Time & Material Repair: Ricoh and Canon Océ End-of-Service Continuous Forms Laser Printers

Why play Roulette with the Company’s Printer Operations?

Ricoh and Canon Oce have announced the End of Service on some 75 to 100 ppm pin feed mono lasers. Once the announced “end of service” date is passed, the vendor has no obligation to you!

Consider the Stark Differences from the old expired Ricoh or Oce Service Plan. 

REPAIR PARTS - no obligation to ...

...have an inventory of replacement parts or have any source of used parts. Ricoh and Oce have been planning to shut down the service coverage for at least five years. They likely made plans to scrap the defunct and fully depreciated inventory. Their service techs may search for used market parts, but maybe not very hard, as it is now not a top priority. The search time involved is likely billable as well. According to Ricoh service personnel, they will not even come out for repair until they find the likely needed part.  

...charge a set price for parts. Ricoh and Oce can charge whatever they choose. There was a reason that the service contract was thousands of dollars annually. Some components could be the total cost of the old annual service bill – before labor charges. Some installed customers may choose to gather a spare printer or two just to have service spare parts ready and sitting on site. 

...continue selling supplies like toners. Customers may buy a stockpile of toner, but without a critical repair part such as a drum, developer unit, or fuser unit, however much toner is in the stock room will not allow the printer to run correctly.

SERVICE TECHNICIANS - no obligation to…

...answer a call in a timely response time. T&M customers are the second priority. Any previous “SLA” or service level agreement on those printers is now a thing of the past. Service techs go first to service contract customers. They can leave your site to go take a higher priority service call.

...concern themselves that your printing is “mission-critical.” Your print jobs may wait on the repairs for days or maybe weeks. Printing your current labels or reports should not be a crucial part of your operation if you plan to rely on Ricoh and Oce T&M repair. They cared so much in the past because you paid for a top priority service contract.

...complete the service call repair. A call from a customer with a service contract takes top priority, and the Ricoh and Oce service tech can leave before the repair is completed. Emergency dispatch repair calls take top priority over time and materials work.

...fix the printer. Any Ricoh or Oce service call will be on a “best efforts basis.” They are not under contract to get it fixed.

...continue to offer T&M for any length of time. They may initially agree to help you for a while but may withdraw the offer at any time. Management can reassign coverage and willingness to do time and materials work.

...keep within a price for labor or parts. If they search for parts, expect that the search time not on your site can be billed as well.

...provide any “second-level” technical support for drivers and controller code issues. Here is a quote from Ricoh: “Once maintenance service and support are withdrawn, Ricoh no longer provides any support, such as assistance for installation, usage (how-to) or code defect-related questions for that version and release level.”  

DESIRE TO HELP: - no obligation to…

...care if you are in a bind or not. If Ricoh still sells a printer in the range of the withdrawn unit, they hoped to sell you the new one. If they do not sell a replacement printer, their motivation to worry for you had ended when you did not buy an alternative replacement. They may offer help only as a short-term accommodation to you.

Now, what is YOUR own Obligation for your Company? 

Those printers from Ricoh and Oce were suitable, and the vendor did offer good, complete, supportive service. Now that offering is no longer the same wise decision the company once selected. It is now much different, with more risk and uncertainty for a reliable future.

There is a saying in the Distribution Industry. “If trucks don’t roll, then HEADS DO.” Where does your business turn for support on those old Ricoh and Oce printers, now that your printer vendor has turned away from their install base? 

What is the answer to Top Management when the printer goes down for good, no repair is possible, and they ask, “Could you not find an alternative to keep our business running?”

The intelligent action is to plan, test, evaluate - then act. Do you have EOS printers? Mission-Critical tractor-feed labels or printout needs, running on InfoPrint 75 or Oce Variostream 7120 units, and have no printer alternative tested and ready to adopt? It’s like playing Roulette in Vegas, betting RED or BLACK, or 1/3 the board. You may hope you will be fine, but what if the little ball falls into GREEN 0 or 00? When the market has excellent replacement printers available, is the avoidance of budget approval and the associated risk really worth it? With Ricoh and Oce printers at end-of-service, why risk the company’s operations on “we will probably be ok?”

We can help. For more information, contact Warren Neeley with Printer Connection at  wneeley@pciprinters.com or 866-430-6202.