Wow guys,
This has been incredible incredible support and feedback from y'all. I can't thank you enough for how helpful this is and how much I appreciate this! After thinking about whether I should attempt to do some cleaning myself (ammonia/windex, paper towels, initial charges, etc) I thought I'd give the Epson technicians a try since they quoted a $275 for the first hour and I was hoping maybe then they could at least do some cleaning/servicing for me that might not result in a head change.
Do you all think that's wise? Or do technicians get told to try to push for an expensive head change always? I have no way of knowing
The reason why I have held off on trying to attempt it yet myself is because I was thinking, until they saw it I didn't want to actually cause an expensive head damage myself until the official troubleshooting since I have absolutely NO experience with trying to do this.
But unfortunately, it seems that the winds are not blowing my way, and the local tech company that Epson has farmed this out to is SEVERELY overbooked with managers leaving left and right and technicians on vacation and it's been 3 days and NO WORD on when someone can even come in!!! Preposterous for this being a business machine and out of commission for that many days. It is my main printer and I am just unable to run any production.
A little note on my environment:I haven't used it often this past few months because I lost my production assistant and I'm developing a different mode of my business. Production is anticipated to be back soon but now I have no printer.
I live in SoCal so yes it IS dry here but I wasn't aware of the humidity problem because my 2400 works just fine, with barely any cleaning needed even months sitting in neglect.
Possible Next Actions:Should I wait for the Tech or try to get it running myself with all your helpful tips?
I'm SOOO frustrated with Epson especially since they can't even get me an on site technician, after years of being a loyal Epson user, and now I'm seriously considering switching brands altogether and never buying another Epson again! But what would that brand be? What's a great alternative?
And if I write this printer off and want to stay with Epson, do I consider the 3880 or 4800? I don't mind downgrading because it's starting to look like I won't be using the 4000 series enough and I don't want this to happen again. Is the 3880 reliable enough to buy used or do I buy refurb? So many questions and so not what I need right now