Client education
Why Chexology?
Chexology is a tool designed to make your job easier. You’ll experience smoother lines, reduced customer complaints, and a digital record that let's you efficiently find items at a glance.
If you have questions, please contact us! We appreciate you, and we want your onboarding experience to be a smooth one.
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Coatroom training video: 3 min.
Coatroom training with Square payment: 3 min.
Is your new Chexology hardware setup properly?
Positioning The Kiosk
Position the kiosk as indicated in the illustration. With this ideal location, you’ll experience better customer photos, more accessible access to the tag reader, and superior visibility of the device while assisting customers.
Pro-Tip: For permanent placement of your kiosk, use the double-sided PivotTable. For temporary placement, use the single-sided PivotTable which will work as a suction cup.
Arrival Flow
Tap: As the customer approaches the counter, say, "Hi! May I take your coat?" then
tap your hanger tag up to the reader. This will prompt the rear camera to take a photo of the coat. Ensure the coat is far from the camera to capture a good image.
Pro-Tip: You can continue to tag items while the customer is entering their phone number.
Race: As the phone number screen pops up for the customer, say, “Your phone number is your claim ticket!” It’s now a race to hang their coat on the tagged hanger before the customer can finish entering their number. ← MOST IMPORTANT STEP!
Pro-Tip: A four-digit pin can be substituted for a phone number.
Swipe: Verify that the items are correctly displayed, then simply swipe anywhere on the screen to complete the exchange. Say, “Great! All set!”
Pro-Tip: When you see the "Thank You" screen appear, this confirms that all items have been checked. A confirmation text message will be sent to the customer (if this feature is enabled).
Tap
Race
Swipe
Safety Checks
At the start of each shift, review this checklist to eliminate most of your hassles.
Are you connected to power?
The green battery icon in the upper right-hand corner shows the little lighting indicator when it's powered. If it is, you are good to go!
If not...
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Make sure it is plugged into a working outlet. Sometimes fuses can blow.
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If your iPad still isn’t getting power, double-check the cord going into the bottom of the kiosk base. Sometimes that connection can come to loss and might need to be pushed back into place.
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The third spot to troubleshoot is that the USB connector is plugged into the back of the iPad’s kiosk. Sometimes team members can unplug the iPad to charge their phones and forget to plug it back in.
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Lastly, ensure the lighting cord is not pinched inside your iPad's metal housing. This is a rare circumstance, but it can happen.
Note: If after checking all of these points, please contact our Client Success team at help@chexology.com
Are you connected to your network/WiFi?
If the WiFi or network isn't connected, you will see a red bar across the top of your iPad screen.
Is your reader connected?
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No indicator light: The reader has no power.
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Solid purple light: The reader is connected to the iPad and charging.
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Solid blue light: The reader is connected to an iPad and running off its internal battery.
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Blinking light: The reader is not connected to the iPad. You should see an orange bar across the top of your screen, as shown below.
Still having problems? Check out our reader guide.
Departure Flow
Before you begin, flip the tablet to face you, not the customers.
Search: Greet the customer by saying, “Welcome back! What are the last four digits of your phone number?” then search for the last four digits, verify the picture of the customer, and retrieve the belongings.
Swipe: As you return the coat, say, "Great! You’re all set!" then swipe right to mark the exchange as completed. This will keep your inventory up to date and allow you to reuse the tag.
Pro-Tip: To avoid duplicates during the next shift, it is very important to swipe to return.
Common Situations
Users
Note: The only time the customer should touch the screen is to enter their phone number. Everything else you should do for them.
What if a customer doesn’t want to enter their phone number?
It is ok if a customer wants to keep their phone number private. Simply explaining why you request their phone number will often alleviate their apprehension.
“We use a phone number to associate you with your belongings. When you return, you will share the last four digits of your number. We will only contact you if you left something behind.”
After an explanation, customers often feel better about sharing their phone number.
If they still object, help them create a four-digit pin.
Tap the “opt-out” text to enter any four-digit number. We urge everyone to put in their birthday because customers often forget the PIN they just created, or they will enter “0000” or “1111,” leading to multiple people with the same generic PIN. Birthdates simplify and alleviate these headaches by standardizing your system.
Example: If their birthday is April 12th. You would type in “0412” for them to create their four-digit code. When they return, they will ask for their four-digit code.
Note: European users may wish to enter the days and then the month (1204)
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What if a customer does not speak English or doesn’t have our country's phone number?
