Is There An Ink Cartridge Scam?

I'm not sure if this is the right forum to post this in, but something happened to me today that sent me into a blinding rage. Just to provide some back story, about four years ago I purchased an inkjet color printer. It was the first one I have ever owned, and before I just used the school or library printers. I figured that owning one would save me money in the long run. I don't use it that often, and usually just for documents. I have had to replace the black cartridge several times since then, but never the color ones. I installed a new one today and tried to print a document. A message popped up telling me that it was unable to print because the blue cartridge was low. All I wanted to do was print out a black & white paper.



Is there some kind of scam going on here? Do these companies purposefully design their printers this way so we have to keep spending an arm and a leg on ink that we don't need?

did you actually set your print setup to black and white before trying to print the document?

Originally posted by Biigs
did you actually set your print setup to black and white before trying to print the document?

Yes I did, but I kept getting the message to replace the blue cartridge.

HP wanted to take this further. Consumer pushback prob. prevailed... for now.

Ink Expiration

So that's a scam. Any paying so much for cartridges is a scam. What's not a scam today?!

reply to post by DarthOej


cool, just asking.

Since the printer is dumb and doesnt know what its printing, if your print a black and white doc using a general setting most software wont change the quality or colour setting automaticly.

reply to post by DarthOej


Straight out Yes! Printer companies make much less than you would actually think on the printer. They make money on the consumables such as ink, paper, cables and paid technical support. These days if your printer usage at home is light you may be better buying a whole new printer than replacing cartridges. Sounds insane but true. We get lexmark & HP (to name a few) printers in Australia for $40.00. Ink costs at least that or more!,

Screw them. Use cheap generic cartridges, refill the cartridges yourself or buy another printer. Don't fall for their plan!

Originally posted by AkumaStreak
HP wanted to take this further. Consumer pushback prob. prevailed... for now.

Ink Expiration

So that's a scam. Any paying so much for cartridges is a scam. What's not a scam today?!

Yeah, I just read that. Seems like an incredibly bold thing to do.

reply to post by DarthOej


Bold you say? thats gunna cost you more to print

2nd

You should be able to set your printer to black and white or grey scale to bypass the empty or low cartridge. I have an HP Photosmart and purchased an endless ink supply. It cost $70 dollars and at $40 dollars a crack for individual replacements, it saves me $100s of dollars.

The instructions had me cover a peg with velcro to bypass the ink monitor. Now my printer "thinks" all the cartridges are empty, but it prints anyway.

My printer is my life blood and I use it all day, printing out color artwork on canvas, muslin, tissue paper and plastic.

Originally posted by windword
You should be able to set your printer to black and white or grey scale to bypass the empty or low cartridge. I have an HP Photosmart and purchased an endless ink supply. It cost $70 dollars and at $40 dollars a crack for individual replacements, it saves me $100s of dollars.

The instructions had me cover a peg with velcro to bypass the ink monitor. Now my printer "thinks" all the cartridges are empty, but it prints anyway.

My printer is my life blood and I use it all day, printing out color artwork on canvas, muslin, tissue paper and plastic.

How exactly do you do that? I use an Epson Stylus.

Originally posted by Biigs
reply to post by DarthOej

 

Bold you say? thats gunna cost you more to print

2nd

Hehehe nice one.

I would not doubt it, their is another exposed conspiracy related to printers. Printers have a drip pan at the bottom because ink leaks when printing, once that drip pan is full the printer will stop working. The only way to clean the drip pan (a sponge with in a contain) is to open up the printer. Some brands make it near to impossible to clean out the drip pan. Thus causing you to have to buy a new printer because the drip pan is full. They could at least make it a option to easily replace the drip pan but they make more money when you have to buy a new printer.


I all ways thought it was weird that you can buy a brand new printer with ink cartridges for the same price that you buy replacement ink. But who knows maybe the ink is just stail, you should heat your ovan up and place it in for a couple of min. Not to hot or you will melt the plastic instead of the stail ink.

Perhaps they have a relationship with college professors and other teachers. Everything has to be typed in class, and I don't know why. Its just a freaking class essay. I could understand if it was a professional document. My penmanship is pretty good, and I think longhand looks better in a lot of cases.

The scam isn't just the ink, its the printer too. Printers are notorious loss leaders. The rabbit hole for the evils of printers is very deep. From unique identifying print heads to questionable software to questionable business practices. Can't live with em can't live without them.

Originally posted by DarthOej

Originally posted by windword
You should be able to set your printer to black and white or grey scale to bypass the empty or low cartridge. I have an HP Photosmart and purchased an endless ink supply. It cost $70 dollars and at $40 dollars a crack for individual replacements, it saves me $100s of dollars.

The instructions had me cover a peg with velcro to bypass the ink monitor. Now my printer "thinks" all the cartridges are empty, but it prints anyway.

My printer is my life blood and I use it all day, printing out color artwork on canvas, muslin, tissue paper and plastic.

How exactly do you do that? I use an Epson Stylus.

I don't know which Epson Stylus you have, but, I got my system from these guys.
www.inksystem.com...

I found this on their site.


How do I do what? This?

reply to post by windword


Err I am not very good with jerry rigging things.

Ok screw it. Does anyone know if they still sell printers that just print black, or am I just better of paying 10 cents a page at the library?

I feel your frustration. I've been close to throwing my printer out the window a couple of times.

Every printer I use seems to have the most poorly designed, buggy software as well as just being quite a blatant rip-off with the whole ink-fiasco.

I remember hearing somewhere that consumer printer ink one of the most expensive liquids in the world (because you pay so much for such a small amount, like 50ml if that). I think it works out to being more expensive than rocket fuel.

I would rather run my printer on that

Originally posted by phatpackage
reply to post by DarthOej

 

Straight out Yes! Printer companies make much less than you would actually think on the printer. They make money on the consumables such as ink, paper, cables and paid technical support. These days if your printer usage at home is light you may be better buying a whole new printer than replacing cartridges. Sounds insane but true. We get lexmark & HP (to name a few) printers in Australia for $40.00. Ink costs at least that or more!,

Screw them. Use cheap generic cartridges, refill the cartridges yourself or buy another printer. Don't fall for their plan!

edit on 12-2-2012 by phatpackage because: (no reason given)

But do you not know that new printers don't have a full cartridge of ink?
That is a very old scam. On an old Apple e2 machine I got seven (7) pages of black text before it ran out. But they all still play that game. Learn to use local. mail order reinked cartridges or do it yourself with available kits.

Originally posted by DarthOej
reply to post by windword

 

Err I am not very good with jerry rigging things.

Me neither, and I was quite intimidated. I'm really proud of myself for actually doing it all by myself. It was pretty easy, really. And so worth it! You could probably find a nerd to install it for you and still save hundreds.

Here's an example of my printer work. The face is printed out on fabric, the large wings on tissue paper and the little wings on her headband are plastic.