Inkjet printer recommendation

[SFSecurity]

I have had outstanding luck with the Lexmark Pro series. Of the several I have installed for others only two have had a problem so far. One was operator error when the gentleman - who has Parkinson's so can be excused - moved his computer and plugged the USB B plug into the RJ11 port which was right next door and not very visible! I didn't realize it so after failing the diagnostics I called tech support and they did not laugh when they led me through the possibilities and then had me disconnect the USB cord at both ends and try reinserting them. Since I then moved the printer so I could see what I was doing, I saw the problem. Oops. My bad. It worked just fine when I plugged it into the correct port. (How in h$%^'s name can a USB B fit into an RJ11?)

The other problem was a defective carrier for the ink cartridges. Not only did they send it next day, they sent additional ink cartridges to replace the ones that I had used to test the machine with.

Among the top tech support I've ever had from a hardware vendor, plus they carry a 5, yes five year warranty.

I'd suggest a look see for the next ink jet you or a friend might need.

Best to you and yours,

Allen

[AceInfinity]

Quote:(How in h$%^'s name can a USB B fit into an RJ11?)

We all learn from our mistakes (hopefully)

Personally I never thought too highly of tech support, they are there to get paid, which does not necessarily mean they are all the brightest bulbs you can find :) When they give up, quite a few of them just lead you to believe that you have to just reformat your system for computer based issues, because it's a lot better than saying "I don't know". I dislike the fact that this is the way it is.

However, from personal experience, it can also be pretty troublesome trying to solve computer issues secondhand; getting somebody to follow the motions of what you suggest they do, in order to narrow down a problem and find a solution. You need to step it down a bit and remember that they are not computer geeks like you, so instead of just saying things like "Oh check your BIOS for the configuration to see if it's recognizing your hard drive, and make sure shadowing is disabled", you need to explain what the BIOS is and how to get to where it is they can see/find that information.

I have a Lexmark Pro series printer as well by the way :) And it's caused me several issues as well, once it's set up though it's great.

[KoBE]

Thanks for the tip... I've never been in the market really for printers, I've always been lucky enough to have access to a decent business copy/printer at work.

However, customer support is the thing I look at most when buying any product.. so I will definitely remember this if I find myself looking for printers. Thanks again.

[SFSecurity]

(07-10-2012 01:22 AM)AceInfinity Wrote:  

Quote:(How in h$%^'s name can a USB B fit into an RJ11?)

We all learn from our mistakes (hopefully)

Personally I never thought too highly of tech support, {snip}

However, from personal experience, it can also be pretty troublesome trying to solve computer issues secondhand; {snip}

I have a Lexmark Pro series printer as well by the way :) And it's caused me several issues as well, once it's set up though it's great.

I couldn't agree more about tech support on the whole. I generally only call as a last resort and don't expect much. ALL of my calls to Microsoft have had the fee refunded because they couldn't figure out what was wrong with Lookout, I mean Outlook. And XP-64, fergit it.

As to remote support, I almost won't do it for a new client unless I can remote in. I also won't do it for very nervous people. I got bit bad by a friend who makes Nervous Nellie look like the calmest person that you've ever met. Now I just tell them to either contact the manufacturer or go to one of the local repair shops or the big box people, saying that my schedule is full for a couple of weeks, sorry.

I've had a couple come back to me after getting outrageous prices to fix simple problems. My solution then is to tell them to leave it with me and I'll look at it when I get done with (mythical project) and have a moment to spare. Keeps them out of my hair so I can think about what I'm doing and not listen to their worrying about losing their data and other catastrophes.

My top three tech support people are ASUS, Lexmark and Lenovo. Lenovo had the smarts to tell me that they hadn't a clue about an older IBM desktop other than what was in the manual. ASUS figured out it was probably an early production run item for a desktop and in less than ten minutes told me to take it back for a replacement with a number above xyz and to tell the dealer to ship it back to them for analysis. I got an e-mail from them a couple of weeks later thanking me for pointing out the quality control problem. Lexmark I've already mentioned.

I'm curious what problems you had with the Lexmark Pro. Was it a 905?

Thanks,

Allen

[Shintaro]

I have a Canon MX350. Good all-in-one printer. but man does it burn through the ink if I don't set it to greyscale.
To be honest, printers are a use and abuse product. These days they are not meant to be repaired.
A bit like Dell now, they don't fault find too much, they just send around a board jockey. Apparently they send back a container load bit to Malaysia every month.

[AceInfinity]

(07-10-2012 02:40 AM)SFSecurity Wrote:  

(07-10-2012 01:22 AM)AceInfinity Wrote:  

Quote:(How in h$%^'s name can a USB B fit into an RJ11?)

We all learn from our mistakes (hopefully)

Personally I never thought too highly of tech support, {snip}

However, from personal experience, it can also be pretty troublesome trying to solve computer issues secondhand; {snip}

I have a Lexmark Pro series printer as well by the way :) And it's caused me several issues as well, once it's set up though it's great.

I couldn't agree more about tech support on the whole. I generally only call as a last resort and don't expect much. ALL of my calls to Microsoft have had the fee refunded because they couldn't figure out what was wrong with Lookout, I mean Outlook. And XP-64, fergit it.

As to remote support, I almost won't do it for a new client unless I can remote in. I also won't do it for very nervous people. I got bit bad by a friend who makes Nervous Nellie look like the calmest person that you've ever met. Now I just tell them to either contact the manufacturer or go to one of the local repair shops or the big box people, saying that my schedule is full for a couple of weeks, sorry.

I've had a couple come back to me after getting outrageous prices to fix simple problems. My solution then is to tell them to leave it with me and I'll look at it when I get done with (mythical project) and have a moment to spare. Keeps them out of my hair so I can think about what I'm doing and not listen to their worrying about losing their data and other catastrophes.

My top three tech support people are ASUS, Lexmark and Lenovo. Lenovo had the smarts to tell me that they hadn't a clue about an older IBM desktop other than what was in the manual. ASUS figured out it was probably an early production run item for a desktop and in less than ten minutes told me to take it back for a replacement with a number above xyz and to tell the dealer to ship it back to them for analysis. I got an e-mail from them a couple of weeks later thanking me for pointing out the quality control problem. Lexmark I've already mentioned.

I'm curious what problems you had with the Lexmark Pro. Was it a 905?

Thanks,

Allen

I believe I have the 9600 series? 9500 series?

It says "X9575" on the front, it'd probably tell me if I powered it up, but i'm certain it's either a 9600/9500 series.

EDIT: Wow, i'm already at 6000 posts here, woohoo :). I need to slow down haha.

[SFSecurity]

Minor followup on the Lexmark X9575 and another note. This one is about 5 years old and back then I think they had some problems as they split off from IBM. The current series, the Pro 7-915, of which I have installed the Pro 905 and had very good luck but like all things mechanical, there are problems.

I got a panic call yesterday about a new cartridge not working. I could not get there to check it out so I suggested that they pull all the cartridges and the carrier and wipe down the contacts with a lintless rag wet with a little isopropyl alcohol and reinsert. Worked a charm. You would not believe the gushing phone call I got thanking me.

Sometimes our WAGs turn out to work.

Best,

Allen

[AceInfinity]

Same principle with computers too, sometimes they just need a little cleaning to get rid of all the dust in and around mostly your motherboard, but fans are good to clean out and all that as well.

[Adriana]

@Shintaro, that happens to you too? I have a Canon as well and, even if I rarely use it, I prefer to use the grayscale option for anything that's not a photo. I've printed a few photos for a friend of mine just last week. 8 or 9 photos, so just a few, but I could almost hear the cartridge cry "I'm melting so fast!"