G
GP
When I bought my Canon BJ-300, I believed it would be really reliable. It was
an expensive (550$ CAN) hefty piece of equipment and I thought it would last
forever. It's now quite old, but I barely printed more then ten - twelve
thousand pages with it, the equivalent of what some companies print in a week,
and it never worked properly.
First, there was a problem with the purge unit. While it was still on
guarantee, I used non-Canon ink. The problem with Canon ink was that it costed
almost 10c a page. The specs said it should print about 500 pages, but that
must be in continous printing. Because the printer head takes a little ink
bath each time it starts, I ended up printing more like 350 pages.
Each pages amounted to less than ½ ¢ for paper and almost 10 ¢ for ink, a
complete nonsense, unless you don't mind funneling your money to Japan. You
could print with gold at this price!
So... I had to bring the printer on the outskirts of town to have a 5 minute
purge unit job done. The repairman showed me how he knew I hadn't used Canon
ink. He put a little sponge that apparently came out of the said purge unit on
a sheet of paper and put a drop of alcool on it. A yellow streak appeared:
that meant non-Canon ink. The sponge was dead and replaced. What was the use
of this sponge except for blocking non-Canon ink, God knows.
So, I put Ko-Rec-Type ink through the alcool test at a store. The colors
registered just as Canon's. At less than half the price!
A few years later, after the printer hadn't been used for about 3 months, I
encountered the same problem with the purge unit. But the repair hadn't been
done in front of me and I didn't know what was refered to as the purge unit. I
didn't see any little sponge at hand and thought maybe it was some kind of
hard to get to little pump at the bottom of the printer.
After opening the printer casing, I was really impressed by how sturdy the
printer was. It was stainless steel rollers, nylon bearing, huge electronics
components. But there was a problem with that little 3 mm sponge...
I called Canon to ask where the purge unit was exactly.
But, forget it, this time, according to Canon, the print head was really dead.
It was expensive and my best bet was to buy one of those nice new little
printers. I insisted, stayed for hours on their 1-800 line to Toronto up to
the VP's office, wrote to Japan, to no avail.
Then I posted here. The message was entitled "Dammit! Stop buying Canon products!"
<http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=..._uauthors=gillesp%40connectmmic.net&lr=&hl=fr>
Less than 24 hours later, I received an email from a repairman, supposedly
totally unrelated to Canon. He told me the purge unit was what the print head
layed upon while at rest. And the reason I couldn't see the sponge was because
the casing was black and the sponge was full of black ink.
I took a pin, removed the sponge, rinced it in demineralized water, and was
back to printing in about 5 minutes. Canon made me loose -- and lost itself!
-- tenths of hours for no reason whatsoever.
I later explained the solution here and somebody found out the guy who
provided the info was from a Canon autorized repair center in Ottawa. I can't
find those messages on Google groups anymore.
Now I have a problem with the ink/paper LED blinking even though the cartridge
is new and paper is loaded, and I get the same kind of help from Canon.
First, they told me they don't service the BJ-300(1) anymore. If I would
please call a company called Optimal, they would provide information. I said:
"A company that's not Canon will provide information on a Canon product?" Of
course, they would!
(1) It even seems Bureau en Gros (Staples) and major suppliers in Montreal
don't offer cartridges for the BJ-300 anymore!
Of course, they wouldn't. If I wanted to bring or send the printer to the
outskirts of town, they'd be glad to take a look at it for a /minimum/ of $45.
And maybe, once again, in two weeks from now, tell me the print head is really
dead. Gee, that's an easy fix!
So, I called Canon back to say Optima wouldn't provide any info. I was given
an 800 number for service, where I once again was told the print head must be
dead. I explained it couldn't because sometimes the LEDs stops blinking and I
can print about 10 lines before they go on again.
Welll, then... It might be dirty contacts. If I could only send the printer to
an authorized service center, they'd fix the problem.
Instead of loosing two weeks and funneling another $100 to a Canon affiliate
for a 5 minute job, I decided to take a look myself.