When the phone screen pops up, tap on the flag icon for the customer. Then gesture to pick the flag associated with their corresponding country. This will bring up the appropriate area code for their phone number; the customer can type it in from there. The process will continue to work the same.
Note: The app will automatically change to your original region for the next customer.
What if the customer wants to retake their picture?
Tell them to smile and tap on their photo thumbnail on the bottom left side of the screen. You can retake a photo as often as you’d like.
What if the customer does not want their picture taken?
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The first step is to kindly explain why we are taking their photo.
"We capture your photo so that we can return your belongings back to only you. It's an added layer of security for you."
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After you explain why you are capturing their photo, and they still wish to opt out, you can tap the little crossed-out camera icon next to their photo to remove it.
What if I need to retake a photo of the item I’m checking in?
You can retake a photo of a coat, bag, or personal item by holding the item away from the rear iPad camera and tapping the item thumbnail. You can retake an image as many times as need be.
What if a customer wants to check more than one item?
You can tap another tag to the reader any time and add as many items as needed for that customer.
What if I want to remove one of the items before completing the transaction?
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Long hold on one of the items until it starts to wiggle. Then tap the “-” button in the upper right corner to remove it.
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When you have finished editing your inventory, tap “done.”
What if a customer wants to check out only one of the items they checked?
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Ask for the last four digits of their phone number to look up their checked items.
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Note that by default, all items are selected for checkout since, most of the time, a customer will check out all their items during departure. To check out just one of the customer’s items, you must deselect the item you do not want to check out.
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Once you have unselected the items not being checked out, hit “return.”
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That’s it! Let the customer know they can use the same phone number associated with their profile when they are ready to pick up their remaining items.
What if a customer checks multiple items for different members of their party under one profile, and one of them comes to retrieve an item, but the customer does not match the profile photo?
We can give best practices in this situation, but ultimately you should check with management.
Here are some policy suggestions:
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Whoever drops it off must be the person that picks it up.
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The venue is ok if someone else comes to pick up an item when the photo does not match, as long as they verify a few things:
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The person must be able to verify it's ok via a text confirmation or phone call.
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Can the person describe the coat and an item in the pocket?
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During departure, add a note to the customer's profile describing items checked out. Example: "John Doe picked up the orange coat around 11:30 PM."
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What if someone wants to briefly get their coat to step outside?
If coat check is complimentary, it is typical to…
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Ask for the last four digits of their phone number to look up their coat.
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Place the hanger off to the side once you return the coat.
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When they return, ask for their last four digits again, which will bring up their profile and their tag hanger number.
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Locate the same tag hanger number, hang the coat, and place it back on the appropriate rack.
This way, it won’t appear to have had a double transaction, and you can keep your total checked item count accurate.
If your coat check is not complimentary, check with your manager for the company policy. Some may handle the situation like the steps above, while others may have a firm policy of paying whenever you check in and check out an item. In this situation, return the coat and check it back in.
Technical issues
What if the reader stops working mid-transaction?
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Flip the iPad to face you, not the customer.
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Tap the “+” button towards the bottom of the screen.
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Select the type of item, the color of the tag, and the number.
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As you tap the “done” button, it will take a photo of the item, so do not block the rear camera.
Note: If you cannot get the reader back up and running, you can continue to enter tag numbers manually. It will be slower, but it will get you through the night.
What if the internet goes offline mid-transaction?
Check if all iPads have gone offline or if it’s just yours.
All iPads offline:
If all iPads are offline, alert your manager and figure out how to get your network back up and running. Your iPads will still function without a network; however, customers must return to the same iPad or Kiosk they checked in on since the network won’t share your inventory with other devices.
Suggestion: In a pinch, you can use a personal hotspot from a phone.
Management: The leadership team should have a game plan if the WiFi goes down mid-event. This keeps everyone calm and able to continue without losing any checked items.
Only one iPad offline:
If just one iPad is offline, stay calm and continue to check items as you normally would. Customers who checked in with you will also have to check out on the same iPad since that iPad’s inventory will not have been updated across all the other iPads.
You can troubleshoot your iPad's internet connection here.
Once the iPad is back online, it will sync with your other devices in a few minutes.
Note: One offline iPad doesn't typically reconnect without assisting it.
My camera is frozen! What do I do?
This can happen while the iPad is sitting idle on the home screen. All you need to do is tap the home screen to refresh the camera, and you’re back in business.
If the issue persists, you can close (NOT DELETE) the app and reopen it, as shown below.
Still need help?
Visit our FAQ page for more information.
Send us an email at help@chexology.com if you need support.