Dealer refuses to sell just parts

[billsines]

Im still fired up today about this lol and thank you for the replies and info. They are trying to say we aren't allowed to maintain our own merchandise that we paid a premium for and is way out of warranty? Its like Chevrolet saying we cant change our own oil or brakes on a 12 year old truck. Nope that cap top cant cost $100, its $250 because we have to drive all the way out there to change it for you and you aren't allowed to touch your own machine that you bought from us, its still ours even though you paid for it. Thank you Father Roland for the slap on the hand, I wont touch the printer inside again.
Thank you for letting me vent .

Hey man I hear you on all this stuff. I maintain ALL my equipment. We are primarily a CNC shop but got into UV printing a few years ago. There seems to be some sort of unspoken rule out there that you have to pay more $$$ for parts and have them installed rather than doing it yourself. That just makes me more mad and determined to learn these machines myself. So far, only one service call. And no more after that. they just want to keep making money on their service calls.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

There seems to be some sort of unspoken rule out there that you have to pay more $$$ for parts and have them installed rather than doing it yourself.

Yes and no. Although, I never considered that an "unspoken rule" that it usually seems more expensive then doing it yourself. I say "seems", because people that do their own repair (which I do my own repair at times as well), don't always correctly value the full cost of doing said repair.

I'm a shop of 1, and I have a few things that I got as kits. Doing it that way, is great for the budget, but there is no official tech/service guy/gal to call. More then likely, you are doing everything yourself. As a shop of 1, doing it yourself does have more cost then just the price of the parts. How many people actually figure in their own shop rate when they are doing repairs to their own machines? After all, that's a potential revenue stream you may be missing while having to repair your machine.

That's not always going to be the case for everyone and their particular setup and hopefully that cost does go down in some areas when efficiency of doing the more common upkeep/repairs is more familiar. But it does seem that there are aspects of cost that is often overlooked by the DIY crowd.

That just makes me more mad and determined to learn these machines myself. So far, only one service call. And no more after that. they just want to keep making money on their service calls.

Like with anything, the original purchase is often the cheapest part of it.

I will say this, that's why I do like doing the kits for some of the machines (where able and that have the quality to be a suitable alternative) and I also try to get the ones that use standard parts/sizes that are more open and expect the owner to "hack" on them. But it's not for everyone and it may cost more in the long run.

 

[sidcon]

Im surprised these companies don't have think tanks on this type of thing. I don't think any company should hold the key to a situation as simple to a printer needing just a maintenance part that takes literally 2 minutes to change that a monkey can do but instead makes the customer wait 4 days to get, charging $200 and hour, travel time, etc while the customer has a business to run getting $7000 of backed up work trying to explain to his customers on broken deadlines just for something Roland should allow the customer to have on hand as proper basic function of the machine. You know what Roland CEO, I think Dunken Donuts should have the same policy as you for every morning your craving them, no you cant just buy your donuts anymore, we now have to charge to deliver them with a turn around of 4 days and dont forget charge to feed them to you.

 

[billsines]

Yes and no. Although, I never considered that an "unspoken rule" that it usually seems more expensive then doing it yourself. I say "seems", because people that do their own repair (which I do my own repair at times as well), don't always correctly value the full cost of doing said repair.

I'm a shop of 1, and I have a few things that I got as kits. Doing it that way, is great for the budget, but there is no official tech/service guy/gal to call. More then likely, you are doing everything yourself. As a shop of 1, doing it yourself does have more cost then just the price of the parts. How many people actually figure in their own shop rate when they are doing repairs to their own machines? After all, that's a potential revenue stream you may be missing while having to repair your machine.

That's not always going to be the case for everyone and their particular setup and hopefully that cost does go down in some areas when efficiency of doing the more common upkeep/repairs is more familiar. But it does seem that there are aspects of cost that is often overlooked by the DIY crowd.



Like with anything, the original purchase is often the cheapest part of it.

I will say this, that's why I do like doing the kits for some of the machines (where able and that have the quality to be a suitable alternative) and I also try to get the ones that use standard parts/sizes that are more open and expect the owner to "hack" on them. But it's not for everyone and it may cost more in the long run.

"Like with anything, the original purchase is often the cheapest part of it."

I think it depends on the machine. With this printer, possibly. With my CNC's, no way. With my lasers, no way.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

"Like with anything, the original purchase is often the cheapest part of it."

I think it depends on the machine. With this printer, possibly. With my CNC's, no way. With my lasers, no way.

Which goes into why I said it like this:

Like with anything, the original purchase is often the cheapest part of it.

It all depends on how one does it.

Bare in mind too, like I mentioned earlier in that same post, I have to wonder if people are truly valuing their time in said DIY repair. That may be skewing things a little bit differently as well.

I'm not saying that isn't the case, I just have to wonder. That is a theme that I've noticed (even caught myself doing it a time or two).