Ricoh South Africa

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Stuart
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Ricoh South Africa

Post by Stuart »

Has anyone else had experience with these clowns? Here's my sop story.

For years we had a Risograph here at the office, which is a high speed duplicator. It's essentially a glorified photocopier, but it works on a master-copy system, so it makes one master and then multiple copies from the master. It's designed specifically for high volumes though, and prints much faster than a standard copier.

So, anyway, we had the Riso for like 15+ years. Eventually, parts became a problem and so we looked to upgrade. I called in Riso for a quote and then, simply to get another option, I looked to Ricoh (formerly, Gestetner SA). What an error that was!

At first, things seemed to good to be true (*slaps self for not listening to gut*): Ricoh's quote on a comparable machine was like half the price. So we ordered the Ricoh rather than the new Riso.

Our first glitch was discovering that someone had written the 9 in our address upside down, and so the very confused people at number 26 Our Street had no idea why Ricoh was trying to offload a high speed duplicator at their house. After three phone calls, they eventually managed to flip that 9 right side up. Well, either that or the drivers eventually just figured out where to go.

So our shiny new machine arrived, and we watched it being unboxed and installed, only to find out that the rep evidently didn't know what she was talking about, and the Ricoh couldn't do the A3 copies that I very clearly told her we needed it to do. Also, the rep that had quoted me mysteriously no longer worked there. We'll call that strike two. So we sent the machine back and paid the balance for the correct machine.

From the time of payment, it took five weeks for the new machine to arrive. Strike three.

Strike four came when we received an email from Ricoh saying that the machine would be installed "tomorrow." "Tomorrow," Ricoh Standard Time, evidently means 72 hours.

Anyway, the machine eventually arrived and the techie came to set it up, only to discover--strike five--that they had failed to deliver ink. The rep brought the ink to us herself when I informed her of this oversight.

The machine was delivered toward the end of May, and we have been using it quite happily ever since. However, we have had no calls for meter readings and have received no bills. We have called to query this several times, each time being assured that it was standard procedure; we would get a call shortly. Nothing happened.

Eventually, I sent an email to the rep again asking what was happening. After four working days with no reply, I sent another email, detailing all my frustrations. This time I got a reply explaining that they were away on team building when I sent my email, and that explained the delay in getting back to me, but that she was looking into our complaints and would get back to me shortly.

In the meantime, however, I had called the accounts department to see if I could at least determine what our cost-per-master and cost-per-copy is, so I could quote someone on a job he wanted done. Accounts had no clue what I was talking about when I asked for cost-per-master. "What do you mean 'master'?" I explained to the lady how their machines work (to be fair, Ricoh also does standard copiers, so perhaps this particular lady just had no experience with the high speed duplicators) and she promised to get back to me.

Another woman returned my call, and when she gave me the cost-per-copy I asked about cost-per-master, and after a moment's dumbfounded silence, she suggested that I call the finance house for an answer to my question. (I can only guess that she interpreted "master" as "master rental agreement.") She even, very helpfully, gave me the number for the finance house. This despite the fact that we actually purchased the machine cash.

So, if you are ever tempted to consider Ricoh to service your office copier needs, might I suggest you don't.

We shall see if anything improves. Personally, I won't be holding my breath.
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Re: Ricoh South Africa

Post by americantsm1 »

Okay so I am really very sorry Mousie for all of the hassles that you have had ... but I LOL'd so hard while reading this!

It would seem to me like a standard case of people that work at the company having no idea what their company is actually selling unless they are in sales themselves (one thing about CISCO I must say I enjoyed when working with CISCO products is that everyone had training and product up-date meetings).

I have never dealt with this company but will be sure to steer the in-laws and Neil away when they look for their businesses.

Thank you and :hug:

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Re: Ricoh South Africa

Post by rustypup »

used ricoh in 2 of our offices, (KZN and CPT), for a number of years with zero hassle. they dial home with page counts and replacement toner is delivered like clockwork just before the current one expires. the machines even log faults and book technicians/services.

methinks your alberton branch has management issues or you're just super lucky.. :/
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Stuart
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Re: Ricoh South Africa

Post by Stuart »

rustypup wrote:used ricoh in 2 of our offices, (KZN and CPT), for a number of years with zero hassle. they dial home with page counts and replacement toner is delivered like clockwork just before the current one expires. the machines even log faults and book technicians/services.

methinks your alberton branch has management issues or you're just super lucky.. :/
Companies don't have branches in Alberton. The only "branches" we have in Alberton grow on trees. Our dealing was with Ricoh head office in Bedfordview.

Perhaps it's different because it's a HSD rather than a regular copier. It's a basic machine, no network connection or anything, so it doesn't send meter readings to them. They have to phone for meter readings, and we have to phone when we need ink and master rolls.

Apparently (according to our rep's most recent correspondence) they have been feverishly trying to call us three or four times a day every day for the last few months but no one answers our phone. We really need to speak to ourselves about this problem.
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Re: Ricoh South Africa

Post by americantsm1 »

Stuart wrote: Companies don't have branches in Alberton. The only "branches" we have in Alberton grow on trees. Our dealing was with Ricoh head office in Bedfordview.
LOLZ
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Re: Ricoh South Africa

Post by Anakha56 »

lol Sent this to my superiors since we are having endless hassles with our Ricoh machine as well.

*edit*

Should note that they have upgraded their systems to the global system and it is causing them hassles as well.
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Re: Ricoh South Africa

Post by doo_much »

Back in the day we used Ricoh Aficios supplied by Nashua.

