Georg R. Baumann
Inactive
Greetings,
I am sharing my experience with Epson UK here to make people aware of potential pitfalls when it comes to professional services and contracts. FWIW! For good reasons, I will state only facts without personal comments, but those of you who know me, well, you can imagine my comments beyond doubts.
End of June:I contact Epson Uk and ask for service options on my purchase of 11880 and 3800. I am told that a complete service can be obtained to setup this monster and ensure everything is working propperly, in addition a "Training day" is offered. He send me a quotation.
Naturally, I research alternatives myself and talk to EPSON Irland (Literally a one man band) He suggests to call a company called Equinox. I contact them and told them that I wish to get a quotation for Installation and Training to compare with Epson direct. The Lady tells me that she will not quote me if I am not telling her what price Epson gave me!
3rd of July:I negotiated and purchased a package comprising "cover plus" 3 years extended warranty, installation and training. The purchase has been made by Visa at Epson UK direct. We agreed that Installation and Training has to happen on two seperate days!
15th of July:Both printers, 11880 and 3800 are delivered. Well, they dropped the palette in front of the house and left it there. We talk about a box with a net weight of 235 Kilogram!
I forwarded the serial numbers to Epson UK to activate the cover plus and arrange the installation day.
18th of July:Epson outsources Installation and Training to a company called Equinox, yes, the same company I talked to about a quotation before. We agreed on July 25th @10AM for the Installation to be performed.
24th of July:I am in Dublin the whole day. So, 24 hours before the scheduled installation is supposed to happen, Karen takes a call from Epson. - She is very accurate in her descriptions of events and situations I might add. - She described the caller as extremly arrogant and snotty, "advising" her that the installation of the printer will not include the setting up of the maschine on it's stand. This would have to be performed by us for Insurance reasons, and contrary to the initial agreement, the training day has to happen on the same day.
I quote from Epson UK:
Installation:
- Unpacking
- Setup
- Configuration
- Testing
- Removal and disposal of Packaging
25th of July:Naturally, I send an email to Epson first thing in the morning, quoting their very own description of services and stating that:
The above description concerning Installation is EPSON's very own legal description and leaves no doubts or room for interpretation on the services to be performed.
Further, I did not receive ANY legal document on the contract of 3 years extended warranty purchased on 3rd of July, hence I also stated that:
Today, 25.07.2008, I still have not received my legal documentation. You advised me on the phone that the cover plus has been activated for Oceanviewstudio on the day I informed you about the serial Numbers of the maschines to be covered. I refer to my email from Tue 15/07/2008 6:04 PM. Hence it is my understanding that Cover Plus has been activated since 16.07.2008. Kindly consider the legal documentation to be forwarded to Oceanviewstudio as a matter of urgency.
15 Minutes after I send this mail, Epson calls. I ask whether he was the one who called here yesterday and informed Karen on the "moving of goal posts" concerning our contract. He confirms it was himself who made this call.
So I asked him why Epson would refuse to put the printer up on it's stand, as this physical installation would have been payed for by me. Epson recommends no less than four people to perform this setup due to the weight of the maschine.
He now claims he never would have said anything like that.
I ask for clarification, and he states that they will put the printer on the stand, but only exactly where it is a the moment, not an inch away from it. Well, In the Hallway that is! They refuse to install the printer in the printing room allocated for that, a total distance of 4 meters. He again states the training day has to happen on the same day.
I listen to this and let him finish, and I inform him that Epson is in breach of contract and that I consider legal action through my solicitors in London right away. I also inform him that I will give them one more chance to solve this and ask for his manager to call me. He puts me on hold to talk to his manager, comes back 2 minutes later and states that he is sorry, but this would be the way it is.
I keep my calm, and inform him about legal steps that I will undertake, including all financial damages caused by this breach of contract. He then suggest himself that a manager calls me back. I agree and await a call.
30 minutes later, the very same person calls, not a manager, and informs me that we go ahead as planned. that they will setup the maschine in the designated room, but the training day still has to happen on the same day. Reluctantly I agreed. He states that he will confirm the time and date, I insisted on the following Monday, 28th of July, per email before close of business. No email arrives. I contact Equinox to confirm the Installation. They inform me that they will not arrive before 12:00 Noon.
I now question the "Training Day" sold to me. If they arrive here around Noon, and perform the Installation, this clearly does not leave sufficient time for a training day within normal business hours.
As for the legal documentation on the 3 years extended warranty I received another email stating that:
I have registered you Cover+ Warranty's details below
Stylus Pro 3800: xxxxxxxxxxxx Warranty end date 15/07/2011
Stylus Pro 11880: xxxxxxxxxxx Warranty end date 15/07/2011
Please use this email for proof of Cover+ for the above unit.
Well Folks, I can only warn anyone reading this here to accept such an eamil as a legal document, it is NOT!
For now, I decided I will contact Epson UK's MD Nick Butler myself on Monday and see what he has to say on the above described experience.
