Hello,

On 1/7/2010, I placed an order with Xerox for 15 color drums for our WC
7655s. I was told the order would be given priority status, that the
confirmation number was x, and that I should expect a shipment in
3 business days. We are now out of this supply and I am unable to confirm
that an order was actually placed or that we will be receiving additional
drums.

Three business days from the order was yesterday. Given the recent
problems* we've had with getting color drums we've ordered through normal
channels, I thought it would be a good idea yesterday to call Xerox and
confirm that an order had actually been placed** and that we should expect
a shipment very soon.

I called 800-xxx-xxxx as per usual. After waiting on hold for a couple
minutes, I was directed to a very friendly-seeming woman whom I had
trouble understanding. I told her I wanted to confirm my order and gave
all 5 of our 7655s' serial numbers***. She told me she needed to talk to
the ordering/supply people (I forget the exact phrasing she used here),
and put me on hold. I was on hold for _at least_ 25 minutes listening to
some really horrendous saxophone-based hold music on endless, mind-melting
loop.

Twice, while I was on hold, the Xerox representative broke in (human, not
automated) to apologize for the long wait. Eventually, she asked if she
could call me back and confirmed my phone number. I said sure, but the
call never came, nor did it come while I was away from my desk. That was
yesterday.

Today, I attempted the same process and after waiting on hold for 10
minutes with the same terrible elevator music, I gave up and decided it
would be more fruitful to contact you (as has proven the case in the
past). This is the third time in a little over a month that I have had
hauntingly similar problems ordering the exact same supplies (i.e. color
drums for WC 7655s). It is very, very aggravating to say the least to have
to deal with this every 3 weeks.

In fact, by far, I would have to say that in my overall experience with
Xerox, the ordering and delivery of supplies for our printers via phone
has been BY FAR the weakest link in the whole process. Extremely sub-par.
Dreadful even. Just horrendously bad. The only way I have found
consistently to get the supplies we need is to email one or more of you. I
apologize for repeatedly doing this, but the "normal" channels never seem
to work with any consistency and we need (and more importantly, our 8,000
engineering students need) our printers to work.

Most immediately, however, we need our 15 color drums (more than that,
ideally). Any help any of you can provide would be much appreciated.

Secondarily, if there is a better way to order supplies, I would love to
hear that as well. I am aware of the online ordering system -- do you
recommend that over calling? We tend to need supplies quickly, and it
sounds like you can't get a priority shipment using the online system, so
I have been reticent to use it.

The reason this message is so long and of rant-like tone is because I am
hoping it can be forwarded to someone high enough up in the chain of
command to address the repeated systematic problems I've mentioned.
However great our Xerox multi-function devices are (and they are quite
nice; the students love them), they are useless without drum modules,
toner, etc.

I have a lot more feedback to give if anyone would like more.

[closing and signature]

* See email threads from approximately 12/2 and 12/21; I can provide them
if needed.

** As an aside, when I placed the order on the 7th, they still had the
wrong shipping address for the supplies, which (I think) I corrected,
though I am dubious as I've already done this at least 20 times (no
exaggeration).

*** This always happens, though I was under the impression that all 5 of
our machines are supposed to be "linked" in some way. Other Xerox reps
have had no problem finding all 5 machines.