So, What Would You Do?

[dirtybuck]

In January of 2011, I bought a new Epson NX305 all-in-one printer. The price on this was $39.99 (it was a clearance model) with the grand total being $43.03 (total with tax).

I had used the automatic document feeder (from this point on will now be ADF) on numerous occasions, and never had any problems. However, in November, I tried to do some copying and faxing on a few things, and discovered the ADF wasn't working. I tried resetting the printer (cutting power off to it) as well as uninstalling and reinstalling the software. The "problem" did not go away.

I called Epson tech support in December. After the woman I was talking to told me to do the same things I had already done, an (or "a"?) "incident" number was given to me. The printer was sent out on January 5 through FedEx (Epson paid for the shipping).

A few days later, a refurbished printer arrived. I did the necessary set-up and tried to use the ADF to test copy some papers. Guess what? The ADF didn't work on this one either. I went through the same functions as the original, and still no luck. Another phone call was placed to Epson. I informed them that the replacement had the same problem as the original. I also requested they send me a BRAND NEW printer or compensation for my purchase. I was told they couldn't do that, but they would send another replacement for this defective replacement. Another "incident" number was given as well as another trip to FedEx.

In the box, I included a business letter that "warned" them if the replacement I was sending wasn't functioning properly, either a brand new printer or compensation should be given to me.

The replacement for the replacement for the original arrived on Friday. Need I continue? Yep, you guessed it! The ADF doesn't work on this one either.

I'll call Epson on Monday, get another "incident" number and ship this out as well. I'm also going to ask for the number to their corporate headquarters so I can lodge a formal complaint whether or not they send me a brand new printer (I feel sending another refurbished one would be rather useless) with the same functions as the original. If they can't supply me with this, I will again ask for compensation. Included along with the price of the printer will be the cost of the phone calls to Epson (this was NOT a 800 or 866 number), along with the cost of gas I had to use to get to and from the FedEx office (the total of all three comes to about $58.00). If they can't do what I'm requesting, it looks like I'll be stuck with a rather large paper weight.

All I'm wanting is a printer that will have ALL of the functions working on it. I have a C86 (single feed ink jet printer) I purchased in 2004. After not quite a year, it developed some sort of problem (what it was at this time I can't remember) and a refurbished printer was sent. This printer is still in good working order. The only thing it needs is an occasional replacement of ink cartridges.

OK, so this now leads up to the Subject line. Suggestions and feedback will be greatly appreciated.

(Sorry for the length, but I wanted to be informative with all of the details in this matter)

 

[coldspot]

Get laser printer for b;lack and white printing. Unlike a ink type the toner never dries up and last a long time and not that high to replace. Mine is a lexmark and cost $80.00 new.

I had many ink jet type they all gave me problems after about a year. Yes there cheap and they work but to me not worth it. I print black and white alot. For photos find it easy to just got o say walmart. A lot cheaper and saves me the problem of no ink on hand.

If I was you I would ask them for a refund vie card or coupon. Even they will not I would ask about a upgrade they have the old one and should be able to sell a new one cheaper then store price or free.

 

[whirlcool]

Well, I would guess the problem is in the document feeder itself somehow.
That's a lot of work for $39.95, IMHO.

I second the motion for a laser printer. Cartridges last years instead of months.
I had an OkiData OL400e that went four years on a single toner cartridge.

We currently have one of the best and cheapest of all laser printers, the HP 1020. We bought it about five years ago at a $99.00 closeout at Office Depot. Very small footprint, Ultra fast printing (printing begins within 5 seconds of clicking on print)and we are still on the original toner cartridge. We also print what I consider a moderate amount of paper. I spits out the paper in a flash, very fast printing and excellent quality too!

If you come across one of these, I recommend you grab it.

 

[qualin]

You know, posts like yours make me wonder if you are just trolling the forum. They really annoy me and I'll tell you why.

I can't believe that you spent $40 on a printer, but expect people to give you technical support, replacement printers and compensation. What the heck is wrong with you?

First of all, if you experience the same issue with two different printers, you may not have a hardware issue, but rather a software issue. To troubleshoot that, You should have completely uninstalled your printer drivers, rebooted, ran CCleaner on it to clear out the dead registry entries and then downloaded the latest printer drivers from the Epson website.