...tbc...
I am sharing my experience with Epson UK here to make people aware of potential pitfalls when it comes to professional services and contracts. FWIW! For good reasons, I will state only facts without personal comments, but those of you who know me, well, you can imagine my comments beyond doubts.
End of June:I contact Epson Uk and ask for service options on my purchase of 11880 and 3800. I am told that a complete service can be obtained to setup this monster and ensure everything is working propperly, in addition a "Training day" is offered. He send me a quotation.
Naturally, I research alternatives myself and talk to EPSON Irland (Literally a one man band) He suggests to call a company called Equinox. I contact them and told them that I wish to get a quotation for Installation and Training to compare with Epson direct. The Lady tells me that she will not quote me if I am not telling her what price Epson gave me!
3rd of July:I negotiated and purchased a package comprising "cover plus" 3 years extended warranty, installation and training. The purchase has been made by Visa at Epson UK direct. We agreed that Installation and Training has to happen on two seperate days!
15th of July:Both printers, 11880 and 3800 are delivered. Well, they dropped the palette in front of the house and left it there. We talk about a box with a net weight of 235 Kilogram!
I forwarded the serial numbers to Epson UK to activate the cover plus and arrange the installation day.
18th of July:Epson outsources Installation and Training to a company called Equinox, yes, the same company I talked to about a quotation before. We agreed on July 25th @10AM for the Installation to be performed.
24th of July:I am in Dublin the whole day. So, 24 hours before the scheduled installation is supposed to happen, Karen takes a call from Epson. - She is very accurate in her descriptions of events and situations I might add. - She described the caller as extremly arrogant and snotty, "advising" her that the installation of the printer will not include the setting up of the maschine on it's stand. This would have to be performed by us for Insurance reasons, and contrary to the initial agreement, the training day has to happen on the same day.
I quote from Epson UK:
Installation:
- Unpacking
- Setup
- Configuration
- Testing
- Removal and disposal of Packaging
25th of July:Naturally, I send an email to Epson first thing in the morning, quoting their very own description of services and stating that:
The above description concerning Installation is EPSON's very own legal description and leaves no doubts or room for interpretation on the services to be performed.
Further, I did not receive ANY legal document on the contract of 3 years extended warranty purchased on 3rd of July, hence I also stated that:
Today, 25.07.2008, I still have not received my legal documentation. You advised me on the phone that the cover plus has been activated for Oceanviewstudio on the day I informed you about the serial Numbers of the maschines to be covered. I refer to my email from Tue 15/07/2008 6:04 PM. Hence it is my understanding that Cover Plus has been activated since 16.07.2008. Kindly consider the legal documentation to be forwarded to Oceanviewstudio as a matter of urgency.
15 Minutes after I send this mail, Epson calls. I ask whether he was the one who called here yesterday and informed Karen on the "moving of goal posts" concerning our contract. He confirms it was himself who made this call.
So I asked him why Epson would refuse to put the printer up on it's stand, as this physical installation would have been payed for by me. Epson recommends no less than four people to perform this setup due to the weight of the maschine.
He now claims he never would have said anything like that.
I ask for clarification, and he states that they will put the printer on the stand, but only exactly where it is a the moment, not an inch away from it. Well, In the Hallway that is! They refuse to install the printer in the printing room allocated for that, a total distance of 4 meters. He again states the training day has to happen on the same day.
I listen to this and let him finish, and I inform him that Epson is in breach of contract and that I consider legal action through my solicitors in London right away. I also inform him that I will give them one more chance to solve this and ask for his manager to call me. He puts me on hold to talk to his manager, comes back 2 minutes later and states that he is sorry, but this would be the way it is.
I keep my calm, and inform him about legal steps that I will undertake, including all financial damages caused by this breach of contract. He then suggest himself that a manager calls me back. I agree and await a call.
30 minutes later, the very same person calls, not a manager, and informs me that we go ahead as planned. that they will setup the maschine in the designated room, but the training day still has to happen on the same day. Reluctantly I agreed. He states that he will confirm the time and date, I insisted on the following Monday, 28th of July, per email before close of business. No email arrives. I contact Equinox to confirm the Installation. They inform me that they will not arrive before 12:00 Noon.
I now question the "Training Day" sold to me. If they arrive here around Noon, and perform the Installation, this clearly does not leave sufficient time for a training day within normal business hours.
As for the legal documentation on the 3 years extended warranty I received another email stating that:
I have registered you Cover+ Warranty's details below
Stylus Pro 3800: xxxxxxxxxxxx Warranty end date 15/07/2011
Stylus Pro 11880: xxxxxxxxxxx Warranty end date 15/07/2011
Please use this email for proof of Cover+ for the above unit.
Well Folks, I can only warn anyone reading this here to accept such an eamil as a legal document, it is NOT!
For now, I decided I will contact Epson UK's MD Nick Butler myself on Monday and see what he has to say on the above described experience.
...tbc...
