Problems with Ricoh 901

Happyprinter

Well-known member
Thought I'd take a minute and update you on our 901 we purchased back in January.
Problem #1 - The first few months it operated great. Solid solid's, beautiful pictures. Then we started to get blooching in mainly our blue colors. Whenever we would run a solid blue it would be bloochy in the solids. Didn't matter whether we used text weight or cover, same problem. Well, after many service calls we have been informed that there is a problem with the 901 being able to hold a blue solid. The tech took several copies to send to Ricoh, but to this day, still, no solution. And yes, we are running approved paper only, 12 pt C2S etc.. My question, is anyone else experiencing this problem?
Problem #2 - When we purchased the unit from IKON we were told that it would come with a 2nd fuser unit that we could swap out when we changed paper sizes to keep the lines out of the larger sizes. On delivery of the unit, I noticed that there wasn't a 2nd fuser included. After questioning our tech and rep. we were told that they were researching it. As of today, still, no 2nd fuser unit.
Summary; Our experience overall with the machine has been excellent except for the 2 problems noted above. If you are in the market for this machine, in my humble opinion it is a good one but, the one big problem is the lack of knowledge on how to service it by IKON at least in our area. A lot of the techs are bringing their 900 manuals to try to service the 901. The other suggestion I have is to make sure that whatever they tell you, no matter how small or simple you feel the issue is, make them put it in writing. I assumed that there would not be an issue with the 2nd fuser unit for 2 reasons. They told me it was included and common sense tells me that it will save them time and money if a 2nd unit were included in service calls. But, seems big corporation common sense doesn't exist for the most part. Will keep you posted on the status of our service with IKON on this machine.
 
Are you getting bands or blobs or something else? wanna post a sample?

There are two trained customer replaceable unit kits for that machine a kit A and a kit B the kit B is the fuser kit. Kit A has four drum cleaning units, a ptr unit an itb cleaning unit, developer, and drums. Did you get the kit A?

Does a TCRU kit B show on your order? the number is 404364. If they included the second fuser in the price of the machine they would still have to order it as a seperate item.

Where are you located?
 
When we got our 901, it took about two months to get a second fuser, and we have an on site Ricoh tech here. You definitely need the second fuser as the belts in these don't seem to last long... A run of maybe a hundred 11" sheets will get you a noticeable line on the fuser. I suggest just keep bugging service about getting a second fuser, as it's essential for this type of machine
 
Just an update. As of today we have had several techs in to try an take care of the solid cyan problem and the problem at the trailiing edge of the sheet 12x18 12 pt c2s, leaving a space horizontally about 1.4" wide with no print across the sheet. They still have not been able to clear up the problems. Todays answer was a classic. Running THEIR APPROVED PAPER, mind you, their response, "IT"S THE PAPER". As for the second fuser unit which we were promised would come with the unit and which originally sales and service were suprised did not come with the unit, we were told that sales were making a decision whether or not to give it to us. WOW. That's some customer support. The disappointing thing in all this is that in the past we have always been very satisfied with the service that IKON has offered, but due to, I believe, a very inexperienced service department concerning the 901, their service has been, let's just say, sub-par. It's sad that a problem like this has to be carried out for so many months when you have a customer that has purchased machines from you numerous times from you in the past. I still believe the 901 is a great machine as long as you have a great tech team to back it up. Well I have a call into management to see what can be done but so far no response. I'll keep you posted. Beware purchasing a 901 from Ikon. Be sure they have an experienced team that knows how to fix it not someone waiting to be trained as soon as they sell you one. That is the one mistake that we made even though I did enquire and was told "No Problem".
 
Proc900, thanks for the response. When i get into the office in the next day or so I will post a few photos
of the problems.
 

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