MSB Parent, USA Reviews

Thankfully I have only had to login to this company's website and now pay app a few times in total since moving into a school district which uses this company to make the advanced payments on my children's meal account. Up until today, I used the web browser version which is always so slow (constantly freezing and having to refresh), but then today would not even finalize my payment after 2 attempts and 20 min wasted. So I downloaded the pay app version hoping for an improvement, and although, after having to make 2 separate transactions for my 3 children's meal accounts, it does at least "appear" to have FINALLY processed the payments as pending (keeping my fingers crossed), I sadly need to report another 20 min were wasted. This is ALL your company does and you are unable to make it user-friendly, intuitive and most importantly efficient?? Good grief...sell your company to one of your competitors please...or fix it right.

I would have rather wrote the developer as this is not a complaint but a customer focus review.
.. because there is a fee to pay, payments should be instant especially coming from a credit card
Once paid, it should apparent.. currently, after I’d paid, I was not sure if the payment went through.. I search several screens before I found a spot in very small writing that the payment was pending.
There should be an invoice that could be printed for records to keep track of payments and spending. The invoice should go back as far as customer has been using the MySchoolBucks service... this helps parents budget or talk to there student about there spending habits by comparing past dates.
And lastly, should be able to allow parents to pay for the entire year instead of piecing payments out. I originally wanted to send $600... some users would probably want to pay it up to get rid of the thought of lunch...if you have a concern of fees, charge the larger accordingly...(maybe a percentage).

I’m having the same issues with MSBParentUSA. I’ve been getting emails for months telling me to upgrade and I have but still the emails come. I even called the B.O.E. asking if there’s anything else I need to do. She said,” No, when you click on the update its automatically updated”. Apparently not. I guarantee they hassle my son at lunch because of their own glitches. I also find it a disgrace to pay a fee every time I add money. Lunches are expensive and they don’t get much for teenagers but as a working mother, and no refrigerator for home lunch at school, there’s not much choice. It’s a wonderful convenience when it works and a hassle when it’s not. Another thing is I bought gym clothes for my son last year and because the teacher didn’t know how to put payment thru for gym clothes, he got angry, told my son to get the cash after it was taken out of my account, then gave him a zero for the day for not being dressed for gym. I was flipping out.

On the surface, this is a great idea. Pay for lunches and AP tests, and stuff like that, from wherever, using your phone! In the 2 years we have had the chance to use MSBParentUSA, I have been able to easily pay for tests exactly NEVER. At least this time, I went thru ‘Contact Us’ and managed to get it taken care of, but not quick and easy.
So far my issues were:
I couldn’t start an account, because the phone # I was using ( cell phone I have had for 20 years) was ‘already used’ by someone.
I couldn’t find invoices for tests, so I could pay.
I could find the invoice, but it wouldn’t let me pay.
OMG, the ‘low funds’ reminder alerts! So many! I know! My wife pays for her lunches, so there is always money, just not a lot, quit reminding me, daily, that has never been a problem!
I look in the ‘school store’ and can’t find invoices for tests that are supposed to be there.
So glad she graduates in May, and I can leave MSBParentUSA behind me!

One has to think how hard it is to simply have an app that provides and up to date balance of how much $$$ is left in ones child’s school lunch account! It must be really ground breaking coding to put that in when SO many other apps can do that! Forget showing me the transactions just providing me with the current balance would literally be earth shattering at this point. This entire year MSBParentUSA has failed to do that. I have no idea if they are debiting my child’s account when she orders lunch or if so how much is left in the account. And if I get a notice or some sort of public shaming for unpaid lunch bills for my child later this year I think I’ll sue them! I mean think about it. You make and app so parents can easily access your kids balance remaining for lunch money and load more on so they don’t run out. MSBParentUSA does NOTHING to help you do that. Nada! Zero! Get some programmers who can fix it and make it work!

MSBParentUSA seems to work well, and was easy to set-up and is pretty easy to navigate. I haven’t used MSBParentUSA to add $ to my child’s account so I can’t speak to how low/high the fees are, however that is not something that is unique to MSBParentUSA. The previous app our district used did the same. The aspect I appreciate most about MSBParentUSA is the ability to setup notifications/alerts when the balance is low and you can set the dollar amount that triggers the alert- in my case I did $10. Sending a check in to the school with my kids has never been an issue- they’ve never lost the checks, they just don’t always get turned in the same day. There is no fee for adding money to the account via check

