Great printer features, abysmal front line support
NOTE: This review provides an update to an earlier posting that I asked to be deleted. The original follows in its entirety, explaining a situation that had led to a 1 star review. Below that is an update that summarizes the resolution and my recommendations regarding this printer.
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ORIGINAL REVIEW: As soon as it was out of warranty and in the middle of a print job, the screen displayed the error message "Replace unsupported magenta cartridge." It turns out it wanted me to replace ALL four toner cartridges which were of course OEM.
Xerox refused to answer questions over the phone and instead sent an email with brief instructions to update the firmware. Step one had to do with the IP address. Of course, they won't tell you how to find that. When they finally sent instructions, it turns out you CAN NOT get the IP address because it would normally display where the error message shows.
Luckily, I was able to figure out the IP address through the wireless router. After entering it in a web browser and selecting firmware--guess what? NO UPDATES. In other words--congratulations on your new boat anchor/landfill contributions.
I had spent hours on the phone and in chat and through email with Xerox. They are utterly useless. I have used and owned laser printers since the early days of the Macintosh computer and have NEVER had one fail like this. Most last at least 5-6 years and I've had them last well over 10. The Xerox C310 is a complete piece of garbage. Buy at your own risk.
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UPDATE: After posting the original review above on Xerox's web site, the webmaster reached out to me hoping to resolve the issue by escalating to another team. A member from that group called me on the second business day after posting and I explained what Xerox representatives had put me through. Long story short: over the next couple of weeks, Xerox shipped new toner cartridges and the printer was working again. The explanation was that a batch of cartridges had been shipped with defective chips. Thankfully the expendables caused the issue and the printer itself was not the problem.
I offered to update my review and am doing so on all sites where it was posted. While I would give the printer and its output (as well as the final support I received) an overall 4.5 out of 5 stars, I feel it would be a disservice to other consumers to completely ignore all that happened.
With the above in mind, below are some things to consider.
Should you buy the C310, you will likely be happy with:
1) overall print speed
2) print quality
3) time for first page out on waking from sleep
4) an exact estimate of pages remaining by toner cartridge when low (that's a big one--see "one final word of caution" below)
The lack of printed documentation (i.e. user manual) that can sit near the printer and be a ready reference for troubleshooting is enough to knock at least half a star off the overall rating and one of the main reasons for 3-stars for Ease of Use. (Sorry--a disc or 'online' resources are not helpful when it comes to immediacy. The cost of printing a manual would not appreciably increase overall cost on expensive hardware. Even print on demand services show that the manufacturing cost for a manual would be about $2-3 at best.)
Should you buy the C310, you will likely be spectacularly UNhappy with:
Xerox phone and chat support should you need it
(This is the primary reason why the overall rating is a 3.)
ONE FINAL WORD OF CAUTION: DO NOT stockpile toner cartridges. Wait until you truly need them (i.e., when the cartridge is about to run out based on your printing habits), then purchase and install ASAP. Xerox offers a 90-day guarantee on their cartridges (OEM not 3rd party) and should assist.
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