Canon is apparently a very nice company. So nice, in fact, that they will apparently replace a product out of warranty even when it’s the customer’s own forgetfulness that led to the delay. That’s what reader Chris reports happened when his Canon printer broke down.

Back in March, my Canon Pixma MX300 personal printer broke. I bought the printer in April of 2008, alongside the purchase of my iMac. When it broke, the printer would continuously report that there was a paper jam when there was no paper jam, and would refuse to function in any way. I checked online on some forums and found many people having the same issue,but I never got around to actually fixing the printer due to a combination of time restraints, laziness, planning a wedding, and running a small business among other things.

Fast forward to Wednesday night, October 14th. My schedule is free! I had recently needed the scanner on my MX300 and realized I was unable to use it due to the paper jam issue, so I knew I should really find some time to fix it. So on Wednesday night I took the printer apart as much as I could, sprayed it clean with compressed air, checked the feed sensors, and made sure that the paper feed path was completely clear. I reattached the printer and it is still reading paper jam.

Despite knowing that the extended warranty expires after a year, I decided a call to Canon for assistance might be helpful as this seemed like a fairly common issue based on the search results I found. After almost zero time on hold waiting to speak with someone, a CSR named Bill answered the phone. We discussed the issue and I described the issue, and the measures I had taken to resolve the problem. He explained that unfortunately, the product was out of warranty and checking the sensors and paper feed was pretty much the only resolution he could offer. I didn’t really mind, as I explained that I knew it was 100% my fault that I had not contacted them regarding the issue, and was about to hang up when he decided to speak with his supervisor about the problem.

He put me on hold, and then his supervisor named Glenn answered the phone. He asked me to explain the situation again to him, and after again explaining that the measures I had taken were the best I could do he asked me to hold for a moment while he discussed something with his manager. After a few minutes of waiting, Glenn came back on with the good news that despite my warranty being up for over 6 months, they were going to replace my printer for me, and best of all that they would do it free of charge. He took my information and explained the process to me and hung up.

Thursday I received an email from Canon saying that my replacement printer had shipped, and that it was a Pixma MX330, which is an upgrade from my current printer. The printer arrived on Friday afternoon, a brand new, upgraded MX330 with Bluetooth, and instructions to return my printer.

I just wanted to express my gratitude and thanks to these two individuals who clearly went above and beyond to make sure that I was a satisfied customer with their products. Not only was my printer warranty plenty expired, but they replaced it for free, with an upgraded model, and I received the replacement 2 days after the initial call. Thanks to Bill and Glenn, I will most definitely continue to purchase Canon products in the future.

Great service on Canon’s part. While this may have had more to do with the known issues with that particular model of printer than a broad corporate policy of generosity, it still clears the paper jam in our heart.

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