The installers were great at helping us get the hang of using SAM and when they thought we were up to speed we switched over to using SAM support. We do find that SAM support can be hard to get hold of sometimes, you can't get straight through to talk to someone anymore and this can be frustrating waiting for a phone call back. Although there are things that could be improved we would highly recommend this product to any automotive garage.

It has made our business more efficient. We are saving money as there are no longer parts and time being left off Job invoices. Time Clocking is a brilliant addition. Sending out WOF reminders is a lot easier with SAM and so is contacting our customers via email and text direct from the program. There are so many more great reasons to use SAM in your workshop we love it.

When we switched from MYOB to SAM the information wasn't all correct, it was a lot of back and forward between us and SAM and our business Mentor, who had an accounting background, we were using at the time. It did take a while to get things right but we got there and it was totally worth it. We would love to be able to use SAM in real time on our Cellphones it would make things even more efficient but they haven't got that available yet.

SAM works well for us in our workshop. The support has been great if we are ever stuck on anything. The team behind SAM are always looking for ways to improve the system. We are glad we moved.

It's an easy to use system with great features and reports available. Our client database moved over from our previous software with no problems.

We found the time clocking function a little difficult when it came to jobs that were part of a "job kit".

Once you understand how SAM works, it is very easy to use. Easy to get integrated with XERO which makes statements and invoicing very quick. The SI agents are wonderful to deal with especially when setting things up or spending time making sure you understand new features.

2 of the biggest downfalls of SAM are that there is no app for phone use and the diary doesn't run individual techs, so you cant at a glance see who has space to fit jobs in, a real pain if you have a WOF inspector, a service tech and multiple techs doing repairs

Our experience with SAM has only been positive and although we have looked at changing software packages in the past, we couldn't find anything that came close to offering the depth, ongoing support or integration that SAM does. We consider the benefits SAM offer far outweigh the cost!

We love the fact that SAM integrates everything we need to run our workshop in the one software package; CSM, vehicle history, financials and reporting, electronic diary, debtors, creditors...everything! It is easy to learn and technical support is great should you need it. Love the ease we can manage our margins on each job, making us more profitable. We consider SAM one of our best tools we've invested in for our workshop.

The electronic diary needs improving and it would be great if the software was cloud-based to allow easy, reliable and secure access from anywhere. An improved, more user-friendly training or help section would be ideal to get new staff quickly up to speed and it would be great if the pricing packages could also be structured to better suit a small business budget! The day-to-day operation though is definitely fit for purpose.

happy with support and ease of use

Takes a bit to get codes correct and sort how you want to load stock but once sorted, easy to use

Other than MYOB, haven't used anything else so feel its suits its purpose

Being a workshop based company it is a great program for our company. The system is user friendly and easy to use

Sometimes there are small glitches within the system but help is always at hand through the support desk

We believe SAM has helped with retaining new customers and our return customers appreciate the service reminders etc as well as being able to check on work history on individual vehicles.

SAM has several great features we like to use, being able to allocate individual invoices against a customers vehicle, set up service reminders, contact customer directly from SAM, change a vehicle to a new owner and still retain all its service history...

Apart from a few small issues with GST rounding on invoices and the odd server fail this software has been a large improvement for our business. Stock taking process could do with improving somehow possibly... very laborious manually entering as it is currently.

SAM is brilliant workshop software that makes our lives a lot easier!

SAM understands how workshops work and how they flow - the system is built around giving us the features we need to do a good job for our customers. Our customers in particular love the text message system for bookings, reminders and letting them know when their car is ready. We also utilize vehicle notes and our customers LOVE that when they come in/ring, we can pull the information up quickly and let them know what we noted would need attention at their next booking.

It would be great if SAM was easier to access - eg web based so we could easily connect while on holiday or working from home. Would also LOVE to be able to book multiple techs on to one job in the diary as we often have a separate tech doing the wof to the service and it makes it hard to clearly see how much availability each tech has.

I need to get some training in the background/setup areas now that we're using our GL level reports more (I've pretty much learnt on the job) but it's a very intuitive system & the software ppl regularly release updates & tweaks. I've considered jumping ship when I hear about features in other packages but when I've really looked at them; far better off with SAM. Better to suggest these features to SAM & win both ways.

The responsiveness of the team - if something hits the fan, you KNOW the support ppl are available . I've managed to do many weird & wonderful things to my data - always been rescued !!

We're looking forward to the new diary revamp as it's now vital to us with the increase in staff & workload - well overdue. There are a few minor tweaks I'd like in data range selection for the reports.

