Smart Service Reviews

Pros

Being able to use iPads or tablets in the field. By being able to use tablets we take away the technicians penmanship errors and can have the customer sign work orders so there is no confusion of who said what later.

Cons

Not being able to track individual extinguishers by date and have them update to when service is needed.

Pros

We really don't use the Software to its fullest. It We love the part we use

Cons

We would love to use the Service agreement billing but we bull a month in advance and the way it is designed we can not use it.

Pros

Being able to schedule the field guys is fantastic. I can look at the screen and immediately know if I have a worker available or not. If a person takes the time to learn it the scheduler can be your new best friend. Some of the men really LOVE that they can take photos of the job site, the work, parts that need to be replaced and it stays with that job forever. I love that too. It is very handy.

Cons

Since Smart Service makes a new, unique job in Quick Books every single time you make a job, it makes more sense to have QB in single user mode all the time so a job can be deleted if necessary but my employer uses QB in his office to do his bids and the invoicing so it can be a pain in the neck. There is no way to tell Smart Service to print ONE work order if the jobs are assigned to the department and to the person (indicates who is doing the job) it automatically spits out one for the office that I don't need, one for the job, and one for the human. Once a person's name is entered as a customer there is no way to change it. It is wrong forever. Once it is used in QB it can only be made inactive not deleted. It might be a Quick Books interface problem which is not really Smart Service's problem but if Quick Books runs into a problem and has to close (but they always apologize for the inconvenience ;) ) then I have to close Smart Service, re open QB, start Smart Service, wait for it to go through it's acrobatics (gathering data) before I can use it.

Pros

The processes provide me the capability to determine the stage of the jobs.

Cons

Integration was not difficult. I do wish that I had more experience with the report writing to capture information and in the format that I need it.

Pros

I appreciate the ability to create different locations under one customer name. We have Home
Warranty companies that we contract with and we can neatly arrange their locations and jobs for ease of access. The ability to upload and store images of customers equipment has been invaluable for insurance claims and warranty coverage and keeping track of model and serial numbers. Being able to send emails and texts from within the program saves time and the message!

Cons

Preparing reports that are specific to your needs. I have struggled with preparing a report that clearly shows what items we have sold and how many of them in a year. The screen flickers almost all the time when using Smart Service.

Pros

Smart Service has streamlined and simplified our scheduling processes, service and billing. It has cut my paperwork down by half, allowing me to get other business tasks done that were going by the wayside.

Cons

The first year, it was difficult flipping back and forth between Quickbooks and SmartService, until we built up a history on our customers.

Pros

The scheduling feature works well. Many positive features, photo capturing, signatures, notes. I enjoy the monthly webinars that provide/reap new and old features of the product.

Cons

The downside of this product is the notes stay with the recurring job from year to year unless you create a new recurring job. This is time consuming and causes errors if the new job is not scheduled as recurring. A great feature would be for notes to automatically be archived when the next schedule occurs.

Pros

It is fairly user friendly. I do like the posting and dispatch screens. Easy to read, easy to post. The ease of changing information is good and bad. From an accounting perspective, it is a bit soft on that aspect.

Cons

It took me longer to get the hang of this software than most softwares I have used. The reporting is not the best. Reporting is difficult to get what we want. It either has too much information or too little. I would like to see the ease of changing accouting information alot harder. It is too easy for the field techs to change.

Pros

Having used a few other programs, Smart Service syncs seamlessly with Quick Books. We also run alot of services, we can have 40 stops with 5 trucks, I fleet takes the place of all the paper work orders and makes managing information a breeze.

Cons

syncing the pictures with drop box, there should be a link to keep them in the smart service or I fleet enviorment.

Pros

This software had the functions that I wanted.

Cons

If you need technical assistance after the second or third year, you have to pay for each year previous to be able to even ask a question! I needed a question answered after the third year and they are trying to charge me over $1600 before even knowing what my question is! I have spoken to several other scheduling software companies and they are appalled by this tactic!

