Good Service is a funny thing - for years we had Ikon and they were in all the time, I was fearful of trying Xerox as they had 1 serviceman to probably Ikons 4 and our machines were having Coronas re-strung constantl. Finally we got into a lawsuit with them regards the Ikon 500 as well as CLC2400 and a IR5000. We were able to have a independent competitor take over a IR5000 and IR6000 and they had a very good service man originally from Ikon but who decided to go independent. The first thing the independent found was the IR 5000 had the Corona assembly and wiper blade at 2,000,000 copies - Canon recommendation of change at 1,000,000 copies. We also had a IR6000 same model as 5000 but 10 copies minute faster, recently placed by Ikon - this had the main air filter missing. Under Ikon the IR5000 was going less than 10,000 copies between service. After spending over a 1000 in parts with the new company this was several times better but the new company was not happy saying it was like trying to fix a car that had been ran with dirty airfilter and oil for 1/2 its life and so we disconnected it at 2.200,000 and used some of the new parts in the IR6000. The test came much later when the IR6000 got and surpassed 2,000,000 - we've been averaging service about every 200,000 copies or more so 20 times the length between service Ikon was providing us. However with it now considerably over 2.5 million we are considering replacement when the drum reaches life expectancy at around 3,000,000.
The unfortunate thing is we lost the case with Ikon - the Canadian Judge ruled that Ikon was within its rights to decide when parts required replacement. Ikon's technician claimed to be a Master technician - something I never asked for a Certificate on, assuming anyone who claims a missing air cleaner is not his/Ikons fault could be seen for what he is. I also should have pointed out that our new technician had him as an apprentice which in those terms would make ours a Doctor. Regards the Canon CPP500 - Ikon claimed we were using paper not acceptable to them - acceptable being paper brands on their for sale list. Paper which was within the parameters of the manual. We complained Ikon was sending their only trained tech from 100 miles away - while we had purchased it on the understanding they had techs in the town - they countered with service times of 30 to 40 hours tops - I happed to have emailed in a couple of the service calls and was able to show these must have been based on 8 hour workdays so instead of being 2 days this was along the lines of a week especially factoring in weekends. Also the CPP500 was really the former model 8050 with a upgrade to glossy toner, unfortunately they neglected to install a software patch - something like GLDN and Ikon was 2 months after I found the issue talking with EFI then when they did it from a disk they neglected to mention to me that on that disk was a updated printer driver to match the software patch. However in this case the reason the judge let them off was on the back of the signed contract was wording that they were not responsible for computer software issues. My legal error in assuming that people read from the top down and I am responsible for whats above the signature not whats after the signature and also keep in mind that if they get you to sign when they've been to your store what they have placed beyond your signature. If someone wants to put info on the back of a sheet of paper its my belief they should mention it above the signature but until the law agrees with me I prefer not to do business with anyone using that practice - if I must then I would cross off everything after my signature.
So it was a costly lesson to us, a CLC-2400 scrapped doing 2 or 3000 copies between services at 220,000 while Canon rated them I think at 100,000 monthly. Contrasting that we have about 700,000 on a Docucolor 12 that I think was rated 30,000 monthly. We also have 2 docucolor 240's, 1 in a branch. The main office one is creeping up to about 800,000 - runs very well - I love the user replaceable drums, Corona, & Fusers, so we rarely require service - no wonder they need 1 service man to 4 Ikon service people - they replace parts instead of stringing Corona wires. The CPP500 was averaging us around 4 to 5000 copies between Ikon getting in - they claimed that machine averaged 20,000 copies between service, not great considering it was I think supposed to have a 300,000 monthly duty cycle which would mean 15 service calls.
So I agree also with Jeff regards Xerox and keeping prices the same throughout as pricing seems to keep dropping on new machines. Ikon as they sell factory items could improve so they replace parts - but for me to buy from them requires they park a free copier at my doorstep, Minolta that they take over service but their independent agent doesn't want a single machine that he would need 2 weeks training on at his cost and time, and EFI be aware - I no longer accept companies to string together an endless chain of patches and faulty disks, either join them as a downloadable disk or service pack and include Checksum verification so everyone has the same, during my next purchase I am going to check out Creo and Xerox's own RIP. I would also suggest putting a clause in any contract that parts must be replaced at or before manufacturer recomended intervals and suggest anyone having issues request a history of their machine and a copy of the suggested parts replacement intervals - you might be painfully surprised.
Ken
