Abnormal service charge quote

[Paul Eby]

The building next to us recently burnt to the ground. We were very lucky with minor smoke and water damage but that's about it. Our insurance company ok'd going ahead with general service of all our equipment. (we have a small photo lab)
I was shocked to see the quote from Decisionone come in at ~$4600.00! We are in a remote area so half the costs were for travel but even then it still seems high.

Is Decisionone the only company that services Epson large format printers? We are located in Canada. - Paul Eby

[deanwork]

Well I don't know about Canada but here in the US they won't let anyone else work on them. We can't get parts anymore either, even for ourselves. I used to service my own Epsons occasionally, replacing heads, pumps, and such but they won't allow them to be sold anymore. I asked the parts company Compas Micro what that was all about and they told me Epson won't let them sell the major parts because "people were doing things they shouldn't be doing with them". And I said, "like fixing their printers"? And he said I don't know, that's the story they told us. So even if you have someone locally that could do a really good job keeping your printer running, Epson won't allow that to happen. The idea is to throw away your printer every 3 or 4 years, let it go to the landfill in China or Africa or somewhere. Refurbishment is not allowed.

j

The building next to us recently burnt to the ground. We were very lucky with minor smoke and water damage but that's about it. Our insurance company ok'd going ahead with general service of all our equipment. (we have a small photo lab)
I was shocked to see the quote from Decisionone come in at ~$4600.00! We are in a remote area so half the costs were for travel but even then it still seems high.

Is Decisionone the only company that services Epson large format printers? We are located in Canada. - Paul Eby

[dgberg]

Is going over the 7900 all they are doing?
Probably $125.00 an hour with an 8 hr minimum to come out = $1,000
$1,000 to go over it and a $1,000 to go home thats $3,000 which is more then the printer is worth.
Epson is selling these for under 3 grand. If their cost is $2500 they could give you a new one and save several thousand. I would try that route but plan on going through about a half dozen levels of customer support before you remotely get to talk with someone that can make that kind of call.
Expect to hear "We have never done that before" at every single level.

[Paul Eby]

Is going over the 7900 all they are doing?
Probably $125.00 an hour with an 8 hr minimum to come out = $1,000
$1,000 to go over it and a $1,000 to go home thats $3,000 which is more then the printer is worth.
Epson is selling these for under 3 grand. If their cost is $2500 they could give you a new one and save several thousand. I would try that route but plan on going through about a half dozen levels of customer support before you remotely get to talk with someone that can make that kind of call.
Expect to hear "We have never done that before" at every single level.

The break down is ~$2,200 for travel/accommodation, $175/hr. labour (min. 2 hrs.), and "predicted parts" ~$2,000

I'm in the process now of trying to convince the adjuster that a replacement makes more sense. In Canada the 7900 is still selling for a little more than $4,000
The thing is, this is not Epsons problem. The printer is out of warranty. Epson took the call and forwarded it DO. Looks to me that DO that will lose out
as logic would convince most anyone to spend the money on replacement as apposed to (questionable) repair, regardless if it was an insurance claim or not.

All I was expecting was for someone to come out and give it a thorough cleaning.

[dgberg]

Tell the insurance company you would like the payment made directly to you.
Then you can keep the money,have it gone over by the service company or replace it.
At least in the USA once you get your insurance check you can do with it as you wish,not sure about Canada.

[BobDavid]

Tell the insurance company you would like the payment made directly to you.
Then you can keep the money,have it gone over by the service company or replace it.
At least in the USA once you get your insurance check you can do with it as you wish,not sure about Canada.

Insist that your insurance company pay for a new printer. Even if you get a tech to come out and hopefully repair it on that first service call, the repair work is not warranteed for more than ninety days. I would fight and scream about this. If the insurance company doesn't bend, bring it up to your insurance agent/broker. Let him slug it out.

[Paul Eby]

So our insurance company has agreed to a new printer. I sure hope we don't have to go through all clog issues we did when we first got the other one. - Paul Eby

[Farmer]

So our insurance company has agreed to a new printer. I sure hope we don't have to go through all clog issues we did when we first got the other one. - Paul Eby

Just make sure you update the firmware immediately upon receipt (as soon as it's done the initial charge).

[dgberg]

So our insurance company has agreed to a new printer. I sure hope we don't have to go through all clog issues we did when we first got the other one. - Paul Eby

Count your blessings it could have been a whole lot worse.