Luminous Landscape Forum
Raw & Post Processing, Printing => Printing: Printers, Papers and Inks => Topic started by: Fred Salamon on July 29, 2015, 05:14:48 pm
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I am considering purchasing the new Epson SureColor P800 printer.
The printer comes with a one year warranty. I can purchase an additional one ($179) or two ($319) years of coverage from Epson.
Does anyone have any experience with Epson's extended warranties?
What has been your experience?
Do you think this is worthwhile considering that the P800 is a new model?
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I have always made the purchase on my large format printers. It has always paid for it self. I am wondering if the P800 will just have a replacement unit sent instead of on site with D1 in the U.S.
Head issues seem to be the main problems with the large formats. It will be interesting to see how the new ink in the P800 handles the clogging issues. Or if the formulation in the P800 handles this better.
Paul
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I am considering purchasing the new Epson SureColor P800 printer.
The printer comes with a one year warranty. I can purchase an additional one ($179) or two ($319) years of coverage from Epson.
Does anyone have any experience with Epson's extended warranties?
What has been your experience?
Do you think this is worthwhile considering that the P800 is a new model?
Hi Fred,
Before I took possession of the SP9900 in April 2010 I had already started what I loosely named an "Issue Log", based on some of the problems posted on this forum. During the first year and a half the printer required at least 6 service calls from Decision One here in Canada(near Toronto). Three new heads in total and a new cleaning assembly as well. I did extend the warranty for the second year and eventually the third also. Certainly not inexpensive at $1050.00 CDN per year, but it let me sleep comfortably at night, knowing a simple call to Epson would initiate a service call if necessary and the issue would be repaired. At the first part of the third year I had an ink bay replaced due to a leaky connection. According to my figures the cost of services calls and parts would have paid for one and a half 9900 printers, far more than the cost of the warranties. My printer is my business and I cannot afford downtime, so the extended warranty was basically an insurance policy. In the third year this forum had a visit from a fellow named Eric, and we all learned more about servicing our printers and other niceties that Epson would rather we didn't know. That information has made a huge difference to me and I'm sure to other 79/9900 owners as well. As the third year(last warranty year) wound down it seemed that the 9900 was working better and more reliably than ever before, so I was not concerned about the future with this printer. The maintenance procedures I had learned here were very useful and the printer is still going strong.
After all of this I would have to say that given my experience I would not hesitate for one moment to purchase the extended warranty on any Pro Graphic printer, perhaps especially a new model. Hope this helps Fred.
Gary
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Head issues seem to be the main problems with the large formats. It will be interesting to see how the new ink in the P800 handles the clogging issues. Or if the formulation in the P800 handles this better.
And therein lies the uncertainty. With a 3880 bought recently I wouldn't bother with an extended warranty, given that printer's reputed reliability. If I were to buy a P800 any time soon then I might. And I certainly would for any x900 / large format printer. How long do you have to decide?
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Where I live, businesses that use complex or large machinery usually lease their equipment, and leases are generally three to five years and the agreement includes a "fully maintained" clause, the cost of which is covered by the monthly lease payments.
Why are these large printers not acquired on similar terms?
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Gary
Thank you for relating your experience with Epson. It was very helpful.
Ferp
As I understand it, I can purchase the extended warranty at any point during the original one year warranty.
I assume that I would wait until the original warranty period was nearly expired and then decide between an additional 1 or 2 years on the extended warranty.
My thanks to everyone for their help.
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My Epson 3880 performed flawlessly for two years, and then suddenly started cranking out blank pages. The printer was rated 12,000 pages, and I had printed less than 600. I decided not to replace it and bought the P800. I took the two year additional warranty from Square Trade through B&H for about $120 as I do want to be assured of 3 years life.
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My Epson 3880 performed flawlessly for two years, and then suddenly started cranking out blank pages. The printer was rated 12,000 pages, and I had printed less than 600. I decided not to replace it and bought the P800. I took the two year additional warranty from Square Trade through B&H for about $120 as I do want to be assured of 3 years life.
