Periodically I peruse the Epson website to check for driver or firmware updates as well as any other new stuff they may have introduced of interest to pro printer users. I just recently came across this one, which is probably new enough to have received little notice:
Epson OneTime Service PlanSo far it's available for several 24 inch and 44 inch models (7000/7900; 9000/9900). In a nutshell, it's a one-time special-priced service plan offer for what Epson calls a Primary Issue with a printer, as identified in consultation over the phone with Epson tech support. It gives customers a one-time integrated package of a service call and the necessary components to fix a Primary Issue. It differs from an extended warranty (EW) in several important respects: EW is good for a defined period; the One-Time plan is usable once. The One-time plan is considerably cheaper than an EW. An EW expires at a date-certain tied to the purchase date of the printer, whereas the One-time plan can be activated over an indefinite time period (my reading of the terms and conditions). The EW is like an insurance policy - you buy it, but may never draw on it, whereas you only buy the One-time plan after you and Epson agree over the phone that there is a Primary Issue for which this plan may be cost-effective. There are probably other differences in the fine print of each agreement type, but these are the key ones that lit-up for me as I looked it over. Like any product, it's not going to be everybody's solution for every circumstance, but I can see it filling an important niche for people whose warranties have expired, do not have an EW and encounter a costly repair issue - for example a wide-format printer owner who never bought an EW and experienced an out of warranty printhead failure. In such a situation, once diagnosed over the phone, Epson would likely offer this one-time plan option, which comes at a much lower cost than the alternative of buying a new printhead and paying for the installation. So I think something worthwhile knowing about. It's also useful to read the terms of conditions on the website; I found it a well-drafted and sensible set of arrangements for what it intends to provide.