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Author Topic: Epson 9900 failure. Class action possible?  (Read 14176 times)

motionbroker

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Re: Epson 9900 failure. Class action lawsuit possible?
« Reply #20 on: June 28, 2013, 06:11:54 am »

Thanks Mark,

I certainly did not mean to offend anyone.

You can imagine my frustration though since I am way away from knowledgeable support here. I am in Phuket, southern Thailand. When an Epson tech arrived it was clear he had never seen the machine before. He looked at the nozzle check and said to me "needs a new print head" , or at least that's what I think he said because he spent most of the time on the phone with his girlfriend. The casualness of his approach really infuriated me. Compare this to the experience I had with an HP tech two weeks ago. He showed up on time, with a full kit of parts for a 10 year old plotter. Fixed a broken belt, cleaned the printer. Tested it and was out the door in two hours for a total bill of 150 dollars. He even swept the floor of my office.

Things are v expensive here. The printer costs way more than it would in the states and spare parts too. I bought this primarily for a project I have always dreamed of (to make a series of albums of images I took twenty years ago in China with a LF field camera). I didn't really need such a large printer but as an architect I thought I could use it for double duty doing presentation graphics etc. So now I am faced with the double whammy of not being able to pursue my dream project and being faced with a big bill. I would probably pay it but I have no guarantee it wont just happen again in 6 months. That's just not right.

The extended service contract is apparently not available in Thailand so that was never even offered.

Unfortunately this reminds me of a problem a close friend of mine had when he bought a sports car from a well known German manufacturer starting with P. The car (model number 996) developed a thrust bearing failure after only 30000 kilometers and the engine exploded. It was just out of warranty. It turns out that it was a design flaw. A huge number of the cars had the same issue but P would never acknowledge it. They would fix if it happened under warranty but since many of these cars were weekend warriors they would make it through the warranty period and then explode.

My friend was so infuriated (even though the repair was not really a big deal for him since he is well off) he vowed he would never buy another P. He had 3 of them before this. Now he has sold the P, and bought a couple of F's and tells everyone he knows the story about how badly he was treated by P. He has a right to be angry and his anger likely has cost P a lot more than fixing the car.

Like this situation it was never clear how many of the cars had the issue.  That said the dealer was very clear off the record that there were a lot. So many in fact that they kept a full set of the parts in stock so that the repairs could be done fast. OK enough anecdotes.

What I am sure of is that my dealer in BKK who I believe sold me the printer in good faith has replaced his head, and of the 5 he has sold 3 have had issues. That's a real bad record. Perhaps due to our weather here but trust me the air is never really dry.

What I also find truly despicable is that EPSON is charging such a vast sum for the head. Profiting in effect from their negligence. If I as a designer designed a tower that had design flaws and caused my client to lose money, I would get sued, not get a nice bonus.

Its hard for me to understand that the head would cost Epson so much. Like many have noted the head cost is roughly half of the cost of an entire new printer including some ink.

I am now going though the marathon thread started by Eric to see what I can learn.Maybe I can save the old girl yet.

Unfortunately if I cant there is no way I will buy another head. Its just good money after bad. By the time I get a new head I am well on the way to the price of a Canon unit which seems to be a better choice for someone printing sporadically. Its such a gorgeous unit but I doubt I could sell it for much in its current state.

Thanks to all of you for your responses.

MB
« Last Edit: June 28, 2013, 06:24:33 am by motionbroker »
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Benny Profane

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Re: Epson 9900 failure. Class action possible?
« Reply #21 on: June 28, 2013, 08:29:03 am »

" A huge number of the cars had the same issue but P would never acknowledge it."

Again, you seem to be equating one person's problem to an entire products reputation. Do you have any statistics or proof that this particular model of Porsche is such a clunker? Maybe the car wasn't maintained properly or driven to the limit, with nary an oil change. I have known a few people in my life who thought they could swing the purchase price of such a fairly exotic auto, not anticipating the cost of maintaining it. It's practically a race car, you know. They need attention. Just like a good printer. The 9900 is an exotic, modern marvel, if you stop to think about it. It's kind of amazing, how ours just pump out beautiful, durable prints, day after day, with hardly a problem at all. But, again, I have to say, ours are used a lot, are kept in an air conditioned room, and we operate in a place with competent, trained service people within a relatively short distance. Maybe that's your problem?
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motionbroker

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Re: Epson 9900 failure. Class action possible?
« Reply #22 on: June 28, 2013, 10:13:34 am »

Benny

Exactly how do you get this kind of data if a company wants to hide it? The short answer is that you cant.

