Customer Reviews

MicroBoards Print Factory 2 - CD/DVD printer - color - ink-jet - CD (4.75 in)...

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

JUNK!!!! The Microboards PF2 Disc Printer is a piece of junk after only 4 months! AND, the Tech Support customer service at Microboards is the worst I've ever experienced. I purchased one of these exactly 4 months ago and have had problems with the feeder for the past two months. When loaded PROPERLY the silver feeder ring tends to catch and pinch the discs thus holding on to the discs and not letting them fall onto the belts below. If you walk away from this machine thinking you are printing 100 discs, you return later only to find a message block on your screen saying the printer is out of paper and you've just waisted tons of time. As it turns out, what is required on this machine is a feeder adjustment. I am told that it needs to be adjusted for different types of media. It is recommended that you use Taiyo Yuden discs with this machine. Well guess what, that's the only media that I use at my facility. If that is what's recommended, then why didn't my machine already come adjusted for Taiyo Yuden??? Imagine that, they sent me a machine with the wrong settings to begin with...it's not even a repair! Shouldn't I be able to get a replacement right away? I mean, it's their mistake! PLUS....does that mean that once it's adjusted, you can't use any other media without sending it in for an adjustment??? When you call Tech support at Microboards, they tell you that they can't tell you how to do it yourself over the phone so you have to send it in for the adjustment. This process takes approximately 5 weeks total from shipping to receiving. It takes about 5 days to get it to them, then they say it will be about 2 weeks before they can even get to it, then about a week before they can get it shipped back out to you then another 5 days in shipping. OH but for around $100.00 you can get it turned around in 24 hours which eliminates the 2 weeks in the middle but you still have the shipping time which is 2 to 3 weeks. OH but for around $400.00 you can get what is called Rapid Return Exchange. With this upgrade purchase, they will send you a replacement machine at the same time you are returning your machine. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!! This was purchased from CD Dimensions and they only guarantee for 30 days so now it's out of their hands. I guess they got what they wanted out of it...the sale! TIP...KEEP YOUR ORIGINAL PACKAGING!!! You'll need it to send this in for repair. If you don't, they will need to send you the proper packaging for use in the shipping which will only extend the length of time for the whole process.
I researched this machine for months before purchasing. It got great ratings. But no one rated the tech support customer service. Gee...I guess it's just another one of those... "things that make you go HHHMMMMMM"!!! All in all I only got 4 months out of this machine and I've only just replaced the first ink cartridge. We didn't get much use out of this machine at all. In any case....you should think long and hard about what your time is worth before purchasing anything from Microboards!

I agree with J. Carvalho about the slow turnaround times and the unreliability with the disc mechanisms, and I will never buy another Microboards product again. And even though I never bought a an actual Print Factory, I did get a DX1, their duplicator & printer model, which is very similar, so my review here has some relevance.

My Story:

I bought my Microboards DX1 (which is a printer as well) on ebay and was excited to get it. When I got it I installed it and everything seemed to be working ok, but after about 2 hours the unit stopped initializing correctly. It just wouldn't do anything at all. A very long story short is that it took me 5 months of shipping it back to microboards a total of 4 times (a very expensive and lengthy process) to finally get the problem resolved. Each time I shipped it back was a minimum of two weeks I had no burner and printer. Furtunately I had a backup method of getting my discs burned or else I would have been screwed. In the end they shipped me a brand new unit, so it turned out the unit was faulty beyond repair in the first place. No big deal, I can see that happening with anything, and it doesn't mean they are all bad. However...

The REAL REASON I would NEVER buy another Microboards unit like this is that the disc singulator, as they call it, (the mechanism that drops a disc down from the stack) does not reliably drop discs. I was lucky (when the unit was working) if more than 2 or 3 would drop before they got stuck and I had to unjam it by hand. The whole point to buying (and spending this much cash) is so that you do not have to babysit the unit while it does it's thing. I had to constantly sit and unjam discs CONSTANTLY. So stay away from these things they are not worth the money and headaches at all.

