Avery Personal Label Printer Sucks
A little of topic but I feel that I should warn people about this terrible product.
If your looking to print labels for mailings etc … don’t get the Avery Personal Label printer. It simply does not work well to begin with … and after a few days, not at all.
HOW ABOUT TECH SUPPORT FROM AVERY?
Avery has 800 numbers, but nobody answers, all you get is an automated message.
TO SUM IT UP
After printing a few labels, the printer started to become flaky, where it needed constant restarts and force feeding of labels.
… It got to the point that the printer simply would refuse to print anything! After an hour of messing with it, I gave up.
NERD RULE: If you are an experienced nerd and a computer related product or software does not work relatively easily, the product is badly built.
Good luck,
Stefan Mischook
www.killersites.com
September 19th, 2006 at 10:31 pm
Thanks for the heads-up! I just started looking for a label printer and was considering Avery because I saw one on Ebay that “looked” good. I’m thankful for any warning that might save me from making a mistake.
God Bless,
KM
September 20th, 2006 at 12:24 am
Glad I could help.
October 26th, 2006 at 11:04 am
I purchased an avery personal label printer. Have had problems with
it from the beginning. It normally won’t print. If it does begin printing
I don’t dare change labels because it won’t print again.
Thanks for the heads up. Dennis Norton
December 18th, 2006 at 12:37 am
I also purchased one. It’s junk. almost impossible to disassemble to check the thermal head. I gave up.
Watch stuff being sold by ALDI department stores. They are reject recyclers.
December 19th, 2006 at 2:50 pm
I looked at the PLP again as I only put through about 20 labels before it stopped printing. After completelt disassembling the printer to get to the print head and roller, I found a piece of sticky label covering the print head.
I all fairness, the unit is a well built electronic / mechanical device, but is poorly designed in the maintainability of the unit. What a pity. Get one label stuck and thow it away!
I did pick it up cheap from ALDI.
I got it working again after carefully removing the stuck piece of label.
Not user servicable!!
December 19th, 2006 at 3:11 pm
Something as simple as a label printer should not be a pain in the ass that this product is …
It is both a hardware and software issue with the Avery Personal Label printer.
February 27th, 2007 at 10:07 am
I have one too, and the odd time there is a problem, it wont print at all. Then I turn it off for a while, and it will work after an hour or more being shut off. This thing has a mind of it’s own. Then I go to buy labels for this machine and Staples dont carry it anymore. NO WONDER! but who loses? we do , the consumer. I will never buy anything from Staples again
February 27th, 2007 at 10:22 am
HI Mike,
At least Staples had the good sense of getting rid of the crappy machine … you gotta give them that.
March 23rd, 2007 at 9:49 am
Thanks for the warning. Staples carries Brother label printers. Has anyone tried those?
April 17th, 2007 at 8:29 am
We bought one at work and it broke down two months after. Got another one, lasted 4 months. Will not buy another one.
Don’t buy this crap. Don’t waste your money and time.
May 5th, 2007 at 11:01 pm
I have had minor problems with this printer from the start..it works and then stops working….But Today it stopped and I gave up on trying to reload lables….I just ordered a dymo off Buy.com. I believe I have had it for 2 years but it should last longer thn that
I believe it came with a 2 Year Warranty.
I might try and take the Avery apart since I am getting a new one….I don’t know how often it needs the cleaning inserts….I might try cleaning it before I toss it.
I trade sports cards online and I used this for my trades…much easier to print a label then hand write it in the envelope especially when making a lot of trades….
I hope the Dymo is better…if not maybe I’ll try a 48.00 brother label printer on amazon.com
May 15th, 2007 at 10:12 pm
I have tried to get this thing to print for 18 months, it did work for a day then from then in in it always only prints on the bottom half of the label.
Piiece of junk
May 27th, 2007 at 11:40 am
Does anyone have a suggestion on one that is now working well for them? I have also been looking at the “Dymo” printers – any suggestions for a desktop/as needed label printer for my not so tech savvy mother-in-law. She will stroke if I get something that causes problems.
Thanks!
Sarah
May 31st, 2007 at 11:45 pm
Have Avery personal label printer at home – the label imprint stops after certain automatic updates. Have to constantly reload software. Have 3 DYMO label printers at work, EL60, 300 and 400. Work great. Need to understand how to correctly insert label roll and then no issues at all. Should have spent extra money on Dymo for home…that’s what I get for cutting corners at home!
June 19th, 2007 at 4:21 pm
I live in The Netherlands and also face problems with the Avery PLP. It’s absolute garbish which should never have netered the market.
The thing is refusing to print the text at the correct place. I have checked all settings twice…in vain. Lost piles of labels and time.
Besides Avery does not support Windows Vista. It’s a piece of crap and actually Avery should gibe the consumers their money back as they sold them a non working device !!!!
August 5th, 2007 at 10:39 am
I have an Avery R5000 which has never worked properly , but I think it’s the software that’s at fault. When it is actualy working , it makes a simple task almost impossible.
I have Dymo at work however and it has been brilliant . Nearly two years in my office with no problems. Both of my staff have bought them to use at home for their Christmas Card Mailings! Their stand alone software is straight forward to use although occaisonaly it has ‘lost’ the custom address list and reverted to demo! However we have not had that problem for about 9months!
I cannot understand how Avery could have got it so wrong! It took me many hours to get my computer to even recognise that it was connected!
August 7th, 2007 at 1:23 pm
I have heard good things about the Dymo as well.
So I guess when it comes to label makers:
Avery = bad
Dymo = good.
