Repeated "claim code is invalid" trying to register refurbished printer with ePrint

[FeRD_NYC]

Like many other users, I've been unable to register my nearly-new HP ENVY printer with the ePrint service, because the printer is already connected with another account.

The printer is nearly-new, but was a refurbished model. (It had 17 pages on its print counter when it arrived, up to 39 now, nearly all of them HP Connected claim sheets.) Still, those 17 pages were clearly enough time for the first owner to register the printer with HP Connected, and everything I've tried to reset or override that registration with my own has failed.

I understand that it being a refurb means that it came with no warranty, and that HP is under no obligation whatsoever to provide me with any support. If that means that I'm ultimately never able to make use of the ePrint service, then so be it. But I thought I'd make one last try at solving what is essentially more a service problem than a device problem. There's nothing wrong on the printer end, as far as I can tell. It's just locked out of the service.

What happens

• Every time I attempt to enable ePrint, I'm told the printer is already registered:
  
• I've followed the directions numerous times, as well as advice from others on these forums.
  • I've tried again with the same code after a few minutes, a few hours, a few days
  • I've removed and re-enabled Web Services and gotten new codes countless times
  • I've even factory-reset the ENTIRE printer, which was reported to work for some other users.
• The result is always the same:

So I'm sort of at a loss, at this point, which is why I'm here. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

Two final observations that might be significant (or not), before I end this too-long report...

1. The code my printer prints looks nothing like the example above, in fact it always feels like it's telling me I'm entering the wrong code entirely ‒ but I'm entering the code my printer gives me. Mine are all 16-character codes with a format of, "#### #### #### ####", though, which seem longer than what the site expects.
2. Especially since, every time a code I enter is rejected, it happens INSTANTLY. Like, so fast that unless HP has the best web server infrastructure in the world (and even if they do), it doesn't feel like there's even enough time for it to be sent to the server and a response to come back, before the "claim code is invalid" message appears. It really feels like a client-side rejection, which is crazy. (I could be wrong, though.)

[sandytechy20]

@FeRD_NYC

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[FeRD_NYC]

Another possibly-related observation, which I'll post here as I haven't (yet) heard anything from HP:

I also notice that whenever I tell the printer to check for firmware updates (I don't have automatic updates enabled), it reports basically the SAME condition...

It's been reporting the same thing for weeks, through multiple power cycles and resets. There is nobody else who'd be trying to update the printer, currently or at any other time. (The printer is already running the latest firmware, so there's nothing to update at the moment. But if there were an update available, I'd like to know it could actually install it.)