PRECISION COPY PRODUCTS, INC

Review: Purchased a copier from this company for our management office in [redacted] on 3/11/10. It came with a 3-yr warranty. My office was relocated 1/1/12, but we kept the copier in the [redacted] office for our use whenever we were there. We began having problems with the machine in 4/13, one month after the warranty had expired. Each time they came out to fix a problem, the very next time we turned the unit on, there was another problem, & they will not honor the warranty & keep billing us for parts and labor. The problems have been: a broken gear in April. They ordered the part and came to install it. They then found a bad primary transfer unit. They ordered the part and came to install it; they then found a defective black toner cartridge in May. They replaced that on 5/24. On 5/30, as soon as we turned the machine one, there was a "call for service" message and a new grinding noise. They came for that service call and found the black developer to be bad. The tech told us that this part does not normally go bad until 60,000 copies. We are only at 25,000 copies, as this machine is used very infrequently. They again want to charge us for the new part and additional labor to install it. I feel that they are taking advantage of a recently expired warranty. We also had recently ordered and paid for all new toner cartridges, which we haven't even been able to install, as we have not been able to use the unit all this time. Their customer service is horrible, rude and unaccommodating. We have now refused to order this newest defective part, and have advised Precision Copy that, unless they come out and make this machine usable, we will not pay for the last repair, since we still have not been able to use the machine. they refuse. We now have a $4,000 machine that is unusable.Desired Settlement: I would like either a replacement for this lemon of a machine, or, at the very least, I want them to make it work, at their expense, and I want a three-month extension on the warranty, to make sure it will remain operational. We have put a lot of money into repairs, and they are taking advantage of us, as they know we can't use the machine unless they make it right.

Business

Response:

Precision

July 10, 2013

Dear Ms. [redacted]

We are in receipt of your letter dated 7/8/13 detailing a customer complaint being made by [redacted] from [redacted].

Our response is as follows:

1. Ms. [redacted] indicates that the copier “came with a 3-yr warranty.” This is not accurate. [redacted] had an optional maintenance program they chose to accept when the equipment was installed.

2. From March 2010 through April 16, 2012, [redacted] was covered under this maintenance contract which covered all parts, labor, and supplies with the exception of paper. In April 2012, Ms. [redacted] cancelled her maintenance contract. Please see (EXHIBIT A) We have an automated meter system and it prompts to call/fax to customers who have not returned meter readings for their billing, Ms. [redacted] was obviously offended by this practice, and found it a nuisance, however, she did not want her readings estimated, therefore, we were only trying to prepare her billing in a timely manner. It is never our intention for our personnel to be discourteous or bothersome, however, readings must be entered in our system for billings to occur.

3. In May 2012, her sales rep, [redacted], contacted her regarding the maintenance once again to discuss various options with her. We are not aware of any response from her. (EXHIBIT B)

4. In August of 2012, and September 2012 [redacted] contacted Ms. [redacted] once again to discuss various issues one being the maintenance contract (EXHIBIT C). At that time, Ms.[redacted] said that the decision to have a contract would be made by [redacted] and she would let us know.

5. In October 2012, I personally contacted Ms. [redacted] in response to her inquiry to discuss her chargeable status and the pricing for supplies. (EXHIBIT D)

6. On 4/30/13, the copier needed service and it was diagnosed that a primary transfer unit replacement was necessary. [redacted] called to request that I forward a maintenance quotation to [redacted]. (EXHIBIT E) Ms. [redacted] called me and was not happy with the terms of the contract because she did not want to pay any minimum billings, which is standard in the copier industry. I spoke with the service manager, and he said we could not institute the contract without the minimums and I communicated this to Ms. [redacted]. I even tried to explain that I thought having a contract would still be beneficial to her even with the minimums, however, she chose to have her equipment serviced on a chargeable basis. She asked that we schedule the parts installation which we did on 5/22/2013. (EXHIBIT F)

7. On 5/30/13, a service call was placed for a code F2-64. A service technical was dispatched and diagnosed it as necessary developer replacement. Unfortunately, this code was not evident on the service call on 5/22/13 and our technical staff had no way of knowing this was necessary. At that time, Ms. [redacted] called and spoke with our service coordinator [redacted]. She informed her that she would not be paying for the primary transfer unit, or the developer and continued to berate [redacted], our technical staff, as well as our company in general. She stated that

we do not know what we are doing, we are horrible and how much she dislikes us. At that point, we did not think it was in our best interest to continue to service her equipment as she was so unhappy with us.

