Post warranty maintenance on Epson 7900, 9900

[matuscak]

We've got a number of Epson 7900 and 9900 printers that are at the end of their three year extended warranty. The suggestion has been made that we purchase new 7900 and 9900s to get the on site maintenance from the warranty coverage. Buying exactly the same printers just to get a warranty seems a bit ridiculous to me, but in looking on the Epson site, they don't make it obvious how to find people that can do on site maintenance on the things.

So how do you folks handle maintenance on your large format Epson printers? Anyone find a company to do a maintenance contract on them? For that matter, time and material repairs?

I'd also be open to suggestions for better supported printers that work with GMG's proofing software. I'd love to be able to show Epson what I think of their support policies

 

[chevalier]

We've got a third party that services HP, Epson, Etc. They come and charge a service call for a quote if the quote is higher than replacement we just replace the proofer. I'm still on my first 9900 but I have replaced a few consecutive versions out-of-warranty HP proofers while my Epson kept humming along.

 

[matuscak]

We've got a third party that services HP, Epson, Etc.

Any chance you could say the name of the third party?

 

[chevalier]

You're ~5 hours away but here they are. I'd just google "Akron cleveland plotter repair" or something similar if you want to seek out a local shop.

Epson actually outsources their warranty repairs. The one warranty service call I have ever had through Epson was subcontracted to DecisionOne

 

[akalaray]

I have four Epson plotters 2-9880 and 2-9890. I have had service through Epson and they refer you to Decision One. The techs are great and very reasonable in there rates.

 

[msaeger]

What maintenance do you want to know how to do? There isn't much besides running head cleaning and replacing the waste tank.

I agree with chevalier if there is a problem I would skip a contract and just call decision one if there is a problem.

 

[matuscak]

You're ~5 hours away but here they are. I'd just google "Akron cleveland plotter repair" or something similar if you want to seek out a local shop.

Heh. Maybe my Google fu is failing me, but that search gets me a number of places that fix HP Design Jets, but no Epsons. I'm not even finding your vendor when I do "Louisville ky plotter repair". How did you end up finding them?

Epson actually outsources their warranty repairs. The one warranty service call I have ever had through Epson was subcontracted to DecisionOne

Yeah, we had DecisionOne come in for some warranty repairs on these things. The problem is that I've left a couple voicemails at their sales phone number over the last week, and so far, they haven't bothered to call me back.

 

[matuscak]

I have four Epson plotters 2-9880 and 2-9890. I have had service through Epson and they refer you to Decision One. The techs are great and very reasonable in there rates.

I've made a couple of calls to the DecisionOne sales line and haven't got a response. Do you call them directly or open a call with Epson first?

 

[mwc]

I used this number last year to set-up service with EPSON, the dispatched Decision One -
562-276-1305 (EPSON U.S. out of warranty number)