Epilog Mini Motherboard Replacement - FREE

[Cherie Irwin]

Okay, I was cleaning my machine last night and forgot to turn it off. When I looked down and saw the display was out, I nearly freaked. Decided to log on here and see if I could find any help. Based on other posts, figured out the motherboard went out. I called Epilog today to find out how quickly they could send a new one out to me, and I was completely prepared to pay $995 for the replacement. So, you can imagine my surprise when I found out that they were sending the new out free of charge, overnight. My machine is 3 years and is no longer under warranty. Authorized the $400 core charge that will get refunded when they send me the new one. WOW! I love Epilog support.

[Frank Corker]

Cherie, glad to hear that you have received such a great response from Epilog, especially as the warranty had been well put to bed. As good as it gets, what is better that this story is not unique amongst other owners, but one of the reasons we'd recommend them. Glad that yours has been replaced and that it'll be up and running in no time.

[Dee Gallo]

You're a lucky duck! I wonder why they sent you a free one though - is there something about leaving your laser on all night that we should know about?

There is no doubt that Epilog has great tech support, but this is generous. Good for you!

[Cherie Irwin]

Dee, I didn't leave my machine on all night. I was cleaning the machine while it was on. They think I may have got something wet and short circuited the power circuit. It may have had something to do with the part of the board that was damaged, rather than just an old board that went bad. All that I really know is that it is was the particular model number that was in my machine that was considered defective.

[Dee Gallo]

Ah - thanks for clearing that up - I mis-read your post. At any rate, glad you got your laser back in running order quickly with the least amount of pain and aggravation!

[Mark Ross]

Another example of why my company owns Epilog. Great customer service and parts are a day away. Can't say that with the Chinese lasers.

[George M. Perzel]

Cherie;
Glad it worked out well for you and sorry you had to wait a day for the part. Easy and inexpensive to have parts on hand for my Shenhui, and a Skype call get me a response within 6 hours, but really very seldom have any issues.
Best Regards,
George
Laserarts

[Dave Sheldrake]

All that I really know is that it is was the particular model number that was in my machine that was considered defective.

Err the part was known to be defective already by Epilog?


Can't say that with the Chinese lasers.

Last time XYZ Laser shipped a machine with a less than required paint job the boss fired the entire department and the line boss, failure in Chinese companies comes at a hell of a price.

best wishes

Dave

[Cherie Irwin]

Dave, I think it was a recent discovery. After a number of people had to replace their motherboards due to a short in the power (something or other), they started replacing boards that experienced that particular problem for free. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with Chinese lasers. I don't want to get into that debate. I'm sure it is like going down the road of Canon vs. Nikon with photographers, or Democrat vs. Republican with your siblings or Protestant vs. Catholic in Ireland. I just don't care to debate.

In the end, I'm happy that it didn't cost me a dime to replace the motherboard...not even shipping fees.

[Dave Sheldrake]

Great all round result Cherie :)it is nice when a manufacturer realises there is a problem and supports their customers.

best wishes

Dave

[Martin Boekers]

Nice Cheri! You know when folks here talk of customer service for any brand of laser maybe, just maybe other brands will take notice....
and maybe improve their customer service...

Epilog didn't have to replace the board for free.... it was three years old...... but, upstanding companies correct their mistakes. ;)

I'm researching a new laser now for a purchase in the Spring, and I have noticed that more companies are improving service. I have2
Epilogs now and may get a 3rd in the spring... we'll see..

[AL Ursich]

That is another Great Epilog Story with a great ending and resulted in 12 posts already on the GREAT JOB Epilog did... You can't buy that positive PR and brand loyalty...

Likely a simple component failure that they have found and fix. It would have been interesting to take detail photos of the old board and the new board. As a Sony tech we would put a ink dot on a replaced common fail part to show it was already replaced to other tech's. That is how I found the fix for a bunch of Sirius Orbiter Radios with a antenna fault. Saw the dot on the U1 voltage regulator on another unit caused by pinching the wire in the door.

One happy customer tells 10 people one un happy customer tells 100... :) Good to see this post.

AL

[Tony Lenkic]

Martin,

IMO, Epilog should replace them free till they make mother board that does not fail. Far too many times we read here of defective MB. How many others have same problem that are not members of SMC.
I can understand failure of moving parts that wear out but mother board should be last part to go bad. How often you hear MB failure on PC? At $1200 a board I'm sure they are not interested to make it right.
One major reason I did not buy their system is MB failures.

[Scott Shepherd]

That is another Great Epilog Story with a great ending and resulted in 12 posts already on the GREAT JOB Epilog did.

12 posts already? You did realize this thread is a year old right?

[Mike Null]

And Tony's point is right on.

[John Noell]

And Tony's point is right on. Each time I had to replace the motherboard in my Epilog Mini I paid full price, plus duty, plus VAT (15%). (And afterwards I realized one of the "diagnosed" bad boards wasn't bad, it was a buggy driver. The new replacement board had the same problem, until I gave up on the 64 bit driver. When asked about it, Epilog had no comment. YMMV but I got poor service from Epilog more than once. Got some apologies for it, but the $$ were still gone from my pocket.)

[Phil Thien]

How often you hear MB failure on PC?

Quite often, actually.

[Dan Wilhelm]

I think the pre-2010 Mini's had an issue with their motherboards. I just finished restoring one. The MB worked fine pre-restoration, but was dead after the restoration. Epilog replaced it, and the new MB includes a large daughter board with several high-power electrical components that wasn't on the original MB. I think they left something off the original, and they are just replacing them instead of issuing a recall.