(no subject)
I saved hundreds of dollars with my badass google-fu*!
*\o/*
And, no, it wasn't with the gecko. ;)
For a few weeks there's been a tear in the Electronic Tranfer Belt (the film used to transfer ink to paper) in our laserjet printer. It hasn't been causing a lot of grief but we saw a friend in passing last week who works on printers and copiers and he said he'd stop by. Today he gave us an estimate of $359 (or $399) for the parts and labor.
It's nigh impossible for me to pay full retail for anything so I searched ebay and found the part for $100. Our friend said it would still be $125 for labor and he wouldn't be able to guarantee the part if it didn't work.
Possibly blowing $225 if the part didn't work didn't sit well with me, and the part is located right in the front of the printer, where the toner cartridges are. It didn't look like it was meant to be a hard fix. I searched and searched (and searched some more) until I found a comment on a forum with an image of how to remove and replace the ETB. It took me approx two seconds to remove the belt and put it back. (I'm embarrassed I didn't try figuring it out before I searched.)
I know everyone needs to stay in business but charging $125 for 2 seconds of work is preposterous. If the labor had been less ($25-$50) I might have given in. Hell, I don't mind paying for the few minutes he did spend.
I am ticked at HP for not including the info in the manual or on their site, but grateful for random helpful people online.
*I just read kung-google might be more accurate, that "fu" translates to "man". Even so, kung-google sounds stupid. lol
**Further research found: "Fu" is a Chinese concept of `luck` or fortune
and "Fu" is a romanization (without tone marks) for several Chinese characters (logograms).
I'd say the "kung-google" theory is a flop. Thankfully.
*\o/*
And, no, it wasn't with the gecko. ;)
For a few weeks there's been a tear in the Electronic Tranfer Belt (the film used to transfer ink to paper) in our laserjet printer. It hasn't been causing a lot of grief but we saw a friend in passing last week who works on printers and copiers and he said he'd stop by. Today he gave us an estimate of $359 (or $399) for the parts and labor.
It's nigh impossible for me to pay full retail for anything so I searched ebay and found the part for $100. Our friend said it would still be $125 for labor and he wouldn't be able to guarantee the part if it didn't work.
Possibly blowing $225 if the part didn't work didn't sit well with me, and the part is located right in the front of the printer, where the toner cartridges are. It didn't look like it was meant to be a hard fix. I searched and searched (and searched some more) until I found a comment on a forum with an image of how to remove and replace the ETB. It took me approx two seconds to remove the belt and put it back. (I'm embarrassed I didn't try figuring it out before I searched.)
I know everyone needs to stay in business but charging $125 for 2 seconds of work is preposterous. If the labor had been less ($25-$50) I might have given in. Hell, I don't mind paying for the few minutes he did spend.
I am ticked at HP for not including the info in the manual or on their site, but grateful for random helpful people online.
*I just read kung-google might be more accurate, that "fu" translates to "man". Even so, kung-google sounds stupid. lol
**Further research found: "Fu" is a Chinese concept of `luck` or fortune
and "Fu" is a romanization (without tone marks) for several Chinese characters (logograms).
I'd say the "kung-google" theory is a flop. Thankfully.