Pros

I've been using Smart Service and iFleet for nearly 4 years and I really couldn't imaging operating our service company without it. I've seen quite a few changes and feature upgrades throughout over the years which shows that the product has great support. When ever I have questions, they are answered right away. The only "complaint" I have if I had to make one would be that I would like to see the front facing camera be fixed within the iFleet app. I have been requesting this to be fix for the entire time that we have been using this product but it seems to go unnoticed. It must be a simple fix as every other camera app on iOS seems to work as intended. The pictures come in reversed which make reading numbers and words impossible. We use the front camera to take picture of product tags that are hard to reach. It would also be nice if the pictures were tagged with the job name and number so that we can easily locate and identify it. Thanks for a great product and all the support that goes into it. Looking forward to using this product for many years to come.

Cons

I've been using Smart Service and iFleet for nearly 4 years and I really couldn't imaging operating our service company without it. I've seen quite a few changes and feature upgrades throughout over the years which shows that the product has great support. When ever I have questions, they are answered right away. The only "complaint" I have if I had to make one would be that I would like to see the front facing camera be fixed within the iFleet app. I have been requesting this to be fix for the entire time that we have been using this product but it seems to go unnoticed. It must be a simple fix as every other camera app on iOS seems to work as intended. The pictures come in reversed which make reading numbers and words impossible. We use the front camera to take picture of product tags that are hard to reach. It would also be nice if the pictures were tagged with the job name and number so that we can easily locate and identify it. Thanks for a great product and all the support that goes into it. Looking forward to using this product for many years to come.

Pros

The ease of entering customers, service tickets, time keeping and the GPS tracking are great benefits of this system. For the most part our technicians have been easily trained on the process and it has cut down on a lot of their processing time in the field.

Cons

We have used the "Get Customer" or "Sync Customer" functions many times and since some of our office employees enter data directly into QuickBooks, we've lost a lot of email address and contact information on our customers. This information is critical to our database and it's very frustrating to try to rebuild.
We have several labor descriptions for our business and the work tickets can be set up correctly for the type of labor on a service call, the information transfers to the invoice in QB correctly, but defaults to ONE labor description on the time cards. So I end up having to revise nearly ever time card entry to correct the labor code. Also have to change the service or installation name from the sales rep's name to the actual technician that did the work. This has made the payroll processing a lot more time consuming than it used to be when it was entered directly through the time card entry in QB.

Pros

I love that it integrates with QuickBooks in real time. There are pros and cons to seeing every work order in QB but that also allows us to easily see how many times we have been to a customers house. As I said, the devil is in the details and if you just reach out to the customer service rather than struggle with the reports - they will teach you a lot and get you the report you need much quicker than you can do it yourself - until you learn how to do it yourself! The program is very customizable so that it can become what you need.

Cons

I would like the schedule board to act as a calendar too - the default search info isn't what i need but Smart Service can change the defaults - we just haven't it yet - I need to be able to schedule meetings/days off/ appts that are not service calls - in a manner that will allow them to be seen on the schedule without requiring that they be "Completed" 'cause then they disappear.....

Pros

Basic scheduling is very easy to learn, it only took me a couple of days to start scheduling basic calls. The rest involved mainly learning the service business that I work for in order to discover other needs within Smart Service. There is additional support via Smart Service's monthly webinars on various topics to assist with learning. I've attended 'Service Agreements' which I didn't know was possible until the webinar. I really like the reporting feature, it can generate useful data by request. For instance, pulling reports by customer location; if I want to view which customers live in South San Francisco I can easily create filters to do so. You really don't know how valuable a program is until your without it. We experienced our internet being down for half a day and had to go back to paper scheduling; that made us all realize how important Smart Service is to our business for sure!

Cons

If you misspell a customer name after selecting 'new customer/prospect' and make it to the main customer screen, you have to go into QuickBooks to make the corrections although it is a new customer. It would be better for new customers only to keep it unlocked until save is selected. That would save some time; I don't make constant errors but it happens occasionally. Also, tracking technicians does not seem to work 100%. I've made sure that their tablets are syncing but only have three technicians showing up on the map. Sometimes it can take a long time to load a customer and that delays a call and time. Other than those three minor problems, I can't really think of anything else.

Pros

It accomplishes all that we want out of a software without being complicated to use. It understands what we need to function and flow as a business. Using the software helps us be professional and profitable.

