Canteen Vending Services

This company is HORRIBLE. We had them removed from our company. Their Avenue C had expired product and molding donuts in the machine. Just nasty. Their managers dont care about customers and then told us we dont make them enough money. I got them taken out of Cal State San Marcos.

This is the worst vending service I’ve ever seen. The prices are high, the selection is horrible and their equipment is unreliable. The company I work for replaced what I thought had to be the worst vending service with an even worse company — Canteen Vending. The refrigerated carousel machine in the break room was constantly breaking down. A technician would come out to fix it and it would work for about a week. Finally, they took everything out except for a few cup-​o-​noodles packages and left it to rot. It’s been sitting like this for almost a year and a half! It’s been so long that the tape holding the «out of order» sign dried out and the sign fell to the bottom.
If you are looking for a vending service for your company and you don’t hate your employees, stay away from these guys.

I can finally write a review about their service.
As far as providing vendor service, Canteen is happily clueless on how to run a vending business. Clearly they’re resting on their laurels that they can make money and really see no need to improve.
— Story
For years this vending provider would fill our company vending machines with snacks and soda. Our company subsidized the price of these snacks and beverages so the employee’s price was .25 for pretty much everything in their machines. Cool huh!
Obviously things would run out before Canteen’s next shipment. What was infuriating was that Canteen had no concept of inventory control. You see, the reality was that the same items would run out after a few days (Coke Zero for example). No mater how many times we requested more of Coke Zero they never listened. If we were lucky enough to tell the guy filling the machines «Hey, the Coke Zero runs out after a few days, can you add three times as much? «Maybe the guy would add one or two more rows this time but next shipment… back to barely any… They had no tracking of the product that went in, what was sold out, and how they could make more money by providing MORE of the popular products.
Whatever money they were making was good enough for them.
Then one day no coke zero at all, only diet coke. Of course this was a vending machine with Coke Zero stickers all over it. Anyway, people just stopped buying product from the machines and would just buy it from Costco and put it the fridge. Canteen’s loss, though I doubt they even noticed…
Health issues —
Canteen was very slow to respond to a spoiled product complaint. Unfortunately we received a batch of contaminated Beef Jerky. When someone eats a bad product like meat, you would expect some urgency on Canteen’s part. Maybe a supervisor should come out and clean out the tainted product ASAP. Nope, we were forced to put up our own cheesy sign (see picture) and wait several days. There were also times some of the chips were past their expiration dates.
In summation they never lifted a finger to analyze our buying habits and accommodate us with product that we actually wanted to buy. Not very business savvy. Will not recommend to other businesses.

This company has a vending machine at my complex. It’s been empty for weeks despite multiple calls to the company to fill it and requests to come more frequently. Also, when it is empty and you have put your money in, you don’t get it back. I would not recommend this company due to lack of customer service.

Just like the majority of reviews on this company, I completely agree, they are absolutely horrific! I don’t know how they are still allowed operate the way they do.
I put $ 20 cash in the change machine at Folsom Lake College and it kept the $ 20. I called the 800 number on the machine to get my cash back. They said when they verify the money was lost in the machine they would mail me $ 20 cash. I told them I don’t want it mailed since there is no way to confirm cash was mailed. They said that’s how they operate. I asked to have it dropped off at the college so I may get it from the office. They said they couldn’t guarantee I would get the money by dropping it off at the office… How are you going to «guarantee» I get the cash in the mail??? Ridiculous!
So I waited a week and a half to get the $ 20 in the mail. Just as expected, it did not show up. I called May 20^th and was told the money/​report was sitting on his (Ken’s) desk as of May 18^th and he hasn’t gotten to it yet… Livid at this point, granted it is only $ 20, you don’t just leave it sit there in hopes that the customer would forget the money is due to them.
I spoke with «Vonnie» at the college and she said they always send her the refunds and she calls the students to pick up the money from her. Completely different answer from what I was originally told. I wait another week, still nothing in the mail. I left a message on the voice mail for both Vonnie and Canteen Vending Sacramento. Today I get a voicemail from Vonnie stating the Canteen company mailed the refund to me. And Hal Smith from Canteen Vending Sacramento left a voicemail stating District Manager (Ken Lagault) personally mailed two ten dollar bills to me on May 20 and the money is at my house somewhere. I spoke with Hal regarding the possibility of having a way for refunds to be tracked, such as mailing a check so you can tell it’s been cashed. He said they only mail cash. I said you should mail it with a tracking number so you can confirm it was delivered. He said they don’t do that and if I wanted it tracked it would be on my dime…
Clearly this company is a group of a bunch of crooks. Ignoring the fact that someone lost money in their machine, in hopes that the customer will eventually forget about the money. Then when confronted, they say they mailed you cash that you never receive.