Have had app for the me hour and unfortunately it’s been difficult, to navigate and get things done. Perhaps I’m spoiled by Starbucks,Foofle, other user-friendly apps, but the developers should aim for such standards. My student changed schools and over twenty minutes I couldn’t find how to remove the old school - it’s just still a relic there. I added funds and it said pending, then I refreshed screen and the pending disappeared - still in my history but no pending deposit showing and balance still zero. Figured what the heck I could add more to ensure she has lunch tomorrow, so selected add funds and my browser opened, instead of an add-funds window in MSBParentUSA . These are just a few examples from my start here. There must be no competition for the schools to use this program, and for the owners not to make simple programming improvements for us customers. :(

MSBParentUSA works fine. I don’t appreciate the fact that fee’s are being charged when adding money to my child’s account! It’s already terrible that he eats breakfast at home, then get’s to school and if he wants a chocolate milk or a juice, he’s being charged the $1.50 for a whole breakfast! That’s ridiculous! Kids should be charged for what they eat or drink only because the rest of the food that’s uneaten goes in the trash by the teachers, that’s wasteful! Not only that, they’re some children that comes to school hungry and can’t afford breakfast nor lunch for that matter and they’re throwing away freaking food! Everything is highway robbery and shouldn’t be! I’m pretty sure a small milk and an even smaller size juice, shouldn’t be $1.50. He’s only in 1st grade!!!!!!

I have to pay a fee every time I deposit lunch money in my child’s elementary school lunch account?????? Lunches are expensive as it is and it was free to put money in his account last year!!! And I have another child in high school who doesn’t eat school food and has money I her account and I have no way to transfer that money to my first grader???!!!! Even if I could I’d probably be charged a fee for that too!!! Parents are being robbed constantly of their money as it is from schools it’s money for something constantly. I can barely make it with 3 kids bc everything is so expensive everywhere you turn and I won’t be using MSBParentUSA or the online version of my School bucks ever again!!!! I am beyond unhappy about this!!!!! This is a rip-off and robbery!!!! Really sad also bc of the convenience of MSBParentUSA .

MSBParentUSA is horrible and I will notify the school district to push for a different solution. The login time and invalid login is continual even when the login information is accurate. And, even when attempting to login from the low balance notification. It’s one of those apps that sold to schools, but did not update their technology. My goal is to ensure my child has lunch money available and it should not be frustrating or a technical nightmare. Parent’s time is valuable and the time it takes to finally connect and add money I feel MSBParentUSA should pay me. I would give it negative stars if that was an option, but the 1 star has the highest amount of feedback. That should tell MSBParentUSA developers something and the schools do need to know.

Every time I load my child account for 2 months and pay exactly the amount needed plus extra in the event my child wants to snack. Her account suddenly is running low 3 weeks later. So I started sending her to school with the money and taught her how many days her payments get her, and the SAVINGS was a huge difference! She couldn’t understand how we would add money and then 2 weeks or so later she couldn’t eat lunch because her balance was low. Now she never has that prob. Trust me, we are being ripped off. I do not load money any longer I teach my children as young as 6 how to pay for lunch. I have 4 children and using MSBParentUSA with the fees was a rip-off, I could feed 2 additional kids. I would rather pay for another kids meals as an option then pay a fee. BEWARE!

We have three kids attending elementary school and two in high school. Paying for each transaction is costly, it should be one transaction per household, especially if it is one account withdrawal. Parents should be able to put restrictions on purchases aka if the child wishes to get multiple snacks and lunch. I should be able to set a restriction/alert so the student does not over eat or waste food. You should also be able to turn off ‘automatic payments’ through the application. You must use a browser to do this and I am not sure why. Overall decent application but could use a few modifications. Thanks.

I find it very helpful that you can go on MSBParentUSA to upload money but I agree with the other comment the mom made in regards to the fee. If I’m paying for my child’s lunch (which I should) why are you though adding a fee to the charge. I should not be responsible to pay a fee for adding money to my child’s account. It is not my responsibility to pay extra for fees that MSBParentUSA comes with. If the money were to go to kids who can not afford lunch or breakfast then I would be more then happy to donate yet this is not what this fee is used for.

I’m getting ready to have a second child in the same school and I’m told I cannot move money between the two different accounts which is a nightmare. I also find it ludicrous that there is a processing fee to add money to the only way my child can buy lunch. That is a scam. There are many times where my payments don’t go through for some reason or I get messages saying I need to update MSBParentUSA but it’s showing as if I have the most recent version. MSBParentUSA is clearly an afterthought and I wish the school district would abandon it.

Having an app that does this is great I just wish it wasn’t this one

I have been using MSBParentUSA for as long as I can remember 7 years maybe. It has always been simple. I added my three children. I could add funds to each individually based on their needs. For the last year I didn’t need to use since we were in virtual school but I just went to add funds and now it says I have no students added. When I tried to add them they couldn’t be found. When I log in on the computer they are there. Plus now it keeps saying my school isn’t accepting payments. Have a call into the school but am completely frustrated. Don’t take a program that’s simple to use and upgrade it and make it difficult. I don’t have time for difficult.