So we are stuck with inferred data. That said we spoke off the record to the mechanics and they had done the job multiple times with the same fault. For the record my friend is a freak about maintence. The car was treated well. It had a design flaw and failed. It happens. Indeed these are sophisticated machines and things happen. Owning up to that is what makes the difference between an average company and a great one.

Fine you use your printers all the time. I run an architectual practice (a large one with 60 staff)  For us gear sits dormant sometimes. We were told by Epson sales point blank that this was the best machine we could possibly get. My fault for not getting my staff to do more research. I had personal experiece with a 9600 which gave a few clogs now and then but overall its been fine. Still works to this day.

I resent the implication that we have not treated the machine well and somehow this caused the failure. We treated it exceptionally well. The fact is that these machines need constant use. Thats fine, just let people know that before buying. Again our fault falling for the hype.

Im no newbie with this stuff. I ran a visualisation practice doing government work all over asia for 10 years and we owned an iris printer and have had all manner of printers over the last 25 years. Now we have a full service architctural practice doing work in five countries, with 22 projects totalling 19 million square feet of real estate. We have a half dozen plotters, color copiers and enough high end computer gear to run a small country. We have full time technical staff who keep everything running well. They started the printer regularly even when not being used. But im the first to admit they didnt run a print every couple of days. Thats a ludicrous expectation of a piece of gear that was sold to us with the promise of trouble free operation.

Whats worse is that Epson does not even offer an extended warranty here. It breaks and you are stuck.

Im glad you have not had problems, dont get me wrong. But please before you imply lack of experience or abuse think twice.


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PeterAit

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Re: Epson 9900 failure. Class action lawsuit possible?
« Reply #23 on: June 28, 2013, 10:48:55 am »

Not at all. This post makes sense. And I particularly agree with your point that Epson needs to be more articulate in their marketing material about the target market niches their various machines are designed for. I think this would have saved a lot of grief for both them and their customers.

By "target market niches" I assume you mean people who print a lot and never let the machine sit unused for a while? OK, but there are many people - myself included - who do not fall into that niche yet have had excellent experiences with Epson printers (first a 4880 and now a 7900 for me). You may say that we are "lucky," but perhaps it's also true that the OP is "unlucky" - one of the few to experience this kind of fatal malfunction just after the warranty expires. We've seen no information to support the idea that this is a common occurrence, although it is certainly miserable for those affected. I, too, would be steamed up if facing a $2,000 repair a couple of months after the warranty ended!
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Benny Profane

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Re: Epson 9900 failure. Class action possible?
« Reply #24 on: June 28, 2013, 10:53:06 am »

Listen, I'm not accusing anybody of anything. What I'm here for is information, which internet forums give in spades. I would trust a forum of users over any company's claims anytime. So, when I hear someone claim that this printer, which I sit ten feet away from three in another room, is a lemon, my interest is piqued, because I plan on buying one soon for a small business of my own. Now, This may be an isolated incident, or, not. But, the implication in this thread is that maybe it isn't. Are there other 9900 owners who can chime in? Are there other forums I can be directed to that would give me more info about issues with this printer? All I know, at the moment, after working around four 9800s and now three 9900s over the last ten years, is that Epson makes a pretty damn reliable product if used a lot and put in the proper environment. Now, please, tell me otherwise, backed by facts.
« Last Edit: June 28, 2013, 03:35:20 pm by Benny Profane »
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Mark D Segal

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Re: Epson 9900 failure. Class action lawsuit possible?
« Reply #25 on: June 28, 2013, 11:10:43 am »

Thanks Mark,

I certainly did not mean to offend anyone.

You can imagine my frustration though since I am way away from knowledgeable support here. I am in Phuket, southern Thailand.

