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"Great Potential, Too Many Bang-Bang Glitches - Not a Mission Critical Unit" on by Reframmellator
Pros: Gorgeous Output, Fast, Theoretically Low Consumables
Cons: 4 Separate Failures in 4 Months, Eating Ink, Arrogant Customer "Service"
Summary: We ordered this POC for a small business on the basis of trade reviews, and our initial experience was positive. It appeared to be the quality, economical, fast printer our small business needed. For about five weeks. Then, the day before our annual meeting, the printer made a loud bang and stopped, with about 600 pages left to print. With the help of three inkjets rushed into service, we survived. The power supply was replaced the next day, and within a week a smaller bang occurred, followed by a dead printer. This time it was the motherboard. That took two days to get, and again we were down. Then, on its own, the cyan color developed an inability or unwillingness to print and the printer begain powering down every evening despite our best efforts to convince it otherwise. This is bad for three reasons: 1) it takes about five minutes to power up the next morning; 2) it prints an ink hogging test page upon each startup; and 3) the startup and shutdown cycle wastes an enormous amount of expensive solid ink - the drip tray, which should be cleaned no more than once a month, had to be cleaned weekly. While we were still awaiting service on the cyan problem, it apparently shot itself again - another bang and silence. This time the wait will be four days for the part. The 1-800 number in the literature is not the correct number for this printer, and the hold times are typically thirty minutes. Then one of the customer service "dudes" will tell you that there is no direct 800 number; that the parts will come in whenever; that Xerox won't replace the unit because the problems, no matter how many there have been, aren't "repeats"; and if you don't like it, tough. If you're running a business for profit - and our experience makes me wonder if Xerox is - then stay far, far away from these puppies. I would have given it a 1 except the output is great - just don't count on it, or you'll be very, very sorry. . . .
Updated
OK, when we last left our lifeless Phaser, I said that Xerox told us it would be down four days until the part came in, and that they would call us when it did. Well, we never got a call, so we followed up, and learned that the part had come in, but that THE ONLY AVAILABLE REPAIR TECH WAS SPENDING THE ENTIRE DAY IN VERMONT (WORKING). We fumed about how this was unacceptable, and got the usual customer service pablum. In the interim, a customer service manager had called at our request, and offered to send us a bunch of color sticks to make up for the printer's heavy eating habit, which, to Xerox's credit, they did, gratis. It was a little more than the ink we had blown through from the nightly restart fiasco.
In the end, our printer was down for TEN DAYS before it was repaired. If you can afford to have a primary office printer down for ten days, you probably didn't need the printer in the first place.
The next time we're in the market for a printer or a copier (as we are now), you can bet it will not be a Xerox. And that is really too bad, because I personally would like to see them make it all the way back from the brink after losing their way, but I'm not going to subsidize them until they find it. Apparently we are not at the golden age envisioned by Deming in which quality is a given.
Even more aggravating - Xerox sent us a followup e-mail to see how happy we were with their customer service - not about the ten days down, but about the manager's call in which she comped us the color sticks to make up for our loss. It may be random, but it doesn't make for making things better when you survey the simple, feel-good customer service calls.Updated
When we last left our fallen Phaser, we were told that it would be four days until the backordered part would arrive and be installed. We explained that this was unacceptable and that the printer was vital to our business, but we got the usual customer service zombie stuff: "Is there anything else I can help you with today?" and that junk. Xerox told us they would call when the part came in. When The Big Day came and went, we called, and found that the part had been further delayed. We eventually learned (by calling yet again) that the part arrived but the only qualified technician was working the entire day in Vermont. So the four days downtime became two weeks - ten business days.
If you can do without your workhorse office printer for ten days, it's probably not your workhorse and/or your business may not be doing particularly well.
To Xerox's credit, a higher level manager called at our request to discuss our problems early in the two weeks and comped us a little more toner than the amount our unit had wasted during its nightly restarts.
To Xerox's shame, we got an e-mail today wanting to know how their customer service was doing by us. They weren 't asking about the ten down days - they were asking about the "we'll send you some free color sticks" call. If the followups are selected at random, I'd rethink that strategy. As much as I'm rooting for Xerox to make it all the way back from the brink, neither my workplace nor I are willing to subsidize them until they find their way. We are in the market for an upgraded copier, and Xerox will most assuredly not be on the list.Updated
When we last left our fallen Phaser, we were told that it would be four days until the backordered part would arrive and be installed. We explained that this was unacceptable and that the printer was vital to our business, but we got the usual customer service zombie stuff: "Is there anything else I can help you with today?" and that junk. Xerox told us they would call when the part came in. When The Big Day came and went, we had to call, and found that the part had been further delayed. We eventually learned (by calling yet again) that the part arrived but the only qualified technician was working the entire day in Vermont. So the four days downtime became two weeks - ten business days.
