

We have received feedback from certain customers who have expressed their confusion regarding the complexity of the new process as we struggle to navigate the machines on the tables tapping options for their bills. The new machines requires users to navigate through multiple screens and options and fails to take contact less payment the most of the times.

One big issue with the machines is that if they freeze or encounter an error during payment processing, you are forced to restart the entire process. Given their complexity, this can be incredibly frustrating and time-consuming, especially when customers are waiting.

In the first weeks has been chaotic due to the devices freezing and becoming unresponsive, sometimes for hours. Note: The internet speed is quick, and all other devices that depend on an internet connection also function properly. The issues with the Lightspeed S1F2 terminals are significant and despite my best efforts to resolve them, I've had no success. I've tried multiple channels provided by Lightspeed including reaching out to my account manager Juliana Lake and UK regional manager, but unfortunately, I have not received any response.

I've spent weeks now attempting to solve problems through live chat, emails, and calls, but my inquiries seem to be going unanswered. At times, I was put on hold for close to 3 hours, and then the call was abruptly ended from their end. All in all, I must have spent about 100 hours in my first weeks using LightSpeed and trying to establish contact, which is challenging as I cannot afford to leave my current job to dedicate this much time to resolving technical issues with Lightspeed.

All these problems with these card machines has led in to customers leaving my restaurant feeling neglected as my staff is occupied with resolving the unresponsive card machines. It is truly disheartening to witness my customers leaving after 15 years of patronage due to one poor decision of using Lightspeed as a point-of-sale company. This unfortunate decision may potentially bring an end to my business.

It appears that the machines were released prematurely, potentially compromising their quality, in order to prioritize Lightspeed's profits at the expense of their customer’s businesses.

Lightspeed's inability to persuade customers to use their slow and glitchy machines has driven them to adopt an aggressive and unfair strategy of charging customers who opt for a different provider. To grow their business, small businesses like mine must be ready to adapt, work harder, and sacrifice income.