MB

No problem, I'm sure you didn't, and I can imagine the annoyance. I've been in and out of Thailand many times on consulting work and I know the climate all too well - an Epson printer should thrive in that dampness. It's dry air that's often said to be a culprit in respect of clogging. They recommend 40% humidity for optimal performance in the 4900 manual, which uses essentially the same, if not identical, print head.

With these Epson Pro Printers, the print head is essentially the printer and definitely most of the cost. Unlike for Canon and HP, they are not consumables. (Well, OK yours got prematurely *consumed* but you know what I mean.) I've heard the overall failure rate is very low, but needless to say they don't publish those numbers. Many photographers and service bureau I periodically converse with swear by these machines. That said, I think the quality of tech support is a really important consideration taking account of where you are located. If you are still planning to go wide format, I'd suggest shopping around and making some local inquiries (say in Bangkok) before plunking 2000 USD into a new head for a used machine. Frequency of use is a major issue for the x900 machines.
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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Ken Doo

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Re: Epson 9900 failure. Class action possible?
« Reply #26 on: June 28, 2013, 11:11:38 am »

..... We were told by Epson sales point blank that this was the best machine we could possibly get. ....


The Epson 9900 is the best machine imho, but what the marketing materials and Epson sales reps don't go on to tell you (educate end-users) is how to keep your Epson 49/79/99** printers running trouble-free the majority of their usable life expectancy.

The 9800 imho was like that old beat-up but reliable pick-up truck you parked out in front. Always started, always dependable. It just worked.  I had my reservations about upgrading to the 9900. She was like this slim, svelte blonde model (or sports car), sexy output, but feisty and high maintenance.  Treat her well and give her constant attention, and the 9900 dazzles.  Ignore her and risk the potential ire of a passive-aggressive mate dishing out irrational frustration to all those that come in contact with her.

I wish Epson would be more forthcoming with "End-user Maintenance Tips, Guideines, and Recommendations."  But apparently it's something that we end-users have to come up with on our own, or by sharing our successes and miseries on the forums.  And there are a lot of great tips here, we just need to find a way to put them in one place, in an unofficial end-user pdf publication.  After over a year of using my 9900, I have to say that this slim, svelte blonde model of a 9900 and me have come to an an understanding. Not that we ever had problems, but our relationship has evolved to one of respect and she really is like that old reliable pick-up truck now, similar to my old 9800 but much prettier and a better performer, as long as I pay her the requisite attention.  She is smarter, faster, and better in every way.  

Regular usage and monitoring constant humidity is at the top of my usage/maintenance list.  Get a hygrometer; watch out for air-conditioning and heaters (climate controls!) can dry out air even in humid climes.  Harvey Head Cleaner can help when you're on vacation for printing automatic nozzle checks in your absence. Cleaning and keep the deck clear of dust and debris. Regularly checking and cleaning the wiper with swab its; replace the wiper regularly.  Burn sage and dance around naked if it helps.  ;D  Not a fan of extended warranties, but I went ahead and bought one from Tastar Supply anyway.  I've had zero problems with my 9900 and 9890, but figured if I didn't do it, Murphy would come knocking...

For the most part, I do think that most users of the big Epson printers are happy.  You just won't find people that are happy with their equipment making a big effort to post on the forums about it.  They just go about their business printing.  Imho, you're more likely to read about those who have issues with their Epsons, and not to make light of their difficulties either, as most know that the wrath of a passive aggressive mate is not a pleasant experience. But it is one of the few ways to share and learn from others experiences, and keep these big printers going, regardless of manufacturer.

And MB, your geographic location certainly doesn't help, as it sounds like a nutless monkey could have done a better job than your repair Epson guy.  I think Epson service is a bit better here in the States!  Hope you can reconcile with your 9900.   :)

ken
« Last Edit: June 28, 2013, 12:20:28 pm by kdphotography »
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enduser

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Re: Epson 9900 failure. Class action possible?
« Reply #27 on: June 29, 2013, 08:58:18 pm »

As you trawl through the myriad printer forums on the web you quickly see that "Epson clog" and associated comments about difficult head replacement are very, very common.  This not the case with HP or Canon.  Comparatively speaking, Epson has a problem that the others do not.

