HP Officejet Pro 8500A Plus e-All-in-One (A910g)

Pros: Fast Machine

Cons: Bad Firmware
Issues with Fax and Scans

Summary: I purchased a HP OfficeJet Pro 8500A All-In-One Printer on March 12, 2011 from Staples. The deal at the time is they would give you $50 for your old printer if you purchase a new HP printer like the one that I bought. The initial price at the time was on sale for $179.98 minus the $50 they gave you for the trade to bring the price down to $129.98. Seemed like a great deal?. NOT.

Since I purchased this item I have had nothing but problems. The major issue is that it goes into sleep mode and it will not wake up unless you unplug the power from it and plug it back in. It is a wireless printer on a network and I can't be unplugging and replugging it in all the time to get it going. Once you do that it also takes several minutes while it goes through a system test mode. In addition the fax system would not work properly and it would try to send in a page that was not there and then the fax would fail because it thought there was a paper jam when there wasn't. Even when you scan it wants to send in a page that you do not have, which causes and extra blank page to come up on your screen.

I contacted their customer service center and they had me download software but it did not correct the problem. On 4/14/2011 I emailed their CEO, and gave them all the issues I had with my printer. They then put me in contact with John D a service rep. John D. had me download new firmware that seemed to correct the fax issue but not the other issues. They then informed me that there is a firmware issue with some of these machines but it has not been resolved. He said he will send me a refurbished machine to replace my new machine. I was not happy about this. Regardless, I did the exchange and spent more of my valuable time getting this machine set up.

Again I had the same exact issues as the old printer. I contacted John D, HP customer service and he had me push buttons on the screens to get it to open up to a special screen that consumers can't get to unless they know the secret sequence, to reset some parameters. No matter what I did, my machine would not go to those screens. Therefore, John said they had no choice but to buy back my printer. On 5/26/2011 I faxed them a copy of my receipt so that they could refund my $179.98 + $7.80 tax for a total of $187.78.

On 6/5/2011 I send John D. the customer service representative I was dealing with and letter asking what they are going to do since I never heard back. On 6/8/2011, I wrote to their CEO again and wanted to know about my issue with Case #7501925397. They called me and left a message to call them at 1-800-756-0708 option 7 and assigned me a Case #8049441207. I contacted them and they put me back with John D. John informed me he would only pay me $129.98 and not the $50 for the Printer they bought and recycled, because he said my printer is being treated like a coupon. Staple's sends them back to HP. Therefore, I feel I am not getting a good deal. If they buy back the printer they will only send me back $129.98 of my money and now I am out my old printer which I can't get back. It is like trading in your old car for a new car that turns out to be a lemon, and then the company buys back your lemon car but they don't pay you for your trade. They are treating my old printer like a coupon and it is not.

After talking with John D, he said he wants to send me a $75 gift card for their HP store in exchange for my Printer. Sounds like a good deal but the same printer is now $199.99. Therefore, if I use the $122.98 plus the $75.00 can only buy the same printer which has firmware problems or a less expensive printer which doesn't have the same options that I want. To be truthful I don't want another HP printer ever again. If I repurchase the same printer and it doesn't work they will only give me a gift card for HP. I am now stuck with HP for a long time dealing with their issues.

All I am asking is for my $187.78 which includes tax, which is what I paid for it. I really would like a class action lawsuit filed against HP because they should not be selling Printers in the USA that have defective firmware. I am not talking software, I am talking firmware. This is so unfair to consumers and a total rip off. Trading in old equipment is not a good deal in this instance. I could have sold it at a flea market and made some money on it.