How did this happen?

[Ollie1981]

I think the key objective is not to get into any arguments with the customer over operator error.
I have instructions to fix the fault, fill in my call sheet and without waving a big stick at the customer explain what the problem was and how it can be avoided in the future.

Then it is down to my line manager who clears the calls to decide if the customer should be charged or not.

Large contracts or new customers may get away with trashing a fuser, it all depends 'who' the customer is, how long they have been with us etc.
But generally all customers that do get charged know it was their fault and pay up.
The rare one or two that don't have their service contract for that machine put on stop while they think about it.
And a extreme case will see their service contract cancelled.
But that normally only happens when the customer has other outstanding bills with us.

A certain big contract of ours, which is a certain well known chain of supermarkets, not so long ago tried to convince my manager that an almost brand new MP1350 had somehow managed to throw itself down a flight of stairs. It also somehow managed to separate itself from it's finisher and LCT in it's bid for freedom.

Maybe it was sick of being operated by a bunch of mouth breathing knuckle draggers and was setting off on a quest to find a nice little copyshop or repro department where it would be treated better, or maybe the aforementioned mouth breathing knuckle draggers had attempted to move the copier, underestimated just how heavy it was and dropped/rolled it accidentally down the stairs.

One of my good friends actually attended and they were actually expecting him to somehow mend this ruined pile of shattered glass, broken plastic and twisted metal by the end of the day. He laughed heartily and phoned our manager who turned up a short while later.

As far as I know they are still refusing to pay up,

[leo34staffs]

Is that a pic of a lanier 5218 fuser? if so no wonder it jammed, you can never remove jams from them fusers without taking it out.

More seriously, we charge customers for instances like that, where they have fubard a fuser ot other component. If the customer complains then its not up to me to let them off or charge them. The only problem is when you return, they then start questioning you all the time to see if they are getting charged for anything and scrutinize what you have put on your service sheet/pda.