Board 8 > Screw you, Hewlett-Packard

(+) Yeah! (+)

My dad always thought printers and ink were a racket, so he made sure to buy a printer that would get good mileage from the cartridges, even if he had to pay a little more for the printer.

About two years ago, he gave me his printer. It's a fancy thing, probably $400 new, albeit it's probably close to a decade old now. I don't need a fancy printer, but when my old one gave me trouble, I inherited this one. He gave me a spare cartridge with it, and I've been using it sparingly since I don't print a lot. Last week, it finally ran out of ink.

I went to Staples, bought a new cartridge, put it in, and...it didn't work. I went through all the necessary motions to try to get it working, but the new cartridge wouldn't print. I confirmed nothing else wrong with the printer, and the color inks still print. I go back to Staples, exchange it for a second one, and find the replacement doesn't work either. Therefore, it's not simply defective.

So I contact Hewlett-Packard, figuring maybe they'll give me some help. I started on the forums on Thursday, but realized I needed an immediate answer on Friday because I had to get some prints made and I would need to make other arrangements if I didn't have a working printer. Guy on the phone listens to my story, and comes to the conclusion that I need to replace the printer 'cause it's old and out of warranty. This was after telling me he was going to offer me free help (as in help that isn't covered under warranty.) Apparently that's what free help consists of -- telling you to go buy a new printer.

A day or two later, someone replies on the forums. I tell him I was unsatisfied with tech support's answer, and he manages to escalate it to a guy who asks me to repeat everything to him all over again. In my response, I suggested that maybe the reason is because HP puts these stupid chips in their ink cartridges and maybe they're no longer compatible with my printer, because it was the only thing I could think of. And when he replied, he confirmed that and told me I was SOL.

Now, I can understand if there's a valid reason to stop production on a particular cartridge model. But they were continuing to sell the exact same product number, using the same physical dimensions, and seemingly same everything else except the chip inside. So basically, this is just planned obsolescence. After so many years gone by, even if the printer is still functioning just fine, they want me to throw it away anyhow and go buy a new one from them. No wonder they don't want anyone buying third party cartridges! Those might continue to work!

But it's a total ass move, because nowhere is there acknowledgement that the newer cartridges won't work. Nowhere is anyone trying to discourage me from buying a cartridge that I can't return and will never work. And, as near as I can tell, there's nothing at stake here other than they have a chip in the cartridge that says "don't work." I consider myself incredibly fortunate that Staples allowed me to return both packages, even though they were opened, and that's against the printed store policy. Otherwise, I'd be out $110 just because of HP's feckless capitalism.
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Do you have one of the old cartridges that you could bring to a place that refills them?

Also, yes, ink is a racket.
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If I ever get a new printer I will make sure cartridges are refillable so this kind of thing doesn't happen. I will also try to not choose a company that does consumer-unfriendly practices like this. Would always make me buy a new printer from a different company, not them. Do they not understand consumerism?
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Yeah I only by laser printers from Brother. HP is the worst printer company
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printers are just one giant scam.

Ink low(Not empty), refuses to print.
Color ink low, cant print black and white.

I'm pretty sure they have installed software that intentionally corrupts the printers over time too.
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Worked as a tech support in HP for 3 years (what a dumb waste of time)

Do not buy HP
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I also have printer problems. Says there's no paper in the tray even when there obviously is. Printers suck.
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Do not buy Lexmark either
I have yet to hear this happens in HP but -
Lexmark cartridges used to (or still) have a chip that count down the estimated number of pages remaining to print, instead of actually checking how much ink remains
So it might stop printing and say you are out of ink even though you are don't
If you hid this particular chip, the printer will continue printing normally (and won't stop even if it's out of ink, it will just print blank pages)
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Our Lexmark was the worst. That was the one that would estimate a colored cartridge to be low and then refuse to print black and white pages(It would still print test pages to prove it still had color left too).

Tried HP, Canon, and Lexmark they've all been awful.

Currently have an Epson.
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Oh yeah color printers that can't print black because they are out of Yellow/Cyan/Magenta are just the fucking worst
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red13n posted...

Currently have an Epson.

This is what I bought. Hopefully they won't let me down in a few years.

Still, I downgraded from a very high-end printer to a basic one that was on sale for $80. I shouldn't have had to do that.
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oh that's the other thing, don't buy color printers. Get laserjet black and white only, with no scan feature.

The less features a printer has, the longer it will last
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if you want to print just don't buy inkjets. a simple, cheap laser printer is 1000x better, more reliable, and easy to use. wired ones will cost you some $30-50 or so, wireless should still go <$100 with a few more bells and whistles. honestly, if you have the space just get a decent printer, decent scanner, and the rest can fuck off. separate decent ones are better than these all-in-one trash piles with an ink racket.
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3rd party websites go
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