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I have one of these dedicated photo printers:-



It is a Canon Selphy CP740. According to Canon, it is:-



A compact photo printer the whole family can enjoy. The SELPHY CP740 makes printing at home fun and affordable. With a range of different print sizes, the results you want are always close at hand.



Here is a link to the helpful page on the Canon website describing it.

Super! And that's exactly what I bought it for. I have had issues with HP printers in the past, so I refuse to buy any HP printer device. But with Canon I felt I should be fine. It promised to deliver the convenience of being able to give someone a copy of a photo straightaway, rather than forget and feel guilty next time I met them.

However, this device started giving me trouble quite soon. The paper feeder grew reluctant to drag the paper in, resulting in fun and games trying to cajole the printer to work. I put up with this, since he printer was an "occasional use" item. However, with teenage daughters and their art projects making increasing use of the printer, the failure rate went up. When it comes to technology in my house, the buck tends to stop where I happen to be standing.

Today the printer complained that it needs a new ink cartridge. No problem. Some time back I bought a bumper box pack of Canon consumables for the printer (postcard-sized photo paper and ink cartridges). So now these ink cartridges are not brand new but they are all indiviually sealed in their cellophane wrappers.

The printer keeps telling me:-



Ink cassette is empty and must be replaced.
Press [Resume] to resume, or [Cancel] to stop.



I have put three of these out-of-the-wrapper ink cartridges into the unit but I get the same error. I am suspecting that the ink cartridge is not to blame but that the device has failed and the error message is bogus. I really hate to waste money like this.

But hang on! - maybe there is hope, I thought: Canon have a UK website and a support function, don't they? I looked them up:-



You can call us at +44 (0)844 369 0100 *

The waiting time may vary depending on:

> the time of day you are calling
> the number of customers in queue
> the time needed to answer questions from other customers

Our helpdesk can be reached Monday to Friday from 9:00AM to 5:30PM. During this phone call you might be asked for some additional information. We recommend having the product as well as the following data to hand:

• exact product model name (e.g. EOS 400D)
• serial number of your device



Here's that page with their contact details.

They even have a telephone help desk, so that is good, but wait a minute: I have to call them during the week, when I am at work, and therefore not at home with my computer and printer. So suddenly this Telephone Help Desk becomes abourt as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike. I'd need to request a half-day off from work to go through with getting any meaningful support. And the cost to me of doing that would be more than the cost of a new printer.

I am wondering if maybe Canon do not really want me to get in touch with their Help Desk. Could it be that they would rather I bin the printer out of hand and just go out and buy a new one? Surely not! Have they not given some thought to how I might be feeling about such a cynical approach and such apparent subterfuge and the resultant likelihood of me thinkjing twice before I choose to buy Canon again?

I guess not.


*** UPDATE 08-Oct-2011 ***

I thought it was worth a shot sending an email to the Canon support address to let them know of my disgruntledness. Below is what I wrote. It will be interesting to see what response I get. I promse to update here with the result.

Someone had to write this article. I wish it had been me, but at least this way I was saved the work.

This article describes some grammatical goofs that get my personal goat. But it's not just a rant; it's informative too.

Enjoy!

Five Grammatical Errors that Make You Look Dumb

My two little kids were watching an episode of the children's telly programme, Olivia this morning.
In this episode Olivia (an animated pig) and her sibling are imagining a trip to the planets of the outer solar system.


I was in the adjoining room so I was not following the details but at one point I heard my boy cry out:-

"You can't land on Neptune! You'd just sink into it."

That's my boy!

It's my birthday today. Woo.

Happy frakkin' birthday to me!

With the impending rise in cost of gas and electricity, I'm considering getting solar panels fitted to my house. Doing some research online in my lunch hour I came across the Energy Saving Trust website.

Once there you are offered the opportunity to complete a "Home Energy Check", so I figured I'll have a go. It is a multiple page wizard, taking you through a number of steps asking you about your house.

The first thing that irritated me was that it called me a liar when it told me that my phone number was invalid. Dear reader, my home phone number actually has only 10 digits. Now I appreciate that this is uncommon - UK phone numbers typically have 11 digits. Mine does not. It's an old BT exchange or whatever, but I get 10 digits.

So I add an extra digit at the end, just to get through the validation, even though it will make my phone number incorrect, and carry on. After another few minutes I think I was close to the end of the quiz, and I was presented with a bank wizard page, announcing:-




Here's the page:-


I don't at this time wish to complete the Home Energy Check on the phone; that is why I chose to try the online quiz.

And the net result is that I have had my energy wasted after all. This just adds to the impression of amateurish cack-handedness that the eco-friendly movement has historically enjoyed.