We are in the market for new software. We have had GlassMate for years and its always been a hastle to get any customer service response from them. Also they will not allow multiple locations to use the same database. They require each location to have it's own separate database. At this point we need software for Auto, Flat, and Commercial glass operations. We are impressed with the options Quest offers and it appears they do support full glass shop service operations. They also support one database for multiple locations. If anyone has had good or bad dealings with Quest can you please share your experiences with us? Do you have a favorite software company that actually supports their product and was truly created for the glass industry (meaning it wasn't designed for a hardware store and tweaked to kinda work for a glass company)? Lastly, those of you with multiple locations, would you give us your thoughts on cloud vs. computer installations and the advantages and disadvantages you may have already experienced? Thank you in advance for your responses.

quest customer services is sub-par junk

We just upgraded to a Glass Mate multi user license. We have several users sharing the same database. Their annual fees that were quoted to us were: $1400 for 2 users and $2100 for 3 to 5 users. The only recurring fee that we encounter are quarterly EDI fees. You cannot lease the multi user license on a monthly or quarterly basis. The fee is due upfront. We opted to pay the $99 installation fee. For this, they took care of the entire setup for us.

Their customer service and support has improved greatly in the last year or so. Prior to that, I agree that their customer service stunk.

We shopped before we decided to upgrade. Most of the other players run the gamut of various levels of support and features but are extremely "proud" of their product and want some pretty hefty monthly or quarterly fees/leases. After looking at and demo-ing several products, we decided to stick with Glass Mate but I have to say that one of the primary reasons was to prevent the loss of our existing database which has about 8,000 records in it. Glass Mate as a program functions and serves its' purpose for us, but is definitely due for an overall upgrade.

Check out gts lx online. It is a hosted/cloud based service. all you need is internet connection and you are good to go. you can get the full service(auto and flat) version if need be. we are 99.9 % auto. the little flat/glazing we do can be billed out as a misc line item. nothing major.

as mentioned we have the online hosted version and are a multiple location company. we have had the hosted since it came out years back. I am sure if we did our in house hosting we could same money. however I'd rather spend the money( actually my boss's) on hosted service. the major reason is as follow:

our system was hosted locally and in a secure room we did regular back ups and had a mirrored server( this was before cloud based services we have now a days). we had a major storm roll through and dump record amount of water. with our luck water came within inches of our server and almost fried it. nothing happened because I came in early that day and caught it before it happened. our back up ran at night and had failed. IF the water would have got to our server we would had a epic failure and loss of data.

now for the program itself. it is easy to use, has a mobile app( well worth the money), they host our accounting program and provide better support than the software vendor, remote access from any where, limit user access, you can email/fax invoices from the program, can set up email notifications for clients( ie you car is complete, appointment reminder, or even links to surveys) to name a few. as for multiple locations it is as simple as adding it in your system. the rest is easy.

now for the negative I hear from people, the cost. Its been a while so I do not know the upfront cost. the monthly fees are based on the number of licenses/ users you need, volume of edi, and the number of mobile apps you have going. the cost is much less than contracting our IT services out or even have an IT person on staff.

call them, they are great people to work with.

BY the way, I have no financial interest or receive any benefit from gts. I am just a happy client.

Thank you all for taking the time to give us your feedback. We will evaluate each of the companies you've suggested and have had experience with. It's funny how the sales dept customer service compared to the tech customer service is so different. Once they have your money, it's difficult to get response. We had decided on Glass Mate and paid them in full for a multiuser license at the end of December. Two weeks ago we still had not had any response from them to do the migration even after 7 phone calls stressing the importance to get the new system in place. Last week we cancelled the order and decided to get the forum's feedback on other solutions. It absolutely amazes me a company has no interest in a sale of several thousand dollars worth of software.

It's been a decade or better since I've been in this situation. I started with GTS and a few years later went to Elmo. It always amazed me how lacking in feature and function these high dollar programs were.

With that being said, I still keep up on these systems even though I'm not in the market. Most seem to be the same lacking programs I used back in the day.

One must question not only the up front costs but also the problem costs. IE data loss, unresponsive tech support (BIG issue), feature upgrades, etc. How much could your software cost you when you have a problem? Suddenly that several thousand dollar program may be worthless when it locks up or vanishes.

I risk getting crucified here for saying this, but from what I have looked into Gary's eDirect and TSM is hands down the best available without question.

Larry did you sleep with that Elmo pencil or something? Or you just love yellow pencils?

ENOUGH WITH THE ELMO THAT IS A PENCIL!

And PS: I do not think "Garys Software" is were Gary works anymore?

Did you have other problems with Quest, or was it just the customer service they lacked? How long ago did you have these issues?

Don't DO IT,


Did you just have customer service complaints or were there other problems you be willing to share?

I don't use software and price from cost PLUS from my suppliers. I don't do insurance in this state...cash only, so I have no need for software or catalogs.

And there is always eDirectGlass!

- No EDI fees!
- Nothing to install or maintain!
- The most features for your business, period!