This ensures that had you accidentally misconfigured the drivers or the drivers themselves had been corrupted, that would have fixed it. You could have swapped printers all day long and experienced the same issue.

Second of all, What did you expect for $40? I personally would have treated this device as being disposable. I wouldn't have spent anything more than 20 minutes troubleshooting it, if that.

People like you are the reason why the landfills are filling up with this garbage and why I see huge pallets of this junk at the e-cycler. I can't figure out why Epson, Canon and HP still make this low price garbage when it has such a harsh environmental impact.

I mean, you wouldn't buy a car that had plastic gears in the transmission, would you? Even if it was only selling for $5000?

If you really want to buy a multi-function device which you can get support on, get software updates, is somewhat maintainable and actually does the job, you should have bought a HP LaserJet M2727NF. HP still makes workhorses. Yeah, they're about $450, but again, you will get something which will last.

I bought a Samsung QuikLaser printer for $900 back in 1997. It's still on the same toner cartridge that came with it when I bought it and it still works.

Think of it this way...

Do you really honestly think that Epson is going to go out of their way for a disgruntled customer who spent $40, $400 or $4000 on one of their products?

I work as an IT professional. The multifunction devices I've bought for my workplace usually come in at around $25k. They are designed for very heavy duty and as a result of that, they're designed to be durable. They don't have flimsy plastic trays or plastic gears in the printer engine.

I had a situation where one of these devices had a chronic paper jamming problem. Two visits by a tech didn't fix the issue. I demanded right on the spot that the machine be replaced. I had two delivery guys come out and swap it out the next day.
All of that was covered under our service contract.

If you want respect from any company, start by not buying the cheapest piece of junk on the shelf and expect it to perform like one of the devices I would typically buy for a business.

The fact that Epson was nice enough to give you a refurbished printer was nice of them, I'm surprised they even went that far. Heck, I'm even surprised that they offered tech support. Can you imagine the amount of labor and materials you just cost that company complaining about something which was a piece of junk to start with?

 

[alr2903]

If  your printer came from the "big, W"    good luck to ya.   It truly is between you and the mfr.  We no longer buy electronics from them.   alr

 

[dirtybuck]

One thing I did forget to mention..the printer is still under warranty.

 

[aladude]

You should have ponied up the cash for a workforce-class machine in the first place... that's the intended use for an ADF anyway. My Epson Workforce 630 has been rock solid.

 

[dirtybuck]

One thing I did forget to mention..the printer is still under warranty.

 

[retropia]

Printer manufacturers sell inkjet printers at or below cost, because they make their income from the expensive ink cartridges. It is the same philosophy behind how razors and razor blades are marketed.

The trend overall for electronic devices is to be ever cheaper and ever more disposable. These devices aren't built with any concern for the environment, so it shouldn't be a big surprise that they end up in landfills a year after purchase.

My philosophy regarding warranty claims is, how much of my time will pursuing a claim consume, and is it worth my time and headache? If it isn't worth it, then I pitch the device, cross that brand off my list, buy a replacement and hope for better luck with the new item.

Regarding all-in-one devices with automatic document feed, if that is a feature you want and use a lot, you might look at the all-in-one devices that use a laser printer. They are a little more expensive to purchase, but appear to be built a bit sturdier than the inkjet varieties. A side benefit is that your price-per-page is lower with a laser printer than with an inkjet.

Regarding brands to consider, I've had good luck with my Brother laser printer (no automatic document feed) and my Sharp copier with laser printer engine (that does have automatic document feed).

 

[washlogic]

You get what you pay for

I agree with "qualin"

Lessons learned: 1) You get what you pay for. 2) Dont waste your time and aggravation on petty stuff 3) We live in a disposable world. 4) Dont be so cheap!

PRICELESS !!!!

 

[mistereric]

Personally, I would adjust my expectations and stop wasting effort on this machine.

Epson is TOTAL CRAP - the WCI of printers. Throw it out, but a laser printer and a nice little ScanSnap scanner. Stop buying $40 multifunction garbage.

$40 for a year of ADF function on any Epson multifunction device is a good run.

