I’m sorry to hear that it has taken longer than usual for them to get back to you, but I have to ask…are you providing them with the information they need to diagnose the issues you are having?
For example - they will be able to tell what is going on if you give them specific details with the dates, time and time zones that you ran the problem prints so that they can check the data and see what’s going on in the data stream at that time. They track the metrics for every machine. But there are something shy of ten thousand or so of them out there, you need to give them a starting point to pinpoint the problems with yours.
Are you providing them with screen shots of the interface showing the black circles that you are seeing?
Are you showing them screen shots of the misaligned print results with the rulers captured in the picture so that they can see whether the offset falls within the current stated range of 1/4 inch?
Were the alternating light and dark engraves on Proofgrade materials? If so, did you give them pictures of it and give them the times and dates that the print(s) were run?
I’m not saying there isn’t a problem with the machine, but the more complete you can be in your description of the problems, and the more information you provide to them, the faster you are going to get a response. It’s very common for brand new users to be confused about normal functions, particularly when they are changing. (These are changing…it’s a brand new machine that just hit the market.)
As far as this goes:
This is a normal process that happens every time they push through an update to the firmware or if the software changes. If you had your machine off for a week, it was probably playing catch-up with the updates that you missed while you were gone. It doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with the machine.
They are pushing through improvements and tweaks as fast as they get them finished, and they are likely to be continuing for a while. They also occasionally change the sequence of the calibration and post print routines, they might not flash the camera afterwards, or they might add a fan boost at the last to clear the smoke out better. If the machine is still giving you good results, I wouldn’t get too concerned about a missing flash. (And come to think of it, I haven’t noticed one lately either. They might have changed something up. I’ll pay attention the next time I run a print.)
Anyway, for your other issues…you don’t have to post both here and in a private email, it’s a duplication of effort and actually slows things down, because they have to tie everything together and match your email to your avatar on the forum.
If you have additional information to send to them, you can click on the automated response email, then send a reply (with your pictures and details) to that. It keeps all of the information together in one place so they can figure out what is going on faster. The forum is a great place to get input from your peers, but if you want an official answer - just use the direct email and keep up with the thread of those replies back and forth.
Good luck with it…if you get them that information it should speed things up a lot. They do prefer to create one ticket per issue though, so you might want to just handle one thing at a time. Pick the one that concerns you the most and get that one dealt with. It’s how they keep track of them.