Lorn R

ESP Salon & Spa Management Software SCAM

In August 2020 we were approached by a sales rep ( SANDI V) for ESP Salon & Spa Software AKA NANO Online Bookings. As a business owner of 4 shops in the hair & beauty industry, we entertained the idea of having a local software company, as our current software is based in States.Perhaps having online support would be easier if it were in SA. We looked at the system and decided it is not for us. A year later, July 2021, the same rep approached us to say the system has change dramatically since we last spoke, would we consider giving it a try...FREE, a trial period to see if it is better suited to our needs. OK fabulous, we have nothing to loose with a FREE trial, the kicker (our bad judgement), was that we needed to give our bank details for the FREE TRIAL TO HAPPEN and should we decie to take it, the debits would start on 1st September. The trial started in August, and we were assured by Sandi that should the system not be for us, that they would not go ahead with the debit orders in September. We spent the better part of 2 weeks with online calls & training with a lovely lady named Shivani. These all took place at night, as we were too busy in the day to do this. As the training went on, we discussed with Shivani the reason the software would NOT work for our business, it simply didn't cater to our needs. We also let Sandi (in person, as she came to the shop to try convince us to take the package even though it did not work for us) know that after the training this system just didn't work for our business and we are going to remain with the software we currently have. From September, the debit orders started rolling in. We managed to cancel one in October. Since then, month after month of NEVER using the system, we keep getting a debit. Battling to reverse the transactions, I consulted with my bank, who said that ESP themselves had out a stop to us reversing the debit orders through NETCASH.(this was denied by their director Arno, yet NETCASH and my bank confirm that ESP had done this) Phone call after phone call, after no-one ever returning our calls or emails month after month, the anger inside me started to brew. In June 2022 I started calling daily, where my messages left at reception were just not conveyed. I eventually asked to speak to a manger, where I was told that the reception had no access to a director....SIGH...I haven't heard this pathetic excuse before. I now demand a cell number for a manger, 28 minutes later of being on hold, I'm told that the director will call me right back. An hour later, an Arno called me, who said he would look in to it, and call me by day end. 7 days pass, no call from Arno. I now have his cell number and try call him each of those 7 days, calls are ignored. Call back to the office where the most incompetent receptionist who patiently listens to my rant and rave but can clearly not help in any shape or form.So for 11 months, my account has been debited for a system we made VERY clear does not work for us, and a company blankly refusing responsibility for it, I am at my wits end. I do not even have the log in details for said software. So the after sales service is just as bad, or after 11 months of someone not using the system, they don't even pick up a phone to ask why we not using a system they are charging monthly for. I know have a manager / director dodging my calls, a very patient receptionist who can't assist, unanswered emails and money out my account every month for something I can't even log into!!!!!!!!