Comparisons like this are often used by statisticians as surrogates, or insights into the real values for machinery fail rates.  You don't actually need to  know what the real world mtbf is, to be able to calculate a useful estimate.  The problem with forums like this is a general dislike of accepting that an expensive choice turns out to be problematic - we want everybody to confirm our wisdom.  When a class action begins, with all the accompanying publicity, we immediately become the outsiders who made a bad choice.

It's worth remembering that in the past, class actions have been awarded to claimants against Epson.
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motionbroker

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Re: Epson 9900 failure. Class action possible?
« Reply #28 on: June 29, 2013, 11:17:50 pm »

Statistics are going to be impossible to come by. Only epson execs will ever see these numbers

Its obvious that Epson has an issue here. Look at the amazon reviews for the product.

The number of people who hate the printer (10) is a lot more than the people who love it (3). A small sampling of course and the apologists will always say that this is not representative but i honestly i cant remember ever seeing a tech product reviewed so harshly.

Its such a simple and inexpensive problem for epson to fix. Drop the price of the print heads to a level where its not such a painful repair. If as many say its an issue with only a few printers then they wont lose much. If its a big issue then yes it will cost them a few million bucks, but thats nothing compared to losing thousands of high end customers. The impact to the bottom line for Epson is going to be huge if that happens. The pro users represent the knowledgeable respected elite of this vast field of inkjet printing. Ive lost count of how many people i have advised on printing over the years. If Epson does not deal with my case fairly do you think i will ever suggest to someone that they buy Epson, knowing that they will likely get the same treatment? In the end the ripple effect will be enormous.

Some will say "look at how complicated the print head is, must cost a fortune to make". I would ask those people to take a microscope to an intel cpu. Look at how complicated it is and yet it does not cost a fortune to make. Just one example of a million in todays world. I would be stunned if the print heads actually cost Epson more than a hundred bucks. Sure they need to amortize their investment, but if they are doing so on the basis of selling parts at inflated prices to people who bought their products in good faith and had them fail prematurely then this is seriously bad business.

Im not a big fan of lawsuits, in fact ive never sued anyone. I am angry and i have reason to be. Ive been loyal to this company and they have knowingly sold me a very problematic machine. The fact that none of the many threads on LL has ever to my knowledge been dignified with a reply from a a high level Epson executive shows shows a level of arrogance that i find staggering.





« Last Edit: June 29, 2013, 11:27:50 pm by motionbroker »
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Tariq

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Re: Epson 9900 failure. Class action lawsuit possible?
« Reply #29 on: June 30, 2013, 01:54:44 am »

By the time I get a new head I am well on the way to the price of a Canon unit which seems to be a better choice for someone printing sporadically.

I would not count on the Canon being more reliable with sporadic use, at least that's been my unfortunate experience.  I also owned a very reliable Epson 9600 for about nine years before selling it and "upgrading" to a Canon IPF 8300 just over two years ago.  My main reason for moving to Canon was that I thought it would be more economical and be less sensitive to low usage since I expected to be printing quite a bit less often/ consistently with the Canon. 

After just two years and only 56 sq/ ft of material, the Canon gave a service error in the middle of a client print job.  Called Canon (it was out of warranty of course) and they suggested replacing one of the two print heads (the error code, E161-403E, indicated an abnormal rise in print head temp and this was the indicated solution).  Fine, I order the almost $500 head only to discover that the method for replacing the head - starting up in Service Mode -  also threw an error (close carriage cover) and locks the printer out of the possibility of doing anything.  Another call to Canon ends up with a Canon Service tech telling me that the other two incidences that Canon has on record for this EXACT issue (one with the close carriage cover message in service mode when the cover is closed and not broken AND the multi sensor checks ok) indicate that the entire carriage must be replaced.  Cost?  Coincidentally, about $2000 for parts and labor (and at least half of that was for labor) to start...and that's if a ribbon cable and the main PCB do not also require replacement.   Canon of course is not willing to do anything for me (and I had to pay them $180/hr to get the bad news) even though it would seem this must be a known issue given that they have a record of the same scenario with other customers.  No way would I recommend a Canon printer after this incident.