The new unit I ended up getting from Microboards I prompty sold on eBay (I never even opened the box) and bought myself a Primera Bravo II, and I have never looked back. If you're looking for a printer only solution get a Primera Autoprinter, you will not regret it. I've gone through over 2000 discs now with my Primera and not a single screw up, and I love it.

I admit the support crew at microboards was extremely helpful, and never gave me any trouble about what was wrong with the unit. Although they never really fixed the problem and I had to ship it back 4 times, they were at least helpful, and in the end they just swapped out the unit for a new one. However all of this is worthless when the product performs so poorly.

Hopefully I will save at least one person from the pain and suffering I went through with my Microboards product.

This unit has to read the barcode on the inkcart and most of the time it doesn't work right. I have one of the first Print Factory machines and it works like a charm. The PF2 works until I need to replace the ink. Just had Microboards send me 3 new cart and none of them worked and then overnighted me another 6 and none of will line up either. They changed where the barcode is located and now it won't reconize the cart. Tech has been no help at all! 2,000.00 wasted!

Stay away from this Printer. They said Oh It is easy to fix the problem and sent me a motor to replace. Yeah Right!! Easy? Not at all. Now the whole machine does not work and I am better off purchasing a new unit. I sure am not going to buy a Microboards Product Again. Tech support was good but cant fiz the problem. Sales Team at this Company has a Attitude. Do not Purchase!!

Never worked like I hoped it would. Microboards requires you to purchase their ink cartidges for an outrageout price ($65 for the three-color cartridge). They can do that because the device scans a barcode on the cartidge each time the printer prints a disc. Unfortunately, when the scan fails, the printer stops working.

I rarely made it through 25 discs without it failing a scan of the ink cartridge. In addition, the device frequently jammed discs.

The support people I dealt with were friendly, but not very helpful. My DX-1 Machine has no Vista drivers and so it has become a boat anchor.

Stay away from this product. It is junk! Stay away from Microboards completely!

I've had a Print Factory I for over four years and it worked very well for the first three. Then I began having problems with it. Tech support was as described: They are nice, they get back to you and try to help, but in the end this sort of problem can, according to them, only be resolved by returning the printer. This takes more than two weeks even if you ship second day and pay the extra $100 for a quick turnaround. I sent mine in and the total with the extra rush and shipping charges was close to $1000. When it came back the singulator didn't function properly. I have sent it back twice since then (they paid some of the shipping) and the singulator still doesn't work reliably. So I spent the grand and have dealt without having the printer for nearly two months out of the last six, and it still isn't right. What's weird and frustrating is that, when brand new, it performed excellently. I've read some bad things about the primeras, which are the only real alternative. But what I really need now is some therapy, so I think I'll take a walk.

Purchased this machine for office. In second week after purchase, and only 3rd print job, we were running a stack of CDs when the machine jammed and knocked the calibration off. Our IT guy could not re-adjust the machine and he was also unable to get the company to fix or exchange it. Huge waste of money for us.

The only reason I gave it a 2 is because it has duplicated CD's flawlessly on "RARE OCCASIONS" Since this machine has wasted so much of my time fooling around with it. I'm not going to waste to much more writing about.

If you are looking to save money by duplicating your own CD's with the Microboards DX1 DO NOT. You will waste more time than it is worth just trying to keep the machine going. Suggestion. Pay the extra 40 dollars for the service to duplicate your CD's. It would normally Cost you about 32 dollar per 100 with this machine.... CD's covered in full ink. Although, You will spend about a day doing it.

I agree with everyone's review. I have experience just about all the same problems. Retailers should NOT SELL THIS MACHINE... I believe the retailers false advertise about duplicating 100 cds. Setting the machine and then walking away. Most of the time you do come back and see that there has only been a few not the full 100 duplicated.

Could this be a False Advertisement Lawsuit?? It could make for a pretty good case I think.....

I just want my money back,,, Thats ALL... All 2320 dollars I spent on it...

There are some good CD and DVD duplication companys out there that will save you a lot of time and effort. They provide a great product and great customer service.

By the way I even went as far as writting a letter to the CEO of MICROBOARDS. I did get a new machine exchange out of it. But it had just as many errors as the old one.