With around 1,000 members consisting of current and former players and supporters, Banbury Rugby Club is a busy sporting environment.
Catering for rugby enthusiasts of all ages, the club has a jam-packed social schedule. They host rugby matches, events and fundraisers throughout the year, plus the clubhouse is also available to hire for private events.
Accepting card payments allows the club to function efficiently; customers can use their card to pay for membership fees, drinks at the bar and even to hire the venue.
General Manager and Club Secretary, Monty Montanaro, was frustrated with poor card terminal service. He was thrilled to find better card machines for small businesses by speaking to Handepay.
“Until about four years ago, we ran as a largely cash business. I knew that card payments were on the rise, so talked to our business bank account provider to find out how to accept them.
They offered us three countertop card terminals which were installed in our shop, kitchen and bar. I didn’t shop around, I assumed that our bank would offer an easy and cost-effective solution that would work for the business.
In the past year our team started having problems with the connectivity of machines in the club. It was really frustrating, as sometimes we’d be unable to accept card payments and have to disappoint customers.
However, there were over three years left on our merchant services contract. I knew that the early termination charges would be significant, so thought we would have to make do for the full term.
I was surprised when our local Handepay advisor told me that there were better card machines for a small business. She took a look at our monthly statements, and advised that we were paying over the odds for a service we weren’t happy with.
Handepay’s pricing team carried out a detailed comparison of the savings we could make. I knew that there would be savings to be made, but I was shocked at the actual amount.
We saved 42% on our card machines, totalling over £100 per month!
Leaving our provider without paying a fortune was possible too, as Handepay agreed to cover any exit fees we would incur by switching. They paid £1,000 into our bank account to cover the exit fees, which allowed us to switch seamlessly.
We even upgraded to portable card machines and still made a saving!
Our three Handepay machines allow us to be much more flexible when accepting payments, moving the terminals around the premises depending on where they’re needed most.
This is a real benefit for events and busy match days. Paying on card is so much quicker than cash, especially when using contactless. Our staff think it’s made a huge difference, we now have shorter queues and happier customers!
As an independent business, every penny is important to us. We try to provide our members with benefits and we like to keep our prices more than competitive. Making unexpected savings like this helps us to keep costs down for both our players and supporters.”
