Xerox Toner Shortages-Anyone Else Having Problems?

[Mike619]

I have a Versant 180 which I just bought in February 2020. I'm having all the same problems that all of you were having. Right now, yellow toner is the thing. I can't get yellow toner. I have that color on back order for months now. I have a service contract and now I'm going to potentially have to buy toner. I guess I'm going to submit the invoice to Xerox and see if they will reimburse me? This is all ridiculous. I have an appointment on June 2 in new York city at a Ricoh facility to look at their machines. With my experience and the experience that I can see from everyone else here, it seems that Xerox is not aggressive in any way at fixing any of these problems. I'm very excited about digital printing as it is a new business for me. We did offset for about 25 years before I got the 180. I really love this business but Xerox is really making it a nightmare.

I also wanted to comment on the drums for the 180. Sometimes, when drums appear to be going bad, like they get a little dot and some lines or something like that, I take that "bad" drum out, re-wrap it in its original packaging and put it to the side for a while. Later on when I need to swap out another drum, I put that drum back in and sometimes it magically starts to work again. Yesterday, I experienced a dot on a drum, when I took it out and looked at it I noticed a tiny little piece of gunk on it which I wiped off with a non-lint cloth. Put it back in and it ran fine. I'm wondering if sometimes enough crap gets built up on the cleaning blades that clean the toner off the drum that just taking them out and putting them back in can dislodge some of that excess toner for the clean blade and maybe that fixes the problem. I'm certainly not an expert at this and, to be honest, it seems that Xerox service technicians seem to be very reluctant to give you a lot of "self maintenance" advice.

 

[Stickman42]

I've been a Xerox-only cutsheet customer for decades, and have seen their gradual downfall in recent years. I also run continuous Oce/Canon equipment. Currently their supplies are readily available. Canon's service is under the almost identical constraints that Xerox has. When Xerox toner and drums became the issue that it is, I seriously considered looking at other OEMs. But "the devil you know" won out and I stuck with them. YMMV.

 

[YourCastle]

it seems that Xerox service technicians seem to be very reluctant to give you a lot of "self maintenance" advice.

odd. 9 out of 10 techs i've worked with have wanted me to make all the repairs I could.

Ask your sales person if he knows a tech that will teach and share.

 

[TJPrinter]

odd. 9 out of 10 techs i've worked with have wanted me to make all the repairs I could.

Ask your sales person if he knows a tech that will teach and share.

This has always been the case for me too. The Xerox techs I had were always very helpful. They were all overworked so anything I could do to stay running was to their benefit too. I'm not with Xerox direct now but the dealer tech has been just as good. But I'm getting impatient with all the drum and toner problems that Xerox can't seem to get under control. The drums are all made in Mexico and all my toner comes from the plant in Webster NY.

I just ordered toner today so fingers crossed it will arrive.

 

[tngcas]

This has always been the case for me too. The Xerox techs I had were always very helpful. They were all overworked so anything I could do to stay running was to their benefit too.

Same here. All our Xerox techs have always been great and willing to show me anything and everything I could do to keep the machines running without a service call.

 

[warlegs]

I have a Versant 180 which I just bought in February 2020. I'm having all the same problems that all of you were having. Right now, yellow toner is the thing. I can't get yellow toner. I have that color on back order for months now. I have a service contract and now I'm going to potentially have to buy toner. I guess I'm going to submit the invoice to Xerox and see if they will reimburse me? This is all ridiculous. I have an appointment on June 2 in new York city at a Ricoh facility to look at their machines. With my experience and the experience that I can see from everyone else here, it seems that Xerox is not aggressive in any way at fixing any of these problems. I'm very excited about digital printing as it is a new business for me. We did offset for about 25 years before I got the 180. I really love this business but Xerox is really making it a nightmare.

I also wanted to comment on the drums for the 180. Sometimes, when drums appear to be going bad, like they get a little dot and some lines or something like that, I take that "bad" drum out, re-wrap it in its original packaging and put it to the side for a while. Later on when I need to swap out another drum, I put that drum back in and sometimes it magically starts to work again. Yesterday, I experienced a dot on a drum, when I took it out and looked at it I noticed a tiny little piece of gunk on it which I wiped off with a non-lint cloth. Put it back in and it ran fine. I'm wondering if sometimes enough crap gets built up on the cleaning blades that clean the toner off the drum that just taking them out and putting them back in can dislodge some of that excess toner for the clean blade and maybe that fixes the problem. I'm certainly not an expert at this and, to be honest, it seems that Xerox service technicians seem to be very reluctant to give you a lot of "self maintenance" advice.

Damn, that sounds horrible and beyond frustrating. Good luck with Ricoh. I haven't had any issues getting toner or parts for our Versafire... Worst situation was a shipment being delayed a week or so because of the shit show at the time. Best of luck!

 

[TJPrinter]

I have a Versant 180 which I just bought in February 2020. I'm having all the same problems that all of you were having. Right now, yellow toner is the thing. I can't get yellow toner. I have that color on back order for months now.

I ordered toner last Friday and it arrived less than a week later, including yellow. I checked the Julian dates and only the magenta is new stock. The rest has been sitting somewhere in a warehouse since last year. My sales guy did get me setup a few months back with some extra toner and drums. I'm small time so not a lot but it was enough to keep me ahead and I only order several at a time but a bit more frequently. I was also one of the early adopters of toner and drum issues when I got the new Versant 280 so the dealer and sales rep have worked hard trying to keep me going. Think I'd be up a creek if I were still with Xerox Direct.

I probably send out a few more jobs than I'd like to but no way am I going to run 20,000 sheets for one job, then I will have a toner problem. Try your sales rep again and see if they can't get you at least some of your toner order. Good luck!

 

[tngcas]

I ordered toner last Friday and it arrived less than a week later, including yellow. I checked the Julian dates and only the magenta is new stock. The rest has been sitting somewhere in a warehouse since last year. My sales guy did get me setup a few months back with some extra toner and drums. I'm small time so not a lot but it was enough to keep me ahead and I only order several at a time but a bit more frequently. I was also one of the early adopters of toner and drum issues when I got the new Versant 280 so the dealer and sales rep have worked hard trying to keep me going. Think I'd be up a creek if I were still with Xerox Direct.

I probably send out a few more jobs than I'd like to but no way am I going to run 20,000 sheets for one job, then I will have a toner problem. Try your sales rep again and see if they can't get you at least some of your toner order. Good luck!

Careful with the older toner as if it's old enough it'll trash your drums for the next 8 months until every bit of the bad toner is out of your system.

 

[TJPrinter]

Careful with the older toner as if it's old enough it'll trash your drums for the next 8 months until every bit of the bad toner is out of your system.

Very true. That's why I've been checking the dates. These are from the end of the year. But you're right about trashing drums for months, what a nightmare it's been!