My experience with HP

I ordered my dv5000z on Monday along with the All-in-One printer that's free after rebate. Well, I was happy that the printer came yesterday, only taking 2 days to get to me, but I guess it was too good to be true...

As I hooked up and readied it for its first use, I had problems already. The printer is supposed to automatically print an alignment page right after I give it paper and install the ink cartridges. It didn't. I tried and retried installing the cartridges over and over and finally contacted HP support. Well, let me tell you, I'm a little frustrated. The printer's going to be free-- so what can I complain about? Well, the machine won't work unless they is both a tri-color and a black cartridge properly installed!

As it turns out, I think my color cartridge is defective. The printer software detects that it is empty, which wouldn't make sense since it wouldn't be packaged as empty, so I narrowed it down to being defective. I just hope the cartridge is and not the connectors on the printer or it's going right back to HP. However, I got them to send me a free replacement tri-color cartridge after 2 hours of trying to fix the problem and chatting with an HP rep. If the replacement doesn't fix the problem, I'm going to explode. Why can't things work properly? Also, what kind of printer-copier-scanner hybrid won't print anything unless there's both a color and a black ink cartridge installed? It won't let me just use black, which is ridiculous in my opinion.

Has anyone heard of this stupid feature?

 

Yes, HP installs that logic in the chip in the printer so it won't print unless you have both cartridges with atleast some ink inside. That's the way HP makes the money. They lure you by giving the printer free but buying just the two cartridges will surpass the value of the printer.

In fact, the printer division brings in much more money than any other division in HP/Compaq.

 

I suppose I'd be upset about that, but I actually plan on giving the printer to my mom while I'm away at college, and she can deal with ink. I really shouldn't say the printer is free because the cables came separately for $20 extra. Not too bad though.

 

I bought a Canon Pixma printer (IP5000)

LOVE this printer! It lets you know when one of the color cartridges is running low, but will continue printing even if you run out of one color. And, it gives you about a week and a half notice, so you're not suddenly completely left stranded without ink.

You can replace any one of the color cartridges (four colors, plus two black ink cartridges, one for print, and one black cartridge for photos)

Also prints amazing photos! Better then what I get from Target or other photo services.

I know this doesn't help you, but thought it might help someone else. The Canon Pixma printers (my wife has another model with built in scanner) are really sweet.

 

Nope, doesn't help me unless your printer can single-handedly reprogram the HP chip to make it be as cool as itself.

 

So the free ink cartridge replacement was confirmed and is listed on the HP site under my order number. Get this... it's expected to be delivered by April 10. I really don't understand. They got me the printer by Wednesday when I ordered it on a Monday afternoon! They shipped the printer out Monday night! Yet, they're going to make me wait a whole other week? Wow. I think HP support has decreased in quality quite a bit. I never expected this type of service. If they keep this up, they'll be just as bad a Dell (sorry, Dell owners)! Anyway, I really can't complain about this. What really gets me angry, though, is the recovery CD deal. Stubborn HP customer support, I swear. Just send your customer a few CDs! I just bought a thousand dollar notebook, I deserve a little affection!