Brand new printer on the fritz

A couple of months ago I almost bought a printer for my little MacBook set-up I have upstairs. All my photo stuff is still in my, gasp, PC studio downstairs, including my Epson Photo Stylus 900 printer. It’s so slow that if I print a larger than 4X6 print I can literally go upstairs and make my lunch, and by that time the print will be almost done. I’ve been wanting a new photo printer for a while but the Epson 1800 is a little out of my budget for right now, and besides, I really need one for upstairs.

I thought of a three-in-one model so I would have flexibility in my little MacBook corner. I was in Staples in December. They had some real cheap deals on a few HP’s and Epson’s that would have sufficed. But I was going to Macworld in just a few short weeks. Why not wait to see what’s there and then make a decision.

At the show I made my way to the Epson display and checked out their wares. I finally lit on what I thought would be perfect for my needs: Epson RX680, a three-in-one unit that uses six seperate great inks (Claria HD ink), accepts memory cards, including the XD I use in my Fuji 550, and memorizes the jobs done and the jobs waiting to be done. And it’s fast. It’s a $200 unit and I got it for $167 which included Tennessee’s sales tax. I bought it right there at the show. The unit was shipped to my house in a matter of two days. Yes, it was there the day after I got home from the show. What service.

After setting the unit up and installing all the software I ran the test to see if it would work. My first print off my MacBook…I’m so proud. It worked! The page said…”you have successfully installed your new Epson RX680. Congratulations….” Then I tried out the scanner and printed that page out. It worked! I love it when things work, don’t you?

I shut the printer off and went to work. When I got home I thought I’d run this baby through its paces. I turned it on. the monitor said “printer error. Turn off printer and turn on again.” Off it went. Then on, waited for it, but again, same error message. This happened a few more times before i got on Epson’s site to trouble-shoot my new purchase.

I went through all the steps the site suggested until the last step which said if your printer still doesn’t work you need to call this number. 562-276-4382. I wrote it down and gave up for the day.

The next day I called Epson and they gave me to a lovely help-line lady, Carla, who walked me through a few more trials. No dice. This thing was not going to cooperate. She said she was sorry but there’s nothing more they could do but send me a new one.

I offered to send the old (first) one back but she said not to bother. You mean I can keep it? Yes, they don’t want it back. Now that should give you an indication of how cheap these things are to make.

A couple of days later my new “second” RX680 arrived. I took it in the house.

Before unpacking the printer I thought I’d try to fix the first one. I had nothing to lose. I took it apart just a little to check out the innards. There was a wire bundle sort of dangling which would touch the inside feeder tray whenever the machine was churning its way to the “on” position. I moved the bundle out of the way. I turned it on and, lo and behold, the damned thing worked. It’s still working. I haven’t even unpacked the new one they sent.

I decided I would use this one for a while and then give it to a friend who needs one but has little money. Someone suggested that I should do the “right thing” and send it the new one back to Epson. I don’t think so. Not because I want two for the price of one. But because if it failed once, it’ll fail again and next time I may not be so lucky. If I give it away, even if it works for only a few weeks it’s FREE.

So I’m hanging on to this for another week or so before letting it go. I’ll put it through its paces before I let it go. Then I’ll set up the new one and hope that one works.

But for Epson’s part, a rousing THANK YOU for the great customer service. It’s something that’s becoming more scarce these days and it sure is a comforting feeling to know that they care enough to do what they need to do to satisfy their customers.