DSF

I had £300 ono. Is anyone interested or do you think my price is too high would like comments please. Dont want it just sat there doing nothing, want
someone to get the use out of it. thanks karen x

louise020171;21503 wrote:Ricoh GXe3300N SubliPrinter which was only bought nov 2010 from BMS so is still under warranty.

I was under the impression from previous posts on this forum that Ricoh won't touch the printer if it's been used with anything other than Ricoh inks, which renders any warranty effectively useless.

Do they ask what ink has been used in it?

I've had Epson and HP printers repaired/replaced under warranty with no questions asked about ink.

Mark

JSR;21872 wrote:I was under the impression from previous posts on this forum that Ricoh won't touch the printer if it's been used with anything other than Ricoh inks, which renders any warranty effectively useless.

Ricoh certainly didn't want to know mine - as you may recall.

Any printer whether its Ricoh or Epson will not be covered by the manufacturers guarantee once you put 3rd party inks in - I'm afraid sub ink, whether its sawgrass or chinese copy is 3rd party ink.

To make a claim I'd have thought that you'd have to get the ink manufacturer involved or the place where you bought the printer from if it was bought as a sublimation package or printer.

John G;21917 wrote: To make a claim I'd have thought that you'd have to get the ink manufacturer involved or the place where you bought the printer from if it was bought as a sublimation package or printer.

Exactly what I did John, with good fortune BUT, whilst I'm extremely grateful to SawGrass for their support, it's NOT a guarantee! Put 3rd party inks in your sparling new printer and the guarantee goes out the window.

mgibbs;21900 wrote:Do they ask what ink has been used in it?

I've had Epson and HP printers repaired/replaced under warranty with no questions asked about ink.

Mark

They don't need to ask. Dye-sub ink is significantly thicker than regular dye ink, and the Ricoh printers are designed solely to use "gel" ink. They don't need to get their scientists out analysing the ink in the waste pads to see what ink you've been using.

In the case of Epson, they were challenged a couple of years back because they tried to avoid their responsibilities under the law and use this as a way to push out third party inks. The resolution was that Epson couldn't dictate what inks you use in their printer, but they are allowed to charge for faults caused by the use of non-OEM inks. If there's a fault with a piece of circuitry (for instance), they can't say "we're not fixing it because you used someone else's ink"; but, if the printheads are blocked due to the use of third-party inks, they can refuse to fix it unless you pay.

The same thing *should* apply to Ricoh - they shouldn't refuse to fix a motherboard issue (the most common problem with the Ricoh) just because you put different ink in it, but they do. Until someone challenges Ricoh in the way Epson were challenged, you won't get any help from Ricoh if you've used someone else's ink.

There has been some vague talk about Sawgrass supporting problems with Ricoh printers if you bought through an authorised reseller and if it's less than a year old, but the actual details are so vague that it'd be a fool who relies on it. You have nothing in writing and no legal redress if there's a problem with your Ricoh printer after you've put third party ink in it.

At least with the likes of Epson, they can't turn their back on you completely. Whether it's worth getting them to look at a cheap entry-level printer on the off-chance they'll fix it is debateable, but in the instance of a printer that costs a few hundred pounds (such as the more expensive A3 models), then it's reassuring to know that there is somewhere you can go. Even if the problem was caused by the ink used and they say it'll cost £140 to fix it, then that might be worth it to get a £300 printer back up and running. Ricoh won't give you that option (which could be a problem if you have their £500 printer and it suddenly stops working).

This is the problem we have when there is no printer designed for dye-sub ink. Support from the printer manufacturer is iffy (Epson) or non-existent (Ricoh), and support from the ink manufacturer is so vague that it shouldn't be relied on. Basically, when we put dye-sub ink in a printer, we're on our own.

This is why so many people look for the cheapest possible option (sub-£60 printers), so that they can just be thrown away when a problem occurs.