Rant Roland VG 540

23 years of the Sign industry I have been a Graphtec and Roland user. Approx 10 months ago I went and picked up a brand new Roland VG 540. I gently hauled to the shop and plugged it in. The screen came on and said " Service Required". It was late and no chance of reaching anyone about this. So the very next morning Im on the phone with a tech. After many questions he says the limits need to be reset.... Ok, I do that and printer seems happy. I send over a job thinking all is good. Nope the print was awesome but it didn't cut right..... Just the day before I saw this brand new machine cut and it looked fine. I do a couple of test cuts from the machine and it now seemed happy again. Resent the job and once again it didn't cut right...… I replaced the blade went thru the test cuts again and now Im in business. Wrong again, over the coarse of the next few months I keep experiencing the very same cutting problems and wasting tons of vinyl by incomplete cut paths, there was never any rhyme or reason to it. Just random ways and days would come and go with a bad cut job. I made numerous calls to my dealer and yes they offered to come look at my machine but since I was over 3 hours from them I kept hope that we would figure this out without a long drive for something simple. I replaced blades often because some where some how the blade tip would be gone. At that time it had never had a job sent that cut too deep so I was baffled at how the tips would be missing. So about 6 weeks ago after my constant complaining they sent me a new blade holder as that was surely the problem..... NO it wasn't the problem. It was still doing this funky cut when it wanted to. So here comes the Roland tech. He came on a Monday. He replaced everything from the main board out the had to do with the cutting function on my machine. After a long day he declared the machine fixed and went on his way. I came in the next day, Tuesday and sent a job to the printer. All of a sudden the awesome leds that usually lit up above the carriage turned red and my printer came to a screeching halt. Well that's something new, printed awesome as usual but now it wont cut at all and the machine requires a complete power shut off and then back on to recover the stray carriage and get it back to the capping station. I call the technician and he has me do this then that and he calls Roland then calls me back to inform me that Roland is once again over nighting me all these new parts and he will arrive the next day to repair my machine..... So now I was actually in a worse position than I was before he came. The new day, Wednesday he arrives and started to work on my printer. Now it was obvious that he was disgruntled and even more so when I would ask him a question. Ever question I asked was responded with a smart a** answer, short or some other comment that I should not be getting. It got so bad that I left for a little while to cool down myself as I did not like where things were headed and I was in hopes of making the situation some what better. Upon my return some 30+ minutes later I quickly realized that the smart mouth he had wasn't going to get any better and finally shortly there after he gave me a smart a** request to go send a job. I promptly asked "Is the printer fixed?" He said to me " Do you have a job ready?" in a tone that really just pushed me over the edge and he knew that I had jobs ready. I asked again "Is the printer fixed?" He says yes its fixed... In my mind Im thinking how? I knew he hadn't put any new parts in the printer as they were still plainly laying right there in the factory packaging they arrived in. So I asked " What did you have to do to it?" He wouldn't answer me but demanded that I go send a job. I did, it cut so I promptly instructed the tech to pack his things and hit the door. And after all of his smart remarks, statements and half answers he looks at me like I am being a butt. I had even gone as far as telling him point blank that he shouldn't talk to a customer like he was and that I took offense in it. Yet he kept up. I didn't blink an eye I gave him once again to pack and get. That day the machine continued to cut fine and the next again to went wonky. I sent job photos to Roland, I sent the file to Roland. The first Roland tech I talked to says "there is no cut path in your file" WHAT???? I had to explain to this tech how to see the cut path. Then another senior tech looks over my file and he says to everyone but me. I hear this back thru my dealer that my file has too many nodes in it..... It had 4, a rectangle. Seriously? Now they are going to try to blame Flexi. Just to rule that out I spent hours on the phone with Flexi. But heres the thing, it happens with files from Illustrator too. Then the say its Versaworks 6, its buggy. I quickly reply it done it with Versaworks Duel too!!!! Oh ok, well we are sending another tech from a different dealer, he has 16 yrs experience. He comes, he works on my printer and tells me if he cant fix it Roland will replace it. Cool, lets do this. He works on it, again replacing a bunch of parts and within 3.5 hours declares the printer FIXXED!!!! Awesome all I ever wanted was a reliable machine. So we do some test I'm happy, he's happy, we did it. The next day this thing churned out work without a hitch. The following day I come in and load some media and it starts printing and cutting like its nothing. I load some more media, do a test cut and send the job. BAM! It cut the first decal great but only in spots on the duplicate...…. Here we go again. I call the senior Roland tech exec and no answer, I email him photos and asked him to call me. He replies he is busy and someone else will call. All of this time dealing with Roland they have NEVER kept their word to me by staying in touch with me on this problem. They have went the extra mile to blame it on anything but the printer. Now at this point I'm beyond hearing anything from them but that they will replace it. I was waiting for someone to call me back when my dealer calls me and says after hours of phone calls and emails with Roland he is coming out to completely go thru my computer, new fresh copy of windows, reload everything from scratch and to do whatever is needed to rule out my computer being the problem before they send a new printer. I lost it right there. I put my foot down and said no way is anyone touching that computer. I said you better be getting me a new printer or I am getting a lawyer. Hundred and hundreds of dollars have been wasted due to bad cut jobs, my reputation has been damaged as I have not been able to meet my deadlines. Ink has been wasted, time has been lost due to this and they want my computer to be checked? I also promptly pointed out it was doing the same thing with another computer!!!! So now I am told they are shipping me a new printer on Monday the 13 but I wont have it until the following week WHAT? Like I have not been put off and kicked around enough already?

This is it for me. I will not buy another Roland machine again ever. If you do I wish you the best but I urge everyone to consider all of their options before committing to a Roland. The after sales service leaves a lot to be desired.

 

Thanks for the tip, mine are all checked. I am fully convinced the printer is my problem. I am just disappointed that Roland has always tried to blame anything and everything but the printer. They couldn't care less about the vinyl, ink and time I have lost with this thing. I am thinking I really need to get an attorney involved with this operation. As of writing this I will never recommend or purchase another Roland. For years I have pushed this brand but never again.

 

The same thing happened with first computer, its not that.

 

Ok for the update on my Roland VG 540A. Roland had a new printer sent out to me last week and it was installed on Friday. There wasnt much time left by the end of day so I didnt have anything to report. Saturday I came in and done some printing, after time to cure and laminate I sent the cut jobs. The cuts were flawless. They were spot on and everything cut as it should. Now I feel comfortable again sending cut files to my Roland. Over the last 12 months with the original printer it was always a guessing game as to if it would cut or not. In the 23 yrs of being in the sign industry I had never experienced anything like what I did last year. Thank you Roland for getting me back up and running!

 

Okay a new update on my printer. After a week with the new printer I want to report that I have had not a single issue with the new printer. Again Roland I know you are watching this post so Thank you again for getting me up and running. I appreciate your help and the great lengths you went to by making this happen.

 

Wow, I hate to hear that. Since my replacement printer I’ve been trouble free. I hope they get you squared away soon.

 

I saw some good buys on eBay for truvis ink. Maybe someone could use it.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/372688882228