Well folks, this is an interesting story... to me anyhow. I ordered a refurb 130 from amatterofax.com for $888.00 including delivery, great deal! I asked the New Jersey gentleman what the warranty on these were, he said "I think its the same as a new unit" "think" being the key word there.
I rec'd the printer about a week later. I was impressed with how sleek, sexy and light it was. It looked brand new, never used.. perhaps a unopened return? I excitedly installed the software, went very smooth. I then connected the power cord, looking good! Then I attempted to plug in the USB to my computer... BIG error code popped on my screen "Your system has been overloaded due to an external source" or something like that. Not good! The computer (Dell 5150) was acting a bit funky, so I tried a restart, worse news, comp would NOT start up again, just a sad weak yellow blinking light on the start button. Several calls to Dells so-called "customer service" dept were unfruitful. I went to Dells forum (with my old comp) and searched the forums for "blinking yellow light" More bad news, all indications pointed to a burnt out power supply!! More calls to Dell (late, late at night) finally paid off with someone knowledgeable. He ordered a on site technician to come out to replace the power supply with 9 days left of the warranty, my luck was looking up! The tech showed up 3 days later, he promptly installed the power supply.. the ominous, weak blinking yellow light continued. Finally after some time he noticed the USB port was missing the small plastic insulation block.. very strange! In another stroke of luck, they had included the front panel with the parts set. He installed it an was fixed! 2nd attempt to connect the 130.. had the shorted out USB port damaged the printer?? No, it powered right up! I proceeded to do the setup and was stumped on how do the initial calibration. A quick phone call to HP's awarding winning customer service dept would remedy this, right? Wrong! The friendly HP guy told me the refurbs are a great deal and oftentimes they have not even been used, just a customer return and HP has to sell them as refurb'd. He ask for the serial number and assured me I would be up and printing in no time. I supplied him with the serial # on the back of the machine, and after awhile, he said "I'm sorry sir, but the warranty on this machine has already expired!" "How can this be?" I exclaimed, I've only had it for less than a week?? He was apologetic but but firm in his stance, no warranty - no help. Attempts to contact amatteroffax.com were maddening. Yes they would accept it as a return... for 15% restocking fee and I pay the return shipping. This was unacceptable. I couldn't accept that HP with it's good reputation and high customer recognition would dump a bunch of out-of-warranty printers to shady resellers.. they must have some control over who sells their products? Repeated calls to HP's customer service yielded the same results. "It's out of warranty, we cannot help you" I was livid! One more call to HP to get the name and address of their top dog of customer service. I was connected to an Indian gentleman that insisted on hearing the entire story all over again. He wanted to connect me to HP's DesignJet support, I told him I had talked to them already and they were no help. Again, he politely insisted that I try one last time. I was connected to "Murray" He quietly listened to my rantings and ravings. I said all I wanted was the name and address of the head of customer service for HP, he obliged and I was ready to hang up when he asked me for the serial #. I said I had given it to 5 other HP people and it comes back as expired, I finally relented and after a long pause Murray said "Sir, you have a full one year warranty on this machine" Come again?? Yes sir, everyone up until now wasn't adding an "R" to the end of the serial number. Needless to say I was elated! After speaking with Murray I contacted his supervisor and told him to give Murray a raise. The moral of this story...? I'm not sure if there is one!! Website: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPDesignJet_Printers Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] List owner: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPDesignJet_Printers/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPDesignJet_Printers/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