 

[dj-gabriele]

Epson is TOTAL CRAP

I second that but only for the SOHO market! I'm a long time converted from Epson (the original Stylus Color, followed by a Stylus 200 and later a 840) to Canon, a world apart! Laser: gimme Lexmark or Xerox anyday but not the cheap ones!

On the other hand properly "commercial" products from Epson like label printers are astonishing quality. We have a printer from 1996 that still works!

 

[dirtybuck]

A Call to Epson..

This matter is over. It's been resolved by Epson (not the outcome I expected or exactly to my liking, but it is resolved).

I appreciate the comments, but unfortunately, I had to do what I had to do at the time because of my budget. And yes, I do realize that the cost of ink jet cartridges are basically the cost of the printer. A situation I'm not too fond of, but...

I will start saving the pennies and hopefully in due time I'll be able to find a good quality laser printer at a moderate price. It seems they keep on going down on price every few months.

I do recall something a friend told me about a laser printer he bought or looked at recently that wasn't all that bad price wise. I'll have to ask him more about it.

 

[qualin]

In the past, I've encountered a lot of different users with BOL Epson and Canon junk from an IT Support perspective.

When I read the initial post, it kind of set me off because I spend a lot of time dealing with people who have issues just like what was described.

After reading my initial reply, I do realize that I was kind of harsh on dirtybuck and that I should have probably toned down my reply a bit.

I'm just as fussy when it comes to computer peripherals as I am to large and small appliances. I just wish people I knew would take my advice more often.

So, nothing against you personally Mr. Dirtybuck.. Please accept my apologies.

 

[dirtybuck]

Read and Responded.

Thanks again Bud for the reply.

 

[perc-o-prince]

I know the problem has been resolved, and apologies have been made, but this situation doesn't just happen with printer manufacturers. It can be related to many other consumer goods. This is not directed at Bud, but at the questions/points he raised as they would apply to a lot of goods made today.

After 20+ years in retail, having nearly heard it all, I was able to get out and leave it behind. Good thing, too. That was just about the time that companies started with that 'customer is always right- give them what they want' blather, even when the customer was obviously wrong and/or taking advantage.

That's not the case here. Yes, I would expect Epson to stand behind their product no matter how much it cost. It's not the consumer's fault that it's a disposable piece of s***. If they decide to research, design, build and sell a POS, WITH A GUARANTEE, then they need to stand behind that POS and guarantee. To be more precise:

"I can't believe that you spent $40 on a printer, but expect people to give you technical support, replacement printers and compensation."

Why not? They tout it as an inexpensive RELIABLE product with a GUARANTEE. If it doesn't do what they said it would do, I would expect them to do what it takes to make it right.

"What did you expect for $40?"

A printer that did what the manufacturer said it would do... feed multiple documents for copying/scanning.

"I personally would have treated this device as being disposable."

Which makes people with this attitude the people spoken of in the next section...

"People like you are the reason why the landfills are filling up with this garbage and why I see huge pallets of this junk at the e-cycler. I can't figure out why Epson, Canon and HP still make this low price garbage when it has such a harsh environmental impact."

They make it because there's a market for it. Some people think of it as disposable and send it to the landfill (and people wonder where it comes from?) and others buy it because they can afford it and expect it to work as the manufacturer says it will. When it doesn't, they expect the manufacturer to stand up and take responsibility for it.

Maybe if more people did as Bill did and made the company honor the promise it made by making/selling the item, the companies would realize it's a loss and stop making POS merchandise. Until then, expect to see more of it at the e-cycler! I know I see them all the time at the transfer station (where I snag the cartridges and return them for recycling/store credits).

Bill- my current printer is a Lexmark Prestige Pro805. Takes $5 black cartridges. Upfront cost is higher ($300) but I got a deal. Another store had it advertized for $149 so Office Depot honored that. Then, OD was giving $50 off if you recycled a printer and bought one reg. priced at $299 or more. So, I got it for $100. The black carts are a bit smaller than other "regular" sized carts (170 pgs), but you can get an XL size for $10 and it handles about 500 pages. Still a lot cheaper! Color carts are the same as other models/brands at about $50-$55 for the set of 3. If I only did b/w, I'd get an inexpensive laser printer (and expect it to work).

Chuck