Poll: Non-professional behavior.

[aladin]

Giving or selling information it is the same, but I agree with Your opinion not to give all the information. This is not the only forum that you can share information on...
Problem is that we all not living in London, Berlin, Las Vegas,... , and our company and our boss not the same. This is not a perfect world and we need to fight to survive...
Ether you ban those people, or allowing them to continue, it will not make this forum any better or worse...

[deep]

It is not a secret on how to enter service mode or clear the total counter. The method is listed in the service manual. If the user is smart enough, they can know how to do it through the information.

[Juxta5]

I really couldn't care less about the endusers. It's the irresponsible professionals that need to be addressed. =^..^=

Consumers have ultimate control over irresponsible professionals. With proper education a consumer will become a service providers best friend.

For example: Let's suppose that there is a vendor that is able to undersell it's competition because it practices "unethical" behavior, resetting page counts, using sub-par or rebuilt parts, non-oem toner ... whatever, you get the idea.

The difficulty here is that your average consumer will use them because they want a "good deal". Fair and honest dealers/service providers have to charge more for quality... therefore they lose business to the cheap dealers. IN THIS ECONOMY I fear that this will become a significant problem. It is in your best interest to weed out the bad/unethical providers. More work means more money for the good providers.

* * * * * * *

Blackcat... if you want to promote ethical behavior, you might consider educating the enduser/consumer.

They need to know what to look for in a machine or service provider; what is considered ethical and unethical; if there are any dead give-aways about a machines that have been tampered with or altered etc., the problems with non OEM or "reset" parts, etc.

Since people are so successful at finding your site, perhaps they need something like "Things you need to know before you purchase a new or used copier, and what to expect from a service agreement." Something similar to Consumer Reports for the copier/fax and digital printer industry to promote healthy relationships between vendor & enduser. Give the enduser a chance and they will become your best support system 90% of the time.

It has taken me over 5 years to figure out what is a good machine and who is a good service provider. As I mentioned in an earlier post, there is only one vendor that I trust in my area. I am purchasing a Canon from him next week & WILL use him exclusively for service on that machine. But sadly I have given bad companies (2 of whom are no longer in business) ten's of thousands of dollars that would have been better spent with a reputable company.

p.s. I apologize for talking too much, but I do think you have an important issue here.

[blackcat4866]

Don't apologise. So far, Juxta, your comments have been the most compelling.

What you suggest is a monumental task. Too many customers look at price only, to the exclusion of everything else.

Wouldn't it be easier if us professionals would just act more....well, professional? =^..^=

[time2fly]

I think that it may be a good idea to try to monitor what is posted to this web site but it won't do a bit of good, anybody will be able to find this info. from the wonderful thing we call the internet. What needs to happen is to also mention the fact when the end user fumbles around in the service mode it will or could make there service contract void and could cause permanent damage to there equipment. Education is the best prevention. It's like giving a gun to a kid, without the proper education he might do some harm with it but if he is taught what that gun can do the damage it can do if not used in the proper way then most of the time he will leave the gun alone or tell an adult about it. Now I know this is an extreme example but it's the only one I could think of. I taught all 3 of my kids about guns and they know what to do when they find one ( I've tested them).
There will always be some tight wad out there that is always out to save a buck to the sacrifice of quality for money in his pocket, there's nothing we can do about that. To that I say too bad because he'll lose in the end with a broken machine and all the money he thought he was saving down the drain. I like what Blackcat said "we need to be more professional" about what we do in these forums. This site is here for a reason free "INFORMATION".