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Having Trouble With Roland?

player

New Member
I am putting together a website that will outline issues people have had and are having with Roland machines.
My machine was defective from the time I bought it. They have continued to stall and tell me things that
are not true, and never fixed my machine. I wish someone would have warned me years ago, hence the site and
forum I will be creating to give people who have purchased machines that did not work and Roland did not help.

Send me a PM so we can get your issues on line.

Thanks.
 

player

New Member
Not really a forum, more of a place people with unresolved Roland issues can publish their experience and also warn potential new Roland customers about their experience.

For instance I would recommend never paying a cent for a Roland machine or sign anything until it is in the shop and up and running for at least 30 days. If you accept the machine and it does not function correctly, it is very difficult and time consuming to get them to fix or replace the unit. In my case they told me that was as good as they worked, and kept denying until the warranty ran out. The whole time I was not able to print and print/cut as promised. The machine is still not working and they have washed their hands. They did offer to continue to try to fix it if I want to pay them. The issues I am having have existed since I bought the machine.
 

CarNate69

New Member
Nice. That isn't a typical story though. Hope the forum of Roland hate works out for you. I think most Roland users know through sign posts, that Rolands are great printers, and not greatly accurate cutters. Buy a standalone cutter.
 

CanuckSigns

Active Member
I had amazing support from Roland, we had an issue pop up when the machine was 3 months out of warantee, Roland tech came by, downloaded the history off the printer, sent it to Roland in Japan, they noticed that it was actually acting up for the last 6 months but the problem never caused any issues with the print that I noticed.

They determined that since the issue started while the machine was still under warantee, they fixed it completely free of charge. They could have told me the machine is out of warantee, sorry. But they went the extra step to look back through the error logs and saved me about $1000
 

TimToad

Active Member
Wow! A subject I thankfully don't know anything about. LOL

I've worked in shops with Rolands that never had issues and now own an eight year old Roland VP540 VersaCamm. Except for wipers, plotter blades and a few minor parts, the thing has cost us and the previous owner very little. The thing is a complete workhorse and with regular preventative maintenance and adjustments, it just keeps chugging along. I've actually been impressed with the cutting it does when you take the time to align things properly and regularly check the cutting alignments.

Of course, now I've jinxed it and I'll soon become a frequent complainer about it.
 

ksalda

New Member
How much money does it take to fix a Roland? This is not a joke.

First, let me say I am not a Roland hater. My stories started about 6 months a go. My VP540 started disconnecting from the network. Progressively, over the next six months, it got worse and worse. Now I can't finish a print at all. Researching this problem, I can see a lot of others have had the same problem. Roland has to know about the problem. I just called the local service rep, and ask about the problem. Once he understood the problem, and before I could even finish explaining, he told me what was needed. A NEW MAIN BOARD... it will now cost me some where in the neighborhood of $2000 to fix. How much money and business have I lost trying to remedy the problem?

What I ask is, Is Roland doing any thing about the problem, so that I will feel comfortable about purchasing another one when the time comes? (this is my second) I have seen nothing about Roland addressing the problem. No, think about it. How many main boards have they sold as replacements for their problem? How much money have they profited from just the sales of replacement boards that fix the problem, that is theirs to begin with.

How long would your customers stay with you if you treated them this way?

Thanks, for letting me vent.
 

CanuckSigns

Active Member
First, let me say I am not a Roland hater. My stories started about 6 months a go. My VP540 started disconnecting from the network. Progressively, over the next six months, it got worse and worse. Now I can't finish a print at all. Researching this problem, I can see a lot of others have had the same problem. Roland has to know about the problem. I just called the local service rep, and ask about the problem. Once he understood the problem, and before I could even finish explaining, he told me what was needed. A NEW MAIN BOARD... it will now cost me some where in the neighborhood of $2000 to fix. How much money and business have I lost trying to remedy the problem?

What I ask is, Is Roland doing any thing about the problem, so that I will feel comfortable about purchasing another one when the time comes? (this is my second) I have seen nothing about Roland addressing the problem. No, think about it. How many main boards have they sold as replacements for their problem? How much money have they profited from just the sales of replacement boards that fix the problem, that is theirs to begin with.

How long would your customers stay with you if you treated them this way?

Thanks, for letting me vent.

