&3?;8?3& printer rant. JAWM

[Murphy101]

I bought a new HP printer in March. It came with “free month of ink” that didn’t require I give any financial info to receive. (Otherwise I would not have sign up for it.)

My first complaint is that the ink cartridges were *maybe* a fourth used before it started sending me notifications that I need to replace the cartridge. I’m like no. I’m looking at it and I’ve got months more use. I’m not buying another and when I do buy one - I’ll just go to Costco and get it when I need it, not wait for the Mail to arrive. So I hit ignore on those for a couple weeks. Then it started giving me ominous warnings that if I didn’t give my payment info on the HP ink plan website so they could send me more ink that I both don’t need yet and wouldn’t pay that outrageous price for - then it wouldn’t let me print anything at all.  The f.

So now my $200 printer is basically a useless landfill brick now. A friend came over with a compatible ink cartridge.  Printed one sheet and now it says nope update payment info and get HP ink bc it doesn’t recommend this non-HP cartridge.  The F. 

I am so unbelievably ticked off about this. It’s just wasteful for one thing which infuriates my reduce reuse good steward ethic.  And this is freaking expensive and my husband and is unemployed so wth?! Nothing saying screw the economy like stupid bleeping crap like this. It should be illegal as all heck.

So I’m like okay. Damned if I will be held hostage. I’ll go buy another printer.  But I’m going to search for one that doesn’t pull this crap.

Only to discover that, like most bleeping shafting practices - the competitors decided heck yeah that’s a genius revenue plan! And now most of them do it.

ugh!!!!!!

Anyone have a recommendation for a recently purchased printer that doesn’t shaft buyers on ink or brick their printer and or require signing up for monthly financial commitments?

[Scarlett]

7 minutes ago, Murphy101 said:

I bought a new HP printer in March. It came with “free month of ink” that didn’t require I give any financial info to receive. (Otherwise I would not have sign up for it.)

My first complaint is that the ink cartridges were *maybe* a fourth used before it started sending me notifications that I need to replace the cartridge. I’m like no. I’m looking at it and I’ve got months more use. I’m not buying another and when I do buy one - I’ll just go to Costco and get it when I need it, not wait for the Mail to arrive. So I hit ignore on those for a couple weeks. Then it started giving me ominous warnings that if I didn’t give my payment info on the HP ink plan website so they could send me more ink that I both don’t need yet and wouldn’t pay that outrageous price for - then it wouldn’t let me print anything at all.  The f.

So now my $200 printer is basically a useless landfill brick now. A friend came over with a compatible ink cartridge.  Printed one sheet and now it says nope update payment info and get HP ink bc it doesn’t recommend this non-HP cartridge.  The F. 

I am so unbelievably ticked off about this. It’s just wasteful for one thing which infuriates my reduce reuse good steward ethic.  And this is freaking expensive and my husband and is unemployed so wth?! Nothing saying screw the economy like stupid bleeping crap like this. It should be illegal as all heck.

So I’m like okay. Damned if I will be held hostage. I’ll go buy another printer.  But I’m going to search for one that doesn’t pull this crap.

Only to discover that, like most bleeping shafting practices - the competitors decided heck yeah that’s a genius revenue plan! And now most of them do it.

ugh!!!!!!

Anyone have a recommendation for a recently purchased printer that doesn’t shaft buyers on ink or brick their printer and or require signing up for monthly financial commitments?

I just googled and see that there are instructions out there on how to bypass that feature that won't allow non HP ink cartridges.  Have you tried that?

https://www.yoyoink.com/articles/how-to-make-generic-ink-cartridges-work-on-an-hp-printer/

[Indigo Blue]

Lots of them do this. I just never purchase ink plans. But surely there must be some way to cancel out the plan? Did you call hp support? 

And, on some printers, if you don’t use their brand name ink, your printer will be  automatically rendered unusable. It would be no different if they just came into your home and took a sledgehammer to your brand new printer when they saw you weren’t using their ink. That’s crazy. So be careful with sticking a generic ink cartridge in.

I have an hp and have had no problems with ink, but every printer just keeps getting things wrong with them and have to be replaced since the repair cost is just as high.

I think I will invest in a color laser printer next time. ETA: I do hope you get this solved!!

