I'm not really an office machine kind of guy, and... let's face it: copiers aren't all that sexy. Lots of us have them, though, and they break. I called a couple of different Portland vendors when mine broke, and I was disappointed by both.
I have two copiers at my business: one is an old Canon 3300, and one is a newer 3380 color copier. The 3380 didn't work because it was damaged while being moved. I waited almost a year before calling Randy at Imperial, and while I had extremely low expectations, I was braced and ready for the game. I was totally surprised.
I had been told that I needed either a new fuser (~$1000) or a new copier (~$10,000) by the clowns that preceded Randy. Randy walked in with a rolling suitcase full of diagnostic equipment; it soon became apparent that he actually knew how to use it. He pulled the error codes from my machine and established a baseline (note that one of the previous clowns actually tried to tell me what the problem was because he'd "heard the same noise before"), and then proceeded to methodically eliminate the issues. He found the problem in less than two hours, and had my copier fixed in less than four hours total.
I'm not a copier-repair junkie, and I don't think the rest of you are, either, so here's why Randy and Imperial get my five stars:
1) They told me over the phone what their methodology would be. They didn't diagnose it, but they told me they could, and *how* they would.
2) They told me how much it would cost, up front. Again, they didn't tell me how much it would cost to fix it (who could?), but they gave me a fixed range of how much it would cost to know what was wrong. (Other vendors tried to get me to buy parts that it's now quite obvious wouldn't have fixed the problem, let alone be necessary)
3) During the diagnostic, Randy cleaned every part as he went. This was just a normal part of the focused methodology Imperial employs, but it gave me the feeling that I was dealing with a true professional. As a scientist myself (Okay, philosopher, but I'm not going to waste space here educating you about things you should already know), it's satisfying to watch someone approach a problem in the right way -- especially someone who clearly has the expertise to interpret his findings.
4) As a licensed Canon tech, Randy had access to information (directly from Canon) that the other "techs" didn't have. He correctly diagnosed the problem not as an expensive fuser issue (as the outdated Canon error code publication indicated), but an inexpensive door catch issue -- and he fixed it in the field.
5) Randy went above and beyond and fixed the remaining issues he had found in the course of determining the major start-up issue for "free" -- because he had time left and didn't want to bill us for an empty hour. He also had time left to show us how to clean and maintain the machine properly ourselves, so we wouldn't have to call him as often.
Imperial is a class act, and Randy is the reason. If you need work done on your Canon (I think they do some other brands, too), give them a call. I'm happy to be a reference. These guys have my business for life. read more
