Coolfront is good but striving to achieve greatness

I have been using Coolfront for 9 months now and they are truly making an effort to improve but I'm really waiting to see if this is going to be worth it as a long term solution.

Pros

Coolfront has fixed many of the bugs and random updating problems from the past. It integrates well with quickbooks and now offers payment options on the invoice with automated follow up survey options. There is a large database of repairs and equipment that makes invoicing quick and easy.

Cons

Coolfront really really needs a downloadable app. Integration to quickbooks could be more advanced by applying payments collected on the job to the proper account upon sync. There us a lack of Lennox equipment and the pricing of the existing Lennox equipment is not accurate ($200 air filter?). The "get savvy" link would be much more useful by allowing customization. The technician assigned to the job should correlate to the email address that is seen on the invoice. The amount of invoices used does match the amount of invoices I've been charged for (Overcharged).

CoolFront

I love that we are using less paper. Being able to see, edit, and advise technicians about the pricing and notes when they are in the field and I am in the office (or even running errands!) is great. Having the past history to look at is very helpful. The customer service at CoolFront has been good when we have needed help.

Pros

We use the software on iPads with data, so I can keep an eye on the technicians and see real time what they are entering into a service ticket. We have it linked to Payzer for accepting credit cards, and I can also see that immediately, as well as get an email notification when the payment is processed. We also offer Greensky Financing, and that is linked as well. The customers appreciate that we are "green" and using less paper.

Cons

The search function for older tickets isn't always user friendly. I wish I had more control over when a ticket is archived. We have 5 years of back data, and when I tried to integrate with Quickbooks, it created a lot of headaches for us with the past data. It ended up not being worth it and I turned it off. I don't like that technicians can create different profiles for the same address just by forgetting to capitalize a letter or even entering a wife's name when the last time it may have been the husband's.

It is good but it certainly can use upgrades. I was promised and didn't get it!

Simplified my daily efforts.

Pros

The fact that it can be remotely approved by customers is my favorite feature. Of course it all looks good and very professional no matter what. I like the customizable ability for both installs and repairs, but wish there were more and that once you select an item from the saved customized list or from the database list even, that there was an easy way to make a custom amendments in at least the description so you could have the ability to make slight adjustments in model numbers and or the description to fit unique job circumstances (and be able to keep up with ever changing model numbers and even AHRI match data)

Cons

There is no way to type in any kind of a direct dollar value discount at the end of the work order which would fit in with my finance options. I would also like to be able to add a line for a tip to be added for the techs. If there was a way to add pictures of the customers system or work in both the customer noted and the internal noted that would be phenominal. The ability to add a pdf attachment for special contract would also be nice. I like to add standard statements that are often legally required to include in various jobs we do. It would be nice to have the ability to add a list of customized standard statements that need to be approved but don't have any money value attached to them. As it stands I put my customized statements in the install custom list and just added zero dollar amount with it. I also think that the standard statements added to a work order should not be counted toward the cost of the work order.

The best yet!

Forget paper, Coolfront makes it unnecessary. A tech can easily get to a job, write up a bill and get approval from the customer, even get their signature on the work order, all without a single printed paper. The rep in customer service has been awesome the whole time! She's stayed with us, reaching out over the 2years since we signed up to see how things are going and offer us training.

Pros

Coolfront syncs with Google Calendar, enabling our techs to click and go without the messy copy/paste of the job address into their GPS. For dispatching, once the work is on the Calendar, I can quickly hit the address that pops up on the schedule and map job distances, so that work flows well for the tech that day.

Cons

Customer notes need to be more visible: We copy and paste checklists into internal/customer notes so the customer see's an outline of work performed and any suggestions the tech has. (Picture the checklist you see on the printout after an oil change) We've had to add extra steps when setting up a work order to make Coolfront work for us. Great we're able to customize, even greater if they decide to add our suggestion so it saves us time.

Coolfront Payments by Clearent

We've been working with Coolfront 5+ years and never had an issue that was not resolved quickly.

Pros

Simple to use, straight forward flat rate pricing, current industry equipment/parts pricing embedded in software and always improving and adding new products. Never gave us a reason to consider moving.

Cons

Recently bought out and informed we will need to use Clearent for our merchant processing. Called to clarify and given the word that our current processor will not be compatible with the planned platform changes to come July 2019. Perhaps I misunderstood but I'm under the impression that we must switch to their desired processor. What about signed agreements and contract cancellation fees from our current merchant processor? I have a feeling this is going to be expensive and possibly painful.

Overall Good Product

Coolfront is a great way to present customers with pricing and quotations on the spot. It also makes it easy to watch over the technicians to ensure they are performing the necessary checks on the jobs and that they are charging correctly.

