Epson Printer Cartridge Time Expiry Rip-off!

[Lord Fulmer]

6 Months ago, bought an Epson DX4200 Printer/scanner to replace a dead HP.
Yesterday tried to print a photo out, only to find that all 4 cartridges have become "ink out" or in aviation talk, time expired.
It refuses to print a thing, although the cartidges are all half full, as I only use it for colour stuff. Having done some digging on the web, I have now found out that the cartridges have chips in, and cut out when they are told to. ie in my case 6 months.
So cheers Epson, £25 quid later, it now works. Sorry, this is the last one of your products that I buy.
Anyone know a non rip off brand?? Off to ebay to find the chip resetting tool.......!

[Bahn-Jeaux]

Chip resetting tool is available freely over the counter for about £5.
Pattern inks are also available for around £12 the set of 6 in my case Photo R300

[P.Pilcher]

All my epson printers have used epson ink - the cartridge(s) supplied with them when they were new. Despite (empty) threats from dealers that I would void the warranty, all my other ink has been purchased from http://www.tonezoneuk.com : - if SD doesn't mind me posting the link. I have never, (so far) ever had printer trouble that I can blame on my ink supply and I have been using this source for years and years and years. I haven't had colour balance problems when printing pictures either.
Bhan-Jeaux's advice is also absolutely correct. I like the way we can defeat the money making schemes of Epson and the other printer manufacturers by buying our ink elsewhere or refilling our own cartridges!

When you've done your research you may well find that this way, Epson printers give the best value for money!

P.P.

[Conan the Librarian]

There was a nice review of HPs latest A3 Photo printer in one of the rags over last week or two. If I remember correctly,It also mentioned a continuous ink supply, feeding from bottles for each, of the I think, nine cartridges. ! litre of each colour, was £814 so for a figure well the wrong side of £6,000 you could forget about running out for a while.

I still think that the driver for increased quality, is simply increased ink use. Ludicrous. I only use Epson ink for the advertised longevity, though I think that a good compatible will last as long. However, if anything starts to fade, I rather fancy my chances of making a complaint to Epson Customer Services. For my own use, I go compatible every time. (Epson R800 £15/set of 8 cartridges, versus around £80 from the big E themselves)

Conan

[Loose rivets]

Having written a post absolutely spitting nails, I then got an e from Epson sayint that they would repair my printer / scanner free of charge even though 15 months old. I sucked the ‘Windowlene' Sp? out of the heads and sent it back. ( Windowlene seems to get the heads clear, but there are more accepted products out there )

The new one failed. They sent me another one. It failed. In each case they upgraded me to the next model and gave me free ink. Then they sent me some more ink. Then they sent me one of the old units back...then they sent me some more ink. So far, it has cost them....well, who knows? I'm on my fourth unit and it was going last time I checked.

I mentioned with some considerable energy, what I thought about the cost of their silly ink. One of the reps finally admitted that they were now producing a unit that did not require all the ink to be changed when one bottle was empty. It had cost them a fortune and a lot of street cred world-wide.

[ormus55]

I always buy ink at Choice Stationary.

Set of cartridges here (http://www.choicestationery.com/cgi-bin/sh000001.pl?REFPAGE=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2echoicestationery%2eco m%2f&WD=dx4200&PN=Epson_Stylus_DX4200%2ehtml%23a4_21D684P#a4_21D684P)for the DX4200 for £14.99...never had a problem...

:)

i agree. i use them all the time. great prices and great service.
products always ok for me. never a single problem with choicestationery.

[P.Pilcher]

Well - Epson and co. may have lost street cred for their excessively priced ink, but they only have themselves to blame. If I remember correctly, the first ink jet printers for the retail market were manufactured by HP. In those days, their ink jet mechanisms tended to wear out fairly rapidly, so that HP had no alternative but to oblige you to change the ink jets when their ink cartridges ran out. This inevitably made replacement cartridges pricey. So when Epson and the other manufacturers developed ink jet mechanisms that lasted for the life of the printer, they rubbed their hands with glee when they noted what the competition was having to charge for ink refills! Regrettably for them, their attempts to keep this market for themselves by chipping cartridges and designing them to be as difficult as possible to refill have been thwarted by the availability of chip resetters and cheap third party cartridges where you pay the real cost of such consumables. If the printer manufacturers had kept their printer prices a little higher and charged a sensible price for refills then they would have had the market to themselves. HP would probably have been obliged to fit a "lifetime" ink jet mechanism to their printers as well. Anyway, they have got what they deserve. I just feel sorry for people like Lord Fulmer who, until they read threads like this, continue to get ripped off.

P.P.

[shack]

Tale of woe, back in August I bought an Epson colour Laser printer and right from the beginning I got three vertical white lines on colour prints and little colour spots on B&W. Because I thought it might be easier I spoke to Epson UK Tech. Support first and they went through all sorts of things and in the end said I think that you had better have a visit from one of our Techs. Of course that was not possible so I had a go at Epson France. Very helpful, the chap went through the same things as the UK one and at the end said I'll arrange a visit from a Technician, which he did for the next day. Chap turns up checks different thingies, quite interesting to watch, he plugged his laptop, which had all the test programs on, into the printer and at the end agreed with the Support people that it was probably the photoconductor unit (its the bit at the top that does all the processing etc.). He's got one in the car, fetches it, changes it for mine, perfect. He says that you cannot have this it is my test one, and I thought he said that he would contact Epson. Wrong!!
After a couple of days I called Epson and as was subsequently proved we had a slight misunderstanding, I was told that it would take a couple of days for a replacement, I waited a week, nothing, rang back. Oh! no says the chap we cannot replace that unit you have to buy a new one it is considered to be a "consumerable" ie. like toners etc. I didn't believe him but it turns out to be true---------€238 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! At this point one's command of the French language comes to a grinding halt!!
As I continue to use it the prints are improving, in fact on some you have to look very hard to see a problem, me I have always used Epson /SEIKO products but will I continue to do so ------------------if I change I have no doubt that Canon have a trick or two up their sleeve.

[allthatglitters]

For my Epson I have been using Jet Tec refills, have always worked a dream. Another con with the prorietory products is the vaying quantity of ink, look on the back of the box.

[ormus55]

printer ink. probably the dearest liquid in the world.