lamination and vinyl

[Geneva Olson]

So, my sales rep at GSG tells me we need to match vinyl to laminate (brands) because it voids the warranty if you mix and match. But I have a situation with these vinyl that needs to be laminated. Is there validity in my sales reps claim? or does it matter?

 

[Geneva Olson]

Not really, unless you are offering a manufacturer's warranty to your customer. If you mix and match, you'll never get your money back, sure, but have you ever considered getting your money back on something that costs $1-2/ft, even at 1/2 a roll, that's not nearly what it will cost you in labor to remake it with free vinyl.
Now if you're shipping 10 rolls worth of prints to NASCAR, be wary, but not if you're doing your own installs off your own printer...

Who's your GSG rep?

Clint Langford is the gsg rep.

I just got a decent matte calendared laminate. These are short term outdoor graphics. arlon 3510 for the win.

 

[Notarealsignguy]

warranties are useless. They don't cover your labor or any additional things you put into the product like ink. Plus you have to jump through hoops to get them to cover the material, even with a matched product. Your temps were wrong, the ink was bad, it wasn't offgassed, you didn't clean the surface enough, the customer must have washed it with a harsh chemical and the list goes on. Cal over cal, cast over cast or cal. Brand doesnt matter.

 

[Geneva Olson]

And here I thought I was clever with the 3420, didn't even realize they had a cheaper series. How do you like that stuff?

I haven't tried it yet. It's calendared and I stumbled on it and ordered it.
I'll let you know.

 

[Scotchbrite]

warranties are useless. They don't cover your labor or any additional things you put into the product like ink. Plus you have to jump through hoops to get them to cover the material, even with a matched product. Your temps were wrong, the ink was bad, it wasn't offgassed, you didn't clean the surface enough, the customer must have washed it with a harsh chemical and the list goes on. Cal over cal, cast over cast or cal. Brand doesnt matter.

I agree. They'll always be able to find a loophole.

Who is "GSG"?

 

[Geneva Olson]

I agree. They'll always be able to find a loophole.

Who is "GSG"?

graphic solutions group. www.gogsg.com

 

[Notarealsignguy]

Maybe don't go telling them, but on more than one occasion we have sent back a competitors failed power supply and they've warrantied it.

I was talking about vinyl. It is the same way with paint, they will blame everything under the sun to weasel out of it. If you do manage to get them to warranty it, they will give you more material but you are out all of the labor time and consumables which is the biggest cost.

 

[Geneva Olson]

I was talking about vinyl. It is the same way with paint, they will blame everything under the sun to weasel out of it. If you do manage to get them to warranty it, they will give you more material but you are out all of the labor time and consumables which is the biggest cost.

We bought a roll of oracal color shift from fellers. The adhesive didn't stick to the car. For whatever reason, it was not sticking. We called up fellers and they instructed us to take the wrap off and send it back to fellers. They took it back alright. It took about 30-60 days to get our money back from the roll.

 

[Notarealsignguy]

We bought a roll of oracal color shift from fellers. The adhesive didn't stick to the car. For whatever reason, it was not sticking. We called up fellers and they instructed us to take the wrap off and send it back to fellers. They took it back alright. It took about 30-60 days to get our money back from the roll.

when it falls off in 6 months tell me how that refund goes. Ask the ones who have been around since the 80s how the Avery debacle went.
I got 3 bad rolls of 3751, they had some dents running through the entire thing which looked like a manufacturing issue. First time, I ran the roll and didn't notice until I went to laminate. They told me too bad I already printed on it and eventually said they would refund it if I gave them the prints which they never picked up. Ordered a replacement, same thing but this time I didn't touch it and they still balked, send pictures, need another picture of the core, need a picture of the backside of the liner, we are waiting on Oracal to approve it etc etc. 3rd roll I opened with the driver here and sent it back with him. They never refunded the first roll though and we also didn't pay the invoice. I called and called, got the run around and said screw it. It got fixed after their collections department called, told them they can either get the roll and prints like they said or tell me to trash it but either way, I wasn't paying for it. They picked it all up and that was the last time I used that vendor.

 

[Notarealsignguy]

Somewhat similar thing happened to me, roll of arlon had a 2" strip of material that was slit off, but it got wound into the roll instead of trashed. It screwed up a print mid way through. My distributor, Reece, likely just ate the cost and replaced the roll. It helps we've been with them since they opened.

us peons get treated differently