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Graphtec CE5000-60 from SignWarehouse, should I be scared?

trakers

trakers

New Member
Long story short I have to order my plotter again (Don't ask)

Anyway here's what I want to know, should I be afraid to order from signwarehouse.com?

I plan to order a Graphtec CE5000-60 (Although the EOM Vinyl Express which my salesman swears is the same machine mechanically, less the ARMS system, is very tempting to me since I have no current or future use for that feature)

Anyway I've tried to deal with our local distributor, but they want over $1.9K just for the Graphtec plotter alone.

My issue is software. I want Flexi and while I'm getting it I want one of the higher packages. I spoke with the Flexi rep at a recent event and she admitted the OEM package signwarehouse sells is virtually identical to their retail offering.

I can get the Graphtec with the LXi Master Plus software for $2.5K

I can get the Graphtec clone (Vinyl Express) with the LXi Master Plus software for $2K

I know you fellas will tell me to buy the name brand and I somewhat understand why, so I guess my question is would you buy a Graphtec from signwarehouse.com and if not why since I'm assuming Graphtec will handle all the support issues if needed?

I don't have an issue with buying elsewhere, but when they add the Flexi software the price virtually doubles.
 
C

css custom graphics

New Member
I bought a vinyl express from signwarehouse. I've had no issues at all. It works great and they answered any questions I had when I first set it up. I wouldn't worry.
 
Techman

Techman

New Member
I wouldn't purchase anything from signwarehouse. Too many negative stories. IT seems that for every one who has a good experience, theres many more with a negative experience.

Plus,,,Why would you purchase a very expensive software package that has features you will never need? Why not get corel drawX3 and cocut pro hundreds less that will do every thing you could ever want with a cutter?

Ive used corel and cocut for years and never needed anything more for vinyl cutting and design.
 
Flame

Flame

New Member
I bought a vinyl express from Sign Warehouse, works just like my Graphtec, alright machine.

As far as what Techman said... note that there are over 100 employees at Sign Warehouse, and they deal with a LOT of equipment and a LOT of employees. Of course there are going to be a few bad stories, comes with the number of people you deal with.
 
T

TrustedImages

New Member
THANK YOU FLAME MASTER!

In addition to what he said, the bad stories usually yell louder than the good ones.

IE...what's going on with another thread and the printing of the gold/purple shirts.
 
Geary

Geary

New Member
Yes, Be Afraid....Be VERY afraid

I've purchased from Signwarehouse and did so becasue of all the positive stories I heard about them. I've owned a Panther Pro 30" for going on three years now and haven't had a single bad issue.

Just an observation of your post right out of the box.....you sound automatically negative and defensive. And to ask us a general vague question "Should I buy from Signwarehouse?" ....right after you quickly stated....."long story short I have to order my plotter again." and then paranthetically tell us to "don't ask." I mean, what the heck is that suppose to do for getting to your issues on this purchase but anything than just getting the negative replies you seem to be asking for?

Sorry man, we honestly do need a little more information on the details of your "fright".

~G.
 
signage

signage

New Member
All I can say is signwarehouse can be hard to make something right if they make a mistake but if you know how to handle these issue they will make good.
 
T

TrustedImages

New Member
I am not SignWarehouse. I am a person. I own a Graphtec CE-3000. I own LXI Master Plus. I do vinyl graphics on the side. I am employed by SignWarehouse yes. And even if I wasn't, I'd tell you the same thing. You act as though SignWarehouse takes each machine they sell beat it with a baseball bat, throw it in a box and ship it out the door. Yes you had a bad expierience. So have others. But many have had good times too. I'm truly sorry you had a bad one. I really am. But quit acting like everyone at Signwarehouse has a personal vendetta to screw every customer over.

Now to actually answer this thread.

Personally, I have a Graphtec. Not to knock the VE brand at all. But I chose to go name brand. I did not however on the software.
 
