PointOS

Pros

One time purchase. Great hardware options available, but will run on any windows PC. Touch screen is best, but not required.

Cons

Split tenders seem to generate problems. it will go ahead and print the kitchen ticket before getting full payment.

Pros

I like the set up of the software. I have three stations in my bar and they are all linked so you can add items to a tab from any station. The system is easy to use, based on my experience and that of my staff. Several of my staff report that PointOS is much easier to use than other software they’ve used at other bars. The item menu can be easily customized and alphabetized. I like that you can add recipes so if someone isn’t sure exactly what’s in a drink they can click on the recipe and see it at the station. It calculates cost per ounce when you add items to the inventory so figuring prices is easy.
The sales reports are quick and easy so it’s simple to pull reports to figure tax each month. There are also employee reports and each employee clocks in so hours are very easy to figure as are tips collected.

Cons

It would be nice if there were more item tabs. We sell a high volume of alcohol and mixed drinks and we don’t have room to put all of it on its own tab. Another thing that would be nice, but really not a big deal, is if there were more icons to make the item tabs easier to find. There are some icons, for instance the more popular beers have an icon so it’s easy to recognize. For items with no icon, you have to type it in. You can highlight the items by color which is helpful.
It is cumbersome to add everything in but I suppose every system is that way.

Pros

I was sold on included features such as basic inventory management, payroll hours calculation and simplicity of the system. After 5 painful years working with PointOS Proffesionals and then PointOS XE all I can say is DONT DO IT!

Cons

Start by saying their proprietary screen doesn't have a power button (How do you forget a power ) So when it freezes sometimes daily they say oh just unplug it.
EVERY update for a glitch, I would think great its fixed.... but every time they fix something, they also break something. The reply?.... Sorry well fix that next time days or weeks later or never? The cycle repeats for 5 years almost non stop. Here's a few of the issues I experienced....
Auto entering tender amount at $483, Clearing all the tab names?, daily freezing!!, payroll addition errors?!, modifiers not working, mismatch error (2 systems they couldn't keep in communication, inability to work with merchant services to fix tech issues or my PCI issues (I got charged $20 extra a month and risked fraud for 9 months because they don't work together), support staff at night that don't know anything useful about the system.... the list goes on.
The system is so archaic, choppy and slow . refunding cash takes about 8 steps including multiple screens with forced prompts, warnings and notifications. Nothing is simple with PointOS.
It got to the point that I refused updates regularly unless I could be there and on a slow day just to deal with the onslaught of issues that arise every time I did an update.
Inventory is supposed to track ounces of liquor sold and remaining supply. After 5 years the number still make no sense. 2+2=17 huh? Im DONE!

Pros

Overall, it is a decent budget POS with a lot of high end functions. I did like the report functions, the weather reporting and incident reporting and inventory functions.

Cons

At this stage, it is a little dated. The cloud was never connected and always had to be manually started, which defeats the purpose of having a cloud back-up. There were many parts, like modifiers, that were really clunky and made operating difficult. I hated how you couldn't name reports that were emailed, and everything came across with the date and time you emailed them. You would have to write down what reports you were running so you could remember when you got in to email to see them. I would have been nice if you could name them, or if they were named the report that you were running. I didn't like the limited amount of modifiers and the limited about of characters you could write to the kitchen. But I mostly hated that the cloud never worked, leaving me feeling vulnerable to computer failures and loss of data. I also didn't like having the wait staff modify the tips, its so much nicer when the system adds it in, it leaves less room for errors.

Pros

I like how easy to use it and it's customization is not bad

Cons

customer support is horrible. when I signed in for this software . one of the main thing I loved was the 24/7 tech support. of course what is a software without a support service. the first year the support was amazing. when we Renaud the support plan every thing went down . you call support they don't help any more. they cant or don't know. last time I had to wait 2 weeks for the customer support level 3 or what ever to call back and fix the problem.
my issue is a POS without a strong support is nothing .
so what we did . we ended up not renewing our service. we need to add more station but the question is it worth it without a good c support. now are in the market for a system because we can't work with a pos that have basically very poor support

PS we have 2 business that us pointos