It's really hard to beat Epson when it comes to warranty and support. I say that from a decade of owning a large online projector reseller. True, I stopped doing that almost 10 years, ago, but we sold perhaps 10,000 Epson's in that time frame, and no one matched them for support. (We sold most major brands).
It plays out this way. The warranty is very good: Three years parts and labor. That said, there are a number of other projectors that can match the 3 years. Mind you, I'm talking how this works in the US. I cannot speak for their warranty programs in other parts of the world.
It's the support programs that made a difference then, and now.
Epson offers 3 years of their rapid replacement program on this projector. They do that on both the commercial version, the Powerlite Pro G6550WU making it highly competitive. Epson offers the same warranty on the home Pro Cinema G6550WU. A three year replacement program on a home projector is outstanding, but while such programs are not uncommon in business space, replacement programs - besides Epson's are rare for home projectors.
Their replacement program: Epson Road Service, works as follows:
If you have a warranty related issue, anytime during the three years of coverage, call directly into Epson's projector support team - each projector comes with a Privateline number. Call in, and you get right to projector support, not some switchboard. Epson claims that wait times are rarely more than a minute or two. I have to concur with that based on experience.
How it works: You have a problem. You call the Privateline number. OK, so you are quickly speaking with a "level 1" technician. It's that person's job to determine if you do have a problem covered under warranty. If that is the case, Epson will ship you out a replacement - same model - projector. (If the projector is a couple years old, they just might send you a newer model.) If you don't call late in the day, most likely the replacement projector will be shipped out same day. In most cases you would expect to have your replacement in two business days on occasion only one day. That's hard to beat.
Of course the replacement projector won't be a brand new one. (Well, it could be, but don't expect it.) Epson maintains a fleet of replacement projectors.
Epson will pay the freight to ship you the replacement, and they will pay the freight to ship back your "busted" projector, so no out of pocket costs to you. Since you'll ship back yours in the box the replacement came in, you don't even need to worry about having thrown out the box.
The one "hassle" which really isn't, is that Epson will want you to provide a credit card before shipping you the replacement. They won't charge it unless you fail to return one of the projectors in a reasonable timeframe.
It's that easy!
Mitsubishi (who recently exited the projector and parts of their other display businesses) was another company that offered 3 years with a 3 year replacement program, but they are no longer with us. Some others favor loaner programs, which are, unfortunately a lot more hassle. With those programs, they will ship you a loaner, but you send in your "busted" PJ, and they'll repair, send it back, and then you return the loaner. In case the drawback isn't obvious, imaging that you have your projector mounted. You remove yours, install the loaner, remove the loaner, reinstall your fixed projector. And of course you are doing two shipments, sending yours in, and returning the loaner, instead of one shipment.
In other words, replacement programs are faster, and less hassle, with one exception:
In some cases, notably some school districts, they track their projector fleet with asset tags. For some of those organizations, it's a headache to change serial numbers, etc. because of the replacement. In some cases, an organization will want to just send in their projector have it fixed and returned. That too is doable with Epson, but for most, the replacement program is just too easy! Epson, BTW, won't send out a replacement that has more than a limited number of hours on the lamp. That used to be 50 hours but I haven't checked with them in the last few years. Perhaps it's 100 hours now, after all, today's lamps last roughly twice as long as those of 4-5 years ago.
Bottom line: I don't have enough experience with a number of the major players regarding their support programs on commercial projectors, to say Epson's is the longest or best, but Epson's will be tough to match, and even tougher to beat.
Finally, Epson's proof of good support is that they've won many awards over the years, from dealers and installers, corporate, education, and home end users for their support.
I was reminded of this when we received a press release from them just a few days go. OK the one was about their Home Video Display devices (so would include LCDTVs, etc.) I'll just quote the 2013 survey just released from Inside Track which polls dealers and installers, and then it's time to move on: "Epson finished in the top three for 13 out of 16 categories, earning first place in survey parameters assessing dealer support, including Resolution of Service Issues, Quality of Sales Representatives, Just-in-Time Delivery, and Ease of Doing Business."
PS. As it relates to reliability, I mention again, that Epson does use electrostatic filters that last 10,000 hours, more than 2 lamps worth. That will keep the interior of the projector clean, which in return should reduce the chance of overheating, and as it can outlast a couple of lamps, is not be a burden in terms of maintenance.
