Topcon Edger and Service

[DRCJD]

I am an optometrist in private practice and have leased a Topcon ultima patternless edger for the past year. I am extremely unsatified with the performance and service Topcon has provided. Initially they promised that the problems were related to the fact that it was a brand new edger for them and it required software updates. The updates were installed, but I continue to have problems with the edger on a daily basis. I have repeatedly called Topcon service department and managers with my concerns and complaints, but according to the Topcon President, Don Winfield, they do not log your calls or complaints. Therefore, Mr. Winfield is under the impression that I have been a happy customer for the past year. When I asked if I had somehow overlooked a more formal way of registering my complaints, I was told there was no official complaint procedure. Esentially a customer is to just call the service department. According to my phone conversation with Mr. Winfield, it is not Topcon's policy to track how many calls or complaints you make. They are now sending a hand picked technician to look at my edger to determine if there is anything wrong with it. Please let me know if anyone else has the same experience. This patternless edger has cost me alot of time and money.:(

[Jeff Trail]

Doc,

Went throught the same thing a number of years ago with another patternless company..learned the hard way on how to find and edger as well as how to go about getting one.. Since I got in when most of this was "new" I have had a awhile to figure out how to do it..
First since it is a "leased" machine you have MORE things you can do legally to fix it, my corp. lawyer was really quick to help me here, now when I get a new machine, either for myself or doing it as a purchase agent for someone else I tend to ask for a lot from the Edger guys, I make sure I find out where a tech is located, how big the territory is, if "my" machine goes down I want a "loaner"..I look at it this way, for the price I am paying that is like adding an employee to my payroll and I EXPECT it to produce, if not I would treat it as an employee, you can't do the work, YOU ARE FIRED.
I would contact your lawyer, you should have been keeping a log on how many days it was down, what it cost you (cost that were incurred due to the edger, beyond the "normal" breakage etcetra) You used the outside source to edge (had a wholesaler do it) you add all this up and than send a bill to the company.. they usually do one of two things, you get to end the lease (no penalty) or they get hard headed and say sue us... they will lose if you kept records and have a half decent lawyer.. you have a third option and run an ad in a few of the trade mags and find a group of people and file a class action.. That is what I did, and hmmm amazing that the edger company seemed to improve it's service to me and came got the machine, dropped off a loaner and fixed my original at no cost and since than I have cut around 90,000 cuts and the only problem is I replaced one shaft bearing and wore out one wheel.. this is the normal wear and tear I would expect... not having it cut "perfect circles" every four or five jobs due to a board "glitch".. that is NOT what I was considering my problem..
BTW I have probably seen about every patternless system out there used, and I have not seen ANY OF THEM not have a bad apple or two from the factory.. it is luck of the draw.. and how you get it fixed is how well you know how to manipulate the system.. sad but true..
At least you were lucky enough that this is only leased and not spent $30K on a dud you get stuck with and have to try to get fixed.. being leased you didn't request that they give you a new machine?
You might be amazed by reading your lease agreement the loop holes you have to nail them, have a lawyer look it over.. I dread having to bring in a lawyer but it worked for me, and it sure beats making payments on a big paper weight :) Just for anyone else reading this post..if you are getting a NEW patternless system you need to make sure you hash out this stuff BEFORE getting it, and once you get it make sure you keep a log of everything.. calls, lens destroyed, time it was down etcetra etcetra.. if it runs great.. your fine, if not than you are covered.

Jeff "strength in numbers usually gets action" Trail

[Johns]

Doc,

Sorry to hear about your problems. I had the 4 companies come in and demo their edgers before we bought ours. The Topcon rep could not even get his machine to run through a whole cycle. He had no excuses, all he could do was shrug. Fortunately for him, he selling frames now.

If it's only been a year, tell them to give you a new unit. I don't think that's too much to ask. If not, ask them what kind of snacks they plan on serving at their booth at Vision Expo, because you plan on camping out there to meet all of their prospective buyers. It would be inexpensive to make you happy compared with the lost revenue they could experience.

Better yet, forward this post to them (be sure to attatch the number of members). Explain that you realize they may not have known how unhappy you've been. Once they settle this matter, and you love your new edger. Explain that you will do a follow-up on how they stepped up to the plate and solved a problem you had. Any company can have a few lemmons here and there.
Let them prove what they can do in the way of customer service.

Good luck !

[Ryan]

I have had a Topcon edger for the past 4 years and for the most part it has been running great. I did have some work done on it while it was still under warranty, and some more done at a later date. The problem came when I tried calling them and they never call you back, every time I called, I had to explain the WHOLE situation over and over again. It seemed like they just have one dude sitting behind a desk answering the phone. It was the same guy every time that answered the phone. I don't think they have very good customer serivce. But, for the most part, my edger has been running great , alot better than the briot we replaced it with, so I won't complain too much.

[Homer]

I am quite interested in the process (how, when, where and what was the deciding factor) which led up to your deciding on the Topcon as compared to other options.

If you have time, I would be glad to read the story.

[hcjilson]

Please consider reviewing the machine in our new Product Review forum. You can easily download the form and take up to 500 words to tell your story....Good AND bad. I'm sure there has to be some good in there somewhere!

Tell us the whole story and I'm sure there will be questions like there are above. There is no word limit on your replies!:D

Love to have you give it a shot.

hj