Sunday, September 8, 2013

HP Incompatible Cartridge Error - Hewlett Packard's Dirty Secret

1 comments
My printer started displaying an error at the beginning of the summer.  The error said "Incompatible Cartridge Error", which seemed strange because I hadn't changed the cartridges, and they were genuine HP cartridges.  I read the steps from the HP website about this error, and nothing changed.  Not wanting to drop $50-60 on new cartridges, when I was not sure that they were the problem, I called HP, and after many frustrating exchanges, some representative agreed to mail me new cartridges.  Of course, they sent me incorrect cartridges.  So, I went to Staples to try to exchange them for the correct ones, which, of course, they were unwilling to do.  However, I learned something from their tech support guy that HP does and apparently won't admit they do.  So, I am posting this corporate secret today to spare other folk from the headache that I experienced with this issue.

Hewlett Packard date stamps their print cartridges.  This means that once they are used, they are designed to cease working after a certain amount of time.  The rationale given to me was to prevent black market or refurbished cartridges from being used.  Hmmmm...  The problem with this is that, since the price of toner ink rivals the gold index, we like to use our ink sparingly.  I guess thrift is looked down upon from mega corporations.  I am going to call HP each and every time a cartridge times out and there is still ink in it.  I urge you to do the same, and tell them that we will continue to do so until they change this stupid, wasteful policy. 
 

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