TCPglobal - news, views and issues on total cost of printing

Issue 1001/1 – By the time the warranty on a printer or MFP runs out, the whole cost of unreliability changes from what we saw in the previous article ("Forgotten elements of Total Cost of Printing – Reliability – Part 3a, Hardware failures (mechanical and electronic) under warranty"). No longer will the manufacturer just arrange a swap-out on a failed device. Instead, it is necessary to contact either the manufacturer or, more likely, a service agent for the manufacturer and arrange either a service callout or to take the faulty machine in for diagnosis and repair. Picking up where we left off in the last article, here we look at the implications and costs associated with owning a device that is not entirely reliable and fails outside of warranty.

Issue 0940/1 – Once our printer is up and running, we assume that all is well with the world – until something goes wrong. Will something go wrong? Perhaps not – but that may depend wholly on which brand of printer that has been bought. In these third and fourth parts of our series on printer and MFP reliability, we look at the impact of hardware quality and reliability on Total Cost of Printing – firstly an introduction and look at warranty replacements, followed by a look at repairs outside of warranty in the next article.

Issue #0939/1 - When you buy a new printer, AiO or MFP, what thoughts are passing through your mind? Excitement? Exhilaration? Anticipation? Impatience? I would probably be on to a sure-fire winner if I were to bet that they are not feelings of dread, horror, irritation or trepidation! And yet, this is what many people end up experiencing by the time they have finished setting up the device. Why? Because the software and installation design are not robust and reliable enough to give the new owner a good experience. We explore what can go wrong and how much it can cost.

Issue #0938/1 – !***ERROR***! Is this a common experience with a printer? If so, how serious was the problem? Could it be self-resolved? Did it require a replacement part or unit? How much did it cost to resolve the issue? How long was the printer out of action? These are questions we may all have asked ourselves at some time. Some users will question the reliability of their printer very early in its life while others may never even think about reliability because the printer never fails to do its job. Whichever is true, all printer users should understand the time and cost implications of printer reliability – or unreliability!