Issues with CET and getting a runaround -suggestions? Help?

[In Print]

We have our Q500 4'x8' for about a year and a half - operational about a year. When it was delivered we ran through massive issues for a few months incurring losses as we couldnt print anything or market our business. Lost a whole season.
Finally they narrowed down last issue to bed being unlevel as the build I have only has 16 setpoints... vs todays that have 32. (only listing last as that is the same recurring problem - feel free to ask me about others)
They had the machine down for 3 days - took tabletop off and leveled with shims in different places. Until they did this we had to print uni-directionally only and they gave us 4 more heads to make the time up and after the whole ordeal the only resolution was to keep the 8 heads - we were not happy but we wanted to keep the good relationship and to just get operational and stop bleeding money.
about 4-6 months ago we starting having the same issue (presents as not calibrated correctly however only on certain spots on bed - others are crystal clear) - they first gave me a run around - calibrate - so we calibrated, then they made the advantage rep come down and supervise the calibrations - even after we sent a full sheet showing the variances within the same sheet.
finally after fighting for a month and their engineer being here for 3 days trying to make it be something else they finally acquiesced that it was the table. they claimed that in the original fix they hadnt used large enough shims so it wasnt holding up - but the new ones would hold forever (the engineer actually said they should re-drill the tabletop to have 32 setpoints but the techs decided just shimmimg it would be enough). They also assured me that this was the last fix - if it happened again they would replace.
They finally worked out a time when to do this as they needed the machine for 3 days. this was done 2 months ago. in the interim we had a vacuum pipe melt which they replaced. about 2 weeks ago we started noticing a variance. last week we tested and (after a returned order) realized it is the same problem! been trying now for a week to get it resolved and they are giving the same runaround - calibrate, now that we calibrated and same issue, they had us overnight the calibrations and a sheet of the issue. I overnighted it on Thursday they had it Friday Morning and I tried reaching out to see what was happening and they are not being responsive. I know they dont want to replace a machine and they are busy but what should I be doing - (beside posting here in frustration) to get this resolved quickly.

I am running the machine uni-directionally now so we can be operational and not have returned orders, but that is costing me time and overtime pay for employees!!!!

I would be ok with that as machines do have issues but when i have to beg 5 times a day for an update and I dont get one - than I am not ok. I asked for a plan of action before weekend and called my advantage rep this morning - he cant even get ahold of them!

Thank you for listening. Sorry for the rambling

 

[davecich]

Response

Gavriel is a valuable customer of ours. I spoke to him today. We will go back on site Monday to try to align his machine again so he can produce the small knock out fonts needed for the small magnets he produces (business card size give or take) bi-directionally instead of unidirectionally.

i appreciate the heads up from our loyal customers concerning this post.

Dave

 

[In Print]

Gavriel is a valuable customer of ours. I spoke to him today. We will go back on site Monday to try to align his machine again so he can produce the small knock out fonts needed for the small magnets he produces (business card size give or take) bi-directionally instead of unidirectionally.

i appreciate the heads up from our loyal customers concerning this post.

Dave

Tech came yesterday (not Monday when we set aside time for him) - confirmed my fears that the table is unlevel once again however couldnt fix as it needs to be down for 3 days. being that this was done 2 months ago does it make sense it has to be done again? We had no problem on those fonts after it was leveled and the fact that it prints clear in uni and that some spots on bi-direction, means this is reverting to the same problem.

I will be following up with advantage and CET today. Thank you Dave for hopping on this when you got back (I was a little dissapointed by your teams lack of response though).

 

[In Print]

Update - CET lives up their word again!

Tech came yesterday (not Monday when we set aside time for him) - confirmed my fears that the table is unlevel once again however couldnt fix as it needs to be down for 3 days. being that this was done 2 months ago does it make sense it has to be done again? We had no problem on those fonts after it was leveled and the fact that it prints clear in uni and that some spots on bi-direction, means this is reverting to the same problem.

I will be following up with advantage and CET today. Thank you Dave for hopping on this when you got back (I was a little dissapointed by your teams lack of response though).

Just Spoke to Dave - He called me and they will be taking care of this exactly as they had said they would. Once it is all settled I will let you know how satisfied I am but for now I am hopefully satisfied and very happy with the relationship with CET and how they do whatever they can to make sure it is correct. Just like we do for our customers.

 

[SignManiac]

I feel you pain. I went down that road in 2006 with my first flatbed and it was a living nightmare. Then I tried again with another flatbed and was assured I wouldn't go through the issues like my first one. WRONG, even worse nightmare. Eventually HP got us sorted out and finally had a reliable working printer. Sucks to buy beta technology for these companies. I sometimes think you're better off waiting a few years until the bugs are worked out.

 

[mumpower]

Ike Mumpower

Would like to know if you got your machine running thanking on buy one next year call me 423 845 0246.

 

[player]

What a nightmare...