This was about two weeks ago.  At the time I thought, hell, I'll just get another reliable Epson instead of dealing with the expense and questionable reliability of the Canon going forward.  Beforehand, I really expected this Canon was the best option for lower usage situations but that's apparently not the case at all (Canon even acknowledged to me that low usage caused issues with their printers when speaking with me).    Now I read that the newer Epsons will in all likelihood never match the reliability of my old 9600 but I suspect the chances of getting a clogged Epson back up and running must be higher/ cheaper than what I have experienced with Canon.
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Mark D Segal

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Re: Epson 9900 failure. Class action possible?
« Reply #30 on: June 30, 2013, 02:24:37 am »

Statistics are going to be impossible to come by. Only epson execs will ever see these numbers
............

Its such a simple and inexpensive problem for epson to fix. Drop the price of the print heads to a level where its not such a painful repair. ........ nothing compared to losing thousands of high end customers. .............If Epson does not deal with my case fairly ..................

Some will say "look at how complicated the print head is, must cost a fortune to make". I would ask those people to take a microscope to an intel cpu. Look at how complicated it is and yet it does not cost a fortune to make. ..............I would be stunned if the print heads actually cost Epson more than a hundred bucks. ............... I am angry and i have reason to be. ..............many threads on LL has ever to my knowledge been dignified with a reply from a a high level Epson executive shows shows a level of arrogance that i find staggering.


Your first statement in the above selections from your post of course raises questions about how much we can ever know about all the rest you say:

To begin with, what is the actual failure rate of these print heads? I've heard - FWIW, that it's extremely low, so whether Epson has a generic problem or not is queationable. The basic fact is that you made 100 prints in 14 months and performed nozzle checks in between. If the printer isn't designed to be used that way, your experience is atypical relative to what the printer was designed for. That Epson has not made the importance of frequent regular printing clear enough to prospective purchasers from the get-go is, to my mind anyhow, the generic issue that Epson should probably think of dealing with for situations where this factor may have been at the root of customers' problem. But they would also need to determine case-by-case whether other factors unrelated to this could also have been at play. You can begin to see that resolving these issues, looked at from a corporate perspective (everything they do for one customer must be a generally valid proposition in terms of all other customers) may not be as simple as you think.

Turning to the remainder of my extracts from your post, may I ask how you know it is such a simple and inexpensive problem for Epson to fix? Are you talking about a generic defect which we don't know even exists, or are you talking about the treatment of your individual situation? If the latter, yes, any company can do things to help a high-end customer over an issue of this kind. It is a commercial decision. In that context, what do you mean by Epson dealing with your case fairly? What kind of resolution would you consider fair? From what you describe, before even getting to that, perhaps the primary issue is whether they have adequate support available in your part of Thailand to do the needful at a technical level, then one gets to the question of how it's paid for.

As for dropping the price of the print-head, again, how do you know the feasibility of that proposition? Do you know the development cost of that technology relative to the number of printers they project selling worldwide over the life-cycle of the model? Do you know the manufacturing, QC, support and other overhead costs underlying this product? How do you know this print head is in any way comparable in complexity or scale of manufacture to an Intel CPU? These are totally different technologies, performing different kinds of tasks in different ways, and you can be sure there is no comparison of manufacturing technology or production scale or marketing and support costs between the two. I'm not a technologist, but I can think of umpteen ways in which this kind of comparison is not relevant.

The bottom line in all this is that you are angry, and you most likely have good reason to be. But don't expect Epson to solve your problem over the internet. They never have, and based on my imperfect insights into how many companies operate,  I suspect their lawyers have firmly recommended to them against doing that. I think you need to reach into the upper level of their management at a corporate level and start discussing with them what they are prepared to do to help you, taking into account the specifics of your own problem without calling into question the whole technology. That stuff simply weakens your case because you aren't on strong grounds to make those claims and they will always know better than you. The strong points of your case based on what you have said so far are that you weren't adequately informed of the way in which the printer was designed to be used, the service in Thailand was poor, and the machine is only two months out of warranty. I would address the problem to their senior management on this basis and ask them what they are prepared to do to make you whole again, short of spending 2000 dollars on a print head. You could be pleasantly surprised if you work with them quietly in a non-confrontational manner.