What factors lead you to select the extended warranty from Square Trade vs from Epson?
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What factors lead you to select the extended warranty from Square Trade vs from Epson?
As I was checking out on the B&H site to purchase the P800, I saw the Square Trade offer. My son had Square Trade for a large screen TV which had several problems, and Square Trade did reimburse him with cash. Since then, I have bought Square Trade twice with a TV purchase, but never needed it. At the time I bought the P800 I really had not thought about the Epson warranty.
Epson does have superb warranty service. I had issues with my new P800's front loader, and after spending a couple of hours with Epson support that did not resolve it, they offered to replace the printer. Two days later a new printer was delivered to my home by Fedex, and a day later they picked up the old one.
I print purely for fun and do not have any commercial ambitions . Epson support is great, but for my needs the $120 Square trade seemed adequate compared the Epson $319 deal. And I did like the 3880, as well as the new P800, but they are machines and sometimes stuff happens...
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I think it depends on whether you use the printer for your daily bread or not. I have a 3800 that is going on ten years old and never had anything wrong except a clogged nozzle when dormant for a month or more, and that just required the built in cleaning cycle. 8)
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Where I live, businesses that use complex or large machinery usually lease their equipment, and leases are generally three to five years and the agreement includes a "fully maintained" clause, the cost of which is covered by the monthly lease payments.
Why are these large printers not acquired on similar terms?
In most large pre press operations, they are leased.
One printing company I worked for didn't even pay for the hardware. They just agreed to buy all their ink and paper from Epson. Thing is, those things (7880s) hardly ever went down, because they were constantly churning out proofs.
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Square Trade has mixed reviews: http://www.yelp.com/biz/squaretrade-san-francisco-3
Square Trade does not cover commercial use: https://www.squaretrade.com/htm/pop/lm_notCovered.html
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I am considering purchasing the new Epson SureColor P800 printer.
The printer comes with a one year warranty. I can purchase an additional one ($179) or two ($319) years of coverage from Epson.
Does anyone have any experience with Epson's extended warranties?
What has been your experience?
Do you think this is worthwhile considering that the P800 is a new model?
In general, extended warranties are a waste of money. If you think about it, the insurer is not going to lose money on the insurance product. When one person benefits, then multiple others have to lose their money. General rule is you only insure assets that you can't afford to replace. Most people can't afford to replace their house so they insure it against fire and other catastrophic losses. Best buy makes more money on extended warranties than they do selling electronics! Why do retailers push them so hard? There are exceptions depending on the item, your use pattern and the warranty terms.
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I have no problem forking over another $1000 plus for extended warranty and piece of mind. They already came out and replaced my print head.. its worth it, IMHO. The question is, Do you want to roll the dice on an additional worry free years or would you rather get an extended warranty and sleep better at night knowing that the printer is covered fully.
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With the Epson extended warranty, if you have a problem, Epson will send you a refurbished printer as a replacement. I had the option of scheduling a service call, but there was no guarantee they would get it working, and I was responsible for ink used up during testing/repair.
With my 3880, I went through a series of refurbished replacements that arrived defective. Eventually, Epson made an exception and sent me a new printer. On the plus side, each of the refurbished printers came with a full set of ink. By the time Epson got me a printer that worked, I had two sets of unopened cartridges.
Unlike the 3880, the P800 comes with starter carts.
Right now my 3880 is out of warranty. The network port has died (apparently a common failure), and the black switching valve tends to get stuck allowing the black ink to drain out. When I finally get fed up with the black ink valve, I'll replace the printer. If I end up with another Epson product, I will likely get Epson's extended warranty.
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Hi,
I am new to the forum and have a newly acquired p800. Does anyone know why B&H Photo offers the Epson Extended Warranty at a discount of $271.99?
Thank you!
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B & H's warranty is through a third party - Square Trade - so they are betting that you won't have a problem with your printer. I would expect B & H to only offer the Square Trade warranty on printer they have sold but I'm not certain about that.