Bad printers and bad customer service

ShayNanigan · 11-08-2021 2:47pm #1

Is it too much to ask for these days to simply have a printer that works?! I don't print out stuff as much as I used to but every now and then you have to print out official documents and that's when you need a printer. We bought a HP Deskjet a couple of years ago having blissfully forgotten what a pain it was to use their printers. We've fought with it for about three years but it has worked. Until it started to act up not recognising ink cartridges. Remembering Canon wan't half as bad in the past, I bought a new Canon Pixma last week hoping I would be able to print out some important documents to sign since the HP wasn't working. Saw a reasonably priced one at Harvey Norman and ordered it thinking it's easier that way, not having to go to a store to pick it up. Well... The printer arrived on Monday, plugged it in and everything seemed fine until it was time to print a test page. The darn thing wouldn't take paper in. We tried and tried, checked everything, nope. Error code seems to say either a paper jam (not even possible) or a hardware failure.

I contacted Harvey Norman customer service right away and the live chat person said they had contacted the store and they should call me in a couple of hours to arrange for a swap to a new printer. Needless to say no-one called. Was too busy to start arranging for things yesterday as I was running around town and having checked that the printer model is out of stock in that store and most of the other stores as well, I thought either they'll call or I'll contact them today. So... today I decided no more live chat and contacted their customer service again. They say they have contacted the store asking that they contact me. I have a feeling they will not be contacting me.

What the heck am I supposed to do with the printer that doesn't work?! No-one seems to be interested in picking it up. At this point I don't really even care anymore if they will swap it to a working one, as long as they take that thing from me and return my money. I've already had to offer explanations as to why my papers are still not printed out and signed. Luckily after extensive fiddling with the old HP, I managed to get it working at least temporarily. Who knows how long that'll work though.

I had problems with Curry's a few weeks ago with another faulty household appliance and now that I switch to Harvey Norman... Do I need to use the printer for target practice or has anyone managed to successfully have a faulty item swapped? Also, if anyone knows where I might get a good, reliable printer in the Dublin area, any tips are welcome.

ShayNanigan · 12-08-2021 10:47am

I'm answering myself. Yes, it is too much to ask. And if you complain about being sold a faulty product, you're considered a difficult person for wanting either your money back or the machine exchanged for a working one.

ShayNanigan · 12-08-2021 11:31am

Update: Was contacted by the store by a guy with such a thick accent I thought at first I got a call from a fake call center in India. They want me to buy a more expensive printer or else they're not taking the faulty one back... No dice, I'm not willing to do that. We'll see what happens... I feel like being blackmailed!

pleasant Co. · 12-08-2021 11:37am

https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/consumer/shopping/shopping_online.html

As you appear to have bought it online just send it back under the cooling off period.

spaceHopper · 12-08-2021 12:07pm

For reference, buy a cheap laser printer, I've a brother from Argos easy to get toner, black white only and bit more expensive but with inkjet printers unless you use them all the time they give trouble with the ink drying up and clogging the jets

ShayNanigan · 12-08-2021 12:07pm

This is just the weirdest thing ever... There are numerous printers available to order at the Harvey Norman website, even the one I ordered and a similar one that is the same price but apparently they are not really available after all. I am going to get the printer sent back and a refund but I am really puzzled as to why no other alternative was offered other than more expensive models. All I really wanted was a working printer! Now I'm basically going to be in the same situation I was before - no printer.

I don't think I want to shop there again. I believe the strange problems with having the thing replaced might have to do with the business model, possibly because the stores are operated by independent franchisees. Also, they didn't want to lose money in the swap so you either have to get a more expensive one to replace it or return the product and make a separate order.

Caranica · 12-08-2021 2:07pm

I got a canon PIXMA in Argos last year just before Covid and it's still flying. Not expensive either, other than the ink

wandererz · 12-08-2021 3:47pm

Give 123ink.ie a call.

Perhaps they can advise on the best option.

Just bought a printer from them and it was delivered next day.

Dav010 · 13-08-2021 8:39am

At the risk of pointing out the obvious, there are a few bits of tape and plastic clips to remove from the printer when it is unboxed, are you sure you have done this. I too have had a few of these printers, never had an issue that wasn’t self inflicted.

Garlinge · 13-08-2021 8:49am

We seem to need to print less and less these days. It is a problem if not used regularly ... I was told every couple of weeks. We get refilled cartridges from Cartridge world. If it was important I would email/bring my document to them or other printshop (Reads eg) and they will print off decent copy ... especially if colour involved and for small price. The printers are relatively cheap and they make the profit on the ink.

Darc19 · 13-08-2021 3:13pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117742066#Comment_117742066

All Harvey Norman stores in Ireland are owned and operated by Harvey Norman.

