Hewlett Packard ripoff low quality junk peddled by human trash Internet

Fed up with Microtek, I decided to purchase a Hewlett Packard 4470c scanner back in 2002.

I thought it was odd that the scanner did not have a head lock on it. Every other brand of scanner I've purchased or have worked with (I work in IT) has such a lock, to prevent the scan head banging around inside the scanner during transport.

But I tried it out.

The scanner worked for 8 months before it started developing a problem at higher resolutions: It would magically scan in imaginary purple or green lines that don't exist on the original photograph or negative.

Fortunately, I had an extended warranty via the chain I bought the scanner from.

I sent that in, but couldn't wait so I bought a HP 5500C scanner back in July of 2003.

From day 1, I had problems with the ADF. Half the time it jams photographs at the entry point. And consistently, when it releases a photograph, it returns a "jammed" error code to the computer. For this I merely remove the photograph before the sensor thinks there's a jam (there is no jam...) But I had let it slide.

Not 6 months later and its negative/slide TMA unit fails. The scanner keeps bombing out with error 22. From what little documentation that exists, this error 22 states the TMA module is bad. No, the module is not bad. I can see it light up during the "lamp is warming up" phase.

I also noted that between the time I bought the scanner and now, multiple retailers have lowered the price of the scanner. It was $299 but eventually got down to $199. That's usually the sign they want to get rid of the junk.

Unless this is a lot of bad luck, HP makes junk. Overpriced junk. Their products always seem to cost more and getting less in return, with about the same level of quality.

Worst of all is its CEO, who I won't name because that person isn't worthy of recognition of any sort, who basically attacked American workers recently, saying it's not a god given right to have a job. Well, I hope the CEO's job isn't an exception from her list of American people. Isn't it nice of Americans in power telling the rest of us off, essentially because the jobs they're outsourcing save them a few pennies, which you know won't result in lower prices or higher quality equipment?!

Toodles to you HP. At first I was just annoyed. These days, I'm sickened.

Customer
Woodbury, Minnesota
U.S.A.