Avoid the HP Officejet Pro L7780 All-in-One Printer Fax Copy Scanner

On April 27th, 2007, I bought an HP Officejet Pro L7780 All-in-one printer, fax, copier, scanner.

In the 25 years I’ve been involved with electronics and computers, this decision has led to, by far, the worst hardware and customer service experience I’ve ever had.

I hope to dissuade you from making the same hellish decision I made and spare you from the nightmare I’ve been living.

The following posts will tell the story

So, I ask the case manager if they’ll at least send me ink cartridges to replace all the ones I burned through while following their “testing” procedure.

They agree to send me the HP 88 XL (extra large) ink cartridges — Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black.

They send me the regular instead of the XL.

I fax them and tell them what they did. They call me and promise to correct the error.

They send another batch… to the wrong address (even though my correct address was in my account and on my fax).

I drive to Denver to pick up the package (the woman who got it opened it up so UPS wouldn’t return it).

ANOTHER batch of regular instead of XL!

I fax again, basically asking how far up their butts they must have their heads to screw up something as simple as this.

They finally send me the right HP 88 XL ink cartridges.

Of course, since they won’t support my printer any more, they’re ALL a waste.

So, check this out… after HP agrees to give me the MONEY to buy a new router, one that is compatible with their printer, and to send me some ink to replace all that I used in the repeated setups, I’m left with a printer that’s a lemon!

This is the 7th HP Officejet Pro L7780 All-in-One that they’ve sent me. The last 4 have been refurbs.

This one has problem with the paper feed, and it randomly goes offline for no apparent reason.

So, I call my case manager and ask him what to do, given that the refurb has a 90-day warranty.

He says, “We’re no longer supporting your printers.”

“WHAT?!”

“We’ve done everything we can and we’ve sent you 7 printers.”

“But,” I said, “you’ve only sent me 7 printers because you were pretending that the printer was the problem, when it was ALWAYS a firmware issue… now, I have an ACTUAL LEMON and you won’t fix the problem?!”

“Correct. We’ll buy the printer back from you.”

“Huh?”

“Send us the printer and a copy of the receipt and we’ll send you the purchase price… MINUS the tax.”

Can you say “You have got to be kidding?”

Seriously, this last L7780 printer HP sent is a dud. Here’s the latest:

The problem with the WRT54G is “fixed” (by getting a new router, which HP says they are reimbursing me for… once the check shows up and clears I’ll let you know if that happened).

Trying to install the software on 2 different computers, it will SOMETIMES install the FAX driver and sometimes not.

Then, after I got it installed, I’d see the drivers for the printer go offline for no reason. Then back online again for no reason.

Then I turned on my computer and there were, suddenly, NO DRIVERS listed in “Printers & Faxes.” None. Gone.

So, I reinstalled the drivers.

The printer driver installed just fine.

But after the install software added the FAX driver, 5 seconds later it added another. And then 5 seconds later, another… and another and another and another.

I rebooted my computer and when it turned on, every 5 seconds there was yet another FAX driver added.

Once again, I did a “Level 3 uninstall.”

And then I called HP who had VERY interesting (and by “interesting” I mean “Are you SERIOUS?!”) news…

In a nutshell, I would avoid this printer.

Read this blog to find out why.

I’ve probably wasted 2 weeks of my life dealing with the L7780 problems and the horrible tech support.

So, I have the router issue fixed, but HP has been sending me REFURBISHED printers every time they think that I need a new printer.

They’ve sent me 6, I believe.

Now, they never needed to send me ANY because the problem was a known FIRMWARE issue, not a problem with hardware. But, leaving that for a moment…

The last refurbished L7780  they sent me SUCKS! During setup, it kept eating paper… and it still will have paper jams, which I NEVER had in the year I owned the previous units they sent me.

And when I install the software, the Fax drivers will only intermittently install.

I need to do a “level 3 uninstall” and then reinstall the software to test this (which takes about 3 hours, total) and, each time I get a different result.

My suspicion is that, for the first time, there actually is a problem with this particular printer!

In other words, HP, by not revealing a known hardware incompatibility before, and often after, purchase… is essentially lying to consumers.

A couple months ago, I noticed that every page was coming out of the printer with a giant blue splotch on it.

I tried all the self-tests, alignment, cleaning, and everything else built in to the printer.

Per HP’s instructions, I installed a brand new cyan ink cartridge (the old one was still usable… until I replaced it!)

No difference.

The problem?

The printhead had, basically, exploded.

So, now I have 2 open cyan cartridges… I hope they don’t dry out (I put them in a plastic bag).

In this case, it seems likely that HP knew these things were a problem… because they instantly replaced it without my even asking.

Let me ask you a question:

If someone offers you something… anything… say, a new car, and the sticker price is $25,000… but you know a guy who owns a dealership and you can get the car for $10,000, what’s the value TO YOU of the car?

$10,000, right?

OF course.

So check this out:

HP Tech support says that if I go and buy a new router to replace the Linksys WRT54G, they’ll give me 2 sets of ink cartridges to make up for my trouble and expense.

They say that the value of their offer is over $200.

Except for this fact:

I’ve never paid more than $8 for an ink cartridge, sometimes less. So the value of their offer, to me, is about $60, which is LESS than the cost of a replacement router!

And when I point this out to them, they say they’re doing me a FAVOR!

A favor? Correct me if I’m mistaken, but:

1. The only reason they even NEED to offer me this favor is that they sell a printer with a KNOWN incompatibility, don’t list this issue on their website, don’t have any of their Level 1 support staff informed about it, and haven’t fixed the problem in over a year! and;
2. This doesn’t account for the set of ink cartridges I burned through going through the L7780’s setup, time and time again. And;
3. This does not even come CLOSE to making up for the DAYS AND DAYS of crap they’ve put me through — from needlessly moving my printer from room to room, as if “different electricity” would fix the problem, to making me un- and re-install their bloated software, which takes 1-2 hours each time (I’ve been asked to do it 3 times in the last week alone)

It amazes me when a company doesn’t grasp how inexpensive it can be to make an unhappy customer happy… and how expensive it can be to not make that small expenditure.

I think it’s time to get my lawyers involved.

When they revealed that the HP Officejet L7780 was not compatible with my router, the popular (sold on the HP website!) Linksys WRT54G, their solution:

“Buy another router.”

Excuse me?!

I just spent an extra $100 to get a printer with wireless networking and now I’m supposed to spend MORE MONEY to get DIFFERENT HARDWARE?

Are you insane?

My CELL PHONE can talk to the router… but this $500 printer can’t?!

WHAT?