A couple of things come to mind. Is your printer connected to your shops network or is it directly connected to your rip computer? I would never connect my printer to the office network, too many opportunities for glitches and hiccups, our roland is connected directly to the Rip computer with a cat5 cable, no connection issues in over 2 years.

is your printer plugged directly into the wall or is it protected by a high quality surge protector or UPS? again, this is a very expensive piece of electronics, all it takes in 1 surge to fry key components.

I will agree about the main board issue, on our VS-540, the network card is connected directly to the main board, meaning if you have a faulty network card on the printer, it's not a $200 part, it's a $2000 part, I think this is a huge oversight on Roland's part, it's not like there is a lack of space in these printers, they could use a separate card.

You mention in your post that you feel the issues you are having are somehow Roland's fault and that they are doing it so they can sell more parts, care to back that up with some evidence?
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
Not defending or going against Roland, but while all machines/equipment have their problems, I think a much larger number don't.

Like others have said, ours is a true workhorse and has made us literally 100's of 1,000's of dollars over the years, if not more into millions. Other than routine maintenance, which we don't always perform, I cannot say anything against Roland. Other then their first PC50, their machines are great.... especially for the price. The cost of that machine, maintenance is a drop in the bucket compared to what it's provided.

It's kinda hard for a company of their size to fix each and every problem that comes along. Whether you take responsibility and do it yourself, to make sure your business doesn't suffer, look at all the cars that get recalled. So many things today get recalls to fix safety problems. Not knowing what's wrong with either of the two posters machines, you can probably find tenfold several times over that amount who have nothing but good things to say about them.

As for the OP, keeping a good paper trail should've remedied your problem, but waiting 2 years is a long time to be telling someone their stuff doesn't work and just waiting. Most people today, rather than starting a hate column, would fix it right up front. Just think, though....... had you bought a second machine, you could've made some big bucks, rather than waiting so long. You have to weigh out which costs more..... another $25,000 machine..... or giving up $150,000 a year in prints and cutting ??




This is no place to air your dirty laundry, but it would be nice to know how many times it went back and forth with you and Roland over the time period you are talking about. I would allow for a week, two at most, then I'd be getting in THEIR face, not making a website about them. Sure, you'll get followers, but with more people that don't care if their business suffers from it or not.
 

lgroth

New Member
Good and bad in all.....

All printers have their quirks and issues, and just like brands/ models of cars you can have one that's a problem while the guy next door has the exact same one and never had a problem... We have a Roland SC540-EX Pro-II that we've had in service since it was new well over ten years ago. Biggest repair was a board about 8 years ago and the tech cleared the print-time counter, since then has well over 10,200 hours of printing with very few problems... Since the board replacement we've never had a tech in the door, I do all the maintenance and repairs myself. Did the pump upgrade not long after we got it, only replaced two of them since, third one is still going strong. Replaced the scan motor twice, replaced the K & Y heads twice, the others once except for the LM which is still the original! Count shows 19,647,195K as of today, 19 billion shots, three times it's life expectancy and though not as clear on test prints as the rest it has still not shown any issues in actual print. I thought it was gone once so I ordered a new one to replace it with, in the meantime I flushed it and it came back, just waiting to see how long it's actually going to hold out now before I have to swap it (AND I'm running aftermarket inks). I've replaced the encoder strip several times, a few sensors.... Yes sometimes it's issues with contour cutting are a mystery, but most times I've found it related to some other issue like encoder or scan motor (cutting issues get worse and worse towards the end of scan motor life). I do have to run the environmental calibration regularly as our weather here goes from one extreme to the next in the blink of an eye, that helps some of it's cut issues too. Overall I'm happy with our Roland, it's paid for itself many times over. What more could you ask for? I guess we got a good one. We're thinking about a new one, yes it will most likely be another Roland, and I'll be hoping it's as good as this one is. On the other side of the fence we installed a Fuji Accuity X2 about 5 years ago and it's been nothing but headaches, seems we hit a lemon there where a lot are happy with them... It's all luck-of-the-draw, good and bad in all of them, for every horror story about Roland you'll find one like mine... For every horror story like the ones I could tell you about our Fuji you'll find one that is as good and reliable as our Roland.:cool:
 

eddesign

New Member
cat 5 crossover

We just started having the same problem with are 540 worked fine for 3yr and just start same thing tec put a cat 5 crossover wire
on it and has been working fine for Past 6 months
 

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S11930

New Member
issues with roland / give all the info before ranting

no where in your rant did you mention who you bought it from, if it was new or used. If you bought it used let the buyer beware, if you bought it new most of the suppliers who make a living selling equipment work with the customer to insure satisfaction. The suppliers who post here will stand behind the product, train you on it and see that you understand it. There is a lot of information you are not supplying to go on a rant
 

player

New Member
Thanks for all the usual comments. If you have NOT experienced what I and others have, then this is not your topic or thread.

