jetgraphicsmi
New Member
I don't normally gripe about stuff on a public forum but I'm at my wits end here.
About two years ago we went to a sign show in Atlanta, I forget if it was ISA or what. Our lease on our Roland VG-540 was up, and we had nothing but trouble with that printer and the Tru-Vis inks until the last year we owned it, and Roland finally reformulated the inks and overhauled the printer's firmware. I think we eventually ended up replacing all the print heads in that machine. Anyway, I vowed to never purchase another Roland. I had heard great things about Epson. My Wensco guy tried to steer me away, because he said Epson services their own machines and we'd wait a long time for service if we had a problem. Well, here it is, a year and a half after we took delivery of a band new Surecolor 80600 and we're getting terrible banding. Like someone threw a switch, one day it was fine, the next it wasn't. I contacted support from Grimco, who we bought the machine from, and they suggested I buy a cleaning cartridge for each ink cartridge slot (10) and a complete set of inks and flush the lines. That sounded not only expensive, but extreme. No, mind you, we purchased an extended warranty. So, in my world, if I purchase additional warranty, when I have an issue, someone (I don't care who at this point) should show up and fix it at no charge. So the Grimco guy gave me the number for Epson support. I call them. Wait on hold a reasonable time and get a well meaning chap that sends me a PDF with lots of things to "try". Nothing has worked. I have cleaned, deep cleaned, calibrated, adjusted and gone so far as to reinstall all the drivers and software. The problem persists. It doesn't matter what resolution, what material profile, etc. The banding is still there, and noticeable.
So, the technician from Epson mailed me and basically said to call back or email if those things didn't work and he's call me back. So here it is a week later and no calls or replies to my email. Yesterday I decided to call. I get through and they ask for the serial number and I get, "Oh, you've been assigned to (the guy I talked to at first who hasn't communicated with me in a week). He'll have to call you back." No call yesterday. In the mean time, I'm pretty much dead in the water. I can print small things, because it seems the long the print is, the more the banding is visible as the print goes. Like the first 4 to 6 inches is fine, then the banding gradually gets worse. We print a lot of wraps, so all that is on hold until we get this issue solved.
It just sucks that a machine that isn't even two years old yet, begins to show trouble, we put additional money into our warranty, and we still can't get any help. Think I need to go back to Roland and get it through Wensco, because at least they could service them and send a guy out quickly. Never had this problem with a brush and can of OneShot.
About two years ago we went to a sign show in Atlanta, I forget if it was ISA or what. Our lease on our Roland VG-540 was up, and we had nothing but trouble with that printer and the Tru-Vis inks until the last year we owned it, and Roland finally reformulated the inks and overhauled the printer's firmware. I think we eventually ended up replacing all the print heads in that machine. Anyway, I vowed to never purchase another Roland. I had heard great things about Epson. My Wensco guy tried to steer me away, because he said Epson services their own machines and we'd wait a long time for service if we had a problem. Well, here it is, a year and a half after we took delivery of a band new Surecolor 80600 and we're getting terrible banding. Like someone threw a switch, one day it was fine, the next it wasn't. I contacted support from Grimco, who we bought the machine from, and they suggested I buy a cleaning cartridge for each ink cartridge slot (10) and a complete set of inks and flush the lines. That sounded not only expensive, but extreme. No, mind you, we purchased an extended warranty. So, in my world, if I purchase additional warranty, when I have an issue, someone (I don't care who at this point) should show up and fix it at no charge. So the Grimco guy gave me the number for Epson support. I call them. Wait on hold a reasonable time and get a well meaning chap that sends me a PDF with lots of things to "try". Nothing has worked. I have cleaned, deep cleaned, calibrated, adjusted and gone so far as to reinstall all the drivers and software. The problem persists. It doesn't matter what resolution, what material profile, etc. The banding is still there, and noticeable.
So, the technician from Epson mailed me and basically said to call back or email if those things didn't work and he's call me back. So here it is a week later and no calls or replies to my email. Yesterday I decided to call. I get through and they ask for the serial number and I get, "Oh, you've been assigned to (the guy I talked to at first who hasn't communicated with me in a week). He'll have to call you back." No call yesterday. In the mean time, I'm pretty much dead in the water. I can print small things, because it seems the long the print is, the more the banding is visible as the print goes. Like the first 4 to 6 inches is fine, then the banding gradually gets worse. We print a lot of wraps, so all that is on hold until we get this issue solved.
It just sucks that a machine that isn't even two years old yet, begins to show trouble, we put additional money into our warranty, and we still can't get any help. Think I need to go back to Roland and get it through Wensco, because at least they could service them and send a guy out quickly. Never had this problem with a brush and can of OneShot.