Call to Arms for the dreaded U052 Wrong Printhead Error

[macnicol]

This is a "call to arms" for all of you Canon customers who have had this problem and have had their printers disabled because of it.  Please respond with the model of your printer and if you were able to fix it, what you did to fix it. 

We need to put pressure on Canon to respond this product defect.  It appears to be bad firmware that does not allow the user to override the problem and to continue to use the printer even in a degraded mode.  From my investigations the problem is NOT a printhead issue - no way one can be printing fine and then have this error alert without having changed the printhead or ink cartridges!

Canon, PLEASE take this issue seriously and provide a solution across the affected models.  If nothing else there should be a trade-in allowance for those printers that have been affected by this product defect.

I have had many Canon printers because they have superior functional specifications. I want to be able to continue using Canon products but only if I can have confidence that this product defect will not destroy my investment.

If Canon is unresponsive our next step should be to aggressively publisize this product defect on social media and on major product vendor outlet sites as negatives reviews.

Forum Users, please reply with your affected model number(s) and with details of any succdessful fix procedure.

[TickBoy]

The same dreaded U052 hit my MP610 this weekend. Without this forum I would have assumed that I had a lemon that had reached its best before date. Instead, after reading 27 pages documenting people's frustrations with their printers and Canon, I realize it's a whole lemon grove! I have been a real Canon fan for cameras, lenses and printers for 40 years but the way they are handling this corporate issue is deplorable! There is no explanation from them to a problem that has reported here for many months! Just wondering how long until my other Canon printer goes belly up.

[Hexadecimus]

But.. but.. but... Moderator "Steven" assured us that Canon is following this thread, loooking into the problem as we speak, and plans to have a solution soon!  *eyeroll*

[WimB]

Same problem with my printer MP970, I removed all of the inkttanks, removed the printhead.

There was much spilt ink all over de printhead, I removed it with a little aftershave on a cottonstick. Verry gently.

I placed all the items back in the printer, switched the printer off en removed the powercord. It stayed 10 min. without power, then I switch the printer on again and the error is gone.

Good luck to you all

[mcaxley]

WimB, you say you fixed your printer error, is it still working? I highly doubt it.

[Fruitty]

Well WimB, I tried 10 minutes, half an hour and even a whole night and the result was as to be expected.... Nothing but the U052 error on the screen. Never in my whole life, all 58 years of it, have I encountered a bigger heap of worthless junk than this "printer". My order for an Epson has been placed last night.

[maczaphod]

Where I live

1. Litre of perol 1.58 euro's

2. Pint of beer 5 euro's

3. one genuine canon 9ml ink cartradge 17 Euro's

Come on guy's (Canon and other's) let's face it your ripping us off, one little drop of ink almost, if not more expensive than gold. Hundreds of printer ink company's springing up taking full advantage of corporate greed shown by you. Example 5 third party replacment ink tanks for mp560 (My now crapped out junk u052) 14 Euro's which worked perfectly  (used them for at leased 2 years) and these guy's still make a hansome profit. After reading the experiences of the people on this topic you ask us to buy a new print head which may or may not work ...... dont you know your own tech?? dont you understand how your product works? I think its time for trading standard's to look into this....Europe looked into roaming charges on mobile phones because of greed why not this.   

[athesen]

I have been on this forum right from the start ... it is straggering how poor the repsonse from Canon has been. In Cape Town when I eventually got hold of the Canon 'service' guy he said 'So? What do you expect me to do?' My little HP ink advantage is working really well. I thought I might go to the e-waste place and take a photo of all the dumped Canons.

Think if all the Canon products you have owned over the years ... this means that none of us will buy Canon again without thinking very hard about the negative experience we have had here ... Thanks Canon and goodbye.

[seniorelder]

So, the latest in my MP560 Error U052 saga.  Having had no response or acknowledgement to my two emails to Canon Support I phoned them this morning.  I found out from their operator that their web forms are not working correctly, so they have not received either of my support requests.  I then went on to tell her that I was getting Error U052 - she had clearly dealt with many of these before and took me through the process of re-installing several times, turning off the power, reinstalling again etc., etc.  I told her I had done all of this and she then gave me the number of the Canon Service Centre.  I told her that I was not happy, as there was no guarantee that a new printhead would solve the issue.  I mentioned this thread on the USA Forum.  She admitted that it is a very common error and so I asked what Canon were doing about it. Not being able to answer that question, she then agreed to escalate my call as a complaint and I look forward to receiving a phone call to discuss the matter further.  I concluded my call my asking her to escalate my dissatisfaction, tell whoever she ecscalated it to that I have also sent details of the problem to BBC Watchdog and lastly that as their printer wasn't working anymore I was unlikely to be spending any more of my mnoney on Canon inks, thus cutting off a part of their revenue stream.

The service centre tell me that they would send out a new printhead for £58.79, but could not guarantee that would solve the issue.  If it didn't I would have to send it back to them for testing.  Apparently one in 150 printheads are faulty, but if it wasn't faulty then I would have to pay for another repair investigation... on  a printer that I paid about £80 for in the first place...  What a waste of resources. 

So, what have I learnt this morning?  I have found out that Canon UK also are aware of a lot of failures of this nature - but also appear to be disinclined to do anything about it.  I have also found out that this technology company have a web-form system that doesn't work.  I am learning that my previous faith in Canon is rapidly diminishing.  Oh - and that for the past two weeks I haven't been able to print anything at home (sorry, in my quest for the U052 holy grail I nearly forgot that little detail...)  And the good news?  At least I know the recently purchased and as yet uninstalled set of inks sitting next to my impotent printer will last for a very, very long time...  What a great investment they were!!

Looking forward to the next instalment?  I hope you are as much as I am!

[Crnrst1]

My printer dropped dead yesterday of this sudden problem.  printed one page fine, next print job...BAMM!

I have a Pixma MG5320 and use it for our business.  Part of my sales are from this dedicated printer and for its one or two prints a day, I hate to have to spend $ on a new one and new cartridges, either.

I tried resetting the head, changing cartridges blinkng, powering off, shutting down the computer to clear any buffers...

I emailed support and got a quick answer that I needed to take it to a service center as it is out of warranty.  About 2 years old...

I liked it before yesterday.

If you are replacing printers, CANON, please let me know quick so I can get my business back up and running.

[ed-be]

Maybe it would be a good idea to make a page on social media (facebook, twitter, etc...) for a ban on canon printers. My printers suffer the same problem( two pieces). So wy not unite all the unhappy pixma users, and share and like.