Too many clicks required to simply add money to an account. Also, after you pay there’s no confirmation screen. The screen just sums as if it’s processing/refreshing and then stays on the screen for you to submit a payment as if nothing happened. The first time I used MSBParentUSA I almost made a payment twice, but I decided to check my bank account first. The payment came out, so I checked my email next. I got a payment confirmation there. I’m sure some parents have accidentally made multiple payments thinking the first one wasn’t processed and some schools like to make you jump through hoops to get back money if the child isn’t withdrawing from the school or before the yr end. That should be fixed.

I’m a busy parent and MSBParentUSA helps me make sure my kid has money to eat at school. The food from school is not her favorite, but it’s available. I’m ok with the fee, it’s cheaper than spending gas driving to school and pay. And most importantly saves me time! Yeah, there’s been time I give my kid cash for lunch... with our busy life, it’s easy to forget. This appt come in handy!!
I love that the balance transfers over to the new school year and it transfers to the next school! Another start 👌🤩 to that!

While I appreciate the potential ease of using MSBParentUSA , MSBParentUSA is not intuitive. I would rather be able to click on my student, view his/her account and reload directly from that screen by clicking “add funds”. However, when you click “add funds, it takes you to another screen where 1) it isn’t readily apparent you are defaulted into your first alphabetical student’s account 2) you cannot actively see all of your students in a scrolling list and 3) there is no indication that there *is* a scrolling list. Each child should have their own navigation through their own account page.

Why is there a fee to use MSBParentUSA?
Not only were the lunch fees increased which I don’t mind at all .. but if I have to upload my 6 year old son’s account with $50 or $100 then the fee for each transaction is more than the cost of 1 lunch. To avoid this fee, I have to send him in with a check which I don’t find to be safe - if he loses his bag pack or the check with my sensitive information, if he forgets to bring it to the cafeteria. I’m all about saving & convenience. I find MSBParentUSA very convenient but I don’t think I should have to pay to upload funds to the account each time.

Also, I’ve downloaded the latest version of MSBParentUSA but I keep getting emails to update. Come on, get it together. Focus people.

MSBParentUSA runs smoothly and has done so for the past couple of years. I just wish, we had the option on moving the funds between the children in your house hold, there are times when you may be a little short on cash but one child might be completely out of lunch money and another child may have plenty. It would be nice to be able to move a few bucks from one child’s account to another. Just a thought.

Initially, I had no problems using MSBParentUSA . However, as time passed and I started using it more frequently, it became too much trouble for its worth. Too much time wasted trying to figure out things that are clearly oversights on behalf of the developer of MSBParentUSA. Keep it simple folks. Don’t move the things that work well around when you make updates. It just does make sense. Also, why would any payment page include “add method of payment” and display the symbols for Visa, MasterCard, American Express, etc. yet not accept the American Ecpress credit card? I have spent 2 days trying to add money with my American Express card and keep arriving at a dead end. Not to mention, no where does it say you don’t accept American Express (a notice would have saved me lots of hassle and time). In fact, the reason I finally found out the problem I was as having was due to MSBParentUSA not accepting American Express is because I learned about it here while reading the reviews. It’s extremely misleading having American Express symbol next to forms of payment. Do yourselves a favor, read through the reviews, and do something about the feedback you’re receiving. The numbers speak for themselves, and the majority of your reviews are not positive. You need to make it a great app before another developer does so in a better app and the schools cancel their contracts with you. It’s just a matter of time, and the opportunity is yours to lose. Good luck!

I love the ease of MSBParentUSA. I have two children. If I select the child on the bottom, then the page comes up where you add the funds is an issue. My child that I didn’t select is at the top, with funds listed and the. Below is my child on the bottom. You don’t see the funds are listed below that child until you scroll. So I overspent because I put $80 in an account that already had $40 and my child listed a the bottom is now at zero. So I have to put in another $80. If I select that child then their name should be the only one there.

When it works its good but the charging a fee to add funds to my daughters account is ridiculous. The school makes us use it to pay for meals. Also many times payments have not gone through for days or my child has been removed from my profile or i havent been able to see her under my profile to add funds. After sitting on hold with customer service (before talking to anyone) for over 30 mins. They were unable to Fix the issues.

I liked the idea of MSBParentUSA initially when I could pay one fee for both children and deposit funds for each at the same time. Now you get charged for each child instead of each deposit and that is just BS! There’s also no option to transfer funds from one account to the other. Also, I can’t deposit to just my sons account, it always defaults to my daughters account and won’t allow me to make a deposit to my sons account unless I’ve already added funds to my daughters. Such hogwash. I guess I’ll be walking in and paying for their lunches rather than throwing money at this stupid app.