Tech Talk/By Martha Knight

A Dell 1250c color laser printer for $69.95! New, full warranty. Who wouldn’t want one?

That was the description in the daily Cheapskate email by Rick Broida. He did point out that, technically the 1250c is an LED printer. We would call that “laser-class.” That is not like the “near-laser” quality boasted for inkjet printers, way back when they were muscling their way into offices and pushing dot matrix printers out.

An LED printer doesn’t use laser beams to make a drum pick up toner for application to paper, and then fuse the toner to the paper using enough heat to melt the little polymer beads. It uses an LED light source instead, followed by fusing, and achieves similar output.

So far I have had three Konica Minolta color laser printers, and worn out one of them. The other two want drum replacements. Their toner cartridges cost a bunch. When all their parts are working well, Konica Minoltas produce “slick magazine quality” output. I have placed quite a few of these, and the clients who bought them were happy with them. If you would like to see one in use, visit the Port Allegany Senior Center.

I also have one Brother color laser, and it has been a huge disappointment. It boasted ease of toner handling, with a slick system of replacing each toner cartridge as needed. Well, that part hasn’t been too bad, but the output is miserable. The scanner in the Brother MFC-9840CDW is fine, and the outbound fax part is okay, but it does not copy well because it prints badly.

Every color laser printer I have cost quite a lot, the Brother most of all. So when I saw the Cheapskate deal, I pounced with alacrity. You need good reflexes to get in on Cheapskate deals, because with Brioda’s large following all likely to pounce in near unison, deals can sell out quickly.

Such deals often signal the end of a model’s production. In all likelihood, the Dell 1250c wasn’t being made anymore, and the maker, distributors and retailers are eager to get rid of the remaining inventory and stock the follow-on model, which seems to be the 1660w instead.

I delayed only long enough to check the reviews of the 1250c and the vendor’s in-stock status. Then I placed my order.

The vendor in this case was Microsoft Store. Soon I received an email confirming the order. An hour or so later I got confirmation that the printer had been shipped via UPS. I figured it would take a week or so for the printer to get to my front porch, because I had settled for standard shipping.

That was July 21. But time went by, and the printer did not arrive.

I contacted LivePerson chat at Microsoft Store on August 8. There Chris found my order and confirmed that it had been shipped via UPS. Then she escalated the matter to a level where people deal with tracking.

In follow-up conversations and emails various other helpful people at both Microsoft Store and UPS tried to solve the Mystery of the Vanishing Printer.

As recently as Friday a UPS person in Kane confirmed that the printer was known to have arrived in Harrisburg on July 29. Saturday I learned from Microsoft Store that it had reached another Pennsylvania UPS depot later July 29.

But my printer got stuck, or lost, somewhere short of Kane.

Just how this can happen, no one seems to know. A laser-class printer, even a compact one (“small footprint” is among the 1250c’s good points touted by Dell), does not just slip down into a cranny in the brown UPS van, or even in the depot.

There would be some printing on the box, most likely, identifying it as having come from Microsoft Store or from Dell. Modern shipping labels are printed on high-tack sticky stock, and it’s highly unlikely this package lost its label.

Well, UPS manned up in their conversation with me Thursday. They would confess to Microsoft that they had lost my printer. They would make it right with the store, and the store would refund my money.

“But, I don’t want a refund!” I objected. “I want the printer. We know it got most of the way here. It must be somewhere in your system. Just find it! Solve the mystery!”

They understood I would like to have the printer, but at least, with a refund, I would be back where I started, and I could get another printer. They were very sorry about the inconvenience, the pleasant UPS person told me.

“I can’t just get another laser quality color printer for $70 and tax, shipping and handling!” I complained. “That was a one-time deal! There really are ‘today only, while supplies last’ deals. This model printer is not being made anymore, and the model Dell is supplying now costs $180 or so!”

Today I got a call from a Microsoft Store tracking specialist, who told me UPS had confessed its failure to deliver my order, and they were preparing to issue a refund.

“But I don’t WANT a refund! I mean, I guess a refund is better than being out the money and not getting the printer, but I want the printer! I know it is out there! It reached Harrisburg and the next station—but apparently did not make it to Kane. And it is one of the last printers of this model, so I can’t order another. And the Dell color LED model that replaced it costs more than $100 more!”

The Microsoft Store tracker was not unmoved by my piteous wails. He said he was about to go off duty for his Sunday-Monday weekend, but he would leave a memo seeking authorization for some kind of deal for me on the closest model.

He emailed me saying he had done just that. We shall see what comes of that. Meanwhile my Dell 1250 c, bought and paid for, is out there somewhere, probably within 100 miles of my office. Lost? Stolen?

Drymar@gmail.com. 596-7546