Pros

The ability to get customers approval, and have a homeowner sign off on a repair before hand. The ability to make custom repairs, ease of use, and overall professional look are all factors as well.

Cons

Seems to be missing some key features (EX: A way to denote if a customer has made a partial payment other than putting it in the notes. Would like to see it more visible, similar to the discount options.) . Also have found three separate instances where a custom repair had been omitted from the total charged, but was still present in the itemized list.

Ease of coolfront

I've been very satisfied and would recommend to anyone. Very easy to get started and understand

Pros

It's very helpful in price guide to my industry and area I service. The options to modify custom and favorite items is great

Cons

The only issue is when setting up certain price options and I need to discount certain things I'll have to go back to customize service call fee so it doesn't take discount off fee just part

Cool is for life

Flat rate / upfront pricing allows a business to charge what must be charged to realize a fair profit. The invoices are professional & legible. Pricing is uniform from customer to customer. Increasing the hourly rate is very simple. I wish I had started off using flat rate in 1994!!!

Pros

Mobile friendly & simple to create custom repairs.

Cons

Inadequate key search word feature for locating some of our HVAC repairs. (It has improved quite a bit over the last 2 yrs.

GREAT!!

All techs having same pricing has helped us grow and keep growing.

Pros

The ability to customize it to fit our needs.

Cons

Ever so often we have had minor issues. Nothing that has ever disrupted business.

Great Service

It has helped us a lot with our online dispatching.

Pros

Ease of use and great customer support. It’s easy for our service guys to use.

Cons

It’s not compatible with quick books desktop.

Coolfront is way beyond all others in every aspect of their products and services.

Awesome experiences all around. If feels good to know that I’ll never have to research into any other programs because I’m at home with this one:

Pros

Coolfront has been, without exception, has always been way above the top notch in all aspects of their products (Apps, Add-Ons) and their services (Their in house Cutomer Service and all of their ADD-On’s Custom Service Crews). They have all been, every time I’ve had a need, been only a phone call away. It most literally felt like I was the only one calling them, as if I am the only one that has any questions or needs. They have always gone way beyond my expectations. Keeping in mind that I am a very small company- this very small fish has always been treated to swimming in their very big pond. I am looking forward to getting started with other Add-Ons like their mobile payment solutions program.

Cons

I’ve got nothing. I have not experienced any thing negative during my 4-5 years experience with Coolfront, To Your Success, and the Maintenance Program

Gamechanger

The software was very easy to learn. It easily integrates with quick books. You just tell the software your overhead and decide what you want your markup to be on certain price ranges and Coolfront does the rest. Coolfront has drastically increased profit margins and we are no longer unintentionally undercutting our market. It has also streamlined our service records, cutting down on office work. This software is perfect for the one man show or a company with 50 employees.

Pros

Ease of use, easy integration, very affordable, continuous upgrades to cater to industry changes, tailored to your company, pay as you go (no contracts), and increased profit margins.

Cons

There are some limitations compared to software that you would spend well over 10X as much. I would like to see some templates for “notes”

I use this everyday, all day, and do like it. I just wish it did a bit more & had a few more things

In-field invoicing & pricing. Ease of scheduling. Parts reorder simplified.

Pros

I like that it syncs to Google Calendar & Quickbooks. I also enjoy the Parts Cart for resupplying the technicians. I enjoy easily being able to find repairs to bill them to the work order/invoice. I like being able to add custom repairs, discounts and pricing.

Cons

I don't like that the billed time/cost of part don't show on the internal view of the work order/invoice. I don't like that I can't run a report of average hours/dollars for each technician, since those values don't sync over into Quickbooks when the invoice does. I wish there was a way to "Pause" a work order so that the technician can return to it later due to possible part delay, weather delay or other circumstance. I wish we could customize the line item field for repairs other than creating a repeat custom repair for those time that it is an unusual circumstance or repair. I would like to be able to run some sort of report of what dollar/hour per work order/invoice we are tracking within the app itself. These are just a few of the items I would like to see within the Coolfront App.

Coolfront Usage

Reduces paperwork somewhat but customers prefer a printout for records. We have seen better profits on repairs with the flat rate program. Am quite satisfied overall with only a few things that could be more useful. I would recommend this program to others.

Pros

It has large repair database which saves time. Is relatively easy to use if you use correct numbers. Customers seem to approve of it. Updates often and stays current.

Cons

Does not allow you to save estimates. Archives them and treats them as completed work orders. This causes some erroneous billings to occur because it syncs with Quickbooks and creates invoices when work has not been done. A bit difficult to search for estimates without date. Only saves certain number in Archives.