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  1. #1
    ALIEN OVERLORD 2,500+ Posts fixthecopier's Avatar
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    Diary of a Mad Copy Repairman

    You know that good part about being a tech? The part where people are happy to see you show up. You are the savior. You show up and bring their machine back to life so their job is now easier.

    Well imagine if you show up for work and a couple of hours into your day, you are called and told to go and unplug all of your machines and tell the customer they can't use them anymore. Your customers who loved you for years, are now not very happy. That is my Monday.

    My contract with Spec Ops ended a year ago. Their plan was to connect to the base contract at a cost per copy, at 3.6 cents for b&w and 9 cents for color. The other contractor didn't want my 330 locations, as their contract was being put out to bid in 7 more months. Their loophole was if you were on their contract, you had to be plugged in to the network. My customers were not ready for that and I got a 6 month extension. Come Sept, the base contract was put out to bid, and as normal, it was a cluster fuck. I got another 6 month extension.

    Then my customer found a way out. They could avoid contracting by buying their own machines from a site the military set up for IT related things. Problem is, there is only 1 machine that is a copier on the site, and that is a Lexmark C792. They did not care, and began purchasing them. They just did not get in a hurry placing them. If I had to guess, around 30 have been unboxed.

    Konica and base contracting would not respond to our e-mails as we had been trying to find out our status. Finally today my boss found out that it ended 2 weeks ago. I was told to pull the plugs, wrap plastic wrap around them and leave a ticket on top offering them a rental.

    Let us pause for a moment and look at the decision that was made. My contract was all you can eat. One flat fee, unlimited copies. I had machines that were classed for 4000 a month, and they did 10 to 15,000. No problem. Now all of my b&w bizhubs have been replaced with color Lexmarks. Let me state that again. I have Bizhub 600's that do 20,000 a month, being replaced with color Lexmark printers.

    The customers that where aware of this are not happy. The new machines do not have a service contract, they have a parts and labor warranty. They will now have to budget for color supplies, when they don't really need color. They are used to calling when they need something and I show up in a couple of hours and make it right. Now when they run out of toner they will have to fill out a purchase request to use a gov credit card, sometimes this can take days. Their first line of defense are the IT contractors who started this mess. The It contractors have no concern for any of this, thinking that they are just adding printers to the network and they see no problems. They sometimes take days to show up, and are clueless as to the amount of calls I do on quality machines.

    And of course the icing on the cake is that the people in charge of this failed to communicate this to the end users, so as I walk into offices to kill the copier, i am having to tell this story at each place.

    I have a feeling that this will all fall apart and I will wind up doing calls on these new machines. I still have a lot of printers, plotters and shredders I service, and just got tagged fro Xerox school.

    Well, wrapping the machines has got my carpel tunnel throbbing, I have been awake since 2:30, so I should be nice and tired and ill by the time I have to go in. Also since we don't own the machines yet, I can't tell them when they will be picked up. This means I am killing their copier and leaving in the way, so they don't have room for a new one.

    Hope your Monday was better than mine.
    The greatest enemy of knowledge isn't ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge. Stephen Hawking

  2. #2
    Master Of The Obvious 10,000+ Posts
    Diary of a Mad Copy Repairman

    blackcat4866's Avatar
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    Re: Diary of a Mad Copy Repairman

    Sorry fix. It sucks to be you. And you're right, most likely you'll be servicing the Lexmarks, probably within three weeks or less. Don't you love it when IT takes things over, without a clue what's involved, then bitches that nothing works. =^..^=
    If you'd like a serious answer to your request:
    1) demonstrate that you've read the manual
    2) demonstrate that you made some attempt to fix it.
    3) if you're going to ask about jams include the jam code.
    4) if you're going to ask about an error code include the error code.
    5) You are the person onsite. Only you can make observations.

    blackcat: Master Of The Obvious =^..^=

  3. #3
    ALIEN OVERLORD 2,500+ Posts fixthecopier's Avatar
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    Re: Diary of a Mad Copy Repairman

    this kind of sums it up, just insert IT...
    The greatest enemy of knowledge isn't ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge. Stephen Hawking

  4. #4
    AutoMajical Resolutionist 2,500+ Posts
    Diary of a Mad Copy Repairman

    Tonerbomb's Avatar
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    Re: Diary of a Mad Copy Repairman

    yeah that really sucks!!!!!!!


