Kodak 5300 easy share

Well, guys I have concluded that the Easyshare 5500 is not fit for purpose!

I bought one from Kodak's WebShop and it arrived on 19th June. It printed only a couple of photos after printing the calibration print and then failed saying that the "printhead missing, not installed correctly or has come loose". I called Kodak who said to upgrade the firmware and gave me a web site to go to, but you cannot update the firmware unless the printer is in a ready state. They said it would be referred to technical support which would take 24 -48 hours.

I was not happy at having a DOA machine and having to wait. I called them again and demanded a replacement machine and the faulty one be collected, but was fobbed off. Having worked as a Service Manager in PC maintenance industry for over 10 years I demanded to speak to the Service Manager, and again was refused. They told me "sorry but we cannot transfer calls. Our telephone system does not have that facility." I could not believe my ears that a company like Kodak had a telephone system that clearly was not fit for purpose!

I would not give up though and eventually by ringing their UK head office (01442-261122) got to speak to him, Trevor Whayman if you need his name. He is the Product Service Manager, Consumer Digital Group at Kodak UK. He agreed that I should not wait and arranged a replacement printer. It was sent and arrived on 25th June.

It too was dead on arrival. This time the fault was that all the buttons on the front panel were all messed up and only about 1/3 of them worked. It printed but I could not do the calibration. The power on/off button for instance made things scroll down on the menu! I called Trevor Whayman back and asked him to get BOTH faulty printers returned at Kodak's cost and issue me with a refund. He agreed, sent me a letter with details of their account with DHL and how to book the collection at a time that suited me.

The printers were collected on 30th June and arrived back with Kodak yesterday 1st July. Trevor Whayman called me to confirm arrival and that a refund was being processed.

Not one to give in as I had also purchased several ink cartridge sets and photo paper for this printer I went to PC World last night and bought another 5500 as at least I could return it locally if I had trouble. I was hoping that I had just been very unlucky. Perhaps it was a bad batch at Kodak and one from a retailer would be from a different batch.

I took it home and set it up but it only printed the calibration image and then there was a burning smell and the print head was showing signs of burning on the flixible circuit board that connects it to the connector board which interfaces with the pins on the print head carrier. I didn't even get as far as scanning the calibration image. This lunch time 2nd July I returned the printer to PC World and got a replacement.

I brought it home and all worked fine. Hooray I thought 4th time and I have one that works. I checked it printing on A4, set up the fax, it worked and my daughter sent me a fax to test it. It all seemed fine! Fantastic! However, I tempted fate by putting the box in the loft a little too soon! I was going through checking which software gave me the best quality prints as the Kodak Easyshare package gave the worst dark muddy low contrast prints I've seen for a long time. I concluded that Adobe Lightroom gave the best rendition, but after printing only 1 print from Lightroom, I detected that awful burning smell same as last night and gor Error 3802. I did as instructed and switched off, waited 5 seconds, reconnected the power and hey presto I have once again the common "printhead missing, not installed correctly or has come loose" message. Taking the print head out shows that once again there are burn marks on the flexible PCB.

Once again I have not even managed to use up all the free sample 6"x4" photo papers that came with the printer before it packed in.

Needless to say, this one will be going back to PC World tomorrow, and this time I'll be asking for a refund!

If you buy one of these printers, then you are apparently asking for trouble!

Well, guys I have concluded that the Easyshare 5500 is not fit for purpose!

I bought one from Kodak's WebShop and it arrived on 19th June. It printed only a couple of photos after printing the calibration print and then failed saying that the "printhead missing, not installed correctly or has come loose". I called Kodak who said to upgrade the firmware and gave me a web site to go to, but you cannot update the firmware unless the printer is in a ready state. They said it would be referred to technical support which would take 24 -48 hours.

I was not happy at having a DOA machine and having to wait. I called them again and demanded a replacement machine and the faulty one be collected, but was fobbed off. Having worked as a Service Manager in PC maintenance industry for over 10 years I demanded to speak to the Service Manager, and again was refused. They told me "sorry but we cannot transfer calls. Our telephone system does not have that facility." I could not believe my ears that a company like Kodak had a telephone system that clearly was not fit for purpose!

I would not give up though and eventually by ringing their UK head office (01442-261122) got to speak to him, Trevor Whayman if you need his name. He is the Product Service Manager, Consumer Digital Group at Kodak UK. He agreed that I should not wait and arranged a replacement printer. It was sent and arrived on 25th June.

It too was dead on arrival. This time the fault was that all the buttons on the front panel were all messed up and only about 1/3 of them worked. It printed but I could not do the calibration. The power on/off button for instance made things scroll down on the menu! I called Trevor Whayman back and asked him to get BOTH faulty printers returned at Kodak's cost and issue me with a refund. He agreed, sent me a letter with details of their account with DHL and how to book the collection at a time that suited me.

The printers were collected on 30th June and arrived back with Kodak yesterday 1st July. Trevor Whayman called me to confirm arrival and that a refund was being processed.

Not one to give in as I had also purchased several ink cartridge sets and photo paper for this printer I went to PC World last night and bought another 5500 as at least I could return it locally if I had trouble. I was hoping that I had just been very unlucky. Perhaps it was a bad batch at Kodak and one from a retailer would be from a different batch.

I took it home and set it up but it only printed the calibration image and then there was a burning smell and the print head was showing signs of burning on the flixible circuit board that connects it to the connector board which interfaces with the pins on the print head carrier. I didn't even get as far as scanning the calibration image. This lunch time 2nd July I returned the printer to PC World and got a replacement.

I brought it home and all worked fine. Hooray I thought 4th time and I have one that works. I checked it printing on A4, set up the fax, it worked and my daughter sent me a fax to test it. It all seemed fine! Fantastic! However, I tempted fate by putting the box in the loft a little too soon! I was going through checking which software gave me the best quality prints as the Kodak Easyshare package gave the worst dark muddy low contrast prints I've seen for a long time. I concluded that Adobe Lightroom gave the best rendition, but after printing only 1 print from Lightroom, I detected that awful burning smell same as last night and gor Error 3802. I did as instructed and switched off, waited 5 seconds, reconnected the power and hey presto I have once again the common "printhead missing, not installed correctly or has come loose" message. Taking the print head out shows that once again there are burn marks on the flexible PCB.

Once again I have not even managed to use up all the free sample 6"x4" photo papers that came with the printer before it packed in.

Needless to say, this one will be going back to PC World tomorrow, and this time I'll be asking for a refund!

If you buy one of these printers, then you are apparently asking for trouble!