Edited September 27, 2021 by Indigo Blue

[prairiewindmomma]

We bought a Brother MFC L-3770 in April.  It's a laser printer, because I got super sick of ink cartridges clogging.  I will pretty much only buy laser printers now, and nothing that requires an ink subscription. I'm with you--give me my generic refills off of amazon, please. This one is color printing and copying, because I needed those things.  If I didn't, and just wanted your basic black and white printer, I would get a Brother laser printer with duplexing. They are running a bit high on amazon right now, but Best Buy has a $100 and a $250 version that are both good. I have had two from that line---they last 5-7 years, and the duplexing feature saves us quite a big.

[Murphy101]

8 minutes ago, Scarlett said:

I just googled and see that there are instructions out there on how to bypass that feature that won't allow non HP ink cartridges.  Have you tried that?

https://www.yoyoink.com/articles/how-to-make-generic-ink-cartridges-work-on-an-hp-printer/

It doesn’t work. it fools you into thinking it does but then it bricks your printer after 1-10 uses. 

3 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

We bought a Brother MFC L-3770 in April.  It's a laser printer, because I got super sick of ink cartridges clogging.  I will pretty much only buy laser printers now, and nothing that requires an ink subscription. I'm with you--give me my generic refills off of amazon, please. This one is color printing and copying, because I needed those things.  If I didn't, and just wanted your basic black and white printer, I would get a Brother laser printer with duplexing. They are running a bit high on amazon right now, but Best Buy has a $100 and a $250 version that are both good. I have had two from that line---they last 5-7 years, and the duplexing feature saves us quite a big.

Same problem. But with toner instead. They chip the system to only recognize their toners and then brick it if you don’t use their brand. 

[Murphy101]

The thing is I would not really have an issue using HP ink EXCEPT it super ticks me off that they brick my printer for not replacing it when they say to bc I’m literally looking at full cartridges!  What a huge environmental waste.  I’m 100% confident that I could use these large cartridges for at least another 3-4 months.

[ktgrok]

So wait, you can't opt out of the instant ink program? That's crazy!

I will say, when I had instant ink I really liked it - they will send you that new ink now, well before you run out, but then you won't get another until that one is low. 

That said, it was billed as an OPTION not a REQUIREMENT when I had it!

[NewnameC]

I’m sorry. That is crazy.

If the printer is under warranty, I would return it, because it is not working. 

(You suspect it is the ink, but who really knows when it comes to electronics.) I buy electronics and other pricey items on a credit card that extends/turns the warranty to a no questions asked warranty. (It replaced a new bike that was run over when my son dropped it in the driveway, where it was promptly run over.)

We have an older HP photo smart printer that warns me every time I put in new ink, that I am not using genuine HP ink. Luckily, it still prints despite the warning. Your experience worries me for when we need to replace this printer.

[Murphy101]

24 minutes ago, ktgrok said:

So wait, you can't opt out of the instant ink program? That's crazy!

I will say, when I had instant ink I really liked it - they will send you that new ink now, well before you run out, but then you won't get another until that one is low. 

That said, it was billed as an OPTION not a REQUIREMENT when I had it!

Yes. And no. 

The printer came with cartridges in the box.
And they sent me “free” cartridges as an offer for buying the new printer.

So not very long ago I just put in the new “free” cartridges.

BUT the instant ink program is not based on how much ink you use. It’s based on how many pages you print. You get so many prints per month. And then it says hey you better pay up if you want to keep printing or we will brick your printer. It doesn’t matter how much ink you have at that moment. It could be a new cartridge or it could be almost empty. They suggest you just pay more to up your allotted pages. Bleep to that.

So that’s problem 1.

Another issue is that when it says the ink needs to be replaced - it’s obvious it does not need replaced. Like not anytime soon at all. We are talking months from needing replaced and I use my printer every day. Some months when doing heavy lesson planning - hundreds of pages a month.  That’s frustrating for instant ink but it’s also a problem with the store bought HP cartridges. But if you don’t replace it when it says - again with bricking the printer. 

Decide you are sick of this crap and want to use a different cartridge? Nope. It’ll potentially totally f-up your printer.  That’s not just scare tactics either. Genuine users have seen their printers turned to bricks when a new cartridge is introduced. Sometimes the first time. Sometimes after some uses. And calling hp to complain about a defective printer gets you no where bc they are like using a different cartridges voids everything. 

It super cheeses me that I have to

pay for a printer

pay for ink

pay for paper

then pay even more to actually use the items I already paid for

then added insult to injury end up with half the ink I paid for in the trash.

