MaxAssurance, Office Max, GE Zurich Warranty Management ripoff schemes victimized me Want me to replace parts myself to see if that's the problem victimized many consumers Louisville Kentucky

I don't know from where you take the information that a printhead which is not integrated into an inkcartridge is a "consumable", Matt ?

Sure, if the printhead and the inktank with the ink is one part, like in most printers, it is a conumable but if Xerox decides to design the printer the way that the printheads don't have to be changed every time when the inktanks are empty then they are not a "consumable". They just decided to categorize this $ 50 ($ 100 for both printheads) part as a "consumable" because it is convenient for them. The printhead is the most delicate and problematic part of an inkjet printer and until the 90s the manufacturers had not resolved the problems with clogging nozzles. I have had a HP and a Lexmark printer - their (consumable) printheads both showed the same problem of clogging nozzles because of the heat here in Arizona.

I was just wondering if soon other manufacturers who are not able to resolve technical problems come up with the "consumable" joke in order not to be responsible under warranty ? What about if a car manufacturer declares a transmission as a "consumable" if it blows every 5000 miles and tells the consumer: "You have to change the transmission with every other oil change..."

Just so you know printheads are a consumable. In most other printers the print head is replaced every time you purchase a new cartridge and is built into the new cartridge. Almost every HP printer is that way, and that is the type of printer I would buy, I currently own one. Yes they cost a little more, but when you are so cheap as to buy a printer like the one described you are going to have more cost during the life of the printer. When you purchase a printer ask the sales associate the following questions.

1. When you replace a cartridge does the new cartridge include a new inkhead.
2. What addition consumables will I expect to purchase during the life of the printer.
3. Cost per page of print! (There is a big difference between different printers)
Also a tip when you buy a printer, never buy it when it first comes out.

An example the HP5550 when it first came to office max about 6 months ago it retailed $149.99, now it is $99.99, and usually has a sale that will bring it down even more. Also printers are sold at cost or at a loss, so the less you pay for a printer the more you can expect to pay over the life of the machine. ie: print heads! and ink.

The printer companies have to make money somehow, and it is by dangling this cheap pretty printer in front of CHEAP consumers, and than have you tied into purchasing lots of consumables from only them.

And with the MaxAssurance I believe it states that print heads are not covered in the warrenty, that should be on the back of the contract you signed. Before buying any extended warrenty read the fine print, it will tell you about all the things that arn't covered.

And to finish Staples sells extended warrenties also, and probably that same printer, and Office Max doesn't use GE Zurich for their extended warrenties anymore.

I had the same printer, the same warranty from GE zurich and the same problem with the printheads.

Xerox told me the same bullcrap- that the printheads were not covered by their warranty because they are "consumables". I did not accept that and wrote a couple of angry letters to them. Inkcartridges are consumables because the ink is consumed. Paper is also a consumable but the printheads are a part of the printer, even if they don't last forever like any other part, they can't be categorized as consumables. Xerox's warranty description does not exclude the printheads and I talked to a technician who asked me to go to a certain place in the printers internal menu. I made a printout and it revealed how many pages I had printed with the printheads. I don't remember for how many pages the printheads are designed but my printheads had printed less than 10% of what they were designed for. After that Xerox acknowledged that the parts had a defect from the manufacturer and they sent me new ones without charging me. My advice: don't let them fool you - ask them to send you new printheads without charging you.