Are Inkjet Cartridge Chips Evil?
Imagine a world in which Epson made cars, instead of printers. In this brave new world you'd be admonished to buy special gas at Epson stations, no matter what the price. Use of other gas might risk damaging your car, and would void its warranty, although these stations would be rare, due to legal challenges by Epson. When filling up at an Epson station, you'd pay for a full tank of gas, but never know how much gas you were really getting for your money.
Sound farfetched? If you print with Epson inkjet printers, as I do, you know the horror of watching the graphical representation of how much ink is left in the cartridges creep ever lower, until it flatlines. The red light on the printer then begins to flash almost joyfully, as if celebrating the moment we so dread of having to hock more of the family jewels to purchase another cartridge.
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| Rare dialog box #1206 |
It was with some surprise, then, that I recently heard about the existence of the EpsonSettlement.com site. According to this, if you live in the US and have purchased one of the many qualifying Epson inkjet printers over the last few years, you've got some cash or a credit at the Epson online store coming your way, thanks to the modern miracle of class action lawsuits. In a nutshell, the plaintiffs "allege that Epson inkjet printers and inkjet cartridges indicate that cartridges are 'empty' and suspend printer function, even though substantial ink remains." Of course, everything hinges around the subjective word "substantial," one dear to the hearts of lawyers everywhere. Epson, as you might expect, "has denied and continues to deny the claims and any wrongdoing" but is nevertheless settling, no doubt to avoid a public relations melt-down.
If you have an Epson inkjet printer you should visit the site for all the gory legal details to see if you can snag your $45 per printer credit for use on the Epson store site. This amount can also be split into $25 cash and a $20 credit, or to receive 25% off on anything at the store, up to a maximum of $100. Hmm, let's see, how many new cartridges will that get me?
Chris Dickman
Editor, Graphics.com
I would go to this site, but I finally threw my epson out with all the paperwork.
I got tired of expired ink cartiages, etc.
I like the prints jobs, when they happened.
Gee, all these years and I thought it was only me being paranoid.....this news needs to get out and around...I'm sure EPSON is trying to keep it as quiet as possible. My latest EPSON goes one step further and prevents you from printing when only one of the two cartridges 'supposedly' needs changed!! I cannot print at all until I've replaced one of the two cartridges!! Yet earlier models printed on regardless enabling you at least to print in black & white if necessary! My latest printer is a compaq and I've printed alot more on the original cartridges that have yet to be replaced compared to the EPSON. No more EPSON!
You are not alone. I love my Epson 1520, but sometime ago, I switched to generic ink cartridges. I've found these cartridges to be as good, if not better, than the originals. You have to be careful, though, as they vary in price from $19 to $2.99 for a 3-color cartridge; amazingly all the same generic brand, just unscrupulous dealers. My favorite source for these cartridges is a computer supply house out of Atlanta with excellent service and quick shipping. The Epson cartridge retails everywhere stateside for $29, whether black or 3 color. The generic retails here for color $2.79 and for black $1.29. Try this source:
www.data-labels.com
Be aware that when first switching to generic, you will have to clean your heads maybe as many as 10 times, but it's worth the time to save the money.
SDK
To be perfectly clear
Hewlett Packard recycles their ink cartridges by promoting that HP cartridges be returned for recycling, using a self addressed, stamped envelope. Allowing HP, through their “refurbishing and reselling” effort to conserve resources, using the various recycling facilities of manufacturers around the world contracted by HP. Thus, the mere fact that there also are other recyclers available to refurbish, and recycle ink cartridges, but except for lower cost, and the free choice of the consumer, HP has restricted the consumer the full use, and the operation of HP printers.
Smith and Roberson’s Business Law, ninth edition. West Publishing. Chapter 43; ANTITRUST.
“Characterizing a type of restraint as per se illegal therefore has a significant effect on the prosecution of an antitrust suit. In such a case, the plaintiff need only show that the type of restraint occurred, she does not need to prove that the restraint limited competition.....Tying arrangements. A tying arrangement occurs when the seller of a product, service, or intangible (the "tying" product) conditions its sale on the buyers purchasing a second product, service, or intangible (the "tied" product) from the seller....Because tying arrangements limit buyers' freedom of choice and may exclude competitors, the law closely scrutinizes such agreements.”
Hewlett Packard has, unbeknownst to customers who purchased HP printers (tying product), tied as a condition, the purchase of new HP ink cartridges (tied product), or HP recycled ink cartridges, through the use illegal anti-competitive consumer practices.
Again, I say Hewlett Packard, play your silly games by cheating consumers on ink cost, and supplies. I say go ahead! But don’t stop me from the use of my printer.
My beautiful Epson printer died about a month ago. My dad thinks it's the printer heads - I loved that thing. I changed the black cartridge and try to print, but nothing comes out, even though the printer acts like it's spewing ink. So much money for a full cartridge and now I might have to throw away my all-in-one. What a racket.
Angie, before you give up, try running the print head cleaning routine at least 10 times. Sounds nuts, but I have seen this work.
I found out from Epson Customer Support that when you are cleaning the heads that you do not close and then open the process to clean again. He said to clean and again clean until you see your pattern without splotches. I did it about 5 times and it worked. Previously I would clean and quit and repeat the process with no results. I never read anywhere about the above technique but it has sure ended a lot of my frustration of trying to clean until the inks ran out and I had to go get more. I now own the original 4600 and recently purchased 7800 and love it.
I dont think any evil can come out of this, the trouble is when those cartridges are not recycled.
Please buy where u can only recycle after that, I am sure that would help...
here is two sites I found
http://bulgle.com/L/L/0000.php
http://bulgle.com/ads/123inkjet.php