Overall I find Sam a great programme and it helps the efficiency of the workshop and overall the business....will continue to use Sam in the future! :)

I like the ease of use, and that Sam is linked in to NZTA - giving me all the details I need at once. I find it useful that Sam is displayed on all of our computers throughout the workshop

i found being able to flag job in order of urgency to be a little confusing------also get frustrated that I cannot copy and keep pasting text messages...reminders can also be confsing and tedious

Sam has provided us with a workshop tool that has been easy for everyone to use. The best adaption for us has been the integration with Xero for an accounting package. We also find the reporting and follow ups for our customers very useful, we feel there are still more functions that we are yet to discover/use.

We have found Sam easy to use and love the integration with Xero. Our team find it efficient and and we have recently found the support team helpful for any queries that come up. Sending out help articles has been most helpful.

We would like to see a better help function, maybe a virtual one or something easily accessible. It would be great to have follow up to ensure we are using Sam to its potential.

My overall experience has been wonderful. Helpful and knowledgeable staff and always very friendly.

I find this software very use to use. The staff are so friendly and helpful if you are unsure. Excellent feedback and notes to help.

I would to be able to enter the same registration number of a vehicle in the system twice. Sometimes parents as a one off want to pay for repairs done to a vehicle but want the invoice in their names. At the moment I just put a space in front of the registration number.

For the general user what you need is right at your fingertips. You don't need to know alot about computers to be able to carry out basic daily functions. I also like the integration in the software between customer, their vehicle, and their invoices. Keeps everything tidy and easy to find in the future.

There are certain limitations n advanced user may face, such as inability to override some system defaults. Additionally the UI is very dated and basic (although the software is not targeted towards an industry that worries much about UI).

Very good...

Very easy to use. Great to have accounting, vehicle records and stock levels in the same programme. Good that it ties into the office who use Xero only.

I am really struggling to try and attach documents into SAM - it is such a pain because of the Citrix connection and having to cut and paste, save etc. and I still cannot attach so am about to call SAM support again. It would be awesome if this was easier because it certainly is not at the moment. This is not a BEVA complaint - but a SAM programme complaint.

Great experience with Sam support. Always willing to offer advice.

It fitted very easily in what we do. We can find vehicles by registration numbers. Unable to insert two registration numbers the same. Split invoices are magic. More than one client can be invoiced for the same job, but for different parts on the invoice. Job text library saves a lot of writing. Complete history of parts used and where purchased.

Unable to copy and paste, long chassis numbers and part numbers. The Reprice option under invoice view catches us out, when doing split invoices.

Overall I feel SAM is a great product, I just don't feel like we are using it to its full extent.

What I like about the SAM software is that it is a complete package from customer database, invoicing, accounts payable, cashbook and general ledger. Basically you can run your whole business from this one software package.

It was setup by Sam but not enough training has been offered to know what aspects of the software we arn't doing well or even know exist.

Very good

Its based on the automotive industry. Very good lots of options/features available, far more than we probably use.

The cost of mthly subscription for support when you don't use the support very often is quite expensive. Was advised we were not able to have the SMS service without having the mthly subscription, even though we pay for the SMS service? Would be good to able to cut and paste text from an invoice to another invoice.

SAM support is great to deal with. They solve any issues in a timely fashion. Friendly helpful staff.

Easy of use. Logical progression for adding parts to an invoice.

A list of all the feature available. Demo videos of the features available would be useful to know what the programm is capable of.

The ease of use, the steps to process something made sense. Recently the fact that it can integrate with Xero , and it is now cloud based, has made our admin side of the business so much easier.

It takes several steps to get to log in.

Excellent support and customer service.

Sam collates and stores all our Job and Customer details in a way that is quickly searchable and simple to use. It keeps track of the fundamentals of our business very well.

Some of the data output options are difficult to find or only available on bigger systems (Orion)

Good experience.

Ease of use/support. Easy to trace previous work done.

Not yet online. Would like to be able to access off site.

The SAM help team can always help with any issue I may have had. SAM has never let me down with outages.

SAM is easy to navigate around & has many reports to check on your workshop progress

Would be good to be able to copy and paste email address to outlook

Sam works very well for me for running our medium size workshop.

The support you get when there is an issue.

That it is difficult to change an invoice once it has been invoiced off. Changing the technician's clocked times can waste time you don`t have when a customer is waiting at the counter.

Good

Good records of vehicles & jobs, stock, sales

Cannot edit job stories easily after put on job

Easy to keep track of everything related to our business.

The odd glitch but not a major issue. SAM support helps sort it out.