In Australia they operate a franchise model.

ShayNanigan · 16-08-2021 3:32pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117748107#Comment_117748107

Well that makes it even weirder then that they would not offer to replace my printer with a new working one. The printer is still available and in stock in several stores but the options given to me was to either return it and get a refund or pay more to receive a more expensive printer model. I even asked two different customer service employees how come it wasn't possible just replacing it. No answer.

To whoever asked about whether I removed all the the tapes and plastic bits (there was only one plastic bit in the ink compartment), yes I did. Checked the whole machine several times, looked everywhere, there was nothing stopping it from working. The error code P10 according to Canon points to either paper jam or if that's not the case, hardware failure. Since there never was a single paper in there, the printer was incapable of taking in any paper and basically did not work at all, I'm thinking it's to do with hardware. I did find several reviews at Amazon UK about the same problem with this printer.

Dempo1 · 16-08-2021 3:53pm

Personally I've never had an issue with my HP printer or Thick accents for that matter.

One issue that affects many printers and it's if they are left idle for extended periods, there can be issues with the ink jets, particularly black. Easily cleaned.

As the OP Ordered online, I can't understand all the fuss, there must be a returns policy and whilst a pain an actual physical store generally has little to do with online purchases, products generally sourced from a central distribution depot.

L1011 · 16-08-2021 7:58pm

Of no help to getting this issue resolved, but more of a general announcement - unless you really need to print colour on a regular basis, get a black and white laser. Preferably one that uses PCL (look at the specs) - decent quality HP, Brother, Oki, Samsung and other brands all do

Any computer running any operating system, and many mobile phones and handheld computers (remember those?) made after about 1989 can print to a PCL printer with little effort. Laser printers can sit unused for years without getting clogged like an inkjet. They also won't just refuse to print as the ink is getting low - if there's patchy toner coverage and you need an urgent print, gently rocking the cartridge from side to side will even out the remaining toner.

Inkjet is an awful technology for a low-use printer.

ShayNanigan · 18-08-2021 5:03pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117762623#Comment_117762623

Then you're one of the lucky ones. Congratulations also on your excellent accent interpreting skills. I'm aware of the issues affecting ink jets, sometimes the problem can be easily rectified, sometimes not. Most problems I've faced with HP seem to be software-related.

The printer has been returned now, hopefully it has already arrived at the store. You'd think an actual physical store would have little to do with online purchases, however with Harvey Norman they specifically said online orders are sourced from local stores (not even necessarily the one nearest to the customer). I would have thought it worked exactly as you said but apparently no. Why? I have no idea. I really don't know why they need to involve physical stores in this. The online sales team said they would have to contact the store which they had designated as delivering the product to me and when they called me from this specific store, they said they'd do their thing (which was to try and get me to agree on getting a more expensive printer and paying extra) and then hand it over to the online sales team. Very confusing, inefficient and frustrating. It does indeed seem like this is how they operate. I have never run into such a system before when shopping online.

Dempo1 · 18-08-2021 5:09pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117772658#Comment_117772658

Glad its stored

Ubbquittious · 18-08-2021 5:18pm

Wtf is "PC Load letter"???

Alun · 18-08-2021 5:23pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117772727#Comment_117772727

It means you've sent a print job to the printer with the wrong paper size, ie US Letter size rather than A4. It's asking you to load that paper, but you can usually just hit the Enter or Ok button on the printer and it'll just print on whatever it has loaded. The layout and formatting might be a bit off but it will print as the sizes aren't that different.

Sheep Shagger · 21-08-2021 9:30am

Why are you messing around posting here when you can just return under the cooling off period?

Its black and white - HN can't refuse that.

Would echo what other have said, buy a cheap laser jet, much better.

PMBC · 21-08-2021 9:45am

I bought HP Inkjet so long ago I cant remember - certainly not later than 2009 and possibly earlier. It can be cranky but gnerally delivers mostly b&w and some colour. I now use high volume cartridges from 123. I might echo an earlier post - Read is where i print A3 stuff and its good (self) service except the cost of colour A3 shot up recently from about 16c to 75c.

I cant be always this lucky so am wary of when I have to change

ShayNanigan · 24-08-2021 10:09am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117783717#Comment_117783717

Have returned it. Should have been at the store over a week now but have not heard back from them yet about the refund.

Of course I could just return it, which I did, but I still do not think everything went great. What's the point of buying appliances that do not work without a chance to have a faulty one replaced by a working one? Sorry though for grinding your gears by expressing my frustration here while I was in the process of returning the item (which by the way took ages).

Will probably buy a laser jet at some point.

Bad printers and bad customer service

Comments