 

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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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motionbroker

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Re: Epson 9900 failure. Class action possible?
« Reply #31 on: June 30, 2013, 06:06:20 am »

Mark,


The cost of a print head is irrelevant.  I cant tell you how much it costs but I can tell you one simple thing that I do know about which is about running a business. This was told to me long ago by a well known American executive who I wont name for fear of being accused of name dropping. He told me nearly 25 years ago that there is really no mystery in running a good business, MBAs, PHDs not necessary. There is one rule : "to get and keep customers". Anything that goes against that is bad business, anything that goes with it is good business. Simple. I'm not the worlds greatest businessman but this made sense to me. Its a rule my company has lived by. As a result we have a string of repeat clients who have gone from building small apartment buildings to larger ones and now on to buildings over 70 stories in some of the largest cities in Asia. I know you will twist this around and push it to an extreme by saying Epson will go out of business if they just give print heads away at a loss. Nonsense. If as you say the number is really small then it will make no difference at all to them.  Their annual reports are public record. Check it out. If there are a lot failing then it will cost them a packet for sure, but if there are lots of failures it SHOULD cost them a packet, not be an unexpected profit center. Even in the worst case the loss wont be as bad as losing a whole group of loyal customers to a competitor. People in this industry have good memories. Once they go to a competitor they wont come back soon.   

When we have and unhappy client (and it does happen no matter how hard you try) then we bend over backwards to make sure that their issues are settled. I'd be willing to bet that the professional printers who frequent this forum live by the same rules, or at least try to. Sure it costs us margin, sometimes a LOT of margin. We have to cut things fine just like a tech company since there is a huge amount of competition in our industry. When building big buildings there are always screw ups and its usually the designer who gets blamed first. Its how you deal with the screw ups that makes the difference.

I don't blame Epson for producing a print head that pushed the envelope. They have to push the envelope to stay competitive. What I do object to is sticking their head in the sand, likely following the advice of lawyers as you say, and leaving brave souls like Eric to spend huge amounts of his valuable time figuring out the answer to a simple question (IE how to dissolve dried ink safely from the inside of a print head". Perhaps Eric would correct me on this but I don't think Epson has done anything to help him at all. I'd be bitter as hell about that but he seems to be made of very durable stuff. Must be the motorbike racing.

Mark you seem to be an educated guy, you write well and I do appreciate your opinion but there are a LOT of people unhappy about this printer. I very much doubt John Cone would be publicly grilling Epson if that was not the case. He is one of the most respected people in this industry.  My dealer is an extremely experienced production printer and has a 9900 which is used regularly. He has sold 5 of this series of printers. 3 have failed in under 2 years. His failed at 15 months and Epson refused to repair it FOC. Think about that. Hes a dealer and his personal machine fails after 15 months and its tough luck, buy another head. The reviews on Amazon (admittedly only the 4900 gets any coverage there) are even more indicative of an issue. In the face of all of this you still stick your head in the sand and doubt there is a problem because you have not been given a printed statement from Epson saying that that these printers do in fact suffer from reliability issues. They wont issue that statement and if that's the only way you will be convinced then there is no convincing you. Not a surprise, however,  since you were not convinced even when a class action suit was settled against Epson years back.

I am in fact taking this up with Epson management, Im not hopeful that they will bend since they ignored the pleas of their own dealer but hey its worth a shot.







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texshooter

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Re: Epson 9900 failure. Class action lawsuit possible?
« Reply #32 on: June 30, 2013, 12:42:40 pm »

I have been a loyal epson user for years.

Serves you right for being loyal. Don't you read product reviews?
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motionbroker

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Re: Epson 9900 failure. Class action possible?
« Reply #33 on: June 30, 2013, 12:56:10 pm »

Texshooter,

No truer words have been written here.

I feel like a fool.

MB
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Mark D Segal

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Re: Epson 9900 failure. Class action possible?
« Reply #34 on: June 30, 2013, 03:42:48 pm »

Mark,

In the face of all of this you still stick your head in the sand and doubt there is a problem because you have not been given a printed statement from Epson saying that that these printers do in fact suffer from reliability issues. They wont issue that statement and if that's the only way you will be convinced then there is no convincing you. Not a surprise, however,  since you were not convinced even when a class action suit was settled against Epson years back.

