How to return Roland Printer

[Gino]

Wouldn't this be a novel idea.......

Why don't the distributors hook the unit up at their place, use it for a day or so and be assured they are in perfect working condition, before they send out so many lemons ??

You test drive a car, whether it's new or used before you put a penny down on it. Heck, most of ya even date your girl at least 2 or 3 times before you marry her. Well, there are some not into that, I guess.

​

 

[klingsdesigns]

We have had this exact combination for 18 months... love it. Prints so quickly, colour gamut is massive, quality is incredible even at 6 pass. The Graphtec is also a step above the Roland as a cutter. Able to cut faster and more accurately.

What rip are you using then? onxy postershop?

 

[Solventinkjet]

Wouldn't this be a novel idea.......

Why don't the distributors hook the unit up at their place, use it for a day or so and be assured they are in perfect working condition, before they send out so many lemons ??

You test drive a car, whether it's new or used before you put a penny down on it. Heck, most of ya even date your girl at least 2 or 3 times before you marry her. Well, there are some not into that, I guess.

​

It would save some headaches on both sides for sure but I can tell you why we don't do it. We have about 100 Mimaki machines in the field all over the country. I installed about 98% of those myself. Out of all of those machines I can remember only 1 or 2 that were bad out of the box and required repair or re-calibration. No actual lemons that needed to be replaced etc. I bring all maintenance parts with me on every install just in case the cap top dried out in storage or a damper is defective out of the box. This covers almost all out of box issues for the most part.

Also Moving a machine that already has been setup is much more time consuming and a major PITA compared to moving a single box with a forklift into a trailer.

So if we had a failure rate that was much higher I would totally be doing this already. I see some of these posts of people having lemons and I feel bad for both parties. It may look like your tech is apathetic to your situation sometimes but believe me when I say, if I have a service call or install that goes south, I will be thinking about it all weekend. That's why I try to wrap up all service calls by Friday.

 

[chrisphilipps]

Wouldn't this be a novel idea.......

Why don't the distributors hook the unit up at their place, use it for a day or so and be assured they are in perfect working condition, before they send out so many lemons ??

You test drive a car, whether it's new or used before you put a penny down on it. Heck, most of ya even date your girl at least 2 or 3 times before you marry her. Well, there are some not into that, I guess.

​

Gino you would be surprised with what customers would say to your suggestion. I have had plenty of customers that insist on having a completely sealed box from the manufacturer as proof that it is a new unit.

We typically assemble the printers in our office and transport them to the customer that way. It saves time and is easier on the installer and the customer gets more training time during the install as well. We don't ink them up or test them in anyway before we install them at the customers location. The printers require activation to put ink in them and this activation starts the warranty clock so we do this when it is actually installed at the customer's location.

I just recently had one customer that found out that we assembled the stand, we didn't even put the printer on it, and they refused the printer. They demanded a copy of that printer's serial number and to have a new one shipped directly from Mutoh to their location. They wanted the serial number because they were convinced that we would ship the original printer back to Mutoh and have Mutoh ship it to them.

Their reasoning for all of this was that we were "stealing" new genuine Mutoh parts out of the printer and putting "cheap" Chinese parts in it instead so we could make extra profit somehow.

Like VanderJ said above we have sold hundreds of printers over the years and I can count the ones with issues on install with one hand.

 

[Joe House]

Wouldn't this be a novel idea.......

Why don't the distributors hook the unit up at their place, use it for a day or so and be assured they are in perfect working condition, before they send out so many lemons ??

Great Idea! Some of us do it Gino. It makes for a better customer experience the less we have to tinker with the machine when we bring it in and it gives us more time for training if we don't have to assemble it and ink it up. For the most part they work out of the box, but we get a chance to double check things and make any necessary corrections without the new owner breathing down our necks eager to get printing. Car dealers do it all the time - That's why you see a dealer prep fee on the sticker.

 

[equippaint]

Wouldn't this be a novel idea.......

Why don't the distributors hook the unit up at their place, use it for a day or so and be assured they are in perfect working condition, before they send out so many lemons ??

You test drive a car, whether it's new or used before you put a penny down on it. Heck, most of ya even date your girl at least 2 or 3 times before you marry her. Well, there are some not into that, I guess.

​

Or just stand behind the product that you make with a sense of urgency like the rest of us peons have to do.

 

[SignMeUpGraphics]

What rip are you using then? onxy postershop?

Yep, 12.2 at the moment. Haven't got around to moving to 18 yet. Too busy working

 

[klingsdesigns]

Yep, 12.2 at the moment. Haven't got around to moving to 18 yet. Too busy working

I have never used that rip so not sure if it’s good or not. Only ever used Versaworks.

 

[SignMeUpGraphics]

We went from Versaworks 5.x with our VS-540 to Onyx 12.2 on our Epson S80600.
It's far more controllable than Versaworks. A bit harder to use at the beginning but when you learn how much more it can do you'll really appreciate it.
We could never nail colour profiles in Versaworks (neutral greys were near impossible), but on Onyx (w. an i1Pro2) we're getting amazing accuracy and gamut.