    I think I know where you could get a manual for the Lexmark's though.........................
    Mystic Crystal Revelations

  5. #5
    Service Manager 1,000+ Posts igi's Avatar
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    Re: Diary of a Mad Copy Repairman

    for every sunset there is a
    sunrise things will turn for you

  6. #6
    Legendary Frost Spec Tech 2,500+ Posts
    Diary of a Mad Copy Repairman

    Akitu's Avatar
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    Re: Diary of a Mad Copy Repairman

    Yeah that definitely bites the big one. At that point it must feel like an ice cold punch in the face telling you to just run and leave them to wallow in their soiled undergarments, however that's very likely not an option for various reasons. Do the best you can fixing up those Lexmarks!
    Cthulhu for president! Why settle for the lesser evil?

  7. #7
    Service Manager 1,000+ Posts
    Diary of a Mad Copy Repairman

    Lagonda's Avatar
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    Re: Diary of a Mad Copy Repairman

    Hmm, so the US Military just shot themselves in the foot by arming themselves with Lexmarks. Don't tell the Russians as they may not just stop at the Ukraine but may keep moving further west knowing that the major NATO partner has just crippled themselves with substandard equipment.
    At least 50% of IT is a solution looking for a problem.

  8. #8
    ALIEN OVERLORD 2,500+ Posts fixthecopier's Avatar
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    Re: Diary of a Mad Copy Repairman

    Day 2...

    That wrapping the machines shit, well we cut that out first. I will pull the plug , put a ticket on top and leave. Those were the instructions from the shop.

    Now the reality is, it's my territory, my customers and if I am a dick, it will come back to bite me and my company. Now if you were them, wouldn't you pull the plug back out after I left. These are Special Ops guys. As I sat in one SFC's office explaining what was going on, I told him that if they let the office shut down because I unplugged it and nobody had enough sense to plug it back in after I left, I would move to Canada, because I wouldn't feel safe anymore.

    That being said, I would go to each stop, tell them I was there to kill the copier, draw a crowd, spend 15 minutes telling them what's going on, offer to leave the machine for $100 per month 4,000 copies, leave it plugged in and tell them I am on their side, this mess was created by their command.

    I was confronted by a Sargent Major who demanded I prove who I was.
    A First Sargent who said his commander said not to let my copier go until he had a replacement.
    While explaining to a private that I was not going to actually kill his copier, his commander stuck his head in demanding to know what was going on.
    "I am here to unplug your copier sir."
    "Are you taking it"
    "No sir"
    "Then plug it back in!"
    "Yes sir".

    Close to the end of the day, while giving my story again, a supply Sargent kind of shook his head. He then said some of the units that have got the Lexmarks, already are having problems, and it was a 3 day response when they called for help.

    On the upside, after spending 5 minutes convincing the Special Warfare School reenlistment office that I was not joking with them, leaving them plugged in netted me 2 nice glazed coffee mugs and a stainless travel cup, with unit insignia and a new cap.
    The greatest enemy of knowledge isn't ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge. Stephen Hawking

  9. #9
    Retired 10,000+ Posts
    Diary of a Mad Copy Repairman

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    Re: Diary of a Mad Copy Repairman

    This is bad, but it could be worse. We have had military contracts in the past where they paid 90 day in the rears. When it came time to bill it was denied because they had cancelled the contract, but did not notified anyone until the next billing.

  10. #10
    Senior member of CRS 2,500+ Posts
    Diary of a Mad Copy Repairman

    ZOOTECH's Avatar
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    Re: Diary of a Mad Copy Repairman

    Quote Originally Posted by slimslob View Post
    This is bad, but it could be worse. We have had military contracts in the past where they paid 90 day in the rears. When it came time to bill it was denied because they had cancelled the contract, but did not notified anyone until the next billing.
    We've had the same problem here in San Diego.
    "You can't trust your eyes, if your mind is out of focus" --

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