Trouble with an Epson printer

[foxhunter]

What service do you expect from a printer manufacturer?

I have owned an Epson Stylus Photo R320 for some time and last week it started to‘ print‘ blank pages. After checking with the online help without success I telephoned the Epson support line and was advised to install a new set of Epson ink cartridges and clean the print heads a number of times.
This above advice was carried out but the blank pages remained. I then decided to take the printer to a well established computer shop and Epson dealer for advice and/or repair. They concluded the the print head had failed and the printer was uneconomical to repair. I also learned that no current printer uses the same ink cartridges.

I then contacted Epson customer support to explain the above circumstances and suggested that as their advice to replace the ink cartridges resulted in my spending £73 un-necessarily I considered that they might be able to recompense me with this expenditure by way of a discount on a new printer. At least this way they would get to keep a loyal customer.

Anyway they point blank refused and kept quoting their guarantee terms and conditions and I am now buying an HP colour printer. Is this short-sighted on their part?

If anyone has this printer and wants some 'mounted' but unused ink cartridges we could perhaps come to an agreement.

 

[doorframe]

Totally sympathise Foxhunter. We gave up on Epson after spending fortunes on cartridges, only to waste most of the ink trying to flush the head clean.

Went back to HP (higher price cartridges but never wasted a drop flushing) and wished we'd never heard of Epson.

If we dont use the printer for a while and the head (which is actually on the cartridge) dries and blocks, we simply put it in 1/2 inch of boiling water for 10 seconds (the cartridge that is, not the whole printer!!!) and and it's good to go again.

 

[MIGNAL]

Lot of money to spend on a few drops of printing ink.
I point blank refuse to play the printer manufacturers game. So I have an old printer that readily accepts the compatible ink. It happens to be an Epson and has been going strong for about 8 years.

 

[Jonzjob]

Printer makers, in the main, don't make their money from the machines but from the cartridges. There are a boat load of firms now that do refilled carts and before they stopped shipping over here I had nowt but praise for them. But because of the toerags that rip anyone of that they can by not paying they now don't ship over..

http://www.internet-ink.co.uk/

Good service and good ink.

 

[foxhunter]

Yes I fully understand the issue of using others' ink. In fact I have always used JetTec until this issue with the print head and blank pages.

 

[monkeybiter]

I think Mignal is doing rather well, another known scam is that some printers are set to stop working after a preset number of prints regardless of any problems or lack thereof.

 

[MIGNAL]

I actually bought a Canon printer a few years ago. After just over a year it wouldn't print anything (it had very little use). I scoured the internet and the consensus was that it needed new ink, as the manufacturers deliberately put in low volume ink cartridges from new. I paid £40 + for both replacement canon cartridges. It didn't work. No matter how many buttons I pressed, no matter what sequence, no matter what secret code. I threw the damn thing from an upstairs window. Went back to my trusty old Epson!
I despise their business model, although I'm quite sure it's lucrative for the manufacturers. I find it both deceptive and treating the public with utter contempt. I wouldn't dream of using such underhand means on any of my customers. It's simply not a straight and honest approach. I'd rather just pay up front for the full expense of the printer and then pay a 'sensible' price for the cartridges that reflect the cost of production. I'm pretty sure that's the way it was when I bought my first printer back in around 2001.

 

[Racers]

Get a colour laser printer.

Pete

 

[AndyT]

It's not a good way to do business is it? But lots of people get taken in by what looks like a bargain. Kodak tried the approach suggested by Mignal of a slightly higher price for the printer but lower prices for the ink. They said it would bring lower total cost of ownership, so I bought one. After a couple of years it stopped working and needed a part that cost more than a new printer.

I don't think Kodak make anything any more.

 

[mind_the_goat]

Might be worth putting a few drops of isopropyl alcohol or similar solvent directly into the print head and leave it to soak though.

The same thing can happen when trying to repair other items. Anyone ever had a fault on a car for which the garage just go though a list of things to replace till they find the one that caused the problem.chances are you were charged for all the bits.

