Extremely useless.

Canon printer call centre support is the most useless support system that has ever happened. They’re called printer support yet they are not able to explain simple directions, no technical support and they have no product knowledge. I have a MB2140 printer that takes 4 cartridges for ink, when it’s empty it notifies you and you just have to open the front to load cartridges, once opened it automatically comes forward and whatever empty cartridge will pop out and you just have to remove it and put the new one. So it was time to load the ink and for the first time since I bought the printer, I opened the front then the empty cartridge came on the side and popped up as usual but accepted only 2 cartridges and indicated that it was complete, which was incorrect as all the cartridges were empty and had to be refilled, It didn’t give me an option to redo it, I tried to restart the printer, switched it on and off with no luck. I then called the “ CANON PRINTER SUPPORT” the guy picks up and I explain the problem, he then responded by saying I have to take the printer in to be checked by technicians, I asked him where do I take it to, he provided me with the address 23 Flanders Drive, I then asked him if I need to make an appointment he responded by saying they’re opened Monday to Friday 08:00-17:00. I then asked him his name which he provided me with. I drove 18 kilometers to the provided address and when I got to the address to my surprise there's no CANON there but a company called Part Serve that fixes any kind of device. I go inside I inform the guy that Canon support sent me, first question he asked if the printer still has warranty, I told him NO, he then explains that I have to pay an amount of R371 for them to look at it and I have to leave the printer with them for 24-48hours, they will have a look on it and give me a quote, if I accept the quote they will then fix it and bill me. I explained to him that I know what the problem is. I just didn’t want to do it manually myself so 24-48 hours is a bit stretched and I can’t leave my printer for that long. He further explained that if I want them to look at the same time I will have to double the fee, I advise the guy that I was under the impression that they work for Canon since Canon support sent me, therefore I will go to Makro where I bought the printer so that they can show me how to load the ink manually. I then went to Makro to explain the issue. A guy by the name of Sambulo showed me how to manually load the ink within 5min. He was able to load the ink and showed me how to do it in future. Now my problem with the Canon printer support call centre is them misleading me by sending me to a place that is 18kilometers away from me like if I am taking my printer to their technicians only to find out it’s their “approved outsourced company” ( on who’s cost? ) 2. No questions asked if the printer is still under warranty and be informed that if it’s not I will have to pay from my own pocket for diagnosis, quotation and fixing. ( why can’t I find my own technician for that if I am paying from my own pocket?) 3. They’re so useless to the point that they have no knowledge of the printer yet they’re called Canon printer support, because if they had a little clue they were gonna be able to tell me over the phone what Sambulo from Makro showed me as it wasn’t difficult at all to do that. I called their call centre again when I got home after I had plugged the printer where it gave me an error with a support code, I spoke with a lady who claimed to be a call center manager, a very useless person as well who also dared to tell me to take the printer in as well 😂. I informed her of my earlier interaction and asked her the reasons why they lie to their clients and pretend like they can do something or assist with issues when all they can tell you is “You need to take it in”? she explained that “they prefer to send us to their approved technician so that if there’s any problems they can be responsible” now my argument is, why does that call centre even exists cause they have no clue of the product but they’re there to recruit us for Part serve, why would I even bother to contact then if they don’t have their own Canon technicians, if the product is out of warranty it’s not their responsibility to tell me where to go fix it. Their first point of answer would be saying WE CAN RECOMMEND YOU WHERE YOU CAN TAKE YOUR PRINTER AT YOUR OWN COST, not the zero sense of hiding all the important factors and wasting client’s time. A simple YouTube video on the error cleared the error better and faster than a whole person who claimed to be a call centre manager and advised that the code given can’t be troubleshot because it required a technician, what a useless group of people claiming to be working. Canon should do better by training their call centre agents or at least have one technician in that call centre not these clueless souls. It’s not funny but irritating and wasteful to their clients.