[CakeEngine]

Folk are getting hung up on the keyboard layout and poor buttons, which are bad but only the start of the problems with these machines.

It has two separate asynchronous screens, two sets of printed instructions (plus t&cs), more instructions on both screens, then two keypads (but with the same symbols although they're not interoperable). There is no consistent self-explanatory language for talking about the various buttons, knobs, slots and problems, and how the user's attention should flow between them. If use of this machine wasn't mandated, nobody would ever, ever touch it.

[HL33tibCe7]

The instructions are also terrible. The text is quite small, and is in a grubby box which is hard to read, especially for those with poor sight. The signposting of the distinction between the three sets of instructions (coins vs credit/debit vs contactless) is very unclear. There are T&Cs right at the top of the machine in tiny letters that are downright impossible for people with poor sight - for those with good sight, that’s not a problem, we ignore them anyway, but how does someone with poor sight know they don’t need to read them? What are “controlled hours”?

It’s a total shitshow without even starting on the tech. Why is there an on-off button? Why is there a double flag button? Why is there a rotating button? Why is the wheelchair button not mentioned anywhere in the instructions?

[mattbee]

And this particular model is so slow. Every button press takes the screen 1-2 seconds to react, that's assuming you're looking at the right one.

Quite often the card reader isn't working and it takes about 90s to timeout; always relaxing when there's a queue forming.