Telpro DG

We have been purchasing our print machines from Roland for years due to their professionalism, ethical business approach and great service, so posting this is almost surreal for me. We have an LEF12 UV Printing Machine which we have had for a number of years now. I contacted Telpro yesterday to ask about purchasing a white cartridge; only to be told that the EUV3 cartridges are no longer being manufactured at all, and that i now have to upgrade to the next EUV4 cartridge. I didnt have a problem until i was told that i could not utilise an EUV4 white cartridge with EUV3 colour cartridges. I was told that despite my colour inks are practically full - i would have to get rid of those full cartridges and purchase a full set of the new EUV4 cartridges (5 in total at an average cost of approx. R1400 each). That would mean throwing away cartridges that were originally paid for equating to approximately the same cost as the new cartridges - around R7000 excluding VAT. So i would have to throw away R8000 worth of perfectly good colour cartridges and have to spend another R8000 to upgrade.

While I can understand that during this really difficult time of COVID some products may not be available any more, the least that could have happened was a mail notifying clients who purchased this machine of the change - whatever the reason and even if immediate. We received no notification so have been totally unaware of any of these changes. And this is why i am so disappointed with the service level of Telpro. It could have taken an email to at least prepare those with the machine to put money aside to purchase the entire set of the upgraded cartridge. I am sure like us, many will not have this money immediately due to the slump in economy due to COVID - this then means the machine cannot be used until the change takes place.

I contacted a few of my other suppliers who have the same machine and all feel the same way and are trying to see the way forward for replacement of these cartridges - some of whom hold stock of the colours and white in bulk.

A really badly non-communicated situation in a time when we need as much work as possible to build the country's economy and with little to no help in assisting the same clients who have spent years supporting them. Extremely disappointed.