Expired serial number on new printer

[tikk10]

I purchased an HP OfficeJet 8010e series (product no. 228F5A) from Walmart approximately two weeks ago and just got around to setting it up today. It's broken (the feeder won't catch the paper being fed to it). But when I attempted to contact support I ran into a brick wall trying to get a human because when I'm directed to enter the serial number, HP identifies it as "expired." 

I don't know what to do but I'm pretty angry right now. If HP misidentifies a serial number as expired, what recourse does anyone have if HP always requires a valid serial number to contact support? 

[tikk10]

I appreciate the explanation, thank you. 

I followed the steps you recommended, but when I fail the warranty check page, I don't see the "dispute" option that the support page you sent me to suggested I'd see. Is there some direct way to dispute a warranty status without having to fail the serial number test beforehand? 

[tikk10]

To clarify, I'm saying that the instruction page you sent me to suggests that after I fail the warranty check (because I have an "expired" serial number) I should then see a link to dispute this. See screenshot, with relevant highlights. 

Note too that the screenshot indicates a scenario whereby I wouldn't see a dispute link--i.e., if mine is a "commercial product." I don't know how that term is defined at HP,  but we're talking about a $100 printer I bought at Walmart, which I have to imagine makes it a "consumer" or "retail" product. 

This is becoming increasingly Kafkaesque. If a big box retailer like Walmart is selling HP printers that are no longer supported without indicating to consumers of the risk that HP won't support them, and there's no way for consumers to even contact a human at HP to unravel this nightmare, which I've already spent hours trying to unravel, something is Incredibly Wrong. 

[tikk10]

Just to update everyone, I reached out to HP support on Twitter, which account at first seemed prepared and eager to help.

But then it asked me for the serial number. I gave the account my serial number. The account then asks for my invoice with the serial number on it.  Except Walmart's online invoice doesn't include a serial number. I showed the account a photo of the box with the same serial number. This too was deemed insufficient. I then called Walmart to ask them to send me an invoice with a serial number--they explained that they don't have that information on their invoices and also couldn't help me.

[Repairatrooper]

Let me jump in, rather than dispute, you should register the product as a new purchase, which it is.

https://www.register.hp.com/

Once registered the warranty expiration should be correct to reflect from date of purchase and not date of manufacture.

[tikk10]

I took this suggestion and "registered" my product, but I received no email (and yes, of course, I checked spam). I imagine this is because the serial number is recognized by HP as expired. Which makes sense--if registering the product could render an expired serial number as valid, it would be too easy, right?  

I'll mention here that it's disturbing that the commenter who tried to help me earlier removed all his/her replies to this thread.  

[Dragon-Fur]

@tikk10 

I removed my contributions as the tone dropped lower into the hostile area.

and

I removed myself when @Repairatrooper stepped in.

Look for the content of my posts in your email.

I do see that the Moderators removed the sections that breached our strict HP Community - Rules of Participation

More importantly, I do not have anything more to contribute.

The printer is an older model -- we are not hearing back from the Moderators or an agent - the product cannot apparently be registered or marked as covered by the hardware Warranty for another year.

If the purchase meets the return criteria, perhaps the store will let you return the printer for a newer product and a refund.

Dragon Opinion

Finally, while DeskJet printers are indeed economy model devices, their actual hardware is not likely to break soon after being put into service.  True - it can happen.  It is not so common, I think.  If you choose to do so, it might be OK to use the printer as it is now.

Thank you for participating in the HP Community --

Real people who own, use, and support HP devices.

[PJay9]

I also purchased the same printer. However, I purchased mine from HP directly. I registered my printer and it shows up on my devices page on my HP account.  I was surprised to see that the warranty ended on January 11, 2025 when I ordered mine in February and received the shipment on February 22, 2025. It's disheartening to know HP sells devices that are passed the warranty. I've purchased two laptops from them (one at the same time as when I purchased the printer and with this printer experience, I don't see myself purchasing an HP product again in the future.

I've been trying to figure out why the printer appears to receive the signal from my laptop to print but the page just comes out blank. When I make a copy, it prints fine. I've done all the walk through the virtual agent provided but it's still not working. This is extremely frustrating. I've spent hours trying to figure it out.

[Repairatrooper]

www.register.hp.com is where you must register your product. Updating of the warranty might take up to a week, I am not privy to the whole process so cannot give an exact explanation on why it may take longer at times. What follows is an explanation of why your warranty appears to be expired when you purchase a device. When a device is manufactured, a database of data on each serial number is created. As databases deplore null entries and to be fair to customers who may lose their receipt, HP applies a default time period of warranty to the product which is typically 15 months from the date the product leaves the factory. This provides a cushion to account for shipping and warehouse time. If a model proves to be slow moving or is over manufactured, it is possible that a unit might sit in a warehouse for over a year. That is how you wind up with products that show as expired warranty before they are even sold. The process of registering your purchase the causes the warranty database to be updated, setting the warranty to 12 months from date of purchase.

Do serial number mistakes happen? Likely the answer is yes as things can happen, a scanner messes up and does not scan correctly and someone makes an error when manually entering or correcting device data.

There is also cases where unscrupulous foist used or salvage products on end users or dealers, assuring them that it is a genuine new product and that it will have full warranty. HP works hard to put those individuals out of business, but in the world of online commerce it has become very easy to scam artists to get away with a lot of BS.