Bought Top Notch Printers, poor Quality, What can i do?

dvdfan

Hi,

Bought the Mitshubishi CP9550DW for 4x6 Prints and the Mitsubishi CP3020DA for 12x8 and 10x8 prints from a reputible company in the UK. Bought them while setting up a new business and opened them to test them out and they worked grand, noticed the first one or 2 had specs but put it down to being the first one or two on the roll.

Got everything up and running and for the most part they worked fine although still noticed 1 or 2 occassional tiny spec sparks, the type that look like a tiny flash or light but are obvious but it mostly seems to be the first print so that wasnt a huge deal.

Then noticed on the 4x6 printer started getting a line going completely across the 4" part, range them they said its most likely dirt on heads, gave instructions to clean tried it and it worked, then a couple of photos later it slowly came back getting stronger with each photo. Rang them back again and they insisted it was dirt, spent ages cleaning it and this time it didnt disappear at all, also has the occassional specs with the 1st-2nd print.

Now the 10x8 also has the occassional spec aswell and theres no way i can give these to customers so i have to dump them. I have an Epson Stylus Photo 1400 which ive been using in place of the 4x6 and ive done tons of prints without 1 single spec so why is a printer that costs a fraction of the Mitsibishis have no problems, is this normal, i couldnt imagine photographers using under these conditions as their customers wouldnt be too pleased.

So im thinking 2 things, since i originally bought these printers because of their speed (8 secs to print 6x4 compared with about 40secs on the Epson) but now ive realised its not so important to have them this quick so can i return these printers and request my money back and buy a couple of the 1400 in their place. By the Way the quailty in comparrison for either compared to the Epson is not noticeable and id go as far as saying its marginally better on the Epson.

The only thing im unsure of is the fact ive had them sitting at home for a few weeks while waiting to open so is there a time issue, also can you ask for your money back if the product isnt up to scratch or will they just give you a replacement as im not too keen on having to scan each photo for specs everytime i print and i know i wouldnt need to with the Epson. I could buy about 5 epsons for the 2 Mitibushis fwiw although im not sure if the prints would be as cheap as the 6x4 cost about 15c per photo but ive no idea how to measure the epson 1400. Whats my options? Id settle for 2 working Mitsibushi's but im not so confident when i see both with problems

Borderfox

I have experience of both printers that you are talking about and have used them at events with great success. I would not have thought they would be used for supplying the general public with prints, would one of the dry labs be a better soloution? I have encountered the problems you talk about but not with the Mitsubishi printers, the line problem I have found to be ribbon related (check the ribbon/advance it on a few colours) and the specs/spots is media related most times and sometimes head related. I have used an inkjet at shows and they prove to be very reliable and because of the cost I can replace them often enough to keep them fresh.

You shouldnt have to put up with bad printers but try some of the soloutions I have outlined above.

dvdfan

When you say media related what do you mean, i tried cleaning the heads but i cant see them only feel, them, there kind of rigid edges from the feel, is that right. I checked the ribbon and its defo not the ribbon you can clearly see the line on previous ones but if you roll the ribbon forward theres defo no marks

Borderfox

Media as in the ribbon (creases/marks) forward the ribbon a few different colours, or paper (marks/dust) can cause these problems. try printing some solid colours blacks/cyan/magenta and have a look at these.