Ridiculous service!! Not Happy!! How do I handle this??

[401Graphics]

If it is not the cutter, then why the hell did SW tell me it is the cutter which is why I bought a new one

They probably just pulled a answer out of the air. If they cant do tests in person then they really cant find the exact cause.

Have you tried changing the USB cable? Probably not the problem, but at this point you seem to be running out of causes.

 

[Mosh]

It's a trap...I can't stop laughing

 

[CheapVehicleWrap]

BUT, this is also why I am pissed... If it is not the cutter, then why the hell did SW tell me it is the cutter which is why I bought a new one

Do I really need to answer this one?
Swh burns though salespeople faster than I smoke cigarettes.

 

[Jim Doggett]

I will try to make this as short as possible...

I have a Vinyl Express Q54 Plotter bought from Sign Warehouse bundled with a 1204 Mutoh & Laminator. Recently I have had a problem with the contour cut being off. I went through hours of test with tech support at SW only for them to tell me he thought the cutter is messed & we need to have it repaired. The machine is still under warranty, but I find out that I will have to ship it to Texas for them to repair it & warranty does not cover the cost of shipping.

I then call around & find a Graphtec technician in my area & after going back & forth with him & SW he said he would work on it & SW would pay for parts, but not any labor. So I took my cutter to him to work on.

In the meantime I have an 8k job that still needs to be completed so I go out & buy another cutter (Graphtec CE5000). I explained to the graphtec tech that I was having a problem with the contour cut being off. After a week or so he calls & said he ran some test & the cutter is fine. I asked him if he print & cut a file with it & he said no. At this time he told me the bill was $150. I then sent him a file & asked him to please print & cut it to be sure everything was ok. He called a day or so later & said everything is fine, he cut the file & would bring the cutter back to me & show me some things that may help me out.

The Graphtec Tech come to my shop, set up the cutter & the contour cut was still off. I asked him to bring the file he cut at his shop & he did not. He also showed me where he ran a test I belived called a mark sensor adjust test where you insert the pen & the cutter will draw a crosshair, then scan & read it & then draw another crosshair & you enter in the offset if it is off. He showed me this & it was dead on (which I did before sending it off), but still the contour cut is off. He then spent approx. an hour, in my opinion "lying"to the cutter & changing the offset measurements until the contour cut was on.

As he was leaving my shop he gave me a bill for $250 (remember the $150 earlier). Evidently he charged me $100 to print & cut one file that he "forgot" for bring to me to show me. By this time I am just furious so I pay the $250 w/o question.

After he leaves my shop, I try to continue to use the cutter & I managed to get approx. 2 panels out of it, before it got to the point where it would not even read the reg. marks.

Basically now I feel that I have this graphtec tech involved & Sign Warehouse. I have spent countless hours trying to fix the problem myself with & w/o help from tech. I also have spent thousands of dollars between a new cutter & tons of thrown away media...

...But now I am not sure which direction to go. I am ready to start with this graphtec tech & demand a refund or for him to come out & fix my machine, or call SW & demand they pay to ship this thing to them & repair it?????

Whatcha think???????????

I think you were attracted by the thousands you saved when buying your equipment from us. Is that a fair assumption?

And yeah, we're able to offer great prices because we have large, centralized locations in TX and KY, where we offer depot-service, that's top-notch. In fact, we're not just the world's largest Graphtec dealer, we're a certified tech center, and by far the best, in my opinion.

And as many will attest, Graphtec cutters are renowned for their bullet-proof reliability. One with a problem is HIGHLY rare. But yeah; it happens, and we'll fix it for free if need be, which again, is pretty rare. But if you want to use your technician, then that's up to you and also at your expense. But the parts we'll cover, of course, which is not without certain uncertainties, i.e., how good is technician? Certified Graphtec? Will they know what's needed, or go on a fishing trip?

The thing is, we give it our all, within the confines of our service model, which folks know going in. But you gotta work with us, too.

And that said, I'm truly sorry that your Graphtec is not performing as it should. That's really bad luck, since there's literally no better cutter of its type, made, in my and 1000s of sign-maker's opinions.

Once again, my apologies for the problem. And I do hope you'll let us fix it, since our techs are second to none when it comes to Graphtec cutters. Truly.