Otherwise, keep the PMs coming.
 

reQ

New Member
Had problem with my SP 540i. Tech was at my shop 4 times before he had if fixed. Only charged me $125 + the parts i asked him to replace. Asked him couple times when he was coming back to continue working on the printer if he will be charging me more? He never charged me any extra, considering he had to drive 150 km to service the printer, and yet, there was no warranty on the printer to cover service calls.

All comes to who you are dealing with and how good is your relation with people who you buy the printer from.
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
So, isn't it counter-productive to write things, get PMs for the good answers and the more reasonable ones get poohed poohed and then you knock them, publicly ?? If there is/are a qualified answer, wouldn't it benefit everyone or others to know them ??

There's always 3 sides sides to a story. We heard your legitimate complaint, but you're telling us in all these years they haven't lifted a finger to help you, cannot help you or don't want to help you and have flat out told you.....they won't help you ??

You're leading us to believe, you've had prolems, since day one and they have never helped you. Now, that's a serious accusation..... and if that's what happened, you have all the right in the world to be upset. Others should know what to do, if this is the case. How long has this been going on ?? Like I said, I wouldn't wait past 2 weeks. Perhaps you can sit idle and wait until your equipment is fixed, but I'd be taking affirmative action. If it's nonuseable, I'd be doing more than creating a hate column.

We have some customers like that, no matter what you do for them, there's always something wrong. Eventually they go elsewhere and we (all) cut our loses.
 

player

New Member
Absolutely.

Also comes down to how you deal with people which judging from the OP's posts in this thread....... is not very good.

There are ways to get results and I'd say this is not the proper way to do it.

I guess I'm not allowed to post here if I'm not going to tell Player what he wants to hear so I'll leave now.

Good luck with your witch hunt, I'm sure it will end well...

Anytime you disappear it is a good thing as far as I am concerned. :Big Laugh
 

player

New Member
So, isn't it counter-productive to write things, get PMs for the good answers and the more reasonable ones get poohed poohed and then you knock them, publicly ?? If there is/are a qualified answer, wouldn't it benefit everyone or others to know them ??

There's always 3 sides sides to a story. We heard your legitimate complaint, but you're telling us in all these years they haven't lifted a finger to help you, cannot help you or don't want to help you and have flat out told you.....they won't help you ??

You're leading us to believe, you've had prolems, since day one and they have never helped you. Now, that's a serious accusation..... and if that's what happened, you have all the right in the world to be upset. Others should know what to do, if this is the case. How long has this been going on ?? Like I said, I wouldn't wait past 2 weeks. Perhaps you can sit idle and wait until your equipment is fixed, but I'd be taking affirmative action. If it's nonuseable, I'd be doing more than creating a hate column.

We have some customers like that, no matter what you do for them, there's always something wrong. Eventually they go elsewhere and we (all) cut our loses.

As I said in my original question, I am looking for others who have had unresolved issues with their Roland products. I am not interested in discussing the issues and getting opinions on said issues. I will let you know when the site is up and you can read it all for yourself. I will say in the last year Roland came to my shop at their expense 5 times, replaced the main board, the scan motor, the encoder strip, the head cable the servo board and some other parts in an attempt once again to fix the printer. I appreciate the effort, but all the effort did not fix the problem. They have decided now that they are not going to fix it, and are washing their hands of the issue, an issue I have had since the printer was new. I cannot print and cut. I have never been able to. I have been looking up the issue online and there seems to be many others with the same defect.
 

Z SIGNS

New Member
So you bought a machine it does not work properly and Roland and the people you bought it from just turned their back on you.

Sounds hard to believe.

Anyhow good luck
I hope you get it resolved
 
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