September 10th, 2007 at 11:57 am
THIS AVERY PERSONAL LABEL PRINTER SUCKS!!!!
September 10th, 2007 at 11:58 am
Let us try Dymo then
October 5th, 2007 at 2:30 pm
Thanks for being one of those people who call-out bad products when they see it. I was looking for an Avery label printer and man am I glad I ran across your blog. You saved me some bread. I have had very good success with Brother and Dymo although Dymo is somewhat limited in fonts. I’ll stick with the tried and true. Thanks again, Dude
October 30th, 2007 at 10:41 am
This thing is a piece of crap!!! I’m pretty good with stuff like this, but this is horrible. I finally got it to print, on the label, properly….but it spits out 8 blank labels for every label I print!!
November 10th, 2007 at 11:32 pm
I have had one of these for about a year now. It works reliably for me, but I only print 10-20 labels a month through it. Unlike others, I am running WinXP Pro and have had no issues with the printer itself. I got it at OfficeMax and it was part of a sale and several of them were on a table mis-labelled. It rung up at the register for only $9 so I took it home.
Now I have run out of my intial roll of 300 labels only to find they are expensive as crap if you can even find them. I tried Dymo labels in the unit and they don’t print. The Thermal technology of this POS is somehow unique and normal thermal tapes and lables simply don’t work. I have a Dymo at work and its much faster and will take 3rd party labels off of Ebay and other sites.
November 12th, 2007 at 12:18 am
I don’t run many labels, but loading is guess work at best. Print quality is good, but I too am having trouble finding additional labels. I would never buy another Avery but will use it until it dies then order a Dymo.
November 19th, 2007 at 8:53 pm
I agree that this label printer is annoying. I spent several hours trying to get mine to work. HOWEVER, once I figured it out the thing seems to work well. It is just incredibly fickle. Still I have found out how to keep it running relatively smoothly & it save me time just like I planned on it doing. Also I disagree with the original post where you say that their customer support is non-existent. You can call 888 835 8379 for software support or 888 462 8379 for hardware & they will talk you through whatever problems you have. In my mind the printer just needs a little better user interface. Overall I am pleased with mine once I got it working, though. I would reccommend anyone with problems call the above numbers. Also I got mine on eBay for $25 so you people should look into it; I don’t care how difficult a product it is to figure out, for that price it’s a steal.
November 26th, 2007 at 5:16 pm
I don’t share the opinion of the other writers. I have no problem with my PLP. I bought it at Ebay for 45 €. I use as software Design Pro 3.5.0. Every print is working. The version which I downloaded from Avery’s website 5.0 didn’t print. But everything is fine with the prior version. If the printer shouldn’t print exactly just reload the software into the random memory. You can buy new labels from many sellers. Just google with Avery – R5014 or what else.
November 30th, 2007 at 10:28 am
I have problems with my unit which, by-the-way, I need on a daily basis. It prints now, then it stops and so on. I’m a busy man and I don’t have the time to waste with garbage like this. My main problem is why the company doesn’t recall all the units and produce something better or return people’s money as a gesture of good will?
December 11th, 2007 at 10:32 pm
Before you ditch your printer, try the new DesignPro5 for the PLP found here:
http://www.avery.com/us/products/labelprinter/software.html
Since I installed the DesignPro5 for the PLP, my printer works flawlessly now. It prints very sharp labels and every time. The tech support number for Avery is 888-835-8379. The tech support people are very courteous – be a little patient with them and let them walk you through even if you have tried the steps they ask. I was getting a little irritated, but as a former tech support engineer, I decided to be understanding and hang in there – eventually the tech asked that I download and install the DesignPro5 for the PLP, as soon as I did that my problems (printing blank labels and flashing amber light) disappeared.
By the way, please uninstall all existing printer drivers for the PLP, download the latest driver and install and make the printer your default printer. Once you reinstall the printer, and then follow the above steps.
Good luck!
December 18th, 2007 at 8:38 am
Yep I have to agree with the sentiments here. Tried everything with this printer – just doesn’t work. In our case the print was always printing off the label – no matter what we did. We’ve tried every version of software we could find to try to fix it and in the end we are dumping the whole thing and going Dymo – as we should have in the beginning.
Seriously – never buying anything “labeled” Avery again. As most of my frieds and family ask advice from me for most IT related purchases, I doubt they are either.
What an odd company – soon to be bust hopefully.
January 21st, 2008 at 10:43 am
I bought one of these on eBay for $35 incl. shipping, too bad I did not find this post before buying it. The printer works OK for me, the problem is that here in Argentina there’s no place to buy the labels. I called the local Avery office and they told me that they are not planning to import those, so I’m stuck with the few that came with the printer. Does anyone know if there’s another brand of label I can use? TIA
January 25th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
I have one too and it is just trouble. I have used a Seiko SLP100 at work for years and it just keeps working. No problems at all. And Seiko even updated the drivers / software too. Use a Seiko.
March 26th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
Everything you have read above is true. I hate this piece of crap and right after I finish typing this it is going into the garbage. Until reading all of this stuff I thought it was me. I have struggled with this annoying little creature on and off for over a year and we are parting company today.
May 24th, 2008 at 11:37 am
I was at Avery’s site and watched a demo of the label maker. It looked wonderful, but there wasn’t an option to buy it. I started searching for a place to buy it and happened across this site. THANKS! I WILL NOT be searching for an AVERY Label printer after reading these reports. THANKS! THANKS! THANKS!
May 24th, 2008 at 11:47 am
Ahh, the power of the Web.
Beware makers of crappy products!
Stefan