So,
I was one of the early people who complained about a dead UL052 printer. And, yeah, Canon even offered to give me a freebie a couple of months after the original complaint. Not that I could have done anything about it: I had already bought a replacement and had taken the MP610 to the recycle facility.
So, today, sent off the paperwork for the $50/$75 class action settlement. I guess that's closure, of sorts.
But the whole business left a very bad taste in my mouth. I liked the MP610: Two paper paths, easy to stick envelopes/checks into, good place for regular printing. And there have been no replacements on the market that match, even now, those decent specs. I was once a loyal Canon fan; heck, Canon was one of the first companies, ever, to make the hardware for the original laser printers that HP went onto fame with. I remember that, and their good innovations in the camera and printer space. I used to recommend Canon printers to friends and family; that's not me making stuff up, yeah, I really did do that.
No more. I've bought a couple of other printers for myself and helped close family members pick and choose a couple of others. And they weren't Canon. I will never buy a Canon printer again.
That MP610 failed within a month of a firmware update from Canon. Given the huge numbers of printers that failed in that time frame, I have to believe that all those failures were on purpose, most likely to drum up business. Somewhere, there's a pointy-haired marketing executive within Canon who pushed this through; whether it was panic with all the competition, or slowly declining sales; or just a sociopathic need for a bump in sales to improve stock options; or whatever, the "fix" went in.
Heck, I don't know. It might have actually been an honest mistake. But...
I haven't heard word one from Canon about an apology. And, I guess, there likely will never be one, businesses being businesses.
But there's these two terms: "Goodwill" and "Reputation". Goodwill actually shows up on the corporate balance sheets. Reputation is what you get when you play it as straight as you can. Reputation doesn't mean you don't make mistakes; it means you own up to the ones you do make, and try to do better. People really do understand that, even if the stock analysts don't, and, over time, can come to trust a company. And, in my mind, Canon has managed to destroy their own Trust and Reputation on this issue. Who in their right mind would buy a Canon printer after this?
Hmph. I wonder if their external accountants will take into account the loss of their Goodwill in the balance sheet?
KBeck
