I think you are referring to "thermal wax transfer". Heat from a printhead
melts the colored wax from the transfer ribbon and fuses it onto coated
paper. This is not to be confused with ink-jet technology.
No Luis, no transfer ribbon, warm wax (four big soaps of wax in CMYK), using an ink-jet technology. No contact between the printer head and the paper.
When observing closely the print, it looks really like injet. In the deep shadows the wax is sometimes not completely absorbed by the paper, the wax appears then (dans toute sa splendeur) glossy.
The same problems than with an inkjet can also occur: the black(s) of a b&w print often are showing lines (just like my ink-jet when I am using a bad paper quality).
Until now (I may be wrong) only one company in The Netherlands offers this service.
The price is about $50 for a square meter on their normal paper.