I am in fact taking this up with Epson management, Im not hopeful that they will bend since they ignored the pleas of their own dealer but hey its worth a shot.


My head isn't the least bit in the sand. I happen to have heard many good things about the 9900 from professional service bureaux I know who make intensive use of them. And how do you know I'm waiting from some kind of statement from Epson to be convinced about anything? Haven't I told you not to expect to hear anything in public media from them? And what was there to be convinced about concerning that class action suit? It was about the ink remaining in cartridges, which Epson claims is technically necessary, but they settled without admitting liability. Has nothing to do with your problem. I was trying to help you by recommending that you focus your mind and your efforts on dealing with Epson quietly and constructively to get your problem solved. Glad to read you are doing that.  Good luck to you. I hope you and Epson come to a reasonable and equitable settlement that will see you happily printing again. As my participation in this thread has reached a logical conclusion I am deleting myself from it.
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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davidh202

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Re: Epson 9900 failure. Class action possible?
« Reply #35 on: June 30, 2013, 11:34:56 pm »

For the most part, I do think that most users of the big Epson printers are happy.  You just won't find people that are happy with their equipment making a big effort to post on the forums about it.  They just go about their business printing.  
 
ken

7900 almost 3 years old
9890 2 years old...

happy camper here !!
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BobDavid

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Re: Epson 9900 failure. Class action possible?
« Reply #36 on: July 01, 2013, 08:46:06 am »

It may not be the head, sometimes a bad chip or contact in one of the cartridges is the culprit. Air in the ink lines may also be the cause. I had a weirdo situation with my 9900 after about 16 months--of course I did not buy the service contract. It turns out that I had two bad cartridges--one yellow and one orange. I didn't realize that until after a lot of detective work and a worthless visit from Decision One. They quoted $1800 to fix it, but ultimately charged me around $600. They always quote high because they estimate what it may cost to fix a printer in a worst case scenario situation. I've had my 9900 for three years. I live in a humid climate, but the printer sits in a climate controlled environment. I try to run at least a few prints a week. You might try asking Epson to replace the cartridges.
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crystal k

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Re: Epson 9900 failure. Class action possible?
« Reply #37 on: November 20, 2013, 03:54:26 pm »

I was working briefly with an attorney who was considering a class action. My LLK head went bad when the machine was just over a year old and out of warranty, naturally. After some months elapsed and he had concluded a feasibility study, he said that class actions are getting too hard to win now with the way the courts are set up and he didn't have the data to proceed. This concurs with everything I understand about politics and the law these days. I agree with others here who have said their experience with Epson has been less than advertised, to put it mildly, even after years of happy patronage (in spite of their costly ink and the previous class action, etc). It seems that most machines work well… while a huge number of them don't. We'll never know how many, because Epson guards this data closely. Without releasing figures, it's impossible to guess. Unless someone had the time to canvas all the retailers… It seems they're like most corporations: if they don't admit there's a problem, it can't be proven.

On the phone, the Epson customer service people are downright hostile.

I've printed for a long time with no LLK, to little noticeable effect. The machine still drinks it up like crazy though! (I think it's like an aneurism. I don't know where it's going, but it can't be good.) I'm finally buying a replacement head and will put it in myself. Wish me luck!

I'm sure Epson reads the social media about this issue. Hey Epson! I'll think twice before ever buying another one of your printers.
« Last Edit: November 20, 2013, 03:58:42 pm by crystal k »
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tastar

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Re: Epson 9900 failure. Class action possible?
« Reply #38 on: November 20, 2013, 08:13:42 pm »

We are a small Epson dealer in Pittsburgh, PA - we generally sell to end-users within our geographic area. I won't share total sales stats, but I will say that as far as I know from our experiences with our customers, we have had less than a 5 percent print head failure rate with the 79/ 9900 series printers that we have sold (in and out of warranty). One of them was one of our demo units (about 2 1/2 years ago) - it was used very infrequently, and the other was with a customer's printer - the printer's head was damaged from a repeated head crash on a torn piece of heavy weight paper (the printer was running unattended).

Tony



 
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