£340 for a printer cartridge!!!!!
 

Just been crossed over to Dii and had several shiny, new and very large printers installed - all lasers, some mono and some colour. Being a diligent sort, our opsie decided to order some spare cartridges just in case one ran out during a weekend. Each cartridge for these shiny new Dii printers is £340 quid - a colour printer takes 3 of them so a cool £1020 for a full replen - someone saw us coming:ugh::ugh:

When you think that an OEM single colour 'tank' for a bubblejet is around £10 I don't find the price particularly surprising.....

And you thought CivSAR was way more expensive than the MilSAR equivalent! Just another "hidden" military cost then? :E

Sorry, Crab, couldn't resist, but that is an outrageous cost to the public purse. I seriously hope there is a course to complain or source cheaper products. (or cancel the contract).

Out of interest, what model are they and what would it cost to buy them yourself?

OEM HP cartridges. About £75 for black, £130 for each colour.

I'm feeling stroppy and nowadays IT and stuff is my turf so....

Here is someone thinking like me. Lets compare like with like and see if you have a gripe or are just spewing bile.

Here is someone with a comprehension problem who can't use Google. In easy language...

What is the MODEL NUMBER of the PRINTING DEVICE and how much are the toner cartridges when you put that model number into Google shopping.

If the the result is that you can get them for 66% of the price or less through normal retail channels then write to your MP pointing out the waste of tax payers money.

If you find the price is roughly adjacent then this thread is just................. ZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

when I did a short temping spell working for EDS supporting the Dept of Work & Pensions IT system, we used to get callout requests to visit dole offices to replace paper in printers! At £130 a callout it was a nice earner for EDS.

Simple ... don't ever, ever, use the manufacturers' cartridges. I've been using all sorts of printers for over 25 years and have never purchased an "own make" cartridge. There are plenty of reputable firms selling their own brands at half price or less what the makers want and I've never experienced any problems. Cue 600 people who are now going to tear me apart with dreadful tales of printers exploding, etc!

"Cue 600 people who are now going to tear me apart with dreadful tales of printers exploding,"br />

Yes - and no.... I've seen a lot of cheap-end printers fail prematurely because of low quality budget cartridges, but at the same time I've seen others go on for years. With lasers you're probably OK with generics, or even with refills (until the drum wears out), but ink-jets are very hit and miss. The secret is to find a brand that works - and stick with it. Don't chop and change

Nobody who needs photocopying at a reasonable volume in their workplace should be using printers! They should be colour printing to the copier. <0.5p per A4 mono, 4p full colour. And really quick too.

CG

We've got one of these nice shiny printers in the office. Not seen a printer catridge last more than about 6-8 months, let alone 5 years. But then I suppose when you've got 30 people all printing off the same printer and they're having to print off loads of course materials etc etc. Really not well thought out policy!:confused:

"having to print off loads of course materials"

Would be cheaper to save the documents as PDF or e-books and make them all read them on a PC or Kindle

Crab, I mentioned this 2 years ago. IIRC it was £250 but of course with the VAT and RPI.

At the time it also cost £120 for a 20 mm hole on a 10cm light block wall.

And we were quoted more that £10k to move a cabinet from where it should not have been installed to where it should. The cabinet was also 50% bigger than needed and exactly the right size to replace an exisiting cabinet that they utilised that was 50% too small.

And we wonder why 2*CVS=Dii/f

And have you found out how much an account costs? Again IIRC it was £18 per account per month.

Oh Joy

Customer (two weeks ago)

My printer is gubbed

My Techie

Your blue cartridge is fake and has leaked toner onto the sealer. It is beyond repair.

Customer

It's only 3 months old.

My Techie

Tough sh1t (techies are always blunt) your warranty has been invalidated; do you want me to order you a replacement? We have them on offer at £1500 inc VAT at the moment.

PS

Watch the exaggeration...it damages credibility. Nobody has been buying dodgy cartridges for 25 years as the the PC printer only started to become a household device in the UK in the early nineties and most of the early models were Daisy Wheel (impact) printers. Ink jets appeared on masse circa 92-93 and the industry finance model switched from capital cost to consumable item driven in the mid to late nineties. The emergence of cheap alternative consumables resulted from this switch and came to prominence around the turn of the century (about 10-11 years ago). And if you think it is me turning this thread into a snooze fest, you're wrong. It has been one from the outset.

QED

We were one of the first units to get Dii/f and as we didn't run to a colour copier the printer was the only way. But . . .

I selected the first full colour image to print. Not a lot happened for a fair old time then the image was sent to Bicester where the server was and eventually it was sent back where most of it printed. That took about 2-3 minutes. The next page . . .

As I had better things to do I rang the help desk, the help desk that makes JPAC look good, and eventually, after a couple of weeks we got a work-around. They made my printer a local printer so it could be addressed directly from the desktop (actually a floor top).

Then they gave me feed back from the makers. The printer was not designed as a network printer and the manufacturer would have to write new drivers for it to work properly.

I retired and they closed the unit before they fixed the printer.

Oh dear, you do need to get a life. And really quick too!!!!!

If you think the Toner cartridges are expensive, wait until you see the cost of the Drum unit - if it has one. Ouch is the normal response from people who phone up.

Is that the price of a corona wire or a separate charged roller.:sad:

What photocopiers do the SAS use? Or do you all have laser scanners behind your eyeballs?