Welcome to Black Friday. Go support capitalism and buy something! If you hate crowds, just buy it online!
Oh, but I'd suggest against buying the Dell Photo AI0 Printer 942.
It works fine for awhile, but once I ran out of printer ink, the problem began. The first problem is that no one provides the ink for this printer but Dell. So if you want replacement cartridges, you must buy them from Dell -- this means they can charge whatever they want.
The next problem came when I actually installed the cartridge that I had to buy from Dell. The printer goes out of it's way to let you know when the ink is low. Every time you try and print, the software stops you to let you know you're out of ink.
The ONLY way to inform the printer that you've bought a new cartridge is to install the new ink cartridge. So I did. And the printer doesn't believe it's a new cartridge. Therefore, any time I try and print, it tells me I'm out of ink and asks me if I really want to print.
After searching all on-line and included help files, there is apparently NO way to force the printer to understand it has a new cartridge. I've installed and re-installed the cartridge about 20 times now, all with the same result.
So, either Dell shipped me an empty cartridge, or the printer will not recognize the cartridge made by the same manufacturer. Either way, it's a piece of crap that I suggest you avoid.
1
Thanks for the heads up. I've been thinking about getting a photo printer. I'll avoid this one.
Posted by: mulligan at November 25, 2005 11:07 AM (6RU55)
2
NOW he tells me!
I've had a 942 for several months and it has worked well, but it's been in storage pending my move for awhile and I never got to the end of the ink cartridge. Whew!
I like dell's products a lot, I just bought an Inspiron 600m like mine and a 700m as gifts for a couple of people, along with their newer AIO printer, the 920 something, for both people.
That said, I hate actually dealing with them by phone, even Gold tech support, because their tech support people mostly suck and every time you deal with them for anything, no matter how small and simple an issue, it involves being on the phone forever. Also, their sales people obviously read from scripts and few of those I've dealt with have had any product knowledge.
Luckily, I have recently reestablished contact with a friend who works for Dell in Texas, and she told me to call her if I have any problems, admitting that most of the people at Dell who deal with customers don't even remotely belong in their jobs.
It's possible I can relay your problem to her, and she may be able to come up with a solution.
Posted by: Seth at November 25, 2005 11:53 AM (LAny6)
3
That would be great. This could be just my printer, certainly, but I can't find any documentation or any way to resolve the problem. It's not worth the hours and hours of time on the phone with the tech support, because I know exactly what that will be like, and I know the odds of them actually solving my problem are very, very low. Thanks in advance if you find anything for me!
As a side note, I liked the printer and it worked well. I just can't find a way past this problem and there's no apparent way to override the sensor in the printer -- or they really did ship me an empty print cartridge...
Posted by: Ogre at November 25, 2005 05:23 PM (uSCkp)
4
I'll get a hold of her and ask her about it over the weekend.
The one thing that's cool about that AIO printer is that no matter where you put it, living room, garage or bathroom, it immediately makes the room look like an office, LOL.
Posted by: Seth at November 25, 2005 08:40 PM (w7wka)
5
Like I say, it was great up until the point where I needed a new cartridge. I didn't like that I couldn't just run to Staples and grab one, and I don't like the fact that the damn thing cannot even recognize a cartridge by the manufacturer, NOR does it have a way to manually tell it that it's a new cartridge!
Posted by: Ogre at November 25, 2005 10:44 PM (uSCkp)
6
I remember when I bought a Lexmark printer about four years ago and learned very quickly why it was so cheap -- it reminded me of a comped dinner in a casino(wow, they gave me a free prime rib dinner, and it only cost me $8,000.00!), except that Lexmark's angle, rather than gambling, was the cost of their ink.
As soon as I realized their racket, the printer found a new home in the garage and was replaced by a Canon.
Posted by: Seth at November 26, 2005 08:38 PM (w7wka)
7
I had a Lexmark awhile back -- it was actually cheaper to buy an entire new printer ($60) at Walmart than to buy replacement printer cartridges for that thing! (And yes, I did. At least twice).
Posted by: Ogre at November 26, 2005 08:40 PM (uSCkp)
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