Canon MB5420 Wireless All-in-One Printer

After buying an approx. $150 highly reviewed all-in-one inkjet printer (that worked flawlessly and then just died for no reason, unable to be re-powered on, after owning and using it for just 2 months) I decided to go for a significantly more expensive and also very highly reviewed inkjet all-in-one printer made by Cannon, in my opinion one of the best electronics manufacturers in the world. Working very closely with Cannon tech support the whole time, I was trying to make 3 different physical units of this printer just print a single good page, and with failure in all cases, I had to give up on what I know works for other people (hence, the great reviews) as a really nice printer. My story is complicated and borders on supernaturally odd, since even lots of little stuff kept going awry, as if I was cursed, although I do not believe in that process.
To start, I was shipped my Canon Maxify MB5420 model printer, costing me approx. $345. It arrived really fast, I think via UPS overnight shipping, which surprised me since I only payed for economy. I was really happy. It was a beautiful printer and suggested to me it would last quite a long time. Perhaps it would have if I was only able to make it START to work. Following both the Setup info and videotapes demonstrating how to set this us, I quickly advanced to the part where you give the printer 4 distinct inkwell cartridges, in a specific order as the printer’s screen asked for each one. The process was plain enough. One opens the front top panel, exposing a moving ink carriage that will end up housing YELLOW, then double-black, then I think magenta, and finally cyan. There was found a small guide ramp to aid in showing the user where to slide in each cartridge when the printer asked for that cartridge, beginning with the color YELLOW. The cartridge has liquid ink in it, and it is held vertically while it is slid in at a mostly strictly vertical angle. At the rear cavity wall is a hollow needle the carriage aligns with that should line up with an opposing pierceable entry hole for the hollow needle. The needle should pierce the YELLOW and then the user finally ends the process by slightly elevating the back end of that inkwell as he or she continues to push back approx. 1/16″ of an inch. FOR THE LIFE OF ME, NO MATTER HOW HARD I PUSHED, AND MAKING SURE THE CARTRIDGE WAS ABSOLUTELY VERTICAL, I COULD NOT GET THE NEEDLE TO PIERCE THE FRONT OF THE YELLOW CARTRIDGE. I WAS AFRAID TO BEAR DOWN HARDER, KNOWING IF I BENT THE PIERCING NEEDLE I WOULD CONTAMINATE THE ENTIRE INNER VOLUME WITH YELLOW CONCENTRATED INK LIQUID. I called Cannon tech support, a process of telephone tag since their direct-to-tech support-for-the-Maxify-Models was not published or lookup-able anywhere. To Cannon’s negligence, the computerized initial menu system did not at all suggest the existence of a tech support subunit dedicated to the Maxify model, thus it took me 4 repeated tries before I outfoxed the computer and got it to let me go to Maxify tech support, a process that wasted 45 minutes of my infinitely valuable remainder of my life on earth. But once I *did* get through to them, they were VERY VERY COMPETENT, nice, caring, and professional, and this became one of 3 occasions where I stayed in conversation with them for well over 90 minutes attempting to GET THAT YELLOW CARTRIDGE in place. On this first call, after 30 minutes, I succeeded in mounting the cartridge, essentially by applying even more backwards brute force in pushing. Then to my amazement the other three colors of cartridges almost walked in on their own, they were so effortless to insert! So the final step was to add paper to the tray and try to print something. I had already installed the printer device drivers from the included DVD disk. To my extreme alarm, I discovered that the printer would vertically slice all the way into any sheet of paper taken up to print with…Nothing from tech support worked to fix it. So after about 45 min. more trying, we gave up with the understanding they would send me a new replacement of the same model, and I would try again. The shipping took only 3 days. But it meant spending $20 I could not befin to afford carting/repacking up the old device (lucky I saved the molded styrofoam shock absorbing packing material) after paying one of the workers at the combined grocery store/UPS pickup center to help me get the new printer through my door, which did not open all the way. THIS TIME, WITH TECH SUPPORT ON THE PHONE (they finally gave me their direct phone #) no amount of effort would get that YELLOW cartridge to go in. After a 2 hr phone call trying, we agreed again for them to send me another new one, BUT THIS TIME ALL PRECHECKED-OUT COMPLETELY AS WELL AS PRACTICE PRINTED, AND ALSO WITH CANNON INSERTING THE INK CARTRIDGES PRIOR TO SHIPPING. I thought nothing could go wrong. But time after time, every sheet of paper would cause a paper jam alarm. For over 15 tries. I had to pay another guy $22 to help me get the printer through the door. Finally I called it quits and called Amazon for a refund, which they gave me without issue. I feel mostly sad that the forces of the universe decided I would fail in having this printer work for me. I am having to undergo an unusually long (~ 60 days) without having a printer. I certainly hope my next choice will work, as the process has left me wary and exhausted.