The Sign Dude

The Sign Dude

New Member
The problem I had with SW and the t-shirt thing are not even close to the same situation. If no one worked at SW would there be a company? NO. The people that work there make up the company. I think that if upper management wasnt so tightly guarded then maybe they would hear about the employees that are not taking care of their customers and get rid of them.
I kept the graphtec CE3000-60 they sent me and it works great.
 
T

TrustedImages

New Member
I didn't say the problem you had and the t-shirt thing are the same. I was referring to the problem one person had with another. That's going to be heard before and louder than if someone had something good happen. You know that. If you screw up on a job people are going to know it faster than when you do a wonderful job on something. That's all I meant.
 
gvgraphics

gvgraphics

New Member
I will say this about SW. I started using them about 3-4 years ago. My rep was Dacia Hatch(sp?). Very nice to deal with and honest when asked a question. I do not know if she is there anymore or not (was pregnant) but she took care of us. I can't remember my last reps name but he was helpful as well, no where near as helpful as Dacia was but none the less he wasn't bad. So there are those that are worth working with at SW. The only 2 B*tchs I have about them is there slow response from tech support. My last issue was only resolved ASAP because there Support Mang. was lurking on this forum and saw us slamming their support team. Issue resolved immediately after that.
The second issue with them is the unsolicited calls for supplies. They have been told multiple times we order from a vendor who is closer to us and gets our products to us in 1 business day. From TX to PA it's like 3-4 day shipping. They still continue to call wanting us to order supplies. So Trustedimages, if you can help us with that it would be great.

My over all experience with them has been fair, YES I would order more equipment from them, Name brand of course.

The biggest thing to remember is for every 100 good deeds they do 1 will be bad. That 1 will be all you here about. Thats just how this world works.
 
T

TrustedImages

New Member
gvgraphics said:
The biggest thing to remember is for every 100 good deeds they do 1 will be bad. That 1 will be all you here about. Thats just how this world works.
Click to expand...

AMEN! No, Dacia is not there any more. She went on maternity leave and did not return. I never worked with her but I've heard from customers she was great. As for tech support, they are improving. They really really are. There are lots of different ways to get in touch with them. The best is live chat. You can find it on the website. From what I have heard the techs love it. If they can chat live with a person and have a person on the phone they are getting more done and helping more people and causing less gripes and complaints of it taking too long to get tech! As for the calling, that's our job. We call. Lots of my customers love it because most of the time they really need things they are just too busy to call. So when I call it makes them stop what they are doing and do what they've been putting off. If you will message me your account information I will see if anyone has ownership of your account. If not I will take over ownership and if so I will just put a note on it that you do not wish to be bothered.
 
V

Valentino

New Member
my dealings with SW have been really good, I have the QE-series 60+ and the Q-130. both machines I like and both machines work great!

trakers, ask your customer service rep if they can install the arms system....I remember when I was doing my homework for the Valuejet V packages, the PrismJET ExtraV 2448 included a QE60+ with a optical eye system. (I THINK)

I agree with trustedimages...even though the sales reps at SW do bug you with a lot of calls, alot of times when they call, I actually do need something and while I'm waiting for them to pull up my order information they usually tell me the deals they are having this week. it's no skin off your nose to say, "i'm doing great with supplies," and thank them for calling.
 
chopper

chopper

New Member
my first cutter came from signwarehouse still have it works great,
my first software came from there as well, I am no longer running it but it worked fine, I think that some of the issue here is the people that are buying the machinery are also new to the business, and that creates more stress when things go wrong or do not function right or what we may precive to be right, and alot of the time it ends up being user error, (I speak from experiance) I had problems with my cutter and software which in the end was my fault and it took me along time to realize this, that there is no subsitute for experiance be it with software or a cutter, a printer, a heat press etc..etc... so when you buy a peice of equipment you must take the time to learn how to properly use your equipment and how to maintain it.//chopper

PS I do not work for sign warehouse
 
chopper

chopper

New Member
sorry I forgot to answer the post treakers you need to buy the best equipment you can afford, I personally would not be afraid to buy from signwarehouse, the graphtec is a good machine, do yourself a favor do a little resurch look on the web and see what the diffrence is between the machines you are looking at, //chopper
 
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