Anyone thinking about buying one of these after reading this thread is crazy.

 

[nate]

What a nightmare...

Anyone thinking about buying one of these after reading this thread is crazy.

i wouldn't call myself crazy. These are great machines, and Dave is a standup guy. Just like anything there can be trouble.

 

[player]

i wouldn't call myself crazy. These are great machines, and Dave is a standup guy. Just like anything there can be trouble.

I didn't mean any disrespect. Just that they have jerked the OP around since he bought it. To me, this stand up guy was not standing anywhere because they needed to replace his machine, not continue to kill his business with half baked work arounds time and time again.

 

[Techman]

We had no problem on those fonts after it was leveled and the fact that it prints clear in uni and that some spots on bi-direction, means this is reverting to the same problem.

I would have little faith in the bed being out of whack. If this machine prints fine in one direction but not in another that tells me the head carriage is moving some amount when the drive system pulls on it.

In my opinion,, there is no reason why there is not a laser range finder system on these machines to instantly set the system to the exact height as needed. The laser range finder is used on a number of other machines where head height is critical. Even a $300 dollar camera has a range finder system on it. Why not a very expensive machine like this one?????

 

[nate]

I didn't mean any disrespect. Just that they have jerked the OP around since he bought it. To me, this stand up guy was not standing anywhere because they needed to replace his machine, not continue to kill his business with half baked work arounds time and time again.

It sounds like he was doing more with Advantage Sign Supply as opposed to CET itself, which could explain some of the issue--

 

[player]

We have our Q500 4'x8' for about a year and a half - operational about a year. When it was delivered we ran through massive issues for a few months incurring losses as we couldnt print anything or market our business. Lost a whole season.
Finally they narrowed down last issue to bed being unlevel as the build I have only has 16 setpoints... vs todays that have 32. (only listing last as that is the same recurring problem - feel free to ask me about others)
They had the machine down for 3 days - took tabletop off and leveled with shims in different places. Until they did this we had to print uni-directionally only and they gave us 4 more heads to make the time up and after the whole ordeal the only resolution was to keep the 8 heads - we were not happy but we wanted to keep the good relationship and to just get operational and stop bleeding money.
about 4-6 months ago we starting having the same issue (presents as not calibrated correctly however only on certain spots on bed - others are crystal clear) - they first gave me a run around - calibrate - so we calibrated, then they made the advantage rep come down and supervise the calibrations - even after we sent a full sheet showing the variances within the same sheet.
finally after fighting for a month and their engineer being here for 3 days trying to make it be something else they finally acquiesced that it was the table. they claimed that in the original fix they hadnt used large enough shims so it wasnt holding up - but the new ones would hold forever (the engineer actually said they should re-drill the tabletop to have 32 setpoints but the techs decided just shimmimg it would be enough). They also assured me that this was the last fix - if it happened again they would replace.
They finally worked out a time when to do this as they needed the machine for 3 days. this was done 2 months ago. in the interim we had a vacuum pipe melt which they replaced. about 2 weeks ago we started noticing a variance. last week we tested and (after a returned order) realized it is the same problem! been trying now for a week to get it resolved and they are giving the same runaround - calibrate, now that we calibrated and same issue, they had us overnight the calibrations and a sheet of the issue. I overnighted it on Thursday they had it Friday Morning and I tried reaching out to see what was happening and they are not being responsive. I know they dont want to replace a machine and they are busy but what should I be doing - (beside posting here in frustration) to get this resolved quickly.

I am running the machine uni-directionally now so we can be operational and not have returned orders, but that is costing me time and overtime pay for employees!!!!

I would be ok with that as machines do have issues but when i have to beg 5 times a day for an update and I dont get one - than I am not ok. I asked for a plan of action before weekend and called my advantage rep this morning - he cant even get ahold of them!

Thank you for listening. Sorry for the rambling

It sounds like he was doing more with Advantage Sign Supply as opposed to CET itself, which could explain some of the issue--

I humbly disagree. It has been the company he has been dealing with. The company is getting Advantage involved, but the company is in control.

 

[In Print]

Sorry, I have been crazy busy but a little recap. I was dealing both with CET and Advantage (mostly Advantage helped me when I was having trouble getting a response from CET). Offically the machine I got was 1 of 3 made with a certain undercarriage that warped setting the table out of balance and they changed the build right after....

We now have the Gen5 Installed and we actually just upgraded it to a second row because we needed the speed and 2 head on the new machine just dont = 8 on the Gen4.
Can I say no issues? No but much fewer and pretty small? Yes. operating it 2 months and one real issue only and it was addressed within a couple of days. I have another concern but it is being addressed hopefully as they say it is.

I cannot say if this machine is better than others as the CET was my first flatbed. Will my next machine be a CET? - we will have to see how well this one performs.

 

[davecich]

follow-up

Gavriel,

I'm glad the two rows of Gen 5 heads are running well for you, and you see we stand behind our products.

Dave