8. [redacted] has not paid for the primary transfer unit and labor charges for $490.06 which we installed in May.

9. They have paid a total of $286.75 in service bills since they cancelled their contract in April 2012 with only $25.02 being parts charges, the rest being labor charges and sales tax.

10. With regards to the defective toner, we apologize for this. Unfortunately, we do not manufacture the toner cartridges and this sometimes happens. We replaced it at no charge of course.

11. We dispute the claim that the equipment is a “lemon” as indicated by Ms. [redacted]. They have only had five service calls related to the operation of the equipment since the installation of their equipment in March 2010, more than three years,

12. As far as the statement that they recently ordered toner cartridges they cannot use, the last time they received toner from Precision Copy was October 2012.

13. To be very clear, once again, [redacted]’s warranty did not expire as stated in Ms. [redacted]’s complaint. The maintenance agreement was cancelled by Ms. [redacted]. All of these repairs would have been covered at no charge for parts and labor had she maintained the contract. Much like an automobile, a copier needs service and parts as it ages (regardless of the amount of copies being made.) Unfortunately, there is not much we can do about this fact. I think she is remorseful of her decision to cancel the contract on an aging unit and is now trying to place blame on Precision Copy Products.

14. We are very conscientious about our customer service and strive to accommodate every customer as much as we can. We would be open to any suggestions or mediation you are willing to offer to rectify this issue. However, we cannot permit our employees to be berated or belittled by Ms. [redacted]. If at all possible, we would like to know specific instances as to when our customer service employees were rude or unaccommodating as alleged by Ms, [redacted] because we take this accusation quite seriously. We would like to handle any infarction that may have occurred without our knowledge that offended Ms. [redacted],

Thank you for your attention to this matter. We look forward to speaking with you as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

Consumer

Response:

July 12, 2013

I am disputing the things that Precision Copy state in their response, as follows:

1. We did, indeed have a three-year warranty, in addition to the maintenance program, as we purchased the copier outright. They confirmed this verbally with me, when they advised that the copier was now out of the three-year warranty, when we called them in May, 2013.

2. We did, indeed, cancel the maintenance contract when Precision Copy started sending multiple requests by email, followed by multiple requests by telephone, insisting that we give them copier readings. They refused to understand that it was impossible for us to do this on demand, as the copier is in a different location than we are. We requested that they begin to send us the reading forms a couple weeks before they needed them, so that we had time to make the trip to the [redacted] office to get the readings. This should have been a reasonable request, but they would not do this and were literally harassing employees in this company who had nothing to do with the copier. It was for this reason that we cancelled the maintenance contract.

3. As far as the May 2012 email from [redacted], it is my understanding that [redacted] no longer worked for Precision Copy at that time, and, in any event, I never received the email they attached. This is the first time I saw that email. [redacted] did, however, visit me in person to advise he was no longer with them.

4. I agree with this.

5. I agree with this and we purchased one black, and then later purchased one of each color toner, for a total of $396, plus $9.50 shipping for each of them. They are still in the boxes, as we have not been able to use them. The copier will not run.

6. I agree that I was not happy with the new terms they were giving me on a proposed maintenance agreement. They increased the price from our original agreement, which I understand, as it was three years after the initial agreement. However, it would not have made good business sense to agree to pay for a 2,000 copy minimum/month on black and white copies, and a 250 copy minimum/month on color copies, when we are lucky if we make 20 total copies/month. To pay $528.80 per year on a copier that is rarely used did not make sense, and, as it turns out, Precision Copy advised that the problems we experienced with the copier would not have been covered under such a maintenance program.

7-11.

I outlined all the dates we needed repairs, and Precision is outlining dates as well. The bottom line is that the five repairs of which they speak all occurred within April & May, 2013, and always occurred following one of their technicians working on the machine. Coincidence?

I agreed to pay for the part once Precision agreed to make the copier usable again. We cannot use the new part in the copier's current condition. Their technician openly advised that the newest part to go bad does not normally do so until 60,000 copies. I am repeating that ours is at 25,000 copies, and a reputable company would acknowledge this and do what they had to do to make it right with their customer.

They are saying that all of these repairs would have been covered under the maintenance agreement, and yet, that is the exact opposite of what they told us.

I am not at all remorseful of the good business decision I made. If anything, reading the unprofessional response of this company leaves me anything but remorseful.