deivoxcarnal

Yeah, this sarcasm meter is definitely broken. I guess I should have called the company to have them open the box and test it to make sure it works before I bought it. I guess I just assume that when I spend ~300 bucks on a sarcasm meter that it's going to work when it arrives. But that must be my fault, because I should have known that all Chinese products are crap and that even though my meter say "US Sarcasm Meter" it was actually made in China. When I buy something I think it is implied that the product should not only WORK, (that's the most important part) but should also preform up to the specifications listed on the website. Does ANYONE here think that those are un-realistic expectations? I do agree with you that the company has to protect itself from fraudulent returns, but it sounds to me like the OP has been through quite a bit of hassle, if I had the same experience I would be very irritated. ESPECIALLY if I came to the forum, and had the regulars joke around and poke fun, and tell me that it's my "responsibility" to accept a broken machine. I would hope that maybe there could be an exception for a customer who has bought 2 cutters already and had to deal with multiple problems. Regardless of the policy, doesn't it make sense to waive the re-stocking fee (I don't know how much that would be, but certainly less than 100 bucks) if the bad press resulting from such an unhappy customer would cause you to lose multiple potential customers, each shelling out (minimum) $250? I don't even really care about the OP's problem, but I think that the reaction to it hasn't been very fair. I have a sense of humor about this thread because it's not *MY* problem, it's much less funny when you're the one who has issues with his/her machine. I'm not sure exactly what I said that wasn't "adult" enough for your tastes Rodger, but I didn't break out the sarcasm meter until you responded to my post with a generally useless and counter-productive post. This is degenerating almost to the point of flaming, and I have nothing more to say on the subject. This thread speaks for itself.

I don't really think I would be surprised, I have to assume that when a company delivers a product that it will work as described. What would surprise me (at this point) is if I got a unit that was DOA, and then US Cutter bent over backwards to make things right with me. It sounds from this thread that they give less service to people who purchase the cheaper machines, and the way I see it a company needs to back every product they carry, and if a customer has a terrible experience like the one described here they need to do everything in their power to make it as painless as possible, or risk losing business. @ Rodge: I thiiiiink my sarcasm meter might be broken... *taptaptap* is this thing on? In all seriousness I've done my research, and when it comes to entry-level vinyl cutters it looks to me like US Cutter has not only the best deals, but also more options and better service than any of it's competitors. (I don't see anyone else making a forum for their customers to have a venue for help and feedback) I will likely be purchasing a SC model on the Friday before Labor Day, and you better believe that I'll be posting a review whether I like the machine or not, so don't start missing me just yet. If I have a good experience with the machine, I will most likely come back to USC for all of my vinyl needs, and if my small business does well, it won't be long before I'm looking to upgrade to a more sturdy, servo driven machine, as well as a heat press. The only reason I felt I had to chime in on this subject is because I feel strongly about how a company should back their products and treat their customers. I know that this is just a forum, and that the moderators aren't paid by US Cutter, but they still represent the company by moderating it's forums, and attacking users for whatever reason is counter-productive. This is the crit & complaints sub-forum after all, if I had the same experiece as the OP, I would be just as angry, and would never do business with them again. That being said, I felt the snarky comments from some people in this thread weren't really appropriate. When I buy something online, I expect that the item should be in working order, and it should do everything that the site claims. I don't expect to get comments like "buy a better cutter" Pretty basic stuff. If the item doesn't work when I get it... then I don't expect to be hit with charges because I'm inconveniencing the company. Sorry for the novel, but customer service is close to my heart.

I understand that this is only a forum, but the feedback section is the most valuable method of getting *honest* feedback. I also understand that for everyone who was pissed off enough to complain there are probably 10 happy customers who are too busy cutting vinyl to post how much they love their plotter. I'm just saying that me personally, after reading through this sub-forum have started looking at other sites. I was already pretty much settled on what I wanted until I started reading all the threads of people complaining. It seems to me that a company should either stand by it's units and do the right thing, or not carry a line that is fraught with problems. If your company gets a bad name because they send out units DOA there is not much you can do to repair a reputation, especially on the internet. One should not have to - call - a company and say "I don't want to get stuck with shipping and restocking fees if this unit is a piece of junk. Take it out of the box and test it for me plz. Kthanxbai." I mean really, what does it say about a distributor that I should even be worried about an issue like this?

