Epson Extended Warranty Experience

[John Caldwell]

Sounds like a pretty minor problem to me, I assume there was more to it than that?

How do you mean, Wayne? Complete and abrupt loss of three nozzles that don't respond to the usual steps sounds like an unusable printer to me. Maybe you're just saying that there is nothing more than to involve Decision One at Epson's expense, in which case I agree. But that's where the rub came, of course.

Regarding extended warranties, did you buy it through a dealer? I think buying them through a dealer can be helpful, provides solid documentation and the dealer will back you up in case of problems.

We've sold many epsons, quite a few with extended warranties, and haven't heard of any of our customers with an experience similar to yours.

Sure the warranty was bought from an Epson dealer, the same dealer that sold us the 9900. Remember that by the time you have substantiated the authenticity of a warranty in situations like this, the customer has a few hours of non-productive time invested in the dispute alone. Only later can you actually begin to discuss what's wrong with the printer. For some customers, that's not OK.

It's of course good that you've not heard of any similar Epson service experiences, but I think Paul and I are pretty sure of what we experienced. Again without a rigorous statistical analysis of bad incidents vs. total number of warranties sold, we can't say whether there is a real problem, or just a perceived problem by those who have been affected.

John Caldwell

[paulbk]

yelp.com works if enough people use it. Copy/paste your episode into a Yelp review. Reference the business you bought it from, or reference Epson corporate.

Yelp worked for me with a car issue. Most car dealers review Yelp every day.

[Wayne Fox]

Complete and abrupt loss of three nozzles that don’t respond to the usual steps sounds like an unusable printer to me.

Well, most missing nozzles are “abrupt”, and your original message simply said after loosing 3 nozzles you called for warranty service.  Nothing about subsequent steps (which I did state I assumed this had happened).

3 missing nozzles, even in the same color,  in most cases is undetectable in printed output - just depends on the nozzles and the output.  So I was curious if it was more to it than that (thinking perhaps you meant 3 channels abruptly stopped)

But regardless, 3 missing nozzles that cannot be restored at all is a concern and the issues you have with getting acknowledgement of the extended warranty certainly is inexcusable.


[/quote]

[John Caldwell]

Indeed, Wayne, I misspoke. The channels are completely gone, and unresponsive to cleanings: C, Y and PK. Decision 1 is onsite now, and replacing the capping station and head. Grateful for the warranty, of course.

John-

[Mark D Segal]

Indeed, Wayne, I misspoke. The channels are completely gone, and unresponsive to cleanings: C, Y and PK. Decision 1 is onsite now, and replacing the capping station and head. Grateful for the warranty, of course.

John-

Hi John, do let us know whether the work they do succeeds - as you know there have been "mixed reviews" about the performance of that company.

[Wayne Fox]

Indeed, Wayne, I misspoke. The channels are completely gone, and unresponsive to cleanings: C, Y and PK. Decision 1 is onsite now, and replacing the capping station and head. Grateful for the warranty, of course.

John-

glad things are working out better at the moment.  Odd for a head to die like that, normally dropping a full channel or more is a damper problem, but as you mentioned as long as you have the warranty, getting a new head works out well.

[John Caldwell]

Mark, Decision One visited yesterday. The tech made no effort to make any diagnosis other than to print a nozzle check that was consistent with my nozzle checks, meaning depicting loss of three channels. He replaced the head and the capping station. No effort was made to see if the head alone, would have solved the problem. I suppose there really would be no way the detect the role of the capping station in my problem, out side of observing the new head for some period under the the original capping station.

The capping station is replaced as what I'll call an en bloc unit, meaning that associated parts like the wiper and housing are all replaced in one module. The tech did not replace any parts pertaining to the compressors that generate ink line pressure.

The tech was onsite for three hours. Aside from two pairs cleaning that were needed to clear residual air, after the D1 tech left the site, the 9900 seems all right. The D1 tech is a very nice and accommodating fellow. I can't speak to his familiarity with printing per se, meaning the way we discuss the subject here. Clearly he has been through Epson's formal training.

John Caldwell

[Mark D Segal]

Thanks John, that all sounds as one would expect. He changed the assemblies they thought needed changing and if your printer now works you are in good shape - so far. Let us hope that remains so. I think the most important insurance policy at your end going forward would be to make substantive prints with it at least every few days and maintain it within Epson's recommended humidity range. Perhaps you were already doing this before the trouble, but I mention it because these are two most important factors that keep resurfacing in respect of keeping these printers in good condition.

[Wayne Fox]

Good to hear you back to normal.

Most of the techs really can’t do any diagnostics, they are trained the exact procedures of removing and replacing parts. replacing the capping station is pretty standard procedure for any head replacement.   Don’t want to risk messing up a new head with a messy capping station.

As Mark suggested, maintaining 45% humidity is the most proactive step anyone can take for ANY inkjet printer ... to lessen clogs or extend head life in a Canon or an HP printer.  I’ve been running a humidifier with a self filling feature for over a year now with my 9900, and I’ve only had to perform about 4 or 5 minor nozzle cleans.  And I don’t print that often, sometimes going over a couple of weeks between printing.

[Chris233]

As Mark suggested, maintaining 45% humidity is the most proactive step anyone can take for ANY inkjet printer ... to lessen clogs or extend head life in a Canon or an HP printer. 

Also consider the needs of the media. 45% is a shower for some films that will cause edge curling... head crashes, etc.

[Wayne Fox]

Also consider the needs of the media. 45% is a shower for some films that will cause edge curling... head crashes, etc.

Possibly, but I've found papers are easier to work with and better since I installed the humidifier.

[Paul2660]

I really feel that the humidity issue may not have as much to do in preventing clogs, as living in Arkansas with 100% humidity most of the year, I have had plenty of clogging issues with my 9900, just many users seem to have.  I don't use a humidifier here as on average expect winter (3 months) the humidity will be 80 to 100% on average.  My printer is now close to 4 years old and is used daily. 

Sure I run an AC in the house, but they only do so much and for sure are not pulling 100% of the humidity out of the house.  I figure I am easily in the 45 to 55% humidity range here. 

In 4 years, my main issue has always been the totally dropping of one entire channel, most times after a couple of prints, where everything was fine in the previous prints.  This always seems to be more prevalent after a PK to MK change.  My feelings are this is more of an electrical issue, something going on in the ink delivery system, maybe in the channels leading to the head or possibly the dampers.

John, glad to see D One got you back online.

Paul