enx magazine

“Yes, we service Xerox.” For many independent service dealers, Xerox remains the forbidden fruit. Customers often call their local dealers asking, “Do you service Xerox?” All too often, the answer is no. The Parts Drop’s goal is to enable you as an independent dealer to feel comfortable telling that random call-in customer, “Yes, we service Xerox,” with the assurance that you have access to the parts, supplies, and information you need to make it so.

The Parts Drop is a small, home-grown company that provides everything your dealership needs to service low to midvolume Xerox copiers, printers, and fax machines, including some of the full-color models. If you see a model in its catalog, you can feel confident approaching that model. In addition to stocking the standard parts and supplies, The Parts Drop fills in the blanks on the hard-to-find stuff. It can provide just about any part you need for the models the company supports--not just the common stuff.

Brothers Britt and Kurt Horvat, president and vice president of The Parts Drop, learned much of what they know about Xerox equipment from their father, Paul. He was the kind of copier tech who could fix just about any problem. He was a Xerox tech rep before he and Elaine McAndrews formed the company over 22 years ago. Britt says, “My dad was old school, so he was very innovative about sourcing parts and solving problems. If a part wasn’t available, he’d make one. Local techs started calling, looking for parts. Then, Rekha Saghvi, who is now one of our partners, got everyone excited about advertising in trade magazines. The Parts Drop took off from there.”

The company started as a service organization. Elaine remembers: “It was a humble beginning. Paul fixed copiers, and I did the books. We understand the mom-and-pop businesses and the independent techs, who are one-man shows, because that’s how we started out. We want those guys to succeed, and we want to help in any way we can.” Before getting out of service more than 10 years ago, Kurt [Horvat] was in the field fixing machines. He shared the same knack and innovation for the technical aspect of service as his dad. His field experience has proved to be a great asset to the company and the customers it serves.

Many of you are already familiar with the down-to-earth Xerox technical advice that Britt Horvat has been providing ENX for many years. His no-nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is, technical support articles are a must-read portion of each ENX magazine. He provides useful servicing tips and explains them in a “been there, done that” manner, often identifying potential problems, enabling the tech to avoid them before they happen.

The Parts Drop provides the parts, supplies, and information needed to keep Xerox-brand low-volume to midvolume copiers, printers and fax machines running like champions. Its Website, www.partsdrop.com, provides a wealth of information, including Tech Info Sheets, which cover status codes, diagnostic codes, and other tidbits. Also, you’ll find reconditioning instructions and information about how to reset drum counters, fuser codes, and so forth. Retail customers are offered a referral service if they’re having difficulty finding a tech to work on their machine.

The Parts Drop understands that parts pricing has become very important in the past couple of years. Britt has been able to aggressively renegotiate many of his costs, enabling The Parts Drop to lower many of its prices on the most popular parts. “If you haven’t called for a price quote recently, you will be pleasantly surprised with our new lower prices,” says Britt. The idea is to save you money while continuing to provide personalized customer service, same-day shipping, and the depth of parts availability and knowledge that only come from specialization in a well-defined niche, in this case Xerox.

The Parts Drop is used by many authorized Xerox dealers. Britt explains, “They are some of our best customers. They realize that we carry many discontinued parts that Xerox no longer stocks. Items that are on national backorder with Xerox are often still in stock at The Parts Drop. Additionally, we offer individual parts when Xerox only offers the entire assembly. Rather than having to buy a $200-$400 fuser assembly [through Xerox], a service tech can get a $7 gear at The Parts Drop even if the OEM parts list shows the part as ‘not spared.’ We recognize that sometimes the demand for a part is strong enough to warrant making it. If a part isn’t spared and we’re finding it has a fairly high mortality, we’ll have it manufactured for us.

“We also regularly help authorized dealers with purchasing parts for models that are, otherwise, outside of their regular stomping ground. We can help them fill in the gaps so they can better serve their customers. Let’s face it, there are few things that will turn a customer off to a brand quicker than to be turned away by a dealer when he needs service because a machine he owns and loves is ‘no longer supported.’ If the customer wants it fixed, fix it. Later, the customer will remember you when he goes to buy a new machine.”