hahahaha, at first I considered getting it without, but quickly decided it was a bad idea. :-p Thanks, I saw the SC has 1 MB but couldn't find the spec for the other cutter. Apparently I'm a noob, what does "recyclable" mean? I'm definitely going to be using files over 1 mb, is this going to work for me? I'm not just printing a few letters or shapes, some of my art is going to be really detailed. If it helps I can upload some .eps files with my artwork to get an idea if the stuff I'm going to be doing is too ambitious for what people are calling a "hobby" model. I noticed that the reviews are kind of mixed, a couple of mods around here say they've even used them in their businesses for years without problem or incident. I also couldn't find the expandable memory upgrade on the site today. Are there any other sites I could find it on perhaps? The more answers I find, the more questions I have! :edit: I'm still curious about this line... "US Cutter however does not support the use of the laser registration and it is not covered in the warranty." What are they getting at exactly?

Thanks, that answered a few of my questions. With all of the negative words I've read on the forum I think I'm going to have to go with the SC. The things I'm most concerned about are the memory and overall durability. I'm not planning on finding out how much damage it can take, but if the negative reviews say anything, the MH has a problem with being broken right out of the box, then people have problems getting it serviced because US Cutter doesn't offer top-notch service on bottom rung products. I'm really understanding when it comes to service and I'm patient with the people who's job is customer service. But the stories I've heard on this board are unacceptable IMO. Does anyone know how much memory the MH has in comparison? The last thing I want is to run a huge single piece and find out after a few yards that it doesn't have enough memory to complete the job (thereby ruining lots of material)

I understand what people here are saying about expecting the performance of a more expensive cutter, but we're not exactly talking about minor issues like images not weeding properly... We're talking about machines being jacked up STRAIGHT OUT OF THE BOX!!! If someone's response to "my bargain cutter doesn't work" is "buy a more expensive cutter" that is unacceptable. How is a company supposed to operate with the trust of it's customers if said company consistently delivers faulty products and expects the customer to bear the burden of shipping fees AND re-stocking fees for that item?! THAT imo is bullshit!

I've been going over these two machines for the past couple of days and in a week and a half I plan on purchasing one or the other. (I've been using the search function to find an answer to my ?'s but to no avail) I know that a lot of people on here are saying that you should buy the most expensive cutter you can afford. (you get what you pay for) But I'm thinking of the law of diminishing returns (ie: is a $400 cutter 33% better than a $300 dollar cutter?) Basically what I'm looking at is $285 for a 28" MH-series, or $345 for a 25" SC Series with a stand and keyspan. The size difference is negligible and doesn't matter to me. The 60 bucks however means I can afford to get a couple more colors when I place my order, which would be important to my customers. (there was also the refine goldcut, but it's out of stock, so I'm not considering it) What I can tell from the descriptions... the SC has a 1 year warranty, and the MH has a 90 days warranty (I'm slightly worried that my MH will crap out on me in 91 days...) aaaaand that's about it, oh wait, the SC "features a registration laser" and... "US Cutter however does not support the use of the laser registration and it is not covered in the warranty." So does this mean that the laser can't be used for registering pre-printed media? or does it just mean that US Cutter doesn't honor a warranty if something goes wrong with the laser? If it means that the laser doesn't actually register on the media then what is the point of having it at all? So is there anyone out there that has some experience with both cutters, or at least could tell me the difference between the two as far as performance goes. I understand that the SC is supposedly more sturdy and the build quality is better, but what are the differences in features? (ie: more memory, faster/more accurate cutting speeds?) If it helps to know, the most of my work on this machine would be smaller pieces, multiple up. In other words I'm not doing banners, mostly small promo stickers, (2'x5' max) and my files might have a lot of nodes. I've heard things about the MH's not being able to handle multiple instances of complicated graphics, but they say this can be solved by a memory upgrade? I think that by the time I fork over the cash for the extra memory it might have been better to go with the SC. At the same time, I've seen plenty of people on here mention that they've never had a problem with their MH. Thanks in advance for your advice guys!

I'm just wondering if running smaller batches fixed your issues? I'm looking into either an MH, or an SC model, but I can't decide whether the SC is worth the extra dough.