Xerox Metered Supplies vs PagePack...

[kdw75]

On our Xerox 7556 we have Xerox Pagepack which supplies our consumables and service with a set click charge. On that machine I would sometimes use as much as 3 sets of toner in a 24 hour period. After initially asking about the heavy usage and having us send them a sample of our work they never said another word about ordering every day or two and they would always overnight us the supplies. Absolutely loved the experience.

Now that we are using the Xerox 560 we are on their Metered Supplies program and I must say that in the first 6 weeks I am not too impressed. Considering that this is a production machine and should be commonly used for running heavy coverage 13x19 sheets I would expect them to understand that we would need to keep a few sets of toner on hand. Especially when it takes 3-5 days for us to get the orders after they ship them. No more overnight. Seems really odd that the 7556 would get overnight and the 560 would get UPS ground service for supplies.

So far we haven't run out, but our supplies are dwindling and right now we have two of each color on the shelf and they only let me order 1 of each color. Yesterday I went through two of each color so if I get another big job in the next couple days I will be out before I get the next cartridge.

They are also very stingy with imaging units. They wouldn't let me order them yet because they said the machine was too new to need them. I told them that it had run 130,000 clicks of 13x19 and then they ended up having a tech call me and he was able to order them for me.

Has anyone else experienced this?

 

[easiprint]

We're in the UK, but similar things happen. We've had a Xerox DC250 for about 3 years now, and not had too many problems getting supplies. If I ordered four or five sets of toner, I would get them within a day or so without any problems. We've just added a Xerox 700, which is supposed to be much more of a production class machine than our DC250, and they expect me to wait until the machine asks for toner and drums before ordering them. They say I'm not allowed to hold stocks as they have a limited shelf life!! I can use 2 or 3 a day, so I don't think they will get the chance to expire! They will never send more than one imaging unit out, despite the fact the machine takes 3 colour ones. I also find it wierd how the DC250 toners are in boxes of 2 cartridges, and Xerox will ship several boxes of these. The 700 'production machine' toners are in single boxes and they will only ship one at a time. If I argue the case with Xerox, they say take it up with your dealer, and the dealer just says order one of everything on a daily basis to get round the problem - like I've got spare time every day to log onto Xerox's SLOW website to place orders...

Very frustrating.

 

[kdw75]

You would think that they would want to avoid making shipments every day as well. I have it set up to automatically report my meter reads so they can see I am doing tons of large coverage work.

 

[easiprint]

Mines also set up to automatically send meter reads. I was also offered the option for automatic ordering of consumables - I declined on that one!

 

[kdw75]

Mines also set up to automatically send meter reads. I was also offered the option for automatic ordering of consumables - I declined on that one!

I am actually signed up for automatic supplies ordering. Of course it hasn't ever sent me anything. I think it only kicks in when you run out.

 

[Kunnajar]

I am actually signed up for automatic supplies ordering. Of course it hasn't ever sent me anything. I think it only kicks in when you run out.

Talk to your sales representative and ask them to raise the alert levels when the machine does an automatic ticket to order supplies (Fuser, drums, toner). You can also ask them to make u a reserve storage for your shop, so you will always have f.ex. 3 x CMYK 2x color drums and 1 backup fuser available in your storage.

When you have the reserve and the automatick supplies ordering you should never have to worry about running out of consumables.

My customers are actually very happy with the automatic supplies ordering and the reserve they have currently.

 

[Craig]

Call 1-800-822-2200 in the US, give them your serial number and tell them what you need. I have no fewer than 4 rounds of toner on the shelf at any time. Automatic supplies would never work for me. Sometime I have to get a little feisty with whomever I'm on the phone with when they question what I am ordering.

 

[Wags]

We have a Xerox 500 on lease and pay click charges. Our consumables are free and lately it seems Xerox is getting a bit more cautious about sending out more than they feel you need. We've had to call our rep. and tell them why we need more than one color toner at a time. We like to keep at least two of everything in stock just in case. We've even had our repairman borrow items from us for other clients since they didn't have extras on hand. Maybe they're worried some people are selling the extras and bypassing

 

[MailGuru]

If you're on a click charge that includes supplies, it should never be a problem. Like Craig, we usually have 4 to 5 rounds of toner, coretrons, developers, etc at any given time. This could be because of our volume. I really don't know. Unfortunately, sometimes you will talk to a customer service rep who is reading from a script, but, if that happens, ask to speak to a supervisor with a little more common business sense (i.e. if you run out of toner on big jobs, the printer stops and you are not generating clicks. If you're not generating clicks, THEY aren't making any money)

 

[Wags]

Common sense? What's that?

 

[kdw75]

We talked to our salesman and he said that he put down that we needed a reserve. Said that should fix things. We will see. He said that it is because we run heavy coverage jobs.

 

[MailGuru]

We talked to our salesman and he said that he put down that we needed a reserve. Said that should fix things. We will see. He said that it is because we run heavy coverage jobs.

I think it all comes down to communication. There are certain times throughout the year that we will run a very large variable image run (300,000 24-page 6x9 saddlestiched booklets) over a 5 to 10 day period. When that happens, we will order supllies by the pallet-loads and pre-notify the service techs as a heads-up that we may need them on short notice to keep the printers running.

As long as we give everyone amble pre-notice time (usually 30-days or so), they make accomodations to make sure we are taken care of (of course, they should......their click charge revenue alone on that job is over $130k)