According to Britt, “Sometimes it makes sense to use a board out of a good working machine instead of spending a fortune on a new one. Our boards are carefully checked out, and failures are extremely rare. We pay attention to differences in board versions and potential for software version conflicts. We can also offer repaired power supplies for many models.”

Britt continues, “We offer new, used, and repaired parts--both OEM and quality compatible parts. Our dealers are always offered the opportunity to make an informed choice. This enables each dealer to be able to provide the most appropriate level of service and profit margins depending on the customer he’s dealing with.”

In addition to offering genuine Xerox products, The Parts Drop also stocks compatible toners, developers, drums, photoreceptor belts, cleaning blades, and parts for rebuilding cartridges and fusers. They have connectors or chips for many of the Xerox-brand cartridge types, including some models that you won’t currently find anywhere else.

Britt says with a smile, “Technical information sheets are available for many of our supported models and include status codes, diagnostic procedures, and customer programmable features. Our reconditioning instructions, detailing how to rebuild or refill Xerox copy and toner cartridges, can be printed out. We also provide monthly how-to articles that are published in ENX magazine.” You can read up on a complete list of these articles if you visit the archive section of www.enxmag.com. The Parts Drop Website offers a full tech info menu, which directs you to the information that will help new or experienced Xerox technicians alike.

Sometimes, it’s hard for a tech to find an OEM part number. As a result, the customer service team has gotten very good at identifying parts by description and is willing to fax or e-mail techs a picture if clarification is needed. The Parts Drop Catalog/Field Guide shows pricing on many of the most commonly requested parts, including some obscure parts that are known to break. It also includes illustrations of many of the parts to help reassure techs that they’ve found the right piece.

Indeed, The Parts Drop Catalog/Field Guide offers a wealth of information at your finger tips. Techs are encouraged to carry it with them. They’ll find status codes, reset code information, toner and drum cartridge details, and technical tips. Moreover, the book is sized to fit in the tech’s tool case.

The Parts Drop also provides information to simplify the repair process. Many of the company’s parts come with information on proper installation, including how to avoid some of the known pitfalls and how to reset counters or status codes.

The Parts Drop’s Customer Support Team is ready to take orders or help established customers by faxing information if you provide a specific model number and status code. The team members want you to think of them as a safety net of friends. You can also fax in more complicated questions, such as copy quality issues. If it’s a copy quality or registration problem you’re dealing with, they encourage you to include a copy of a test pattern to demonstrate the symptom.

The Parts Drop also welcomes exporters and distributors. “One of the things about this industry that makes me feel very happy is that there’s very little in the way of cutthroat competition among distributors--we’ve always viewed and treated other vendors as potential allies in the industry, and it has proved to be a wonderful way to deal with people in all respects. I give credit to my dad for that. He’s the one who refused to get caught up in looking at other vendors as being adversaries.” Britt goes on, “We have many friends, some outsiders might mistake as being ‘competitors.’ But we all get along so well. The result is that being in business remains not only profitable, but also enjoyable. We work with a wide range of other vendors. If you are a parts or supply distributor, we can set you up with the proper parts and offer you insight to help you successfully include Xerox parts and supplies among the services you provide your customers. We ship internationally and prepare documents for exporting to virtually any part of the world. We use a variety of freight carriers for exports to minimize shipping expenses.”

The Parts Drop wants to be your partner and enable you to say yes to the next customer who calls your dealership inquiring “Do you service Xerox?” Take a few moments to take a look at www.partsdrop.com, including the magic page with items starting at one dollar. As you cruise the pages of this Website, you’ll probably smile a time or two. The words and images are down-to-earth and a bit whimsical, including the parting phrase: “We are not affiliated with Xerox Corporation, except for the fact that we love ’em!”

The Parts Drop

Britt Horvat

26 Palisade Avenue, Bergenfield, NJ 07621

phone: 201/387-7776

fax: 201/387-7775

Website: www.partsdrop.com

e-mail: PartsTeam@partsdrop.com

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