New PL7200 Boat Anchor?

[Guest]

I am at my witts end. I purchased this machine with a full 3 year warranty 4.5 years ago.

Religiously I had the company come out and they never did anything to it except "clean" it. I was responsbile for changing the black pcu and something else, but now I find out they (the maint contract people) should have changed out the color pcu's and other items that will now end up costing me around 2,000. According to the tech, these should have been done at 80,000 well within when the contract was in place

This machine only has 160,000 impressions on it, but I only paid $3,000 for it. What should I do? I am looking for opinions. I have already tried to get the service out of the contract that they failed to do when it was covered. I haven't used the printer much lately as it hasn't been working right. I am really stuck? We named the printer Broomhilda - she sure has been.

[teebee1234]

Do you mean the CL7200? If so, what is the breakdown of the prints - how many black and how many color (confirm whether we're talking about actual prints or developments). The pcu's are actucally rated for 40k and the developers are 80k. I'm not sure what kind of contract you had and with who, but if it was with direct Ricoh office, the end user is responsible for all of the maintenance kits (Fuser, color pcu's, color devs, black pcu, black dev and waste bottle). As techs, we can't order the maintenance kits. I've never seen a customer with a printer contract that only required them to replace the black pcu. Was your service with an independent dealer?
That being said, what are the symptons? If you need to replace the pcu's you can probably get away with using the 7100 type, about half the price. The developers are unique and can't be swapped, as is the fuser.

[zyqwiz]

The black drum and dev, colour drums and devs, fuser all together wouldn't cost anywhere near $2000 - they are trying to rip you off or inflate the price so you buy a new machine!

[Broomhilda]

So What do I do now?

I have been reading on line that to change out the color items (2 items per color) only a technician can do that? This is so frustrating and unneccesary.

[teebee1234]

No, that's not true. The maintenance kits are specifically for the end user to change out (on the copier version the tech would change them). Instructions are included, the printer will self calibrate after you install the items. The only issues where you might need a tech are for general internal cleaning, problems with the transfer unit or drive issues (clutches, motors). You could even replace the feed tires if necessary.
Here are two sites you can purchase the kits from that are reputable, someone else may post others...
Precision Roller
Katun

[zyqwiz]

All consumable parts in printers are user change and should be listed anywhere that sells toner for the machine.