Credit where credit is due-Thank you, Canon!

[Rob Reiter]

Several months ago I began to have a problem with the right head on my iPF 8300. With two weeks left on the warranty, Canon overnighted a new head to me and I was up and running less than 24 hours after discovering the problem.

I doubted my luck would hold out for the left head and sure enough, it lasted until yesterday, after 11,000 sq. ft. of prints, when faint banding started appearing in solid blacks on matte paper. Several light and one deep head cleaning and a firmware upgrade failed to solve the issue. I reported everything to Canon tech support, read off the the head serial numbers and some error messages I had gotten, and as I suspected, it was time to replace the left head. What  didn't expect, three months past the end of my warranty, was the tech support guy's next sentence, "How about I send you a new head as a courtesy? It will go out today and you should have it tomorrow."

Replacement heads cost about $350-400 for this printer, a price I think is well worth it since I never experience any head clogs and related down time and wasted prints like I did on my older non-Canon printers-well, at least until the head dies  ;-). All my tech support needs on this and my original 8100 printer have handled promptly and in exemplary fashion. But this experience just sweetens the pot.

Thank you, Canon!

[Mark D Segal]

This is not only a good story about support, but also about the head-cost issue. If you got 11,000 sq. ft. on a pair of heads worth 800 dollars it works out to little over 7 cents per sq . ft., which in the grand scheme of things is not much.

[deanwork]

Yes think of all the time and headache you saved by just putting in a roll of media and never having to think about removing it due to the hassle of doing nozzle checks.  To me that is worth the price of 4 heads at least.

Several months ago I began to have a problem with the right head on my iPF 8300. With two weeks left on the warranty, Canon overnighted a new head to me and I was up and running less than 24 hours after discovering the problem.

I doubted my luck would hold out for the left head and sure enough, it lasted until yesterday, after 11,000 sq. ft. of prints, when faint banding started appearing in solid blacks on matte paper. Several light and one deep head cleaning and a firmware upgrade failed to solve the issue. I reported everything to Canon tech support, read off the the head serial numbers and some error messages I had gotten, and as I suspected, it was time to replace the left head. What  didn't expect, three months past the end of my warranty, was the tech support guy's next sentence, "How about I send you a new head as a courtesy? It will go out today and you should have it tomorrow."

Replacement heads cost about $350-400 for this printer, a price I think is well worth it since I never experience any head clogs and related down time and wasted prints like I did on my older non-Canon printers-well, at least until the head dies  ;-). All my tech support needs on this and my original 8100 printer have handled promptly and in exemplary fashion. But this experience just sweetens the pot.

Thank you, Canon!

[wolfnowl]

There's an old saying, "When I do something right, nobody notices.  When I do something wrong, everybody notices."

Thanks for sharing this, Rob!

Mike.

[Rob Reiter]

Well, this is truly frustrating-after having lauded Canon here for there great support of my iPF 8300 print head issue, to be honest I also have to report that after three weeks, they still have not shipped that head to me. "Out of Stock" delivery date unknown. This for a major part for their top of the line printer. Sheese!

[BarbaraArmstrong]

Is this part of the production problems in Japan after the tsunami?

[Rob Reiter]

Canon tech support couldn't confirm that. Other Canon dealers here have heads in stock, but not the company itself. Go figure.

Is this part of the production problems in Japan after the tsunami?

[Randy Carone]

Tell Canon to ship it from one of the distributors who have it in stock because your business is shutdown.

[A.Garcia]

Canon ipf's heads are crap. They fail as dogs as soon as warranty is over, no matter how much you print with them.

[Rob Reiter]

Canon's replacement head finally arrived yesterday. Fortunately, I was able to get one from my excellent local Canon dealer, ImageTech, the day after the head first failed. They "loaned" me one and patiently waited for the replacement to come, which I returned to them yesterday.

This is the first blip I've had in four years of Canon service. I certainly don't think there heads are "crap." I print primarily rag papers, known for creating dust. The heads have lasted about as long as they are warrantied to. If A. Garcia had read my original post, he would have seen that in this case, even after the head was out of warranty, they replaced it free of charge, without my even asking them to.

I don't expect perfection from anyone, and although the delay in getting a replacement head from Canon would have been a problem had I not been able to procure one through their dealership, the net result couldn't have been better. I lost no production time or business.

Tell Canon to ship it from one of the distributors who have it in stock because your business is shutdown.

[Darrel]

What was the total ink consumed before requiring head replacement? 

[Rob Reiter]

I don't think there is a way to get an exact usage count, but based on the number of ink cartridges used since purchase in spring of 2010, it was close to or maybe over the 4000 ml warranty. The other head was replaced under warranty (barely) after a clog that was probably related to several head strikes against the edges of wavy Japanese papers I had been experimenting with.

What was the total ink consumed before requiring head replacement? 

[Mike Sellers]

I don`t understand how they can "loan" a printhead. If you put it in one side it will be filled with those colors so what if the next person installs it on the other side-it will have the wrong colors in it. Is it just a question of doing enough head cleanings to purge the wrong colors out of the head? I need a new left head on my 8100 and there is a used head on ebay so was just wondering how this could work.
Mike

[KenBabcock]

I don't think Rob meant he was returning the loaned print head.  What he meant was his local Canon distributor gave him the head with the promise he gave back the new head Canon sent him when he received it.

They gave him a new one off the shelf.  He returned a brand new one back.

[Shark_II]

I don`t understand how they can "loan" a printhead. If you put it in one side it will be filled with those colors so what if the next person installs it on the other side-it will have the wrong colors in it. Is it just a question of doing enough head cleanings to purge the wrong colors out of the head? I need a new left head on my 8100 and there is a used head on ebay so was just wondering how this could work.
Mike

Um, not what he meant.

The company gave him a replacement head with the assurance that he would give them the new head from Canon when it arrived.

Until installation, the new printheads are universal... they do not care which side you put them on.  After installation, they are coded for the side used.   You cannot then switch them.

Tom

[Rob Reiter]

"Loaned" was not quite the right word. As others suggested, I did return the unused head from Canon as soon as it arrived, to my dealer as a replacement for the head I got from him.

I don`t understand how they can "loan" a printhead. If you put it in one side it will be filled with those colors so what if the next person installs it on the other side-it will have the wrong colors in it. Is it just a question of doing enough head cleanings to purge the wrong colors out of the head? I need a new left head on my 8100 and there is a used head on ebay so was just wondering how this could work.
Mike

[Clearair]

Do tell as I have an iPF6100 for two years now with no hiccups. Mix of printing and sometimes long idle periods.
However,I do leave it switched on for it's self grooming cycles, ha ha.
Should I be running for the hills??

[Jozef Zajaz]

Good reading here!

I've had my ipf for about two months. I bought it as a demo unit from a local dealer for about half what it cost new. There was about 60-70% left of the original heads.

A couple of weeks ago I got the replace head error. Did some cleaning shut it off as told and error reappeared. After 3 cleaning and turning off it worked perfectly again. Canon though sent me a new head just in case. So now i have a perfect working printer + a spare head. And i'm well under warranty.