Canon Repairs Cost More Than Item Bought

[Tango7]

I have a multi-function machine from Canon. It's an MP780 and was a very good machine until the black ink stopped printing. Colour worked, scanner, fax et al all worked but just the black.

The machine cost me roughly 8,000 Baht about 3 - 4 years ago and it's had very light usage and been treated with much love and effection and so to get it back to perfect health I took it to Canon HQ at Bangkok City Tower and left it with them.

The next day I received a call telling me the repair... just for making the black ink work...... would be 17,000 Baht !!

The latest, top model, home / small office multi-function costs half that !! When I pointed this out, I was told I could buy the new one at special price because my old one was broken.

Is this some kind of lame method of making people buy Canon products ? - Buy a Canon and if it breaks out of warranty, pay double the initial cost to repair it or buy a new one cheap.

I am now the proud owner of a new HP OfficeJet J6480 All-IN-One and it's lovely. Smaller than the Canon and works a treat.

Edited March 3, 2009 by Tango7

[ukrules]

It's not just Canon that do this, try buying a replacement print head for an Epson R1800, they cost about £350, about the same price as the original printer. That's just for the spare part with no fitting and testing, etc.

[dsfbrit]

It's not just Canon that do this, try buying a replacement print head for an Epson R1800, they cost about £350, about the same price as the original printer. That's just for the spare part with no fitting and testing, etc.

Agreed its not just Canon - had the same problem with Lexmark 'all in one'. I dumped it and decided in future to buy the equipment separately. It may seem a good idea to buy an 'all in one' device, but you lose one bit and it all tends to be of no use.

I now have a separate Canon Scanner and an Epson printer.

[PhilHarries]

Agreed its not just Canon - had the same problem with Lexmark 'all in one'. I dumped it and decided in future to buy the equipment separately. It may seem a good idea to buy an 'all in one' device, but you lose one bit and it all tends to be of no use.

I now have a separate Canon Scanner and an Epson printer.

That is precisely why I prefer single function equipment items. These multi function machines might be very economic on space etc but if it needs repair you are totally stuffed.

As for the OP's complaint about the cost this has always, well for as long as I recall, been the way. I think it was back in the 1970's they checked out the relative cost of buying a new car from the showroom versus building the whole thing from the individual parts bought separate. The kit built option was many times more expensive than the showroom option just on the cost of the parts without taking into account assembly manhour cost.

[Tango7]

I had to buy the all-in-one for space reasons.

I knew repairs can be pricey but 17,000 Baht....

If all companies do the same thing, is there any merit in the thought that it's a policy of sorts to get people to dump old equipment and buy the latest ?

[ignis]

I had to buy the all-in-one for space reasons.

I knew repairs can be pricey but 17,000 Baht....

If all companies do the same thing, is there any merit in the thought that it's a policy of sorts to get people to dump old equipment and buy the latest ?

No idea now but it was always as cheap to buy a new printer in the UK than to buy the Brand name ink refills.. likewise forget about a repair as was cheaper to buy new..

I bought 4 years ago here a Canon IP3000, very good printer, then it had a problem would not always print, kept saying the tray door was closed, the problem was a micro switch, yet a new one fitted cost the same as my new Canon IP3500, so of course I have a new printer.

No idea if it is the Policy, but it mostly works as cheap to 'dump old equipment and buy the latest'

Edited March 3, 2009 by ignis

[PhilHarries]

Of course it could be that with the whole printer they are shipping hundreds at a time in containers thus the shipping costs are low and spread over a large number of units. For individual replacement parts they may well have no stock in country so each one is an individual order requiring special handling and air freight.

Just a thought on why it should be so expensive but not really eco-responsible encouraging people to be part of the "throw away society".

[Tango7]

Well, it's all a bit of a mute point as I've now bought an HP, but it's interesting how the economics of this work out.

[Thanh-BKK]

Hi

Speaking of HP..... my office used to (!) have two HP PSC-1315 all-in-one which BOTH developed the precise same problem as the OP's machine - they would no longer print in black, even though that model has the print heads on the cartridges.... something wrong with the electronics inside respective (most likely) some cable.

And same scenario - fixing the machine would cost quite a bit more than an equal, new, machine!

I have one of them at my place now because it works excellent as a scanner (fully supported by Linux!) only as by now it doesn't print anymore at all.

And don't get me started with ink cartridges..... new printers come with "test" cartridges that are 25% filled and one set of cartridges cost slightly MORE than the entire printer. This is the norm, not the exception, all brands do it. And machines with more functions (hence expensive, such as our current "Brother" all-in-one) employ nasty tricks to get the user to spend money - this thing runs a "cleaning" procedure twice a day even if not in use AND POWERED DOWN (!!!!!) and naturally the ink cartridges are empty every couple of weeks - despite it not being used at all.

I have modified them by drilling a hole in the top of each one and refill them with the cheapest replacement ink i can get hold of in liter-bottles..... the one time a month that thing is used to print something this will do (it serves mostly as a scanner and a fax machine, only if the laser runs out of toner and something needs printing urgently it also prints).

Best regards.....

Thanh

[katana]

I bought an Epson ink jet a while back and ran it on compatible ink cartridges when I saw how expensive the originals were. It runs ok on these. Finally after a few years it gave some error and refused to work which a Google search revealed to be a counter that needs resetting and a pad needing cleaning inside. Was able to take it apart myself and do it from the instructions and software on Google. Managed to break off a tab on the case and almost not able to put it together again but finally got it working again.

I think a lot of electrical products nowadays are cheaper to throw away than fix.

This software's quite good for Epsons.

http://www.ssclg.com/epsone.shtml

[Ping]

Unit prices of most goods now fall below repair costs in many cases. Many years ago, broken irons and toasters were sent for repair. Now they are replaced. As labour (repair) costs increase and automation and economies of scale continue to reduce product prices, more goods move into the range of being 'disposable' rather than 'repairable'. Middle to low end printers, digital cameras, video recorders, etc passed this threshold some time ago.

[offset]

I think that you will find they do not make much money on the sale of the printers it is on the replacement ink that they make most of there profit

[BSJ]

If its just the cost of ink cartridge replacement look for a bulk inking system. I bought one a couple of weeks ago and now due to fit it up.

It's pigmented ink equal or better than Epson's Claria ink (photo quality). Plus it's a he11 of a lot cheaper!

[fabianfred]

If its just the cost of ink cartridge replacement look for a bulk inking system. I bought one a couple of weeks ago and now due to fit it up.

It's pigmented ink equal or better than Epson's Claria ink (photo quality). Plus it's a he11 of a lot cheaper!

I was extremely happy with the Epson Durabrite resin ink my wife used in her studio over the last few years... prints hung outside in the sun and rain never faded a bit...... (like comparing oil paints to watercolours)...but these need to be used regularly or they'll dry up quicker than dye based inks

[Garry9999]

For lower end printers, sometimes it's actually cheaper to buy a whole new printer than replace the ink cartridges!

[astral]

Printers are a "give away" item.

The money is in the ink.

Since all the other bits work, just buy a cheap printer only and continue to use the scanner of the old machine.

[Seismic]

Printers are a "give away" item.

The money is in the ink.

Since all the other bits work, just buy a cheap printer only and continue to use the scanner of the old machine.

Agreed, since about 12 years ago Printers have become a disposable item. Check prices on new printers and check prices on "legitimate ink", you wil find that the cost of a new printer is quite small compared with the cost of ink supplies.