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Important Information About the Hewlett-Packard LaserJet 4 Printer
For those of you who own or are thinking about purchasing an HPLJ4, I would like to relay this information. I purchased an HPLJ4 in January 1993 and have had it repaired four times. I was getting paper jam error messages when there was actually no paper jammed in the paper path. Each time I took it to the fix-it shop, they replaced a different part. After three repairs, I was ready to have the printer replaced since it appeared to be a lemon. I found out that HP does not have a standard replacement policy. However, one of their reps told me they were committed to 100% customer satisfaction. What?!?! How could this be? Well, it turns out that HP rarely cannot fix one of their products and therefore has had no need for such a policy. When the printer was in need of repair for the fourth time, I found out that HP had discovered a problem with the paper output assembly and it was cropping up on many other HPLJ4s. They had issued a service note instructing their authorized repair centers to correct this problem for free even if the printer was out of warranty. Because of the large number of repairs taking place across the fruited plain, there was a shortage of replacement parts. Therefore, it took about three weeks to receive the part rather than the usual 24 hours. Since this part was replaced, the printer has worked flawlessly. (Knock on wood and cross my fingers.) If you plan to purchase an HPLJ4, I recommend that you inquire as to whether or not the one you will get has a newer version of the paper output assembly. It will save you some headaches.
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Last modified on 1/5/96
Randy Finch at webmaster@rcfinch.com