We are (were?) big fans of Hewlett Packard’s LaserJet printers.

Spending a little more upfront (compared to an inkjet) means beautiful print quality, but also a better value in the long run. Cost per sheet printed is less, so the printer cost amortizes over time (especially since we replace them so rarely!).

But in the past this only applied to black and white. We had an inkjet in the house, too, for color jobs.

Early in 2009, Office Depot ran an unbelievable deal on the HP Color LaserJet CP1215, and we stepped up to the next level.

Color Laser. Wow!

The printer works wonderfully, and the output is beautiful…

But I am distressed at what seems clearly to be HP’s abuse of its customers with regard to toner replacement.

Let me share with you the high points of the letter I sent to HP in September 2009. I have left out some sections to keep the length down, but the content is unchanged.

After using the printer for some time, we began to receive the alert message that the black cartridge was low. We had already purchased a cartridge with the printer, since we were told that the original setup was “mini” cartridges that would not last very long.

We were frustrated, however, that there appeared to be no way to access the “toolbox” needed to override the automatic “lock-down” when it decided the cartridge needed to be replaced.

As LaserJet owners since the inception of the product, we are well aware of how to manage toner cartridges to best suit our needs. Like many people, we nurse and baby along a low cartridge, gaining substantially more printing.

It is Orwellian and wholly inappropriate for my printer (and therefore, HP) to tell me when I *must* stop printing and install a new cartridge.

We spent a long time over several sessions with your website Live Chat representatives discussing the issue.

First we were told that there was simply no way around it.

Then we were told that all we needed to do was reinstall our driver software. We did, to no avail.

Then we heard that we needed to reinstall the driver software, but from your website. After downloading, however, we were never able to get that to install.

Eventually, we gave up and installed the new cartridge. Unfortunately out of sight is out of mind, and we forgot about the issue for a while…

In due course, the color cartridges ran low enough that printing ceased… And we were again unable to get anyone to tell us how to override that setting.

So by this time we have purchased four cartridges (black and all three colors) in advance of the time they were actually required. This additional expense clearly negates the “good value” of the printer’s initial cost!

Recently, the black cartridge warned that it was low, and panic set in again. Unemployed for the last several months, like so many people in this economy, we wanted to put off purchasing the replacement as long as possible.

One of the representatives on this go-round had some new information for us: We were finally told that the “toolbox” mentioned in the documentation does not exist in the drivers for the 1215. The 1215 “full-featured” software is still in development, and “will be realising (sic) it very soon”.

So…

Not only did HP sell me a printer which was hobbled by its inadequate software… And not only does it have documentation claiming that you can do things you simply cannot do… But I have spent hours chatting with numerous HP Customer Support agents, and none of them up to this point knew that!

He blandly informed us that many of the printers had similar function, and some did have the full-featured software, and they all just used the same manuals. How very sad, if true!

Eventually, we managed to get connected to a supervisor. She verified everything we had just been told… but then told use there was a (work-around) solution – the driver package from the 1210 could be installed, and the “toolbox” from that software would work with the 1215. (And it does).

So we are saved from purchasing yet another black cartridge prematurely, but at the cost of another substantial chunk of time and frustration.

Previous HP printers have been simple, reliable devices, and we trusted HP to continue to deliver on that expectation – we gave you the benefit of the doubt over and over again.

But this printer… and its inaccurate documentation… and the extra money it has cost us in early toner replacement… the frustration of trying to get help from someone across such a huge language gulf… and the wildly incompetent Customer Support…

…it is enough to shake our faith in HP.

P.S. This lovely document was printed while on “override” from an “empty” black toner cartridge.

As I mention at the end, I was printing that letter, back in September, on a toner cartridge that the printer had frozen out as “empty” weeks earlier.

And what’s worse?

I am still using that same cartridge.

Four
months
later.

I don’t know what to think, if not that the printer is set up to intentionally force consumers to replace their toner too frequently.

Big Brother is watching my printer?

It’s just too much.

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