 

[Katy]

Two years in a row I bought a new printer in fall only to discover that after a month of not using it something on the head dried up & they’d stop working.  At the time we could print up to 20 pages at our library per day for free and it was less than a mile away so we’d go there. But then I signed up for the extra ink shipments and they didn’t work because I’d gone more than 20 days without printing anything or something ridiculous.  I had TWO backup sets of ink cartridges and a worthless printer.  
 

I switched to a color laser one and except for the ridiculous setup cost haven’t had a problem since. 

[ktgrok]

Wait, you might just need to cancel the instant ink plan. Yes, on instant ink once you hit your plan limit it costs more to print more - sounds like you hit the plan limit and so it won't print until you either cancel the plan or up your limit. 

And yeah, you pay for the page, not for the ink. So it's a monthly fee, which includes the ink. They plan it so you always have an extra ink cartridge ready. 

[Carol in Cal.]

This is why I buy printers at Costco.  I still buy HP but I don’t sign up for the free ink, and if something stops working I take it back for a refund.

[alisoncooks]

Wow, that’s totally crazy. We have a printer on its last leg, and I’m about to start shopping for a new one. Now I know what NOT to get!!

[MooCow]

Ugh. What a nightmare! We have a brother printer dh bought several years ago. It uses toner.

[Carrie12345]

Yup. My Brother laser no longer accepts generic toner, period. My supplier even sent me FREE replacement ones with updated chips after the first block, and Brother reblocked me after the first print job with those.

I give up. I’m very glad I’m not teaching early elementary anymore. I used to print like crazy when they were little. Now, I debate every page, because Brother toner is $$$.

[vonfirmath]

We have a Brother printer at work and have had no problems. OTOH I've not even been tempted to use non-Brother ink after problems we've had in the past with ink leaking and causing issues.

 

[Ailaena]

Try a factory reset and set it up all over again WITHOUT using the app or giving it any information.  You will be able to get it in your network through the menu on the printer. Do not accept automatic updates.

this may not work for you because they already know your serial number.  I suggest calling them and telling them to release your printer.

And the future - no matter which brand of printer you buy - buy a protection plan and set it up without the app or easyInk plan.

[Murphy101]

18 minutes ago, Carol in Cal. said:

This is why I buy printers at Costco.  I still buy HP but I don’t sign up for the free ink, and if something stops working I take it back for a refund.

I did buy this at Costco. They won’t take it back since I bought it over 90 days ago.  But I might try anyways. 

24 minutes ago, ktgrok said:

Wait, you might just need to cancel the instant ink plan. Yes, on instant ink once you hit your plan limit it costs more to print more - sounds like you hit the plan limit and so it won't print until you either cancel the plan or up your limit. 

And yeah, you pay for the page, not for the ink. So it's a monthly fee, which includes the ink. They plan it so you always have an extra ink cartridge ready. 

I did cancel the instant ink plan. I’m going to try another ink cartridge. But I’m not optimistic. A friend brought over her hp cartridge for me to try and it wouldn’t recognize it. Said it was empty even though I’m literally holding it and it’s no where near empty. Bricked again. 

[Carol in Cal.]

2 minutes ago, Murphy101 said:

I did buy this at Costco. They won’t take it back since I bought it over 90 days ago.  But I might try anyways. 

I did cancel the instant ink plan. I’m going to try another ink cartridge. But I’m not optimistic. A friend brought over her hp cartridge for me to try and it wouldn’t recognize it. Said it was empty even though I’m literally holding it and it’s no where near empty. Bricked again. 

That is their official policy, but if I bring something back after that they take it.

[bookbard]

Yes, I bought a very cheap HP printer for work and I'll never get HP again. Even apart from ink issue, it kept losing the link with wi-fi and computers would constantly struggle to find it. It was a real pain. I have had a canon for years which has been great, so I will get another canon for work. But I agree, it is so frustrating knowing that it is there in the box and it was built and designed to be annoying and useless. What a waste of materials and the time of the people who put it together. 

[Murphy101]

Oh my heavens. I just spent an hour and half on the phone with support only to be told that oh yeah there’s a known problem with this printer series and I should just connect directly to the computer. What?! Like it’s 1998?! No. This should be replaced or refunded.  No  I am very not a happy customer.  HP needs to fix this problem now.

oh no ma’am I’m sorry let me escalate this to tech support and see if they can fix this for you. Wth? Who have I been talking to so far?