***UPDATE: Credit where credit’s due, the machine actually does take gold dollars. But now it has started a new habit of dangling my Red Vines and Skittles in the machine after paying for it, making me have to buy ANOTHER in order to get my first one. Three weeks in a row my candy has gotten stuck. Fortunately the most recent incident, the Red Vines did eventually fall without having to purchase another one but seriously? Is this what we have to go through now?
ORIGINAL REVIEW
Their slogan is «Always Fresh, Always On.» Ha! More like «Always Broken, Never Working.»
There’s a nice big Canteen vending machine in the break room that has never worked properly. There was a time it wouldn’t take bills. There was another time it wouldn’t take coins. Currently it’s actually EATING bills.
Snacks aren’t stocked often enough and even when they are it’s the same selection week after week after week. I can live with that, but the way this stupid machine malfunctions is beyond ridiculous. A month or so ago they also randomly upped the price of most snacks from $ 1 to $ 1.25. Dude, really? Who carries quarters with them anymore??? Might as well make it $ 2 just so it’s an even number.
This past week the machine was especially feisty and malfunctioning as it wasn’t responding to anything. Put in $ 1.25 for my Skittles and it beeped loudly at me. Tried to get my money back and it dispensed a gold dollar. Dude, who uses gold dollars??? Ate the 25 cents. Tried once more and it again wouldn’t respond and dispensed a gold dollar but ate the quarter. This machine and company owe me 50 cents. I’m gonna try an experiment and use the gold dollars on the machine and see if they even work. I wonder if they were simply put in the machine by the company for change returns or if the machine will actually take them. I kinda doubt it.
Vending machines can be your best friends or your worst enemies. This one seems to prefer the latter. There’s no reason why one of these machines has to be so horrible.

This company is HORRIBLE!!! sadly I’m Unilocal forces me to select atleast 1 star.
Do NOT use this company. Of the 5 (five) machines they have on two separate properties, NONE of them function.
1They dispense cold coffee
2 they don’t accept bills
3 they don’t accept change
4. The credit card readers are either offline or disconnected or don’t read your card.
5. They dispense ¼ cups of coffee
6. They dispense cold coffee
7. They are out of coffee you prefer
The vending machines are stocked improperly and food often does NOT drop.
8. When you pay with cash at some of the vending machines, some accept bills but credit is not added. Will not return bill or change.
DO NOT USE this company. Garbage product, no service.

There have great solutions for employees and employers. Vending, office coffee, and Avenue C. I love their micro market, Avenue C.

I got a cup of coffee this morning at one of their vending machines. I was really looking forward it to. It was a San Diego Sunrise. It was supposed to be hint of cherry in the coffee. All I got was some grounds, milk, and water. And there was an ant in my cup of coffee. I’d be better off going to Dennys. At least they serve coffee.

Coffee machine is broken down more often than not, definitely unreliable. We will be looking for a different service provider.

The soda vending machines where I live are constantly breaking down. They will take your money and give nothing in return, and no the machines do not give your money back. I contacted this company for a refund after losing money in their machines many times. Enough is enough. I have contacted them twice and heard nothing in return. Stay away from their rip off machines, unless you like throwing money away in poorly serviced vending machines.

Service/​dispatch needs a lot of work! Disorganized or uneducated employees. Or both! Can’t be certain.