Aloha card swipe reads credit cards but not loyalty/gift cards 1

[gvlax50]

One of my terminals, a Radiant P1220, has recently stopped reading only loyalty/gift cards. Credit cards still read fine. I can manually enter card information and the cards are read on other terminals, so it's not a software issue. NCR support said that the readers have two tracks, and that credit cards are read on track 1 and loyalty/gift are read on track 2. They said I would need to call my reseller to have them "adjust the software" to get it to read that track again, or that it may be a physical problem with the hardware.

I'm going to open up the terminal to tighten the connection and any screws that are in there this afternoon, but in the meantime is there a software setting that I should be changing?

 

[AlohaRoss]

Since you say it just stopped reading, I dont believe any settings need to be changed. Have you tried cleaning the card swipe. I use a business card with a piece of eyeglass cleaner cloth with a very lite amount of windex. Swipe a few times and you will be surprised by the amount of dirt. There are also card cleaners you can buy.

AlohaRoss

http://www.needalohahelp.com

 

[eburks]

I had an old Javelin Viper terminal that did the same thing. Even after cleaning "no joy". I replaced the reader with one from another spare and all was well.

Credit cards use high coercivity stripes, most gift cards use low coercivity stripes, this can make the credit card easier to read than the gift card. Coercivity is a measure of how much energy it takes to "write" the mag stripe.

 

[AlohaRoss]

Eburks, thanks for the tip about gift cards. Do you know if when ordering gift cards you can ask for high coercivity strips?

AlohaRoss

http://www.needalohahelp.com

 

[TobeThor]

Yes, Card mfg's can make cards in Lo-Co vs. Hi-Co

 

[eburks]

Hi-Co will cost you a little more and your writer must support it. Lo-co writers are cheaper too. That is of no importance to POS where all you are doing is reading. I don't think Hi-Co is of any real benefit (if your reader can't read lo-co it is probably unreliable)..... BUT, I just bought 500 cards from Plastek and I had Hi-Co stripes put on them. I will post the specs in another thread, they conform to Aloha E-Card requirements. I was VERY happy with the price and quality vs Aloha years ago and what I bought from ecardsystems last year. Lo-co cost $20 and hi-co $25 for the 500 which is why I went ahead and opted for it, for 1000 $30 and $40 and for 2000 $60 and $80.

 

[BrianKnDallas]

This has nothing to do with the reader. Contact Aloha Enterprise and they will correct the problem. It is an Aloha GC/SV/Loyalty software issue

 

[gvlax50]

It wasn't a software issue. I had already opened a ticket with Aloha Enterprise and they said it was a track 1/track 2 hi/lo-coercivety issue. It ended up being a hardware issue, although I'm not exactly sure what. I just opened up the terminal, unscrewed the reader from the front face, pushed any connections in case they were loose, screwed the reader back in place, then screwed the whole thing back together. Not sure what part of that fixed it, but it works now. Nothing beats the old "take out the cartridge and blow in it" method.

Big thanks to eburks for all the mag card tips. Eburks, am I correct in reading that you bought 2000 e-card compatible cards for a total of $80?? Were they printed with custom artwork front and back?

 

[eburks]

@ gvlax50 No those costs were the cost of the hi-co lo-co mag stripe.
I provided full bleed artwork, color front B&W back (could have been color both sides for same price)

500=$200 1000=$289 2500=$563 not including shipping plastek.com

I'm not in any way affiliated just happy with the deal and the quality

 

[gvlax50]

Those are still amazing prices. NCR's vendor, who they basically told me I had to buy from, charged somewhere around $700 for 1000. No wonder you were happy with the deal. Thanks for the tip!