If you can do without your workhorse office printer for ten days, it's probably not your workhorse and/or your business may not be doing particularly well.
To Xerox's credit, a higher level manager called at our request to discuss our problems early in the two weeks and comped us a little more toner than the amount our unit had wasted during its nightly restarts.
To Xerox's shame, we got an e-mail today wanting to know how their customer service was doing by us. They weren 't asking about the ten down days - they were asking about the "we'll send you a boatload of free color sticks" call. If the followups are selected at random, I'd rethink that strategy. As much as I'm rooting for Xerox to make it all the way back from the brink, neither my workplace nor I are willing to subsidize them until they find their way. We are in the market for an upgraded copier, and Xerox will most assuredly not be on the list.Updated
Well, we had a Board Meeting early this week, which meant that the 8550N printer died last Thursday - seemingly right on schedule. This time, a different service firm visited the next day, and this time, the rep got on the phone in our office and authorized the shipment of a replacement unit right then and there. Not in time for our Board Meeting, but sort of a Pyrrhic victory for all those involved. Now we'll see if the replacement unit works as well as it's supposed to. Everyone agrees we got a lemon, but if Xerox had been a little more proactive and less rigid with their abysmal customer service, they might have kept, or even grown, a customer. The normally placid front office team seethes whenever the X word is mentioned. They won't be providing us with any copiers anytime soon, either.
Why do some companies seem to have a real talent for shooting themselves in the foot that's not standing on their corporate air hose?Updated
Xerox may be proud of the consistency of their manufacturing processes. Perhpas they should reconsider. Our replacement Phaser arrived April 28. Today, May 15, during the noon hour, it was sitting there, idle, and suddenly make a loud bang, closely followed by what sounded like a breaking light bulb. Yep - dead again. It will be incredibly interesting to see how they respond to this. If Xerox has anything approximating a conscience, we'll get our money back.Updated
Against his better judgment, our IT guy allowed the Xerox rep to talk him into giving us one more chance by sending us another replacement printer. She explained that our refund would be pro-rated (perhaps we should put in a claimfor the downtime) and would have to be negotiated through the reseller and internally within Xerox. Lovely. So she told us the printer would ship and that we should receive it WITHIN SIX DAYS. Remember that this is a business that is down. Remember also that when we placed our order with PC Connection, teh printer arrived the next business day (one calendar day).
Well - to Xerox's credit, the replacement printer (this would be our third printer since October 2005) arrived late Thursday, May 18. Our administrator tried to start it up this morning and could get the printer to be recognized. All the ususal tricks - delete and reinstall, that sort of stuff - failed and we had to add the printer manually. The printer warms up and prints test pages beautifully, but it won't talk to a PC. After verifying that all five USB PC ports were good, we swapped USB cables, THEN tried to connect it to a notebook with both USB cables. In each case, Windows and/or the Xerox installation software could not find the printer. So, once again, with critical documents to be printed today for customers and a trade show this weekend, the Phaser has once again let us down. The only good that could come out of this would be if Xerox got us a functioning unit here today so we could print our required papers without resorting to inkjets or Staples. If Brother Dominick is still on retainer for these guys and the miracel happens, I'll note it here.
Now I'm sorry I gave it a 2.Updated
Against his better judgment, our controller allowed the Xerox rep to have "one more chance" with a second replacement unit. In our controller's defense, a refund would have been pro-rated and subject to [lenghty] negotiations within Xerox and with teh reseller. (Surprise.) So she told us we'd have a replacement WITHIN SIX DAYS. Keep in mind this is Xerox's best foot forward, and compare that to ordering the original Beast from PC Connection and getting it the next day.
To Xerox's credit, six days turned out to be three. The new printer arrived late in May 18. After having someone hoist it into place, our adminstrator set about getting it going this morning, as she had some critical trade show literature and customer communications to get out today. As I walked by, she asked me to help because she could not get the replacement going. I determined that it powered up, printed nice test pages, but would not be recognized on six different working USB ports on two different PC's, using two different USB cables. So Xerox's "one last chance" was a DOA unit. Perhaps it's a new cycle time reduction initiative. Perhaps we got all the Phasers factory-set to "kill" instead of "stun". Perhaps Xerox will feel compelled to get us a functioning printer today so we can meet or dedlines without having to run off to Staples. I hope these guys still have Brother Dominick on retainer, because we need a miracle.