Ignoring for a moment that they were bloody expensive, I can honestly say that the service was quite good.
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Re: Ricoh South Africa

Post by Hman »

We use Nashua in our office (their products are just rebranded Ricoh) and the service in Nelspruit is fairly good. If the machine doesn't work or if the toner is running low we call them and they're usually here within 30 minutes.

PS. We have a rental agreement which includes the machine and toner. Earlier this year they swapped the machine out as it was getting rather old.
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Stuart
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Re: Ricoh South Africa

Post by Stuart »

We purchased the machine cash, but we do have a service agreement that includes toner, but (it turns out) not master rolls.
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Re: Ricoh South Africa

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So after getting no calls or invoices for months, I was eventually told that they had feverishly being trying to call for a meter reading, but no one ever answered the phone at the office. To alleviate this, I gate my direct line and my cell phone number. Another two months or so went by before we finally got our first call (on the main office line) asking for a meter reading, and finally our first invoice. Woohoo!

Then last Friday I decided to order some masters and some ink. Now, the way our service contract works, masters are paid for cash, while ink is covered in the service agreement. Evidently this requires orders from different departments or something. Anyway, I called last Friday to order a box of masters and a box of inks. As of today, nothing has arrived. So I decided to follow up on this.

After being bounced around to three or four different people, I finally explain my order story to one particular lady in the orders department. She looks on her system and says that it shows the order as accepted, but not complete. So then I am put through to the lady who handled the order. She has no clue why the order hasn't arrived yet, but suspects a stock issue. So she tells me she will find out and call me back. When she calls back, she explains that the office and the warehouse use two different systems, and so while the office system shows that there is stock, that is not necessarily a reflection of reality in the warehouse. But she has confirmed that there is stock of the masters, and they will be sent pronto. However, the order for the ink was never done, so she will find someone to place the order for me.

At that point I asked to speak to a manager. Switchboard eventually found me a manager (Morgan), who listened to an abridged version of my experience thus far, assured me that that is not the normal level of service I should expect from Ricoh, and promised to investigate and get back to me either today or Tuesday morning. I wait with bated breath. He also promised to ensure that my ink and masters are delivered Wednesday. Being in leave next week, I will have to call the office to see if anything has been delivered. I will report back then.
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Re: Ricoh South Africa

Post by Stuart »

Update: We've still been getting invoices from Ricoh for some R23k which is supposedly outstanding. Now, as stated in the first post, what happened was that the original machine they quoted us on (DX3243) turned out to be the wrong machine. It couldn't print A3, as they said it could. So they requoted us, and the machine we actually needed (DX4545) was an additional R26k. We paid the additional, sent the first machine (DX3243) back, and (eventually) got the second machine (DX4545). All sorted, right?

Except we're still getting invoices for R23k.

This morning I got a phone call from Ricoh telling me that there is still an invoice outstanding for R23k. I have tried explaining this situation to so many different people, but this morning I faxed both proofs of payment (the original R23k and the additional R26k). They called me back, thanking me for the proofs, confirming that the full amount for the DX4545 had been paid, but telling me that there is still an amount outstanding for the DX3243. So, in other words, according to their records, we have both the A4 DX3243 machine (R23k) AND the A3 DX4545 machine (R49k). We have paid for the DX4545 in two installments, but not yet for the DX3243.

So now I have to sift back through my emails, find the thread of information, and show them that we sent the original machine back.

*sigh*
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Re: Ricoh South Africa

Post by KALSTER »

Hellopeter them! Goodness gracious. How do you keep your cool? Or don't you?
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Re: Ricoh South Africa

Post by GreyWolf »

KALSTER wrote:Hellopeter them!
Yup. Unleash... THE KRAKEN!
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Re: Ricoh South Africa

Post by Stuart »

You know, Hello Peter doesn't allow for enough characters in their complaint field for me to explain the full story. I'll have to summarise it first.
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Re: Ricoh South Africa

Post by Cupis »

Stuart,

I have dealt with Ricoh, and while I would say their machines are great, I too have had some issues with their actual Service. I have been dealing mostly with their Cape Town offices, and if it was not for our accounts department asking me about the invoicing, we still would not be paying the monthly rental and service fees! HA! So a year down the line we finally get to the bottom of it and they only start billing us a year later.....

Personally I have had good experiences with Konica Minolta (Which I think you helped me out with a couple years back) I think I would sooner continue dealing with them than Ricoh, however our corporate brand policy restricts me to using Ricoh's going forward...

Regards,
Cupis
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Re: Ricoh South Africa

Post by Stuart »

Cupis wrote:Stuart,

I have dealt with Ricoh, and while I would say their machines are great, I too have had some issues with their actual Service. I have been dealing mostly with their Cape Town offices, and if it was not for our accounts department asking me about the invoicing, we still would not be paying the monthly rental and service fees! HA! So a year down the line we finally get to the bottom of it and they only start billing us a year later.....

Personally I have had good experiences with Konica Minolta (Which I think you helped me out with a couple years back) I think I would sooner continue dealing with them than Ricoh, however our corporate brand policy restricts me to using Ricoh's going forward...

Regards,
Cupis
We've settled into a amicable routine with Ricoh now, though our one experience with their technician was not too pleasant. I would happily have taken a deal with KM, but they don't make high speed duplicators. For that, afaik, we're restricted to Riso or Ricoh.
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