The company I work for was purchased by Xerox about six months ago. We have been selling Xerox products and have been having a lot of issues with these machines. Customers seem to really dislike them and in my 20 or so year career servicing multiple brands, including Panasonic, I have never seen product so bad. Is this typical. Are we just experiencing growing pains?
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Re: Xerox
I haven't worked for Xerox since 2003, starting with them in late 1995. I really liked working for Xerox, but I think the company largely relied on name recognition more than leading the market. They were slow to market color, slow to digital. When digital stormed the market, if memory serves, they sold some rebadged Sharp machines until they pushed out the 212/214 model, which was a pretty bad machine. They had a refurb program that refurbished machines, and sold them as new models. The 5818, was a 5028 that had new covers and PM parts. I remember I had a large account, a university that replaced most of their machines with 5818s. Within the first year, power supplies and driver boards were failing at an astonishing rate. When I replaced the parts, they had old labels on them. I was laid off in 2003, and Xerox stock was tanking. I worked low and mid volume. For a while they seemed to be retiring and weeding out mid volume guys, and moved us low volume guys into the mid volume segment. Then we got laid off, and they figured the high volume guys would be able to do the high volume machines, as well as 4-5 low/mid calls per day for the same pay. My high volume former coworkers told me it got bad, with customers waiting days for service. I had a couple low end customers find me and ask me to work on their machines on the side, for cash, which I couldn't do.
I don't know how it is at Xerox now, but compared to the local dealer I work for now, Xerox had a very cold, empty feeling to it, but I did enjoy the experience for the most part, but it would not surprise me if they cheaped out even more on their product development.
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Re: Xerox
Take it for what it's worth from a pretty new tech but Xerox in my area definitely leaves a bad taste in people's mouths. That's actually kind of why my job exists, my employer thinks we should be able to cut into their market pretty effectively over the next couple years since overall satisfaction from their customers tends to be low and there really isn't any other options in the area.Comment
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Re: Xerox
when I check users profiles, the one common thing I find:
Most Hated Brand : XEROX..
that pretty well sums it up for me.Comment
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Re: Xerox
Phil took the words out of my mouth- check my most hated brands- XEROX! And, much hasn't changed to this day. I know sales people for Xerox love to push these turds and I don't know how someone could be a dealer for them. I have been twisting screw drivers on copiers since '94, the only other brand that came close was Okidata.Comment
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Re: Xerox
Xerox is great if you bleed Xerox red, if you're a lifer. If you know their system inside and out.
They've opened up to dealers now and it's been a nightmare. Of course sales/ownership thinks "hey they're all the same, just go fix it!"
Everything they do is different. No PDFs, no "one-stop" website (try 3 or 4), nonsensical things like using internet explorer, logging onto a intranet service GSN just to read manuals, riding the bus to get updates, reaching the ends of the earth to find bulletins.
So far we've gotten used parts labeled as new.
Tech support is outsourced to different countries. Even if you get through to tech support they have a complicated "tiered system" in which you'll be transferred back and fourth for an hour or two and your call is inevitably disconnected.
It's been horrible. Think about quitting. Good luck.Comment
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Re: Xerox
I started working on the turds in 1993.. tech support was a BITCH you could follow the manual..get all the readings they say to in the manual .. call in... you had to start at RAP #1..get the readings.. print the pages..fax them off... wait an hour for them to call you back and start on the next RAP.. tech calls could take 4 hours.
and they were AMERICANS not some foreign cat.
Like others have mentioned .. order parts from XEROX.. the come in and clearly were used. RMA's were a ROYAL PIA to get.
the only GOOD thing I could say is the warranty parts replacements came in fast... not so much for regular orders.
Now you're lucky if you get someone that speaks reasonable english.Comment
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Re: Xerox
I wasn't feeling too good about the buyout before I started this thread, now I feel even worse. Coming from a KonMin background to these machines feels like stepping back in time to the early 2000s. Thanks for all the inputI started working on the turds in 1993.. tech support was a BITCH you could follow the manual..get all the readings they say to in the manual .. call in... you had to start at RAP #1..get the readings.. print the pages..fax them off... wait an hour for them to call you back and start on the next RAP.. tech calls could take 4 hours. and they were AMERICANS not some foreign cat.
Like others have mentioned .. order parts from XEROX.. the come in and clearly were used. RMA's were a ROYAL PIA to get.
the only GOOD thing I could say is the warranty parts replacements came in fast... not so much for regular orders.
Now you're lucky if you get someone that speaks reasonable english.Comment
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Re: Xerox
After I was let go back in 2003, I got a job within a month with a local dealer. I was adjusting to it, and a year later I got a call from one of my former managers at Xerox. She offered me to come back, buuuuuuuuut they weren't going to hire me directly. They wanted me to come back as a contracted employee for an employment agency. Not sure of the pay, but another former employee took the job, and got a LOT less pay. No insurance coverage. No benefits, no time off, and I believe they actually fired him when he had the flu and couldn't come in. I am glad I didn't jump ship and go running back to the X. Sad to see an American titan going this route.Comment
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