remember when HP used to be about quality ?

[RustyShackleford]

I bought a printer from Hewlett-Packard about 9 months ago,
the LaserJet P2015d. Problems from the get-go, then some
months of trouble-free operation, then breakage and horrible
customer service.

Initial problems were print not dark enough. Lots of people report
this, and apparently the solution is to print a few hundred pages
(using about 10% of the expensive-to-replace toner cartrdige's life)
and then it'll be ok. And it was.

Recently, it completely stopped working, with the paper-jam light
illuminated. Call to customer service went fairly well, they had me
do some stuff, and said "yes, it's broken".

Turns out, my main option is to have them send me a new one,
and I return old in the box with prepaid shipping label. Sounds great.
Except for the part where they charge me $57 for express shipping
both ways. Can't they use ground shipping ? No, not an option.

To be fair, if I chose to drive to a neighboring city (twice) I could get
it "repaired" that way. Or ship it myself (but I didn't save the box
this long) and wait who knows how long. Both still a significant cost
to me.

Oh well. I comforted myself that at least my $57 would buy me a
new toner cartridge to replace the one that you may recall I had to
burn several hundred pages with to get good print. But no. Cynical
bastards send you the new one without toner cartridge (or paper tray,
or power cord, or USB cord).

So if you thought HP printers were rock-solid in quality - they way they
used to be - think again. Look around some and consider other brands.

It's depressing that one of the few American companies that actually
still makes (made) a quality product, has gone the way of the mediocre.
(The customer service person actually referred to my printer as "old" -
recall I bought it in October 2007).

Stupid too. I intend to cost them well over $57 in negative publicity.
Yes, this is the opening salvo ...

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Undoubtedly not the company they used to be.

I thought about going to work for them back around 1998, but they wouldnt hire anyone that worked for my old megacorp. We were considered as a group to be too mean for HP due to our corporate culture.

Screwy board, screwy management, screwing acquisitions.

 

[CuppaJoe]

My company still uses an HP LaserJet II from about twenty years ago. We have a repair guy who keeps it in tip top condidion. Company wants to keep it because it produces that old fashioned just-typed look. 2Cor said the 4000 series would be a good replacement. Our repair guy has one but we haven't ordered it; he delivers to the Bay Area if anyone is interested.

 

[Notmuchlonger]

Then again I have a HP 2600 all in one that has worked great. Hit or miss with companies anymore.

 

[retire@40]

I've used HP for many years. My biggest problem with the HP printers I had was that the paper tray didn't hold enough pages and I was constantly putting paper in the tray.

Before I went semi-paperless, I was making tens of thousands of printouts and copies a year and only had to replace the roller every 100,000 copies - at least on my old HP 4P. I can't remember doing anything to the HP II and HP III I had besides cleaning them out with the brush inside the machine and a can of air after every toner change.

 

[FIREd]

I have a (new) HP laptop, (pretty new) HP desktop, (old) HP scanner and (new/old) HP printers. All work great, customer service is touch and go depending who you get on the line. The only criticism I have is that my new HP printer gobbles up ink (IMO).

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

My product experience is mediocre. My lappie two generations ago was an HP and it bricked itself after about 18 months of use. The only laptop I've ever owned that actually died and didnt end up sold or relegated to gathering dust.

I have an HP desktop and its fine. Has a lot of weirdities about it that required some figuring out. Lots of crapware and if you take off the stuff you really dont want, some other things magically stop working that wouldnt seem related.

Several HP printers. The color laser I bought does eat more toner than others, but I didnt pay that much for it.

Support has been pretty much universally putrid. But thats the case with about 98% of technology companies these days.

 

[Hillbilly]

My HP computer is great; my HP printer (J5750) is a POS right out of the box. I've owned 3 HP printers: the other two were great.

Hillbilly

 

[DroopyDog]

These days HP is pretty much just Compaq rebranded. Everything that remained of the old HP got spun off into Agilent, which hopefully still cares about product quality and the HP Way™

I think HP sold out when they discovered they could make tons more money selling printers and PCs than test and measurement equipment.

 

[Delawaredave5]

I use HP laptop - much better than 1/2 dozen Dell's I've had.
Have HP 932 printer - must be near 10 years old - runs great.

Not to hijack thread, but has anyone tried Kodak inkjet printers ? They claim huge savings on ink. What makes me angry about HP is they rape you on ink.

 

[Htown Harry]

Not to hijack thread, but has anyone tried Kodak inkjet printers ? They claim huge savings on ink. What makes me angry about HP is they rape you on ink.

I bought a Kodak 5300 all-in-one last year. The ink savings are real, but I hesitate to recommend the printer. I have had to replace the print head twice so far. There was no cost, and the customer service was very good, but I was out of service for several days each time.

 

[laurence]

I've had great experience with their printers, everything else has been iffy at best. We have an all-in-wonder at home that has been great for 3 years going.

 

[ls99]

These days HP is pretty much just Compaq rebranded. Everything that remained of the old HP got spun off into Agilent, which hopefully still cares about product quality and the HP Way™

I think HP sold out when they discovered they could make tons more money selling printers and PCs than test and measurement equipment.

I had fine experience with the old HP, test equipment. That is no more.
The new improved HP nearly gives away printers, so they can sell lots of expensive ink.

 

[StJohnsWood]

I've had a garbage HP PC. NEVER NEVER again! I have had two HP printers with the last not working out of the box. We called and they sent us a special cleaning kit. The kit worked, but why wasn't it clean to begin with. NEVER NEVER again!

They have the last of my money.

 

[lets-retire]

I've had three printers, one being an all-in-one, one being a scanner/printer and one being a color printer. I had a problem with the all-in-one, they sent a new one and I returned the broke one without charge to me. The customer service was a bit interesting, since the reps I talked to had to repeat everything slowly twice so I could understand them. I also have a desktop and a laptop HP. I haven't had any problem with any of them. My current desk top replaced an HP that I had for about 7 years without any problems. It finally didn't have the power to run new programs. With that computer I also had two different HP printers. An all-in-one that worked well and a laser printer that kept jamming. So even with all of the HP stuff I've used I only had one bad experience with their products.

 

[W2R]

I have an HP B&W laser printer that I bought in March of 2000. It is still working, and I am using either the original toner cartridge, or perhaps I replaced it once, but no more than that.

It impresses me as kind of a piece o' junk. It was intended for home use, not for business use, so I suspect that makes a huge difference. It hasn't actually broken, but the print quality is not as good as the laser printers at work and it just seems shoddy. Still, it does the job.

I bought a photo ink-jet printer too, but hardly ever use it because the cartridges dry up too fast so one or the other is always out of ink. I don't print very much, so I think a home laser printer is probably best for me.

When I retire, I will probably start looking at inexpensive color laser printers. I don't know what kind or brand I would or should buy.

Oh, and as for HP, I had a friend in engineering school (let's call him "John Doe") who was the archtypical Rich Kid. His uncle donated the money to construct a genuinely palatial building at our university. "John" drove a brand new high end Mercedes to our study sessions and he was really nice, so we all tried to tutor him and pull him through each class. He didn't want to be an engineer, but his family pushed him into it so he was in a bind. He was a sweet long-haired guy who wasn't very good at math, but played electric guitar and actually got paying gigs doing that on the weekends with his band. That was what he really loved to do, and although I never went to see him play, others said he was good at it. Anyway, "John" graduated at the bottom of our class, and immediately was picked up by HP. That tells me something about their hiring practices, though what I do not exactly know. I would not want to work for them.