Well, guess what. They could have put the contacts in front of the ink
cartridge casing and you could have cleaned the contacts with an eraser or a
nail file in a matter of seconds. But, unfortunately, it so happens that
they're at they end, 4 inches deep into the casing.
Of course, had they been at the bottom of the casing, they wouldn't have been
so hard to get. So... they're at the top. And, of course, even then they could
have been reached. So, they put a little metal door midway that only opens
when a cartridge is pushed in.
But it seems the contacts are available from outside the casing. But the way
to remove the little piece is not evident at all. It's one of those push this
and pull that trick explained in the shop manual.
Oh! I forgot to tell you about the shop manual. In the purge unit case, I
asked how much the shop manual was. It was "only" $90, maybe US, who knows. I
mean, when a comapny asks 30$ for a few ounces of ink, isn't it appropriate
that it asks 90$ for a few sheets of paper? Why not?
In other words, Canon products are designed to fail. It now seems if they ever
fail under guarantee, you bring the printer to the store and they give you a
new printer, no question asked. I suppose, the stores then ship all the crap
back to Canon, who does twelve 5 minutes jobs an hour. If the casing if even
lightly bruised, they change it, refurbish it, whatever, and the printer is
sold as new, which it really is: it's still a piece of crap!
After that? Well, you're on your own. Bring the printer to the outskirts of
town, pay 45$ for a look, an half-hour look, I suppose. Or it's "Your head is
done", why don't you buy this nice little new model.
Well, my head is not done yet and I want ALL my money back. Of course, I did
succeed in printing a few thousand sheets of paper, but it will be far, very
far, from paying me the minimal wage for the time I've lost with this printer.
When you call Canon support these days, they ask for your name, phone number,
address and postal code, before giving any non-information, just in case you'd
be afraid they'd send their lawyers after you.
Canon knows who I am, and I'm not afraid of their lawyers. I called Patricia
Sawyer today to say how disgusted I am about their bunch of thieves. Though
the message I left was more polite, she didn't call back. I suppose she must
be overwhelmed and doing her toe nails instead.
I swear to God, if Canon doesn't clean its act, I'll have them loose millions!
GP
an expensive (550$ CAN) hefty piece of equipment and I thought it would last
forever. It's now quite old, but I barely printed more then ten - twelve
thousand pages with it, the equivalent of what some companies print in a week,
and it never worked properly.
First, there was a problem with the purge unit. While it was still on
guarantee, I used non-Canon ink. The problem with Canon ink was that it costed
almost 10c a page. The specs said it should print about 500 pages, but that
must be in continous printing. Because the printer head takes a little ink
bath each time it starts, I ended up printing more like 350 pages.
Each pages amounted to less than ½ ¢ for paper and almost 10 ¢ for ink, a
complete nonsense, unless you don't mind funneling your money to Japan. You
could print with gold at this price!
So... I had to bring the printer on the outskirts of town to have a 5 minute
purge unit job done. The repairman showed me how he knew I hadn't used Canon
ink. He put a little sponge that apparently came out of the said purge unit on
a sheet of paper and put a drop of alcool on it. A yellow streak appeared:
that meant non-Canon ink. The sponge was dead and replaced. What was the use
of this sponge except for blocking non-Canon ink, God knows.
So, I put Ko-Rec-Type ink through the alcool test at a store. The colors
registered just as Canon's. At less than half the price!
A few years later, after the printer hadn't been used for about 3 months, I
encountered the same problem with the purge unit. But the repair hadn't been
done in front of me and I didn't know what was refered to as the purge unit. I
didn't see any little sponge at hand and thought maybe it was some kind of
hard to get to little pump at the bottom of the printer.
After opening the printer casing, I was really impressed by how sturdy the
printer was. It was stainless steel rollers, nylon bearing, huge electronics
components. But there was a problem with that little 3 mm sponge...
I called Canon to ask where the purge unit was exactly.
But, forget it, this time, according to Canon, the print head was really dead.
It was expensive and my best bet was to buy one of those nice new little
printers. I insisted, stayed for hours on their 1-800 line to Toronto up to
the VP's office, wrote to Japan, to no avail.
Then I posted here. The message was entitled "Dammit! Stop buying Canon products!"
