How cheap ink cartridges can cost you dear
The owner of a Hewlett-Packard printer has vowed to never buy another thing from the company after a “firmware update” left his £150 printer unusable because he had bought cheaper ink cartridges from another manufacturer.
Dom Smith, who works in IT in the Netherlands but is originally from the UK, was left incensed after the HP OfficeJet Pro 8020 printer he bought during lockdown was rendered useless by a recent software update.
He is just the latest person to complain about the problem that has dogged the owners of HP printers who have balked at the price of the company’s own-brand ink cartridges.
For several years, HP has been using the firmware updates to prevent the use of “fake” ink cartridges that it claims infringe its copyright. The policy has put the firm on a collision course with buyers, and has led to a number of legal actions.
In 2018, HP agreed to pay $1.5m (£1.1m) to customers in the US, and the company is facing another class action from people claiming a firmware update made theirprinters incompatible with other brands’ ink cartridges.
Smith, who had paid more than £150 for his printer, said he was quoted a “crazy” price to buy a complete set of replacement HP ink cartridges, so had bought cheaper aftermarket ones that had worked fine until the update.
“It left me unable to print anything. I’m so cross about it that I would rather scrap my perfectly good 8020, and nearly full ink cartridges, than be strong-armed by HP into buying their products,” he says.
“I can’t believe that this is even legal. Surely, once I have paid for the printer it is mine to do with what I want. I would strongly urge others with HP printers to change the settings so that they no longer accept any firmware updates and stop this
Read more on theguardian.com