 

[klingsdesigns]

Update- Today i believe is 43 days having the vg that doesnt work. Did have a replacement printer coming and it was taking forever, and install date was going to take another week on top of that so told dispatch that I would like a full refund if they couldn't get out sooner. Then they cancelled my printer from coming before 100% confirming me as to my knowledge. First was told i will be getting refund for my vg and they were going to do a courtesy and put a new mainboard in my vp and inks to get it running, so I have a machine that would work till i ordered something else or kept my vp. Since i traded it in and its been sitting in a box in my shop waiting to ship out when they got my vg working properly. Well my dealer has the stand, and inks and everything else besides the top of the printer. So i was worried that heads would be dried up and they stated they would get it running, and fix main board since i had issues with the connection problem on these vp. Then found out they only want to refund me for the printer and NOT the ink cost. Which each cartridge has more than 75% left. I feel like they should refund me in full for my purchase of printer and the invoice total. The fixing of the vp was a "courtesy". Now they are saying that they are sticking about $3,000 into my vp so I am assuming they want to offset the cost. Which shouldn't be my problem. That being said i would be basically renting a dud machine for $1000 since that's the ink cost, be out loan fees, credit card fees, Interest, Wasted material, shop hourly rate messing with this machine from day 1. Lost bigger jobs since we cant do full wrap with this printer the way it works, Stress for the last month. Phone hours spent trying to fix this, samples printed, and emails back and forth. Also, i am not here to bad mouth roland. Before this experience i have had nothing but good results from them for the last 6-7 years. I just want them to make this right. I think there courtesy of fixing the vp is very generous and showing they stick behind their product. For the hassle this has been, i think thats necessary.

 

[fresh]

I need to stop reading this thread. I feel my blood pressure rising. I'm so sorry you are dealing with this BULLS HIT from roland.

Do you have a lawyer? Can you get them to draft a letter stating you expect a full refund on all monies put out on the defective machine? Also, i'm not really clear on whats going on with your old printer... You have the printer but not the stand or any ink? I would give them a huge no thank you for any help they are offering getting your old machine up and running.

 

[klingsdesigns]

I need to stop reading this thread. I feel my blood pressure rising. I'm so sorry you are dealing with this BULLS HIT from roland.

Do you have a lawyer? Can you get them to draft a letter stating you expect a full refund on all monies put out on the defective machine? Also, i'm not really clear on whats going on with your old printer... You have the printer but not the stand or any ink? I would give them a huge no thank you for any help they are offering getting your old machine up and running.

So its a trade in. When boxing up the vp, the dealer took the frame and everything but the top in his vehicle. Then they were going to ship machine back to dealer when my vg was working properly. Well it has been sitting in a box in my shop since vg was installed.

 

[fresh]

So its a trade in. When boxing up the vp, the dealer took the frame and everything but the top in his vehicle. Then they were going to ship machine back to dealer when my vg was working properly. Well it has been sitting in a box in my shop since vg was installed.

I feel like your old machine, sitting in a box for almost 2 months, is less valuable today then it was when it was traded in. I'd be inclined to ask them for the depreciated value on that machine.

OR I'd fight to have them pay you out on the trade in. So, if you got a 3K credit, they owe you the 3K. They can keep the broken machine.


EDIT: The more I think about it, they bought your old machine. Full Stop. Don't let them unload it on you unless you want to keep it.

 

[CanuckSigns]

I have my doubts about your old printer being able to print well after sitting unpluggged for so long. I would start calling other dealers in the area and schedule some demos on new printers for early next week, If your current dealer has been dragging their ass on getting you a replacement machine so far, i can;t see them stepping up to the plate to fix your old printer for free.

Time to cut your losses and move on from Roland, just like we had to

 

[klingsdesigns]

When vp was unplugged and put in box it printed test prints perfect, but i am too skeptical as to if they are all dried up now. I do have an invoice from grimco for an epson 80600 and a graphtec fc8600. Just waiting for Roland to get to agree to what i want. Grimco is 2-3 weeks out for installing a printer, and I cant sit here not having a printer for 2-3 weeks.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

When vp was unplugged and put in box it printed test prints perfect, but i am too skeptical as to if they are all dried up now. I do have an invoice from grimco for an epson 80600 and a graphtec fc8600. Just waiting for Roland to get to agree to what i want. Grimco is 2-3 weeks out for installing a printer, and I cant sit here not having a printer for 2-3 weeks.

Sub out till it gets there

 

[rjssigns]

I'll reiterate what I said before. Lawyer up! You are in a no win situation that is rapidly getting worse.

I know EXACTLY who you are dealing with and how he conducts business. Situation will NEVER improve until legal action is taken.

 

[unclebun]

When vp was unplugged and put in box it printed test prints perfect, but i am too skeptical as to if they are all dried up now. I do have an invoice from grimco for an epson 80600 and a graphtec fc8600. Just waiting for Roland to get to agree to what i want. Grimco is 2-3 weeks out for installing a printer, and I cant sit here not having a printer for 2-3 weeks.

When I got my Epson S70670, Grimco was 2-3 weeks out on installations, so I unpacked, assembled, and set it up myself. Started using it, and then they came out and did the training. I had a Mimaki JV3 that had been broken more than working the previous 6 weeks and had to get product moving out the door. It wasn't really that hard to set up the Epson and all the instructions were in the box.

 

[ProPDF]

If they will fix the VP let them do it. In the mean time Grimco will actually have the printer to you in 2-3 days. I would buy the Epson and put everything together on the printer and tell them you want to put the inks in and go and have them come out when they are ready. The only thing they will do is run over the software if you need help. Make sure alignment is ok which out of the box it usually is from what we have been told and what we have seen. They also get the warranty started. I wouldn't let that 2-3 weeks scare you is my point.

 

[ProPDF]

When I got my Epson S70670, Grimco was 2-3 weeks out on installations, so I unpacked, assembled, and set it up myself. Started using it, and then they came out and did the training. I had a Mimaki JV3 that had been broken more than working the previous 6 weeks and had to get product moving out the door. It wasn't really that hard to set up the Epson and all the instructions were in the box.

Exactly!!!