Did HP just send the same printer back to me on the warranty claim?

[ScorchGD]

I have a smart tank 551 printer that has ALWAYS had print quality issues from the very beginning. I purchased this printer back on 8/6/20 and within a few months; I was noticing that while photos seem to be ok, there was an issue with black ink smudging and/or streaking when printing documents. Back then; I made a warranty claim and HP shipped my printer back to HP and sent what I believed to be a replacement printer. BUT, it was not long before I started noticing the SAME, exact problems with black printing on documents. This printer has only printed about 119 pages (mostly 4x6 color photos) and has ALWAYS had this problem.

I FINALLY decided to just replace the black print head BUT, oh my god! It STILL has the SAME PROBLEM with left edges of some lines of text appearing smudged or cutoff. So; I now suspect there is actually an issue with the cleaning system that has never been fixed...

The question I have is: Is this actually still the same printer that was supposedly replaced under warranty?

I have paid a LOT of money for this printer plus a replacement print head and the problem persists AND HP won't even let me talk to tech support unless I pay even MORE money just to find out what actually happened with the previous warranty claim or what the previous serial number might have been.... 😞

Any suggestions?

Is there anything HP can to do help with this low page count "lemon" of a printer without it costing me even MORE money?

Please respond.

Sincerely; Rodney.

[Jay_G24]

Hi @ScorchGD,

I'd like to help!

Please look for a private message from me requesting additional information. Keep in mind not to publicly post personal information (serial numbers and case details).

If you are unfamiliar with how the Community's private message capability works, you can learn about that here.

Thank you for visiting the HP Support Community.

Please click “Accept as Solution” if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others find the solution.

Click the “Kudos, Thumbs Up" on the bottom right to say “Thanks” for helping