Arthur Entlich said:
OK, let's see if I have this correct...
You are stating that the head is not a consumable in Canon printers,
meaning, I suspect, that it is considered part of the durable hardware.
Yet, unlike the rest of the printer, the head has a limited lifespan which
is considerably shorter than the rest of the printer, and "oddly" the part
is one of the few "user serviceable" parts (sort of like Canon knew it
would fail before the rest of the printer).
This is not true. If the Encoder or NCU Board fails in a printer, does that
mean they to have a "limited lifespan which is considerably shorter than the
rest of the printer"?, no it only means a PART failed prematurely. Also,
just because it is user servicable, does not make it a consumable. An oil
filter or headlamp on your car are easily user serviceable and are
considered consumables, while a distributor cap or a starter would be
considered 'parts' yet they are both also "user serviceable". Whether you
choose to take the printer to a service center and verify the issue is the
printhead and install it for you or excercise your mechanical expertise and
drop it in yourself does not change waht it is...a part.
You keep on harping about warranty. I'm sorry but few of us buy a product
assuming the item will fail as soon as the warranty ends.
I drive a 25 year old car. It's been out of warranty for at least 20 of
those years, and it still works. None of the parts I've put into it cost
anywhere near the original cost of the car, in fact, considerably less.
I also have a number of Epson printers that are between 5 and 9 years old,
and they still work. They came with a one or two year warranty, depending
upon the model.
No one said you should expect it to fail as soon as the warranty ends, but
at the same time you can not generalize and say because yours did fail, that
it was by design! Happy to hear you got more than your money's worth out of
your car and your Epson printers. I myself had a 6 year old BJC-610 which
was 4 years out of warranty and still working like a champ that I recently
donated to a local animal rescue shelter. I also have a few other Canon
printers (several years old and well out of warranty) that still work as
well as the day I bought them. I have purchased more computer eqipment than
I can remember since the early 80's and have actually had a hard drive or
two and a motherboard die just out of warranty, certainly didn't expect them
to rewrite their warranty cause they failed.
If the head on Canon printers is failing "prematurely" perhaps Canon needs
to rewrite their warranty. Perhaps they need to give the head a special
and longer warranty, or perhaps you can understand why someone who had the
head of his printer fail, which costs a large percentage of the new value
of the printer, only a few months after the warranty expired, might be
just a bit annoyed with the product and company, and may choose to avoid
the product in the future.
See the part of the discussion about failures vs units sold. Every
manufacture will see premature failure of printheads, stepper-motors, pinch
rollers or some other part. It is the nature of mass produced products. You
can not test every piece and even if you did, you simply could not catch
every flaw. Now unless you are looking at a large percentage of failed units
you would not make a major change and if you did it certainly would not be
to rewrite your warranty as you suggest. I would certainly retool and
improve my product before simply adapting the warranty to meet the failures.
And should the problem become endemic, regardless of if it occurs after
the one year warranty, it may only be through the pressure of people who
feel shortchanged to make Canon respond to "do the right thing".
Well when it becomes epidemic be sure to let everyone know. And when it
does, I am sure Canon (or any other company) would in fact "do the right
thing". Problem is that it is not epidemic and while it certainly may suck
if something breaks out of warranty, it is something that you just learn to
deal with. The OP's item was 4 months out of warranty, lets say they fix it
for him free of charge, what do they then tell the guy that is 5 months out?
....6 months out .... 7 months out ....8 months out?
Now, I am not stating that Canon heads will widely fail prematurely, but
stating that because they have failed outside of the warranty makes it OK,
doesn't resolve a potential problem. If every brand XYZ car engine failed
within 6 years (a year out of warranty, let's say, for instance) you
better believe a lot of people would stay far away from them. In fact,
one brand which had a bad record for their build, redesigned their cars
and extended their warranties from bumper to bumper on their cars to try
to regain trust.
No one said it is "OK" when a product (Canon or any other) fails just a
little out of warranty, in fact I will tell you it SUCKS! It also does not
indicate a potential problem unless a large percentage are failing. Would I
give a call and try and sweet talk a replacement out of the manufacture?,
Maybe depending on the circumstances. If they did not replace my out of
warranty item would they become the scum of the manufacturing world?
Certainly not. Its called Bad luck, S**t happens, deal with it and move on.
As for your sample scenario, all I can say is bad example as you are saying
"If EVERY brand XYZ car engine failed within 6 years", this would imply ALL
or a VERY large percentage and that is not the case here.
You should also be aware that consumer law varies in different states and
countries regarding "sale of goods" legislation. You've probably noticed
that every warranty states something like "Your rights may differ" or
"Your state/country may not allow for these exceptions or exclusions".
What that means is that some places legislate that the warranty is not the
be all - end all legal document. For instance, in my province in Canada,
the sale of goods act states that a product should remain functional for
the purpose for which it was manufactured for a "reasonable time period"
that an average person would expect, based upon the value of the
investment and what is typical for similar products made by other
manufacturers. In England, something that could be classified as a
manufacturer's design defect may have an extension of the warranty
required.
So, this is not a cut and dry situation, as much as you may wish it to be
so.
Very cut and dry and I am well aware of warranty regulation from state to
state and country to country. Think "frequency" and "intent" and you may
realize it is also not quite the wide spread or complex legal issue that you
would like to think it is.