Best Regards,

Jim Doggett
SignWarehouse

 

[ProWraps]

i gave him some pointers last night that even graphtec is oblivious to which is lame but i had to figure it out on my own.

he was going to try them this morning and im hoping they work for him.

 

[HulkSmash]

I think you were attracted by the thousands you saved when buying your equipment from us. Is that a fair assumption?

And yeah, we're able to offer great prices because we have large, centralized locations in TX and KY, where we offer depot-service, that's top-notch. In fact, we're not just the world's largest Graphtec dealer, we're a certified tech center, and by far the best, in my opinion.

And as many will attest, Graphtec cutters are renowned for their bullet-proof reliability. One with a problem is HIGHLY rare. But yeah; it happens, and we'll fix it for free if need be, which again, is pretty rare. But if you want to use your technician, then that's up to you and also at your expense. But the parts we'll cover, of course, which is not without certain uncertainties, i.e., how good is technician? Certified Graphtec? Will they know what's needed, or go on a fishing trip?

The thing is, we give it our all, within the confines of our service model, which folks know going in. But you gotta work with us, too.

And that said, I'm truly sorry that your Graphtec is not performing as it should. That's really bad luck, since there's literally no better cutter of its type, made, in my and 1000s of sign-maker's opinions.

Once again, my apologies for the problem. And I do hope you'll let us fix it, since our techs are second to none when it comes to Graphtec cutters. Truly.

Best Regards,

Jim Doggett
SignWarehouse

You always mention how large and cheap you are, but never address how bad your service is.
It's not a hidden feeling that SWH has serious support issues.

button down..

 

[SD&F]

Now that's customer service...LOL

 

[300mphGraphics]

I've had challenges with the contour cut in Flexi/Mutoh VJ/Vinyl Express cutter if I center the print on the vinyl. I always have to print from the bottom right corner. Once I worked this out, no issues. Maybe have SignWarehouse remote operate your computer/printer? That is how they helped me set everything up and the tech was able to give tips and show me all kinds of things to get me started.

 

[klingsdesigns]

I have learned the hard way and will spend way more on a product or supply then order from signwarehouse.

 

[Jim Doggett]

You always mention how large and cheap you are, but never address how bad your service is.

button down..

Fair enough.

Yeah; it's awful when we spend hours on the phone with a customer and cannot sleuth it. The customer suffers, we pull our hair out, and in the end, the problem remains, and maybe the cutter needs to come back to us, for service or to be replaced. It can happen, and more so in our case because, well, we sell gobs more of them.

And if this is bad, I'd like to know who does more:

* Tech support, by actual in-house SignWarehouse technicians, 7-days a week

*Open from 7am - 11pm, M-F; 9am - 4pm Sat; 1pm to 5pm Sun

*Online knowledge-base, 24/7/365, that's the envy of the industry, and used by customers who bought elsewhere, our competitors, you name it. It's unsurpassed. Really. Take a look at the depth of the info, downloads, videos and more at www.signwarehouse.com/support and www.signwarehouse.com/tv

*Online community monitored, by me, 7 days a week. Also by Jerry Barrax, arguably the most-knowledgeable product manager on the planet, who has helped people with various application questions, that literally amaze me in how any one person could know so much about vinyl, printing, t-shirt, engraving, you name it. Check it out: www.signwarehouse.com/forums

I'm pretty proud to be associated with SignWarehouse.

 

[401Graphics]

I've had challenges with the contour cut in Flexi/Mutoh VJ/Vinyl Express cutter if I center the print on the vinyl. I always have to print from the bottom right corner. Once I worked this out, no issues. Maybe have SignWarehouse remote operate your computer/printer? That is how they helped me set everything up and the tech was able to give tips and show me all kinds of things to get me started.

Oh yes, I had the problem where it wouldnt work correctly when centered. I always put it in the lower right corner and never had a issue when doing it like that.

 

[Border]

Jim,
You mention how big SignWarehouse is and the shear volume you sell over the years.

Think of how much bigger your customer base could be if you were also known for awesome customer service to go along with the great prices on equipment?

