Guide
When the Machine Stops Working
A broken machine earns nobody anything, which is the one thing a venue and an operator reliably agree on.
The machine is built to report faults and stock levels remotely, so in the normal case the operator knows before the venue reports it. What matters commercially is what happens next: who attends, how quickly, and what the venue does in the meantime. Those are agreement terms, and a venue should have them in writing rather than inferred from a sales conversation.
What the machine reports
Connectivity is Wi-Fi, Ethernet and 2G/4G cellular, with cellular built in so the reporting does not depend on the venue's Wi-Fi. The unit reports stock levels and fault conditions, which means the common failure modes surface without anyone in the venue having to notice or call.
What remote monitoring does not solve
- A machine that is physically blocked, moved or covered. Nothing reports that.
- A guest complaint about a specific transaction, which reaches the venue first.
- A power outage at the outlet, which looks the same as a machine that is switched off.
- Anything that needs a person and a van.
So a venue should still know who to call, and the answer should be a person rather than a form.
The three fault classes
| Out of stock | Not a fault, but it looks like one to a guest. Telemetry should mean restocking is scheduled against real depletion rather than a fixed round. |
|---|---|
| Payment or reader fault | The machine is up but cannot take money. Highest commercial urgency for both parties. |
| Hardware or dispense fault | A jam, a door, a screen. Needs an attendance. |
What to agree before installation
Who the venue calls
A name and a number, not a web form.
What the response commitment is
In hours or business days, written down. An operator that will not commit to one is telling you how it will behave.
What happens to the machine meanwhile
Whether it is taken out of service, and who does that.
Whether a prolonged outage affects the arrangement
For example, whether the term pauses.
What that looks like in practice belongs in the venue agreement, agreed before anything is installed rather than discovered afterwards. The questions to ask →
How Afterwrk handles it
The machine, the stock and the servicing are ours, so a fault is our problem and our cost — a venue is never asked to troubleshoot hardware or to hold spares. Our response commitment is written into the venue agreement for your venue, so you have it before you sign rather than as a promise made in a sales conversation.
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Common questions
Who pays for a repair?
Afterwrk. The machine is ours.
Will the venue know before we do?
Usually not — the machine reports faults remotely. A venue should still have a direct contact.
What if it breaks on a Friday night?
That is the case to pin down in the agreement before installation, and it is a fair question to judge an operator on.
See whether your venue qualifies
The assessment applies everything on this page to your actual address.