Now I'm sorry I gave it a 2.Updated
Well, the customer service rep was aghast, but somehow she composed herself enough to tell me blandly that any parts would have to be ordered and that same day service was out of the question, but that there would be service on Monday. She did offer to reimburse us in kind for expenses incurred for going offsite to print stuff.
Monday morning, a new printer arrived (our fourth) and it started up right out of the box, just like it's supposed to. But it's still early. -
"Fantastic, fast color printer, cheap to maintain" on by Karmann Ghia
Pros: Affordable, high-quality, glossy color printing
Cons: "Printer ink too low" appears to soon
Summary: I have had this printer for approximately 3 months and I love it. It has done an excellent job. I researched the purchase heavily both on cnet and elsewhere before pulling the trigger to buy it.
The printer has impressed me on several fronts: 1) it is very fast - faster than I need for my purposes 2) the quality is excellent - better than I need: when I take printouts to clients, they are more than sufficient from a quality standpoint (while I work from home, I work for a Fortune 500 company that is very serious about maintaining a "professional look and feel" for our sales collateral), 3) it gives every indication that it is "built to last" with high quality materials and solid construction, 4) set-up was uneventful, 5) the ability to print information about the use of the computer to date is very impressive - clearly geared more to a network/printer/LAN administrator than a home user, but cool and useful nonetheless.
Other printers considered and passed on:
I almost got a Dell but the noise issue scared me off. I almost got a Dell 3100 or 5100 but was scared off by user reviews saying there was a significant issue that slowed print jobs dramatically on a regular basis - automatic color calibration that could not be turned off. I called Dell to ask whether that problem had been fixed in July and was very unimpressed with the answer: they said "yes, you can go to our web site and download a software update that will fix the problem... but we can't show you where to do so or tell you what that bug fix is until you actually buy the printer... our systems are just set up that way..." I considered several HP's but they were more expensive to maintain because several users noted that they were extremely noisy and/or had expensive consumables. The Xerox Phaser is very cost competitive to maintain.
I use the Phaser for my home office and consider it a fun but practical luxury. I am a consultant and see dozens of PowerPoint presentations day after day. It is great to be able to print off a 20 page deck a couple minutes before a call starts and have the deck in my hands for conference calls.
The only real (minor) annoyance is that the "printer ink too low" appears too soon, which will no doubt leave some to ignore it out of habit - resulting in people running out of ink. Mine has been on for 500+ pages.
A couple "style" points to note: the color printing (especially if you have a picture taking up a space of, say, more than 1 inch by 1 inch) is noticeably different than most color printers. That is because of the special ink used in these printers. It may not be fair to Xerox to call them crayons but that is what it feels like when you are inserting them into the printer: large rectangular crayons that get melted onto pages. It leaves a glossy effect (that looks like it would be water-proof) which I like. If you are in doubt about this, you would be well-advised to see some actual printouts before you buy. Some people may not like this effect. And, as another reviewer noted, you can smell a very faint "melted crayon" smell when the computer is first turned on.
In short, I highly recommend it. -
"it is fast and expandable" on by gearmike
Pros: the wax crayons last great
Cons: the digital camera pictures color are not as true as other printers
Summary: It is fantastic for leaflets and pamphlets. It incredibly fast,clear and shiney. However trying to save money on home pictures doesn't do that well the picture color does not match exactly
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"Nice Printer" on by RobSchlein
Pros: Nice speed and image quality.
Cons: Post Office smeared images
Summary: We printed 2000 flyers dual-sided on postcard 65# stock. The images were great and customers were impressed. I was disappointed that the post office sorting machines smeared the ink.
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"poor printing quility" on by Talon_24
Pros: Very fast prints, easy to use
Cons: Very grainy half-tone blends
Summary: I was very unsaticfied with the print quility of this printer. I was expecting a much better quility with the price. Many pictures printed out with a Photoshop type, Gaussin Blur effect to them. Very bad quality!!
If your ok with bad quility, it's a very good printer.
PHASER 8500N SOLID INK PR-COL 24PPM ETH user reviews
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