<http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=..._uauthors=gillesp%40connectmmic.net&lr=&hl=fr>
Less than 24 hours later, I received an email from a repairman, supposedly
totally unrelated to Canon. He told me the purge unit was what the print head
layed upon while at rest. And the reason I couldn't see the sponge was because
the casing was black and the sponge was full of black ink.
I took a pin, removed the sponge, rinced it in demineralized water, and was
back to printing in about 5 minutes. Canon made me loose -- and lost itself!
-- tenths of hours for no reason whatsoever.
I later explained the solution here and somebody found out the guy who
provided the info was from a Canon autorized repair center in Ottawa. I can't
find those messages on Google groups anymore.
Now I have a problem with the ink/paper LED blinking even though the cartridge
is new and paper is loaded, and I get the same kind of help from Canon.
First, they told me they don't service the BJ-300(1) anymore. If I would
please call a company called Optimal, they would provide information. I said:
"A company that's not Canon will provide information on a Canon product?" Of
course, they would!
(1) It even seems Bureau en Gros (Staples) and major suppliers in Montreal
don't offer cartridges for the BJ-300 anymore!
Of course, they wouldn't. If I wanted to bring or send the printer to the
outskirts of town, they'd be glad to take a look at it for a /minimum/ of $45.
And maybe, once again, in two weeks from now, tell me the print head is really
dead. Gee, that's an easy fix!
So, I called Canon back to say Optima wouldn't provide any info. I was given
an 800 number for service, where I once again was told the print head must be
dead. I explained it couldn't because sometimes the LEDs stops blinking and I
can print about 10 lines before they go on again.
Welll, then... It might be dirty contacts. If I could only send the printer to
an authorized service center, they'd fix the problem.
Instead of loosing two weeks and funneling another $100 to a Canon affiliate
for a 5 minute job, I decided to take a look myself.
Well, guess what. They could have put the contacts in front of the ink
cartridge casing and you could have cleaned the contacts with an eraser or a
nail file in a matter of seconds. But, unfortunately, it so happens that
they're at they end, 4 inches deep into the casing.
Of course, had they been at the bottom of the casing, they wouldn't have been
so hard to get. So... they're at the top. And, of course, even then they could
have been reached. So, they put a little metal door midway that only opens
when a cartridge is pushed in.
But it seems the contacts are available from outside the casing. But the way
to remove the little piece is not evident at all. It's one of those push this
and pull that trick explained in the shop manual.
Oh! I forgot to tell you about the shop manual. In the purge unit case, I
asked how much the shop manual was. It was "only" $90, maybe US, who knows. I
mean, when a comapny asks 30$ for a few ounces of ink, isn't it appropriate
that it asks 90$ for a few sheets of paper? Why not?
In other words, Canon products are designed to fail. It now seems if they ever
fail under guarantee, you bring the printer to the store and they give you a
new printer, no question asked. I suppose, the stores then ship all the crap
back to Canon, who does twelve 5 minutes jobs an hour. If the casing if even
lightly bruised, they change it, refurbish it, whatever, and the printer is
sold as new, which it really is: it's still a piece of crap!
After that? Well, you're on your own. Bring the printer to the outskirts of
town, pay 45$ for a look, an half-hour look, I suppose. Or it's "Your head is
done", why don't you buy this nice little new model.
Well, my head is not done yet and I want ALL my money back. Of course, I did
succeed in printing a few thousand sheets of paper, but it will be far, very
far, from paying me the minimal wage for the time I've lost with this printer.
When you call Canon support these days, they ask for your name, phone number,
address and postal code, before giving any non-information, just in case you'd
be afraid they'd send their lawyers after you.
Canon knows who I am, and I'm not afraid of their lawyers. I called Patricia
Sawyer today to say how disgusted I am about their bunch of thieves. Though
the message I left was more polite, she didn't call back. I suppose she must
be overwhelmed and doing her toe nails instead.
I swear to God, if Canon doesn't clean its act, I'll have them loose millions!
GP
An 850 Celeron. When the motherboard of my 486 died 3 years ago, I