Oh, I've got the ferver again!
After weeks of absolutely no fixes, no posts on the RDS Control website, no release notes, and no timelines created, something happened. A new forum was created on rdscontrol.com, much like a forum that had once existed, and we Powerflash users have been invited to post bugs, issues, and feature requests in a public manner.
So, rather than continue creating lists and sending emails directly to Scott, I have redirected my energies to posting to the forum. And, if an equal amount of energy is expended responding to these posts and fixing the bugs, well, I will be happy. (And all users of Powerflash will be, too).
I began posting bugs after upgrading to release 5105, a release that, according to the release notes in the new forum about both 5104 and 5105, addresses a number of bugs and issues and contains a redesigned DRIVER CHECKOUT report.
One bug that was listed as fixed, and I refer to line (5) of notes on 5104:
5) Restaurant List on Order Entry screen was display "NOW" for availbility even after restaurant closed. Fixed.
So, since I considered this a significant fix I went ahead and downloaded. Fixed is a funny word. I would not call it fixed but rather changed. The new message next to every restaurant is now "CLOSED", even if it is open.
But there seems to be a related time of day, restaurant hours, timing issue that has now cropped up that was DEFINITELY not going on in any of the 5000 series builds. Now, despite the fact that all restaurants are apparently closed (and this may just be an energy saving measure) is that Powerflash no longer distinguishes between lunch and dinner items -- all items show as available at all times.
So, I posted this bug.
Now what? I've posted 20 bugs or issues. Two of them were dismissed with the "NOT A BUG" reply and two were replied to as fixed. I'll accept that the two issues dismissed may actually be non-issues and are things that were intentional, but why not reply to all the other posts? I am spending a considerable amount of time testing this PFlash thing-a-majig and a reasonable amount of time documenting what I find on the forum. Is it possible that I am more interested in Powerflash than Scott? Or is it that RDS Control is really a part time gig?
Following our initial "upgrade" to the 5000 (now 5100) series, we sent dozens and dozens of emails to "support" and saw a couple of rapid fixes to some glaring problems. But then there was a quiet period that lasted a week to ten days when there were no fixes, no builds and even no responses to emails. My wife even called "emergency support" on a couple of occasions without getting a voice or even a response.
The point is that there are days, weeks, (and I suspect sometimes months) that go by where there is little response and no fixes. That we still have not seen the MAJOR issues addressed in the 5000 (now 5100) series at this point is, quite honestly, offensive.
The MAJOR bugs are:
Powerflash does not filter the correct available restaurants for our customers
The entire REWARD POINTS area is riddled with bugs and error pages
Hotel Guests can order without identifying themselves
Gift Certificates, ONLINE and CALL CENTER, has multiple outstanding issues including the whole new "delivery" method selections, the balances displayed on reports, and payments not carrying through to all reports.
Besides all this, there are problems with Group Orders, Corporate Statements, Declined Credit Cards, etc...
All I want is a timeline. Seriously. What is the game plan? How long?
To my thinking the 3000 series never got to where it should have been, the 4000 series had dozens of unresolved bugs and issues and now I'm staring into the face of the 5000 series. The introduction of GOOGLE MAP INTEGRATION does not benefit my company since we have no intention of charging by the mile. AND, SINCE THERE IS NO ACTUAL MAP, what's the point? I can not truly believe that all this work went into integrating with GOOGLE for addressing, distance calculation and geocoding, but there was no effort into giving our dispatchers a MAP!
I'm not funny today. I should probably just go to bed. And am.
