Shopmonkey

Customer service, hands down. The software is relatively problem free but should you need help finding a feature or even adding one that wasn't there before this company is super responsive. Quick, accurate responses that save you time and money.

Practical use is good, the ability to add canned services for commonly sold packages is great. They've recently added the ability to move line items between and within services - sounds small but anything that helps provide more clear communication w/customer is great and the SMS feature, with pictures, is great for that.

Like most automotive packages some tie in's don't work well - carfax (separate product that SM integrates with) has plenty of problems but that's the carfax product not SM. Same with the parts/labor lookup.
Invoicing and reporting are not as feature rich as other platforms. Things like "sales tax" reports should be integrated into any invoicing package but SM does not handle tax well.

First off: The customer service is beyond impeccable. Everyone is kind, knowledgable, informative, and proactive. The Shopmonkey staff listens to their customers and puts they're are constantly improving their software to suite their entire customer base. They are the kind of business that not only reads what's in the customer suggestion box, but actually implements the suggestions.

The software: Simple, in the sense that it is very user friendly. The 3 different tiers make it easier for smaller shops to have a reliable platform to start with. It also provides lager high volume shops with the tools needed to work as efficiently as possible. Many service writing programs are littered with tabs, drop menus, pages, silly graphics, and so on, which results in a cluttered and confusing screen - especially for the trainee. Simply put, my 13 year old nephew can use Shopmonkey software with ease with out mistakes.

Not really a con: occasionally I come across a something like not having the option to select AWD in the vehicle description. It used be that you could only select FWD 2WD or RWD. Once a suggestion was made, in a short period of time they had updated this feature and every typical configuration was available. Like I said before, Shopmonkey reads the notes in the suggestion box and implements what makes sense.