5 replies to this topic

[Bryan]

I have been working for a small company for several months now where our biggest headache is our current MoM/Sitelink setup. It seems like every day we have something new to troubleshoot or figure out why it's not doing what we want.

We have begun looking at other solutions, but the nagging question is - "if 10,000 other customers are 'satisfied' is it their fault or ours that the software doesn't work?"

Major problems we have with MoM -
#1) It tends to either double-generate orders with backorders on them (when the backorder comes in) or not generate them at all.

#2) It lacks the ability to work with the kind of special offers we have. Typically we do buy 5, get 1 free. No one has been able to instruct us on how to code MoM to automatically discount the cheapest of the 6 items.

#3) Unless we spend the ridiculous support fee, they really don't offer us much help.

#4) Splitting a shipment up into two or more boxes - the click/drag interface is buggy and really time-consuming.

That's just a quick list, it's much longer. The questions I ask this forums are as follows...

#1) Has anyone switched from other software to MOM - Why? and what does MoM do that your previous software couldn't do?

#2) Where do you get your training/support from if you aren't spending the big bucks to keep the yearly service contract?

#3) What other solutions should I be looking at to compare with MoM to decide what else we could try in our business?

#4) What are the fundamental strengths/weaknesses of MOM?

#5) What else is there to use besides Sitelink, if we decide to keep MoM as our store database?


Any help and other suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Bryan

MoM 5.4/Sitelink 3? (maybe 4)

[Iceboxjar]

Overall I have been happy with our MOM and Sitelink Solution - there are a few things I would change if I could but overall it has been a good thing for us - we were using a homegrown filemaker solution and I was spending most of my time as a filemaker programmer... The are certanly bugs but we have very few issues. We do pay for support tho...

You may want to check out catalog success magizine they often have mail order managment systems advertised. Or google... When we were looking I found things that were great products, much better then mom but then their price was also MUCH higher and they were overkill for a business as small as we are.

in response to your question-

#5) What else is there to use besides Sitelink, if we decide to keep MoM as our store database?
Any help and other suggestions would be appreciated.

You may want to look at www.commercev3.com they have been trying for some time to get me to move from sitelink to them...

Ken

[PunishedbyMOM]

Bryan, we installed MOM the first week that I started working for this company. My title is Director of Finance, however, my job duties are pretty much, "Full-Time MOM fixer". I have never been more frustrated with a piece of software or the company that made it. The software does an okay job, but the bugs that are present (and that are not being fixed by Dydacomp) are critical. For example, we export an XML file to our Distribution Center so that they can pack out the orders. That file contains unencrypted credit card numbers. There is no workaround for this issue, other than Dydacomp's solution to manually delete all the numbers from the file before sending it over. Bah! Now we have an issue that is crippling our order taking ability and Dydacomp wants us to renew our annual contract in order to look at our files to tell us what's wrong. That's just wrong...I'm willing to pay on a per-call basis for support (support to fix a problem that they likely caused anyways) but forcing us to sign another annual contract is extortion. I could go on, but it just makes me more angry to talk about it. Help is on the way, and we are moving to a new order processing system in the coming months...but MOM has certainly punished this man.

[dseibold]

We have been using MOM for many years and have generally been happy with it. But, we probably will have to switch when they stop supporting 5.4. We use a lot of MS Access to evaluate our business and MOM 6.0 is not compatible at this time.

We also are using CommerceV3 for our web solution and are very pleased with its performance. I have written my own interface between MOM and CV3 so I can make use of special features in CV3 that MOM does not support. CV3 could easily solve your problem of the buy 5 get one free issue.

[sdavis]

Help is on the way, and we are moving to a new order processing system in the coming months...

What product did you move to? Can you tell me a little about it? Have you completed the process? How was the move? Anything you miss about MOM compared to the new product? Let me know what you can?

Thanks!

[planetdj]

#1) It tends to either double-generate orders with backorders on them (when the backorder comes in) or not generate them at all.

This does not happen in the normal MOM environment. It sounds like you have something configured incorrectly or are running steps that shouldn't be run by daily users, but by power users (ie. order reset).

#2) It lacks the ability to work with the kind of special offers we have. Typically we do buy 5, get 1 free. No one has been able to instruct us on how to code MoM to automatically discount the cheapest of the 6 items.

Though we don't currently use that feature, I believe MOM does handle the ability to buy 5, get 1 free.

#3) Unless we spend the ridiculous support fee, they really don't offer us much help.

That is correct. Either your business is important enough that you pay for support from the software provider, or you post your issues in free forums like this and hope someone can get around to helping you when they can. That would be the same for QuickBooks, another MOM solution, etc.

#4) Splitting a shipment up into two or more boxes - the click/drag interface is buggy and really time-consuming.

We use the click 'n' drag feature and don't experience any buggy issues, nor is it time-consuming. On the contrary, we find it quite useful and necessary. What exactly are the issues you are experiencing?

dseibold said it best... I too have found cheaper solutions that wouldn't run my business properly. I have also found better solutions, but at a MUCH higher cost than MOM. No program will perfectly meet ALL of you want or needs.

Hope that helps...