HP printers start rejecting budget ink cartridges

[FrodosPet]

Source: BBC

By Zoe Kleinman
Technology reporter, BBC News

7 hours ago

Large numbers of HP printer owners found their printers stopped recognising unofficial printer ink cartridges on 13 September.

Dutch printer ink vendor 123inkt said it had received more than 1,000 complaints in one day.

HP said that during its last firmware update, settings had been changed so HP printers would communicate with only HP-chipped cartridges.

~ snip ~

It has angered some of its customers as HP branded cartridges are notably more expensive than unofficial brands.

~ snip ~

Read more: www.bbc.com/news/technology-37408173

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This is a ridiculous waste of resources and a direct slap at competition.

[Angry Dragon]

1. corporations need more money and HUGE tax breaks

[LiberalFighter]

2. Personally I wouldn't use any inkjet printers. Too expensive.

[47of74]

32. Yeah I don't use them either now.

Now that color laser printers have reached a reasonable price I use them. I like how I can let the printer sit for a few months and then print again without worrying that the cartridges have all gone dry. My mom has a ink jet and it seems that every time she goes to use it the ink is dry.

I have a Brother 3170. It not only prints through USB, but also wirelessly. That helps since I work from home, I have the printer plugged in via USB to the work laptop so I can print from it while I'm connected via VPN, but then can print wirelessly from my personal machines at the same time. Plus I can print out manuals here at home that are several hundred pages and not have the printer jam up after a few pages.

I can get the toner cartridges fairly cheaply from other suppliers, so I sure as hell hope Brother doesn't decide that would be a good idea all of a sudden.

[kimbutgar]

3. I own an old HP printer and use only generics

I wonder if it will no longer recognize a genetic one next time. I see it updates on my computer from time to time.

[moonscape]

12. I would disable updates. But that's me. n/t

[canetoad]

28. Yup

If it ain't broke and all that.

[Plucketeer]

4. The latest

"Epipen" ripoff.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

5. Expect a workaround soon.

Remember what happened to Keurig:

August 2014: New Keurig designed not to work with private label pods

December 2014: Keurig Requirement for 'Officially-Licensed Coffee ONLY' Defeated by Simple Hack bwahahahahaha

May 2015: Keurig’s K-Cup screw-up and how it K-pitulated Wednesday to angry consumers

Disclosure: I own shares of Hewlett-Packard. I don't like what HP is doing here.

[Eleanors38]

6. Old-line monopoly practices in da Hi Tek era.

[SharonAnn]

17. Classic example of economic principle called "rent seeking". Income without providing anything.

[EL34x4]

7. My Canon uses cheap generic cartridges.

I've saved a fortune since I discovered them on Amazon. It was no longer cost effective the buy a new printer when the old one went dry. Not surprised the big guys got wise to this and put their foot down.

Oh well... Nice while it lasted.

[still_one]

8. I wonder if that is an anti-trust violation. Microsoft tried to force everyone to use I.E., which

essentially destroyed netscape

[Blue_Tires]

16. America needs Netscape Navigator back now more than ever

and I'm totally not kidding...

[TheBlackAdder]

23. ...after forcing Netscape to use published APIs, while MSIE used unpublished backdoor gate calls.

[truthisfreedom]

9. I guess never letting my printer update by keeping it off the internet is working out for me.

If my HP printers start rejecting cartridges it will be time to get a new brand. They came free with other purchases anyway.

[yeoman6987]

10. I use HP cartridges and never had an issue. I hope this won't effect me.

HP cartridges are pretty affordable considering how many pages you can print.

[left-of-center2012]

27. "HP cartridges are pretty affordable ..."

I buy mine off eBay at a decent price.

[yeoman6987]

37. I get mine at the navy exchange.

[CreekDog]

48. always posting the progressive point of view

[Blue_Tires]

11. It's a racket...

and naturally the "official" HP cartridges had a huge jump in price once there was nobody left to keep them honest...

Had I known I was getting into this, I probably wouldn't have bought an HP printer... The only reason I bought the damn thing was because I got it at 20% discount...

[YOHABLO]

13. NO more HP products for me .... I'm through with that company.

[C Moon]

14. It wouldn't suprise me if other printer makers follow suit.

I own an Epson. Don't use it a whole lot, but I think I may ignore any future updates.

[Helen Borg]

15. Cannot use "generic" cartridges anymore.

Which means I will only buy printers that do.

[matt819]

18. My two cents

Yes, this is shitty.

I've been buying only hp for the better part of 15 years. I've found that they are increasingly stingy on ink usage, so I'm buying less ink. And I only buy ink on sale either at staples or Amazon. I never had luck with generic inks, and discounted prices on hp inl are either counterfeit or expired. And the printers are reasonably robust.