Puts me on hold with the worst ear piercing wailing whistle music I’ve ever heard in my life for 10 minutes.

New guy says his name is Mons. He repeated it bc I was sure I heard wrong.  Rates right up there with the first time someone in Curacao told me I was living a duche life. 😳

Anyways…. He walks me through the whole turn it off and back on. Take the cartridges out and put them back rigamarole. But he adds a new catch. Turn everything off take out the cartridges. And while it is turned off press and hold the power button for approx 20 seconds. Then turn it on and put the cartridges in and OMG get the brick message again. Then he says THERE IS A BUTTON ON THE TOUCHSCREEN THAT IS NOT SHOWN press the area to the bottom left 4 times quickly to make a menu appear.  Dude. Seriously? Y’all know this isn’t a nuclear reactor, right?  Why?! Just. WHY?!  After many attempts that made me feel very incompetent at button pushing, I find the magic invisible button to reset my printer. And 15 minutes later and additional steps he was able to get my printer to print with store bought HP ink.  I tell the guy thanks for the help but seriously this shouldn’t be such an issue and ladies… do you know what he said? He laughed and told me “I understand ma’am but you know patience is a virtue.”😳

I was in a relatively good though frustrated mood until he said that!  I mean sure I was frustrated but I wasn’t angry or whatever. What a patronizing unprofessional thing to say to a very legitimate complaint from a customer who just spent hours on and off the phone dealing with a problem the company literally created.

So the good news is my HP printer is now using HP ink. The bad news is, I’m pretty sure it’s still bat guano to have to go through all this to make that happen.

[MercyA]

I'm so sorry. My DH says that for the past 25 years, he's been tempted again and again by HP's comparatively low prices. He broke down and bought HP products about a half dozen times over that period--and he regretted it every single time. 

[plansrme]

57 minutes ago, Murphy101 said:

He laughed and told me “I understand ma’am but you know patience is a virtue.”😳

 

Oh my word. What a patronizing little. . .

[Murphy101]

3 minutes ago, plansrme said:

Oh my word. What a patronizing little. . .

I told my family about it over dinner and while all the men at the table are groaning about the response, my oldest daughter said, “wow. We can only hope there’s a woman nearby who overheard and slaps the crap out of him for all woman-kind”.  😂

[ktgrok]

holy crud! Secret menus? This isn't starbucks!

And that patience thing...WOW. I had a decent experience with my instant ink HP, it was just too slow for me and didn't have some features I wanted..but after that I don't think I'd buy one again!

[Tree Frog]

I wonder how many electronics have secret menus. My Samsung fridge was having problems and when I called Samsung, they had me press specific buttons to get an error code. But unless you know what or where to push, the consumer wouldn't know.

Murphy101, I'm sorry what should be simple and straightforward is a pain in the butt. Are you able to use the printer now without enrolling in their pages used program?

[vonfirmath]

10 minutes ago, wilrunner said:

I wonder how many electronics have secret menus. My Samsung fridge was having problems and when I called Samsung, they had me press specific buttons to get an error code. But unless you know what or where to push, the consumer wouldn't know.

Murphy101, I'm sorry what should be simple and straightforward is a pain in the butt. Are you able to use the printer now without enrolling in their pages used program?

When I created a database program for my previous job I definitely put in a secret menu to allow me to access the code if there were issues.

[Murphy101]

25 minutes ago, wilrunner said:

I wonder how many electronics have secret menus. My Samsung fridge was having problems and when I called Samsung, they had me press specific buttons to get an error code. But unless you know what or where to push, the consumer wouldn't know.

Murphy101, I'm sorry what should be simple and straightforward is a pain in the butt. Are you able to use the printer now without enrolling in their pages used program?

So far I can now.🤞 I’m super sus about this printer now tho. 😁

[Murphy101]

26 minutes ago, vonfirmath said:

When I created a database program for my previous job I definitely put in a secret menu to allow me to access the code if there were issues.

But why for something like this? And there wasn’t even a button.  I didn’t even know that area was part of the touchscreen before now. Basically what he did was a crazy complicated reboot and factory reset. My Mac desktop computer is way more valuable and tragic if it gets wiped than this printer (though I do know printers hold a LOT of private data too) and I could probably factory reset my Mac in less than four easy clicks.

