HP Repair centre in SA are a ripoff.

AstroTurf

AstroTurf

Lucky Shot
Joined
May 13, 2010
Messages
32,197
Reaction score
6,229
Want to charge me R2500 more than I paid for a printer to repair it.

I can get the equivalent printer (currently in production) for R2000 less.

Of course I have to pay in R200 for the quote, this makes me think the local HP are not actually repairing any printers and are just giving stupid charges so they can collect the R200 for no work done.

What is canon's support like? in SA, what printer manufacturer should I go with?

This will end up costing HP around R50, 000 to R80, 000 in toners we buy each year.
 
canon is the same.. even epson.. so live with it.. don't bother fixing printers, unless under waranty.. ranther just replace. even the printers are cheaper than the ink sometimes...
 
Last edited:
Went and did some googling, Can buy the parts for less than half (including customs and delivery) of what they want to charge me.
 
AstroTurf said:
Went and did some googling, Can buy the parts for less than half (including customs and delivery) of what they want to charge me.
Click to expand...

Yes, but they also charge a high labour rate.

Just throw it away, it always works out better (unless it's a fuse !).
 
Printer ink is more expensive than oil

oil $78.51 = R 584.89 /barrel 158.98 litres
printer ink = R 229.00 / 10ml (retail - Incredible Connection HP C8727A #27) therefore, apples for apples, 158.98 litres of ink = R 3 663 542.00 / barrel

HP printers to HP are what burgers are to Macdonalds. The real business of Macdonalds is not burgers but real estate. And motivational speakers -- not in the business of motivational speaking but selling books.. cheeky hey!
 
ink is nearly as expensive as gold then hehe

its freaky to think how a company can make this much money from such a common resource (to my knowledge)

What do you guys think about the contracts that Gestetner and Minolta gives, aparently they give you a printer and you pay them a contract fee like GSM networks + the papers u printed..
 
if your printer is under warrantee take it to the agents...
If it is not , then take it to a smaller independent repair company.
Their quotes are either free or seldom cost more than R100.
Repairs (using original parts) are cheaper too.
 
ChilliGirl said:
If it is not , then take it to a smaller independent repair company.
Their quotes are either free or seldom cost more than R100.
Repairs (using original parts) are cheaper too.
Click to expand...

Agree. There used to be a company called RePrinterPair in Centurion who were excellent. I say were as I can't find them on Google :(

[edit]
I lied
[/edit]
 
Last edited:
solo7 said:
canon is the same.. even epson.. so live with it.. don't bother fixing printers, unless under waranty.. ranther just replace. even the printers are cheaper than the ink sometimes...
Click to expand...

This is so true!

Replace rather than repair (unless it is under warranty)
 
Jola said:
Yes, but they also charge a high labour rate.

Just throw it away, it always works out better (unless it's a fuse !).
Click to expand...

The price is for the part alone, labour is extra.
 
HP Repair lost my HP DLP projector. I'm getting the run-around from the staff and will actually be filing a case of theft against them with the SAPS shortly. Just waiting for reply from HP CEO first.
 
I agree with the OP. They are the biggest bunch of crooks around. Bought a HP 19'' LCD a few years ago - paid about R3500 for it then. Not long after the warranty lapsed it didn't want to switch on one morning. Sent it to HP repair centre. After waiting several weeks for an answer, I was advised that the repair would be R10 500.00!!!!. After a serious fight they acknowledged that these screens can not be repaired due to HP never manufacturing spares (The internal power supply failed) for these screens and that a new screen is a nice round R10 000.00 and they are adding R500 for 'SERVICE" !!!!!! But if I don't accept the 'quote' they are still charging me R350 for not accepting it. After I explained to the manager the concept and legal implications of extortion and racketeering he suddenly decided that he would be most forthcoming and not charge me any fee. Needles to say - I haven't bought an HP product since then - not even for a client. And just of the top of my head that includes numerous laptops, printers, scanners, etc which previously would most likely have been HP. HP SA should realise that service is important.
 
AstroTurf said:
Want to charge me R2500 more than I paid for a printer to repair it.

I can get the equivalent printer (currently in production) for R2000 less.

Of course I have to pay in R200 for the quote, this makes me think the local HP are not actually repairing any printers and are just giving stupid charges so they can collect the R200 for no work done.

What is canon's support like? in SA, what printer manufacturer should I go with?

This will end up costing HP around R50, 000 to R80, 000 in toners we buy each year.
Click to expand...

HP repair center's are a ripoff indeed. But most of the time what they do is just hand you another repaired unit and fix your broken machine in their time. I never send repairs to them because of their "quote rejection fee's", which is the same as Incredible connection.

What machine is it so btw? And what issues are you having with the machine?

canon is the same.. even epson.. so live with it.. don't bother fixing printers, unless under waranty.. ranther just replace. even the printers are cheaper than the ink sometimes...
Click to expand...

That's not always true... We are the Canon warranty center in our town for the smaller printer range, and when a machine is under warranty, we obviously repair, or swopout under warranty. If not under warranty, rejection fee is R 65.00. So don't generalize.

As Chilligirl said though, take it to a smaller independant company. They're not always out to rip you a new one.
 
It's a HP CLJ 3600

We actually had it at a smaller place first and they sent it to HP as they could not source the parts.

It basically had 3 issues.

It was printing but Bitmap/raster prints some of the white areas would print magenta.
it was fading slightly to the edges of full size prints.
It had very feint lines running down the page.

The only real issue far as I am concerned was the magenta instead of white but mentioned the rest to them so that it could all be fixed while the printer was away.


It was printing eps/vector drawings without an issue.
 
AstroTurf said:
It's a HP CLJ 3600

We actually had it at a smaller place first and they sent it to HP as they could not source the parts.

It basically had 3 issues.

It was printing but Bitmap/raster prints some of the white areas would print magenta.
it was fading slightly to the edges of full size prints.
It had very feint lines running down the page.

The only real issue far as I am concerned was the magenta instead of white but mentioned the rest to them so that it could all be fixed while the printer was away.


It was printing eps/vector drawings without an issue.
Click to expand...

What components did they say was faulty? Are you using a PCL or PS driver? Tried changing between them?

I don't see how a component on the machine can accept one type of print job and print fine, where another job it wont print correctly. Unless this machine does ALL the job conversion, which i am quite sure it doesn't. The driver converts your image to either post script (PS) or Printer Command Language (PCL) for the machine to "understand".

Looking at that machine it's the same principles or build as the old 1600's where as the Magenta laser and optics sits at the bottom of the machine. This would cause a buildup on the optics and cause the magenta to fade or print "erratically". This can sometimes be fixed by stripping the machine down and cleaning the optics and laser unit. It's not always successful so the machine sometimes stays the same afterward.

Try the printer on another pc, install an updated driver etc. Make sure its not your pc first. It's a bit hard for me to troubleshoot over a forum but hope this helps the slightest.

ps. Have you been notified upfront of the rejection fee and signed that you accept to pay any such fee? If not, give them hell because they should be telling you all these things and let you sign.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X