posted December 12, 2010 12:34 PM
I ran into serious problem with my Roland XC-540 long after warranty was up. Between myself, my dealer Cosmex Graphics inc. and Roland we arrived at a solution that is entirely satisfactory to me. The important thing in arriving at this solution was good communication between myself, Cosmex and ultimately Roland. There was no finger pointing or gnashing of teeth, merely an exercise in describing the situation completely, realizing the limitations of each parties responsibility and letting each party do its part in fairly reaching an amicable win-win solution.
My faith remains unshaken with both Cosmex and Roland.
-------------------- Mike O'Neill
It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value. - Arthur C. Clarke
posted December 12, 2010 01:04 PM
We had such real trouble reaching Mutoh and a Tech that was actually willing to help that I gave up, and its lucky that I did. That morning Dad called their main switchboard to "holler at someone" and the operator routed him to the wrong extension. The guy was really brusque and asked him what his problem was. Dad explained and the guy asked for our email address and told Dad he had 20 minutes to download the file he was sending.
154 pages later we had the entire in-house tech manual on our printer! One gem at Mutoh among all the lumps of coal.
So we had been paying $2,500 every year for the service warrantee from their contract company. Within a week we were able to figure out everything those traveling techs had been doing every 6 months like clockwork when the printer would fail. They would never answer questions while they serviced the printer and would actually block our view of what they were doing.
Two years later and we have a full parts supply house that sells to us for relative peanuts and after kiling the service contact we've saved a cool $5,000.00 so far. I've changed virtually one of every component on the printer, and after finding a hose supplier I'm able to use the pump stations indefinitely now.
posted December 12, 2010 01:39 PM
I'm in a very remote area so a service contract has always been out of the question. Dealer supplied service manual from day one as well as parts and excellent tech support on the phone when needed.
My own background is technical, 12 years as service tech with Xerox so that I am well able to 'turn the screws' and competently describe issues in technical jargon. When I attended 'Roland U' for user training when I bought my first wide format machine (SP-540, still ticking ) I was able to spend a half day with their tech's going over head replacement and calibration as this would have been the only service area I felt I would like further training on.
I've never had the need or urge to 'holler at someone'. Latest problem was serious enough ie. (replace in the following order, until you find the problem) just about every board in the machine which is simply not viable on a 4+ year old machine when there is no return of expensive circuit boards even at dealer level. We reached a solution which in Xerox terms I would describe as a 'like for like' for the machine. Oh yay... new warranty
I've always enjoyed good service from Cosmex, never have had an issue reaching a competent technician, never have had a problem escalating technical problem when necessary to Roland Canada and I've never been billed for phone support. On the other hand I've always been a loyal customer. I have 3 Rolands from Cosmex, and I use only O.E.M. inks supplied by them, buy parts only from them and developed an easy working relationship with them.
It's all about communication.
[ December 12, 2010, 02:16 PM: Message edited by: Mike O'Neill ]
-------------------- Mike O'Neill
It has yet to be proven that intelligence has any survival value. - Arthur C. Clarke
posted December 12, 2010 02:20 PM
True illustrators, oil painters, chisel and mallet guys seem to do a fair bit of hollering. Temperamental, good at what they do and lousy money/business managers. My Dad is no exception, that's for sure. Me?... I don't holler at all.
and the operator routed him to the wrong extension. The guy was really brusque and asked him what his problem was. Dad explained and the guy asked for our email address and told Dad he had 20 minutes to download the file he was sending. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
) I was able to spend a half day with their tech's going over head replacement and calibration as this would have been the only service area I felt I would like further training on. 
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