In cases where the machine you sold happens to be defective and warrants a repair at your facility, I would think it would be in your company's best interest to eat the shipping costs and help the small sign shop stay afloat while you sort out the problem with the equipment that you sold to them. A company the size of SW is in a much better place to absorb that cost than perhaps a small start-up sign company who has just laid out everything in good faith that they would receive good equipment as promised.

Meanwhile, your company drags out the repair process and then wants to stick the small guy with a huge two-way shipping cost on top of all the down time, which usually leads to threads like this one being put out for the public to see.

Looks as though your company has already lost one substantial sale for sure, just because of this particular thread...shipping the OP's printer back on your dime would have cost SW less than the loss of that new sale.
And if the equipment you sell is really that great and the bad ones are few and far between then it would seem that you would not have to be eating shipping costs very often at all, correct?
So why not man-up as a company and stand behind the stuff you sell with the same level of greatness that your sales team seems to have?
Isn't repeat business what almost every company on the planet dreams of?
SignWarehouse does not seem to care so much about that, on the other hand.

Just sayin'...

These are the very reasons I will also never buy from SignWarehouse again. ever

 

[J Hill Designs]

Oh yes, I had the problem where it wouldnt work correctly when centered. I always put it in the lower right corner and never had a issue when doing it like that.

I got a riding on this being the OP's issue

 

[royster13]

IMO it defies logic to think that they have been in business as long as they have and sell as much as they do and give bad service all the time...I suspect like with any large operation they slip up from time to time.....But those slip ups get all blown out of proportion because the "happy campers" are busy making money....

 

[ColoPrinthead]

the graphtec works well. we contour cut MILES through it. trust me. call me and ill fix your problem.

Mind sharing your tips for the other people who have graphtecs?

I'm have perf give me trouble today and would like to know any trick to make this thing work better in any way for whatever I ask it to do.

On the plus side my cutter was a champ on some gloss lam'd 1005 EZ RS yesterday.

 

[bob]

Oh yes, I had the problem where it wouldnt work correctly when centered. I always put it in the lower right corner and never had a issue when doing it like that.

What in hell are you people doing? I have approximately the same tackle. a VJ1204 and an FC7000-30 [from SW by the bye], Flexi 8.6 under XP, and I can put a print anywhere on the media and correctly contour cut. Center, left, right wherever.

Once the first mark is located, as long as the three other marks are approximately where the software thinks they are, it will cut properly

Are you not properly positioning the blade relative to the first mark or not setting the origin on the plotter or what?

 

[Graphics2u]

IMO it defies logic to think that they have been in business as long as they have and sell as much as they do and give bad service all the time...I suspect like with any large operation they slip up from time to time.....But those slip ups get all blown out of proportion because the "happy campers" are busy making money....

 

[DRW]

I had that problem with contour cutting on a Roland sp-300V, No matter what I did to try to fix it. However, to compensate, I moved the contour cut line over in Flexi, and worked like a charm when I print/cut.

 

[JBarraxSW]

Digital Designs,
I've looked at the tech support notes from your case and I have a hunch. According to our notes, you're not just doing a standard contour cut, but a "perf cut" That requires a few extra steps that, if not performed correctly, will cause the alignment to be off.
At one point in the notes, it mentions that when you wanted to do the regular cut, the plotter was performing a perf cut.
That indicates to me that the settings in Flexi aren't quite correct. That would also explain why the Graphtec is doing the same thing as the Q54.
It is a somewhat complex process, but if you'll check all the boxes in the correct order, it works. I've written a blog article about this that you may find helpful. Please refer to it, but also feel free to contact me and I'll walk you through the process.
Here's the link.

http://www.signwarehouse.com/blog/?p=4152

 

[skyhigh]

I got a riding on this being the OP's issue

Whats the odds that 2 new machines are doing the exact same thing?
+ User Error.

Only 2 years experience here in the industry, but I also have an ATV & motorcycle shop for 12 yrs & counting, so I somewhat understand the mechanics of some of this stuff

I've never seen a graphtec with a 250cc engine.

Good luck. Hope you get your problem resolved soon.

 

[ProWraps]

the sense level is set TOO high. ive posted this before. it ships on 90. the lam scatters the beam and it wont read the mark or reads it incorrectly.

not sure whats a trap.. but i guess its pretty funny?