[OnDoutside]

19. I have a HP6700 and I had massive problems when

I installed generic ink cartridges. It became hopeless in the end, so I had to go back to HP cartridges again. No problem since, it's a racket.

[NickB79]

20. It's cheaper to buy a new printer than a new ink cartidge set these days

I'm not even joking either.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

24. I believe you.

I've seen an inkjet printer with the starter cartridge for $19.95 at the Walgreen's.

[TheBlackAdder]

21. They should let carts print until empty, not when a software click counter assumes they are empty.

.


Whenever you print, it counts as an average page, or "click charge," whether you print one pixel or the whole page.

You could have print cartridges that are half-full being flagged as empty.



Also, unless you disable color printing on the printer and your software, you use colors when printing black pages.

You need to set the "Only Print Using Black Cartridge" setting



=======


Where HP really screws customers is with their color laser printers. They do the same click charge estimates,
so you could have a 3/4 full color cart being flagged as empty. It's so bad, people sell replacement chips that
you scrape off and replace, to trick the printer into using the rest of your cartridge.


Also, each color you use, adds 1 charge to the drum, which is a really expensive thing to replace.


It's best to print, only using black, or have a dedicated black only laser to reduce your costs.

Note: Corporate contracts have these software counters disabled, so you can completely dump the contents.
Apparently, HP does not want the corporate contract users to return half-empty cartridges. But, they force
private and small businesses to pay that extra cost.


.

[democrattotheend]

47. Are you saying the cartridges are programmed to show that a replacement is needed before it is?

If so, that could be a violation of the law in some states, especially California. My firm is starting to do consumer class actions, so I will look into whether this or the programming the printers to stop taking 3rd party cartridges could be a case.

[mopinko]

49. you can usually set to "run past empty"

tho my hp doesnt go all the way empty, but does run for quite a while past the warning.

the one that pisses me off is when it stops printing because a color is out, but you arent using that color anyway. grrrr.

[bucolic_frolic]

22. Anti-competitive Business Practices

Monopoly
Using Proprietary fitment to eliminate competitors

Class Action?

[bucolic_frolic]

25. Is this why they bought Samsung?

Printing and Imaging for $1.05 Billion September 2016

[ToxMarz]

29. I was wondering the same thing

Maybe not solely the why, but a result. They got 6500 Samsung printing patents and their printer engine production. HP did not manufacture it's own printer engines before.

HP also split into two companies last year, Business Services and the Printer/Copier/PC business. The later is considered a declining market, so likely this is some Bain Capital type aquisition to squeeze the money out and if it works it's a bonus, but they are taking as much as they can up front.

[riversedge]

26. oh crap. I have a HP and have used off brands for years. Now what

[Spitfire of ATJ]

35. Canon.

[MichMan]

30. Wont risk generics

I have a Canon printer and not HP. I take a substantial number of local sports photos and at times sell prints to the participants.The quality of prints from this affordable printer is simply amazing and people can't believe I print them at home.

Not a huge amount of business, but will help pay for new photo gear and expenses. I would never use anything other than genuine Canon cartridges as saving a few cents per print just isn't worth the risk to me.

[Agnosticsherbet]

31. Not surprised. The real profit in printers is in the ink.

Sell a printer dirt cheap and live off people who mainline printer ink.

[Ruby the Liberal]

33. The Costco by me fills cartridges

No idea if thats a good thing or not, but the prices on the sign were quite reasonable compared to buying new. I wonder if those chips read page counts or check fill levels.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

34. They gotta do something to undo the damage Carly caused.

[retrowire]

36. DRM! DRM! DRM! nt

[silverweb]

38. I need a new printer soon.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]It's not going to be an HP.

[woodsprite]

39. Ours even rejected an authentic HP black ink cartridge over the weekend.

Pisses me off. It bagged at 3am when my daughter was trying to print off masters for an art project.

[dembotoz]

40. brand loyalty ends when the hassles begin

to make an end user angry each time they put in ink is not a good way to build loyalty

[UpInArms]

41. HP has been junk for years

Their proprietary cartridge crap makes them boat anchors

[BlancheSplanchnik]

42. So sick of the nickel and diming....

It's a corporate obsession. "Corporate-People" (like any insurance corporation, or Bayer-Monsanto ). definitely display traits associated with certain diagnoses--like being a psychopath, for example!!!)

"Corporations are people, my friend!"....

Yes yes . They certainly are.

[WatchWhatISay]

43. Watch the expiration date when you buy cartridges from hp

They stop working when the expiration date comes around, whether there is any ink left or not

[hexola]

44. Not really LBN worthy...old news...

Epson started doing this long ago...

[FrodosPet]

46. There is a specific timed event related to this

[hexola]

45. Google CISS...

CISS work great... Especially for high volume printing... you'll burn out the printer before the ink runs out!