C8180 Lightscribe drive keeps turning on!

[webcredible]

I have owned my C8180 Photosmart (actually dumb) printer for the last year.  I bought it brand new from Best buy and the printer worked great for about 10 months.  I started to experience the Lightscribe drive developing a mind of it’s own and kept turning on for 3 to 4 seconds.  It happends every 2 to 3 minutes non stop.  It never did this before and I don’t think there was any power surge that I am aware of at least, even then I have it connected to a high quality surge protector.

I have spent hours on the phone with their technical support trying everything from power cycling the printer to doing a hard reset to manufacturer defaults to unplugging the printer on it’s own, etc…the list goes on but one thing is certain, no one knows what’s wrong with it.

I finally got it escalated to a person by the name of James.  Right off the bat he began right away by saying that the printer was fine and there is a problem on my end (in a harassing way).  I went off on the guy because I had spent close to three hours trying to trouble shoot this printer as well as time with their product engineers.  It was their resolution to send me a new printer, not me requesting it.  At that point he became nice and asked for shipping address which I gave to him and he said he will send me a new printer – it says remanufactured on it but I guarantee it’s a brand new printer.

When I received the replacement it looked like it came from a yard sale!  Lots of scratches and completely thrashed!  I was willing to overlook it as long as it worked and as soon as I plugged it in, same problems.  I called Tech support and spent another hour with them on the phone, he said he would have a case manager call me back in 24 hours.  After 24 hours I would call back and they would tell me the same thing that someone would call me back.

This dragged on for two weeks until finally I demanded help and they were able to transfer me to a very nice lady who was a case manager.  She looked up my case #’s and then transferred me back to good ‘ol James—who warned me in the not so nicest way—if he sent another printer that it would be the last.  I warned him that it better be new and he said it will be.  I received it and after inspecting it, it looked in better shape that the first replacement he sent.  I connected it and it looked like no issues and was happy my problem was resolved…until 2 to 3 hours later, same thing light scribe drives kicks in every two minutes, makes the reading/burning noise, then shuts off – no CD/DVD in the drive!

I was really upset called my good ‘ol buddie James who in a short term told me to take a hike.  He said that the product was designed to check for a CD/DVD in the drive every so often and that it’s not a design flaw.  I am sorry to say, but that’s complete horse sh**.  If it’s designed like that, it’s a design flaw and why didn’t this happen during the last 10 months?  He said “I don’t know, maybe it’s your home!”  It’s clear to me that since this didn’t happen before that there is a problem.  It’s also clear that anytime these remanufactured printers are set as replacements, the replacements are given a “QA” test and if it prints they stick it back on the shelf ready to send to someone else so that it’s there problem.  Of course James doesn’t seem to think so, however given the state of that first replacement printer I received…please, get your head out of your ***.

I for one will never buy an HP product again.  They are the worst in support and customer service and they outsource their support to countries that speak very little English.  Then they have the courage to send you a support survey with a question “did your technician speak good English?” – I was really upset and gave them a big fat 0.

[c0rnel]

Sorry for the inconvenience and bad experience you had there.

My opinion, I don't think Printers can check disk drives unless its program has to scan for pictures or documents and checks the disk. I would agree it's complete BS for someone to say that. But then again, HP Supervisors are "non-technical".

I believe you may want to look into replacing your disk drive instead. They go around for $25-$30 from newegg.com.

Unless you have warranty with HP and your pc is covered and they can replace the disk drive then I would buy a new one and install or have someone who knows how do it.

[webcredible]

c0rnel thanks for your reply. I forgot to mention that my HP C8180 has a lightscribe drive built into the printer itself, so I can't really replace it.  I come from an IT/web development background and I am very technical.  HP refuses to acknowledge this is a product flaw and has no clue as to why the first 10 months it didn't do anything to this nature until now.  I will blog about this and spread the word on facebook and twitter because their product and support are the worst I have ever experienced.

I have also tried to submit a letter to HP and went to the same joke of escalation manager James only to go ignored.  I will submit a letter to the better business bureau next as consumers should know the trust about HP products/services before they buy...I wish I did!

Thanks HP, you made me a Cannon and Epson fan 4 life.

[htollestrup]

I have no idea how to help you with your problem. I am just getting very frustrated with this customer service stuff, and I am wondering.. How on earth did you get someone on the phone????? I was on hold for about 45 minutes, then I thought that something had to be wrong so I hung up and called again.. My phone keeps track of the time that a phone call is going on for, and so far I have been on hold for 227 minutes and 8 seconds!!! I haven't talked to anyone, just answered the questions from the automated answering thing and have been waiting ever since! HOW CAN I TALK TO SOMEONE?? I have already looked up the trouble shooting thing, and have done everything suggested in there about 5 times and my C8180 scanner still is not scanning.. It's good to know that if you ever have a problem that HP customer support is right there to help you in a timely manner.. I am giving HP the bird right now.. They are so frustrating, I wish I could slap someone over there.