Maintenance Guy "Fixes" Copier, Causes Thousands In Damage

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mattstaff
Sep 16, 2020 3:00 PM EDT

The true wonder is that he thought he'd be able to fix the dang thing in the first place. The Dunning-Kruger was in full effect. Ouch. 

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  • 01
    Text - Text - r/talesfromtechsupport u/rhunter1980•4d + Join Maintenance guy "fixed" the copier and causes several thousand $'s in damage. Epic TL:DR - "Maintenance" guy thinks he's a copier tech, FUBARS several thousand $ of equipment and gives the office a toner makeover. Back when I worked as a field repair tech our standard response time was get to the customer within 24 business hours. If you called in on a Friday late in the day, you'd most likely see me monday morning/noon. I think this s
    via u/rhunter1980
  • 02
    Text - Text - We got a call from a doctors office on a Friday around 3pm saying the copier had an error message. Said error message was "replace toner waste container". Normally this can be done by the end user but this particular MFP (multi function printer/copier) had one that had to be replaced by a tech. The copier they had used a waste container that could hold about 5lbs of waste toner and was held inside the machine in the back under some covers so a tech had to be dispatched to take thin
    via u/rhunter1980
  • 03
    Text - Text - Now this customer was a good hour and a half drive from dispatch so I called them and informed them l'd be up first thing Monday morning. Unfortunately this meant the MFP would be down till I got there but not much I could do unless they wanted to pay an after hours fee for me to get there same day. They said it was fine, they had other printers and would see me Monday. Cut to Monday morning and I walk into their office and EVERYTHING (I do mean EVERYTHING) was covered in a fine bl
    via u/rhunter1980
  • 04
    Text - Text - M: How? What? What did he do? R: He said the error code just meant the container inside the front cover was full and needed emptied. So he took a shop-vac and just sucked it out. M: He did WHAT!! R:I guess it was fine for a few seconds then the vacuum started blowing black everywhere. We've been trying to clean up since Saturday but this stuff doesn't clean up easy. Now for those not in the know on toner, it's a VERY fine silica based powder that clings to everything, best way to c
    via u/rhunter1980
  • 05
    Text - Text - I glance at the disaster that is their office and immediately go back to my car, grab an entire pack of static wipes, a dust filtration mask, my vacuum, and a pair of latex gloves. Upon returning I instruct the girls in the office that they should all be wearing masks and gloves due to this film being silica based, then hand out the cloths and instruct them how to use them (give em a bit of a stretch and go to town). M: Ok, I need to see exactly what your "maintenance" guy did did
    via u/rhunter1980
  • 06
    Text - Text - I look at the copier and its turned off at the front switch, most copier have 2 switches: One for a low power shutdown, the other for complete shutdown, I reach behind and fully kill the power. After about 15 minutes of wiping down covers, controls, and everything in general and I finally open up the copier. The "container" the maintenance guy vacuumed out was not the waste tank, it was in fact the developer unit... Again for those not in the know, a copier mixes toner into a devel
    via u/rhunter1980
  • 07
    Text - Text - I cleaned everything I could on the copier inside and out and then figured it'd be safe to power up and see the extent of the damage. Upon power up I immediately got a developer unit error code, no surprise there, so I power down, completely clean the DV unit and toss in a new bottle of developer. Power back up and run the neccessary service codes to recalibrate the DV unit. On the next reboot I can hear everything running and doing its usual start up until i get a laser unit error
    via u/rhunter1980
  • 08
    Text - Text - RUT ROH, that's not good I reset the error and reboot the copier listening to hear if the laser spins up and again, error code. well shit Normally you dont touch laser units unless you know theres something wrong with them, I figured toner got inside the unit and was causing issues. So I rip out the laser and take it apart, sure enough toner was inside it on the mirrors but what worried me was the motor that ran the refection head was hard as hell to turn. My first thought was if t
    via u/rhunter1980
  • 09
    Text - Text - I figured it was time to call the boss and inform him of the situation. As soon as I told him what the maintenance guy did and the error codes the machine was having he said pack it up the machine is dead and nothing's going to be covered by warranty or their service contract. Inform the Doctor what was happening and if they want a quote for a replacement we'll be happy to get him one. I went back inside and informed the receptionist I needed to speak with Doctor about the situatio
    via u/rhunter1980
  • 10
    Text - Text - M: Yeah Doc, unfortunately your copier is dead and my boss doesn't even want to attempt to fix it due to what the maintenance guy did. It definitely killed the laser unit and probably more but we cant find out till the laser is replaced and it's about $500-600 just for the laser. If it killed the laser most likely all the other motors in the copier are dead or dying since the laser is one of the more protected sections in the machine. Unfortunately none of this is covered under you
    via u/rhunter1980
  • 11
    Text - Text - D: Ok, get me a quote, but I want a better machine then this one with a stapler and hole punch. M: Ok...? You're not upset? D: No I already informed the maintenance company that does the cleaning that they're paying for all damages in my office. I have their employee on camera doing something he's not supposed to do and I was not asked if I wanted him to work on my equipment. I told them if they had an issue with that my lawyer would be delivering paperwork sueing for damages. They
    via u/rhunter1980
  • 12
    Text - Text - M: Oh absolutely, if toner and developer got sucked into them it could of ruined the harddrive or fans. Maybe even shorted something if enough developer got on the boards (I explained what toner and DV was). D: Ok, my IT guys are supposed to be here later today so l'll just have them do the same and replace them. Is there anything else you needed? M: No, l'll get packed up and have that quote emailed over. D: Ok, thank you.
    via u/rhunter1980
  • 13
    Text - Text - I returned to my stuff and started packing up, I explained to the receptionist what was going on and apologized for not being able to do much. R: That's ok, thanks for these cloths though, we're actually getting stuff cleaned up now. M: Well have a better day and l'd keep the masks and gloves on till your done cleaning. You can keep the pack of cloths, you're going to need them. Thank god the maintenance guy didn't actually vaccum out the waste tank because the DV unit had at most
    via u/rhunter1980

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