I just think it should be a hella lot easier to use a HP store bought cartridge in my HP printer. Well actually I also think I should be able to use any cartridge I want in any printer I bought and I should be able to use both the printer I bought and the ink I bought and the paper I bought all I want without paying more to actually use them.

What’s next? We pay for a kindle.  We pay to download a book. And we also pay a fee for the number of pages we actually read from that book on that kindle?

I’m really super fed up with this business model being allowed to proliferate.

[Carrie12345]

6 hours ago, wilrunner said:

I wonder how many electronics have secret menus. My Samsung fridge was having problems and when I called Samsung, they had me press specific buttons to get an error code. But unless you know what or where to push, the consumer wouldn't know

Cars have “secret combos” to check error codes, too. 

[EmilyGF]

8 hours ago, Murphy101 said:

But why for something like this? And there wasn’t even a button.  I didn’t even know that area was part of the touchscreen before now. Basically what he did was a crazy complicated reboot and factory reset. My Mac desktop computer is way more valuable and tragic if it gets wiped than this printer (though I do know printers hold a LOT of private data too) and I could probably factory reset my Mac in less than four easy clicks.

I just think it should be a hella lot easier to use a HP store bought cartridge in my HP printer. Well actually I also think I should be able to use any cartridge I want in any printer I bought and I should be able to use both the printer I bought and the ink I bought and the paper I bought all I want without paying more to actually use them.

What’s next? We pay for a kindle.  We pay to download a book. And we also pay a fee for the number of pages we actually read from that book on that kindle?

I’m really super fed up with this business model being allowed to proliferate.

DH and I were going over our expenses from last month, and his takeaway was that license fees kill. And we really don't have that many compared to most people. Microsoft charges me $75/year to keep running their software on my desktop. Google charges $3.35/month for extra photo storage. Etc...

Now I'm terrified of having to replace my printer someday!

[ktgrok]

8 hours ago, Murphy101 said:

 

I just think it should be a hella lot easier to use a HP store bought cartridge in my HP printer. Well actually I also think I should be able to use any cartridge I want in any printer I bought and I should be able to use both the printer I bought and the ink I bought and the paper I bought all I want without paying more to actually use them.

What’s next? We pay for a kindle.  We pay to download a book. And we also pay a fee for the number of pages we actually read from that book on that kindle?

I’m really super fed up with this business model being allowed to proliferate.

To be fair - you don't pay for the ink at all in the instant ink program - just the pages printed. It would be like paying per page to read a book, but NOT paying to download the book. You don't pay twice with the instant ink program - you just pay differently. for people that print a lot of color heavy,ink heavy pages it makes sense. Plus the convenience factor of never ever running out of ink. I was printing a lot of art heavy curriculum when I used it. AND I had a free month, and when I asked about upgrading that free month to more pages (knowing I had a ton to print) and just paying the difference between the free level and the level I needed they bumped me to the the highest level without any charge. So I basically printed all of my workbooks for The Good and The Beautiful that year for free. Then used the lower plan (and you can change to a higher plan whenever you want) for the next month. 

The only reason I switched was that it was a super cheap printer that printed really slowly. But it WAS very convenient. And I liked that they had me mail back the used ones for recycling in preaddressed, postage paid packages that came with the ink. 

[ktgrok]

2 minutes ago, EmilyGF said:

DH and I were going over our expenses from last month, and his takeaway was that license fees kill. And we really don't have that many compared to most people. Microsoft charges me $75/year to keep running their software on my desktop. Google charges $3.35/month for extra photo storage. Etc...

Now I'm terrified of having to replace my printer someday!

Even with instant ink you don't have to get the subscription service. And that's what it is, not a licensing fee. 

And it sounds like the printer malfunctioned, not that the instant ink subscription was the problem. I mean, it may have triggered the problem, but it isn't that the printer can't be used without instant ink subscription, as much as it just broke and had to be reset. 

[Murphy101]

1 hour ago, EmilyGF said:

DH and I were going over our expenses from last month, and his takeaway was that license fees kill. And we really don't have that many compared to most people. Microsoft charges me $75/year to keep running their software on my desktop. Google charges $3.35/month for extra photo storage. Etc...

Now I'm terrified of having to replace my printer someday!

My husband has to spend $180 a MONTH in such fees to be able to do his job. He is currently unemployed and still has to pay those fees so he can make samples and portfolio materials tailored to specific jobs his is applying for.