In this case it would have been nice if they had offered a new set of cartridges if you brought a new Epson printer. It's not good customer service but have to say the margins on the cheaper printers can't be very high.

Found this company which offer spare parts
http://www.gedat-spareparts.com/epson/Inkjet_Printers/STYLUS_PHOTO_R320/list

Obviously with a risk of more money wasted

 

[Gerry]

Get a colour laser printer.

Pete

100% agree

Lower print costs
No heads to block up.
Water proof print
Faster printing and quieter too.

Gerry

 

[Alex H]

Get a colour laser printer.

Pete

100% agree

Lower print costs
No heads to block up.
Water proof print
Faster printing and quieter too.

Gerry

+1

if you don't need colour - get a B&W one :wink:

 

[SteveF]

get the cheapest laser u can find
when the toner runs out...ebay it and get a new one
sometime cheaper than a new toner

 

[morfa]

As some one with 10 years of professional experience of printer wrangling here's my general musing on the subject.

All printers suck. Unless you pay lots for a quality laserjet. But even then they suck. However if you look inside your average printer it's mostly small fairly delicate plastic parts, it's quite easy for them to get damaged.

An inkjet that costs £30-50 isn't going to last you long.

As others have said, go for a decent laserjet and it'll last longer, be quieter (sometimes), be cheaper etc. However they're generally quite big. Real bargains can be had off ebay for professional kit (bit like professional wood working machines, decent printers are massive).

The 'printers die after a certain point thing' is largely whooey. However cheap printers are built to a price point, not to a quality level. Also (as with all IT products and indeed most products) there is an expected lifespan, which will be X thousand prints. Most people buy cheap printers, which only last for a few years (tho there are exceptions) cause the build quality is so poor. Also some printers have consumables which stop after a certain point (eg fuser units) and you have to buy a new one, some people don't understand this hence the confusion.

Again from a 'professional' point of view all IT hardware and software sucks. It's all built to be as cheap as possible. Software is sold with loads of bugs cause it's expected that you'll use the users to test. Customer and user support is normally non-existant. Even companies like Apple (who you pay the premium for support) can be total arses.

grumblemutterwhingerantgrumble

I'll get me coat...

Basically you wouldn't go to B&Q, buy a Titan drill and expect it to last? The same goes for printers, you have to spend a few hundred to get something decent.

 

[SteveF]

you need to be careful what u buy with laser

look at toner cost

http://www.printerland.co.uk/Ricoh-Afic ... 31045.aspx ( other suppliers available )

1 year warranty
£32 + vat 500 pages

the toner is the £77 + vat 1200 pages

bin the laser when run out of toner

still cheaper than you ink carts

 

[MMUK]

One thing to consider with Epsom that stands them out from every other brand is that the print heads are in the printer and not each cartridge. This is why Epsom ink cartridges are as little as £5 each whereas HP for example are £30 each.

This is why they are so popular, they seem cheap to run. However, people don't seem to realise that the print heads have a relatively short service life. They are not designed to last forever, hence they are cheaply made and cheap to buy.

If I went out and bought an Epsom printer I wouldn't expect more than around two years daily use out of it before the heads were fubar. Note I said DAILY use. Infrequent users will find that they will die long before that due to ink hardening in the heads and blocking them.

 

[mailee]

I have owned a few Epson printers in the past and am using one at the moment. Biggest problem I get with mine is using the none Epson cartridges as it often won't recognise them! never had any problems with them until they started to put the microchips on them! I had to bin a full set of cartridges due tot he printer not recognising them! :evil:

 

[MMUK]

I have owned a few Epson printers in the past and am using one at the moment. Biggest problem I get with mine is using the none Epson cartridges as it often won't recognise them! never had any problems with them until they started to put the microchips on them! I had to bin a full set of cartridges due tot he printer not recognising them! :evil:

For very little extra cost you can get remans with chips in.

 

[mailee]

Those are the ones I buy! Even with the chips it seems to be hit and miss if it recognises them??

 

[nanscombe]

I just save up £10 of Nectar points, as I don't use them for anything else, and use them against the purchase price of real Epson ink cartridges in Argos.