Consumers beware

[crackatinny]

This is a bit off the topic of fish, but I learned the hard way, and I just thought I'd pass this on.
An error message came up on my Epson 3in1 printer yesterday, (only a bit over 12 months old) it read "parts inside your printer are past there service life, have printer serviced by an Epson dealer".
After reseaching, I found that they put a counter in to count the times the cartridges are changed, whether the printer was still working or not prior to this, it won't let you use it untill it is unlocked by an epson servicer, for a fee.
I think this is a con on there part.

If anyone else has had things like this happen with any products, share your experience, it may help others considering buying a certain product.

[crackatinny]

As a follow up to my last post.

After 2 days of searching the net, I found a programe to reset the printer, it took me all of 3 minutes to do it, and this is what Epson would charge a service fee of about $60 for.

I think that is outragous.

[Lady Hobbs]

Never heard of such a thing. My printer keeps telling me I need to order new ink and it can only be purchased thru Dell. Ya right. I find one that will fit anywhere and that's the one I'll get. I should check first, tho, as maybe Dell's might be cheaper.

[crackatinny]

I was not impressed with Epson at all, I even emailed them and got no reply. My wife was going to buy me a new printer today, we looked about, and every sales person we spoke to in 4 different shops, i warned them about Epsons scam, they where shocked. Luckily I told the wife to hold off on the new printer, and since I found this unlock programe they use, the printer is working like nothing ever happened.

Also Hobbs, with your DELL, look into generic cartridges, you can save a lot, if you can get them for the DELL. cartridges for my epson are over AU$20, I have used generic at a cost of about AU$3 since I have had it.

[Lady Hobbs]

Some companies sell the recycled ones. They're just refilled and I see no problem with that. I used the refillable ink for awhile that you inject into your ink cartridge but I usually made a holy mess with it. You pry the top off the cartridge and use a needle to inject the ink. I had it all over my desk, my printer, my hands and it even sprayed on the white wall. (Only thing that got it off the wall was the Magic Eraser.)

I think extended warranties on anything is a waste of money. I bought a brand new car once that had an oil leak around the seal. The warranty would not cover seals but would cover a new motor. So.......I let the thing leak until it blew the engine and THEN they would replace it. They could have replaced that little seal for a dollar but ended up buying me a new motor.

[crackatinny]

Some companies sell the recycled ones. They're just refilled and I see no problem with that. I used the refillable ink for awhile that you inject into your ink cartridge but I usually made a holy mess with it. You pry the top off the cartridge and use a needle to inject the ink. I had it all over my desk, my printer, my hands and it even sprayed on the white wall. (Only thing that got it off the wall was the Magic Eraser.)

I think extended warranties on anything is a waste of money. I bought a brand new car once that had an oil leak around the seal. The warranty would not cover seals but would cover a new motor. So.......I let the thing leak until it blew the engine and THEN they would replace it. They could have replaced that little seal for a dollar but ended up buying me a new motor.

Good on you, that is ridiculous on there part, how many people would have topped it up with oil untill the warranty run out?, a lot I am guessing, if more done what you did, they would soon rethink there policy on warranty cover.

[kimmers318]

I too have a dell printer (well one of them is) and haven't yet tried any of the "knock off" ink cartridges....if any have let me know how they worked. It really isn't that expensive to me to buy thru Dell, they are delivered usually the next day, and what I like the most is the ink is alot more smudgeproof then my old printer was. With my old printer I would have a stack of reports to take to my meeting and if it was drizzling outside they would have smudge spots whereever the droplets landed.....I hated that.
Your story Crack will certainly keep me from ever wanting an Epson printer!

[minabird]

I too have a dell printer (well one of them is) and haven't yet tried any of the "knock off" ink cartridges....if any have let me know how they worked. It really isn't that expensive to me to buy thru Dell, they are delivered usually the next day, and what I like the most is the ink is alot more smudgeproof then my old printer was. With my old printer I would have a stack of reports to take to my meeting and if it was drizzling outside they would have smudge spots whereever the droplets landed.....I hated that.
Your story Crack will certainly keep me from ever wanting an Epson printer!

Alot of companies such as Dell sell other manufacturers' printers; they just repackage the cosmetic plastic to make it look a little different from the actual printer manufacturer's version and glue their logo to it. HP is probably the one PC maker who also makes their own printers. But, HP lcd monitors and TVs have the screens made by Sharp.

[Chrona]

Buying genuine Dell cartridges is pointless. I've always and will only ever use generic ones from online shops. They are like, half the price.

[Incredulous_Ed]

Don't buy from epson!
That's really too bad crackatinny

[Lauren B.]

Good to know about the Epson printer scam. I'm going to alert everyone I know. I shouldn't be surprised at things like this, but ever would I imagine companies would stoop so low!

I've owned 4 printers in the last 12 years and they've always been HP. The first one that I purchased, since it was in 1995, cost $450 (on the same token, the 17-inch monitor I had cost me $800!). The printer that I have now is a $35 jobbie and honestly, aside from a few feature variations, they've all worked the same. I have a bad habit (that I'm trying to break) of pulling the sheet of paper directly out the front of the printer when I have a paper jam. There is a portal door that you access from the back of the machine to pull the paper jam out, but I've found that I usually have to pry the portal door open with a pair of scissors or a screwdriver and it ends up being much more work than I anticipated. It's a real pain in the ass if your printer is set further back in your desk (my desk has a little alcove where you can put a printer, fax, phone, whatever) and then you have to move other equipment around and have wires and plugs pulling everywhere. I can honestly say that all my printers have seen their decline through my improper paper jam removal.

I used to order ink cartridges through the mail, thinking I was getting a good deal. I used Jetpak (a service where you purchase a special envelope, insert your empty cartridge and mail it in, whereas they will mail back an identical good-as-new used cartridge), but you actually have to keep an inventory of two cartridges, to allow for the week-to-ten-days it takes for them to receive your envelope and send you back a cartridge. Also, if your printer happens to kick the bucket while you have one of their cartridges in hand, you're stuck with that cartridge unless you can find a printer that uses that particular style (which is harder than it sounds), or you can try to unload it on ebay if you have the motivation (I don't). You cannot request a different style of cartridge with Jetpak...they send you back an identical of whatever you send in. The websites that simply sell you a remanufactured cartridge is a better idea, but after you add in shipping, you save only a dollar or two. The only way you make out well in this case is if your local office supply stores carry the partially-filled cartridges, whereas the internet ones are always fully filled.

Lastly, yes, the DIY inject-the-ink-yourself kits are a disaster. If you do manage to do a half-decent job, there's no way you can professionally clean the ink cartridge itself. After the second refill or so, your printouts are an absolute mess (giant blobs of ink on the paper), not to mention what it's doing to the inside of your printer.