Epson America, Inc. Ordered Artisan 835, was sent Defective 830...Twice so far... Long Beach, California

23rd of Feb, 2013 by User864992

I ordered an Artisan 835 directly from the Epson Store online. What was sent to me was An Artisan which was labeled as an 835, but identifies itself on my network as an Artisan 830. I called the support line and was not able to get a coherent explanation as to the differences in the 2 models, yet was assured it is every bit as good as the 835. I let it go an just assumed some underpaid eight year old in Korea, China or Taiwan flashed the wrong ROM on my printer, but it seemed to be functional so, fine. Then after about 3 months the print head started to clog and no amount of head cleaning was going to make any difference. I know this because I went through more than 1 full cartridge of all 6 colors trying, so it was time to request an RMA. I should mention I bought this as a replacement for an Artisan 810 which suffered the same fate, clogged print head. I RMA'd the 810 3 times, before the warranty expired. Each time I called or emailed Epson support I was told the same thing, "You printer is out of warranty" This time was no exception. My 3 month old printer, which I purchased directly from Epson.com was listed as having been purchased more than a year ago within the Epson Database. I am just going to remind you that this exact same thing happened all 3 times I RMA'd my Artisan 810. Granted I purchased it from Best Buy not Epson directly. But I cannot claim to be a logical and reasonable human being AND claim that this must be a coincidence. All things being equal, the simplest explanation tends to be the correct explanation. This is a simple case of Epson dodging its responsibilities to their customers under the warranty agreement. You see in order for me to RMA the printers (all four times) I had to prove when I purchased them, EVEN the one I purchased directly from the company I was requesting the RMA from. Epson has not been able to get away with this in my case, I keep impeccable records in tangible as well as digital form. I can only guess at how many of their former customers have not been so fortunate.
Today the replacement that was sent to me for my Artisan 830 (which was supposed be an Artisan 835) has failed, again a clogged print head. I purchased the original Artisan 835 at the end of July 2012, today is February 24, 2013 and I am about to send it back for the second time. I also should mention, this printer, the Artisan 835 sent as a replacement, is also an Artisan 830. In anticipation of the rigamarole I am about to be subjected to before I will be granted an RMA for yet another defective Epson Artisan I felt it wise to share my story thus far in dealing with Epson America Inc. and their practices regarding their warranty obligations.

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Comments

3921 days ago by Cdawe

Epson used to produce great machines, but I suffered similar clogged head problems with my Artisan 810. Reports of this are plenty on the web, and apparently the Artisan 835 suffers the same kind of issues.

I don't even know if my printer printed much more than a ream and a half of paper, and the heads clogged on the 810. I called Epson, they told me that, of course, the printer was out of warranty. They suggested a place I could take it for service here in Newfoundland, Canada. So, I figure $20 in gas just to get there, plus the repair, etc., ... might cost more than the printer itself. I told them this. So, they gave me a $50 gift certificate to use at the Epson store. I told them that this was one gift certificate they had no worries of me ever using.

Eventually, I took the printer to that place, as I had a medical appointment in the city. They told me that those printers, when they were in warranty and needed service, were often given a direct exchange by Epson from the factory because the cost to repair it by another service group was cost prohibitive. They took a look at it anyways, flushed the head, and said that the print head needed to be replaced, but was not available.

What a bunch of idiots. Epson knew this already. They screw their customers with their crappy products with crappy warranty and then we're s.o.l.

Buy HP. They offered me an extended warranty out to 2 years. I'll never be buying Epson again.