Cons

I can't really say anything negative about the software. I have heard others say they found a cheaper way to operate with software. It is usually people using several different software types or one program that is less quality. To me bad or clunky software/office operations cost money. Smart service is inexpensive when you realize the potential profits from a smooth running operation that is hassle free.

Pros

The layout and client fields and custom features

Cons

syncing can be an issue not being able.
That when re activating job it does not have a easy close option that does not re send invoice to QB and or it fills ifleet with all the past jobs

Pros

How easy it is to navigate through the work orders and customers. I like that you can post multiple invoices at one time if needed, or even skip multiple invoices at one time, simply by checking a box and then posting the first. I like that it connects so easily with our QuickBooks program.

Cons

I wish it would automatically reset a customer's price information for the following month. We have to change the amount of rooms serviced each month in various hotels. Our previous program would set the amount of rooms back to the base amount of rooms, but this program leaves it at the amount you post each month, so the following month it will show the amount of rooms and price from the previous month. Sometimes our customers get confused.

Pros

the scheduler, the ability to post multiple invoices at a time, the ease of adding a new customer

Cons

if I have to change the price on a regular customer service for one service that is the price that remains for the next months service. A previous program we used would automatically reset the price back to it's basic price for the following month when it was a recurring customer.

Pros

It's a great value and does so much of what other more expensive and complicated softwares do plus even more in some cases. Service System is so user friendly and very easy to learn as well as teach to new employees as the company grows. We highly recommend it to anyone who asks.

Cons

The support at My Service Depot for SmartService is great. The biggest complication and downfall, which is a big one, is that you can never get support except during standard working business hours Monday through Friday during the day. Being a small company, you can't afford to spend the time down and on the phone with tech support and failing to answer your phones for paying customers looking for service when you are in the trades like plumbing.

Pros

GSI loves how easy the program is to use and the customer service department. Whenever we have a problem the customer service representative fixes it as quickly as possible.

Cons

Overall Smart Service is a great program my biggest complaint would have to be charging for add-on programs.

Pros

The integration with QuickBooks - Eliminates double entry.

Cons

The inability to handle larger customers - ability to see previous work within those customers is not functional. Forms created in the program are not very good

Pros

Love how easily Smart Service and Quick Books integrate. It has cut our billing time by hours.Thrilled to be able to include our service notes from SS on our QB invoices.
SS is quick to resolve any issues and are constantly improving on the software to make things more detailed and efficient.
iFleet is amazing! I love that I can see where our technicians are to track their routes.
Customer support is excellent and if your concerns always addressed.
Tracking inventory is a breeze.
Vehicle maintenance can be tracked by the office so that we don't have to rely on technicians for oil changes and other maintenance issues.
Software is fully customizable so we can enter our services and descriptions exactly as we want them to appear. .
Being able to email the customer his service order at time of service with his signature on it.
Recording history of past services so that the technicians can review what notes and materials were recorded at each prior service.

Cons

A lot of data entry is required to get the software like you want it. It takes dedicated man power but is well worth it once it is entered in.
Some software glitches can disrupt things for a bit but what software doesn't have these?
Making sure that Smart Service, Quickbooks and iFleet are reflecting the same information for the technicians using the devices so you need to familiarize yourself with where the information is pulling from.

Pros

That it integrates with quick books; is a good reoccurring database of our client with reoccurring work on semi and annual basis. no need for a separate data base anymore. When use with iFleet all work orders come back to the office electronically along with any photos taken, and can be processed immediately if desired; although some customers complained the guy was still in the parking lot when they got the invoice; LOL
the tech also has the ability to make estimates and email to the client right on the spot with our custom made form.
Has reduced our paper consumption by 80% in the first year.

Cons

Sometimes there is a long lapse between windows; generally it is several seconds but at time it can be 15 to 20 seconds.
Having to update the customer list almost everyday; it tedious and with over 10K clients can take a long time.

Pros

User Friendly; broad functionality in scheduling for tri-State area

Cons

Cannot to job times in timeframe needed-- our technicians work at night -- we can't show job times past 11:55pm

Pros

What I like most about this software are the easy to understand interface screens and help available to make entry and maintenance a breeze.

Cons

I'm still learning the software, but so far I have not been able to see a way to change mass records with an import feature.