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To say I’m disgusted with HP is a gross understatement.  I bought an HP 6510 e printer from AAFES in Germany in 2012.  When the printer ran out of black ink, I returned to AAFES to buy a replacement cartridge, only to find AAFES had none in stock.  Accordingly, I bought what I assumed from the label was a compatible cartridge from a German store.  The cartridge in the printer was labeled 564 and had an expiration date of 2014/02/09; the cartridge I bought, 364 and 2014/02/09.  When I installed the cartridge in the printer, the printer displayed “Incompatible Ink Cartridge(s).”  Finally, in searching the internet for a solution to my problem, I learned after much searching that I have to order the 564 cartridge – which except for the number is identical to the 364 cartridge – from the US.  The alternative to this annoying solution, which is itself annoying, is to call an in-country HP customer support office for assistance in performing a “regionalization reset,” then to repeat the reset when I return to the US.  (HP’s US customer support office doesn’t support HP customers located outside the US.)  

 

If ever a company deserved the hard times that have befallen HP since the recession, it’s HP itself!

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions
HP Recommended

OK.. So calming down. The following day I tried again. The reason being is the printer worked fine with the other ink version - I don't like scrap dumping a perfectly functional printer for the sake of a communication issue.

So I called again - This time I called the UK - they then told me I need to have the regionalisation done by the new regional support team.... OK  - Lets give this another go... So I call my local support team and this time I get a hold of someone who after an hour puts me through to a 2nd level technician, and this guy knows what he is doing!! From the team dialect they could also be in India, which I have no issue whatsoever with just as long as we can all understand each other. Anyhow, this guy is smart and gives me a few smart codes and we are in to the underworld of the printer user interface.

We spend another hour producing codes and running new attempts to regionalise the system but sadly none of that works. I really give these guys credit as they didn't give in.. they were very polite, very patient and knew what was going on. Finally we agreed to call it a day with the promise that someone senior at HP would call and follow-up. 2 hours later that happened and now my problem is solved.

 

Well done guys - It took about 5 hours in total, a family arguement and a lot of patience but we got there...

 

I am a happy HP customer again.

 

Next time if I have any problems I might just try asking directly for the 2nd level tech or switching to a different 1st level tech...

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16 REPLIES 16
HP Recommended

Hi,

The 564 ink cartridges are intended for sale on the US market only and not for Europe, only the 364 cartridges are intended for German as you may find listed on the following document:

http://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c02958141

 

The 564 ink cartridges are only intended for the US market and if you bought those on the local market you should contact teh retailer to return the ink cartridges, it should not be sold in your region and surely not being imported by HP (may be gray market import, etc.).. resetting the printer to accept US supplies is not possible unless you are physically located in United States.



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If my post resolve your problem please mark it as an Accepted Solution 🙂
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ShlomiL,

 

Thanks for your prompt reply.  I understand what I need to do, aside from replacing the printer or filling an empty 564 cartridge with a suitable printer ink, but what I want to do is (a) vent and (b) find out what HP's rationale is for this exceedingly customer-unfriendly practice.  As a way of doing both, I posted the text below to HP’s English-language blog under “Re: Regionalization Reset - Photosmart B110” and addressed it to another HP employee, Microsoft MVP Windows Expert Bob Headrick, whose first name I misspelled.

 

Mr. Hedrick,

 

What is HP’s rationale for this exceedingly customer-unfriendly practice?  It doesn’t appear that it would increase HP’s sales revenues, so is it to protect the margins of high-markup sellers of HP products in nations where they can get away with such mark-ups?  Or is it to protect the VAT revenues of countries with high VAT rates, especially within the EU?  And what is the company’s rationale for, so I’ve read, refusing to perform a second (or third or fourth) regionalization reset when a printer is returned to the country of origin or to perform more than three resets for a given printer?

______________

 

To say I’m disgusted with HP is a gross understatement.  I bought an HP 6510 e printer from AAFES in Germany in 2012.  When the printer ran out of black ink, I returned to AAFES to buy a replacement cartridge, only to find AAFES had none in stock.  Accordingly, I bought what I assumed from the label was a compatible cartridge from a German store.  The cartridge in the printer was labeled 564 and had an expiration date of 2014/02/09; the cartridge I bought, 364 and 2014/02/09.  When I installed the cartridge in the printer, the printer displayed “Incompatible Ink Cartridge(s).” 

 

In searching the internet for a solution to my problem, I learned after much searching that I have to order the 564 cartridge – which except for the number is identical to the 364 cartridge – from the US.  The alternative to this annoying solution, which is itself annoying, is to call an in-country HP customer support office for assistance in performing a “regionalization reset,” then to repeat the reset when I return to the US.  (HP’s US customer support office doesn’t support HP customers located outside the US.)  

 

If ever a company deserved the hard times that have befallen HP since the recession, it’s HP itself!

HP Recommended
I just wanted to thank you for saving me a major headache. I was about to purchase the US version for my EU version printer. HP does this so they can keep prices high. It's almost $8.00 more per cartridge once I calculate the dollar/euro exchange.

A Pox on HP. I'll think long and hard before they get any more of my money. It's silly to alienate your customer base with these tactics.
HP Recommended
The chips are pasted on with light adhesive. They are easily removed with an X-acto knife and light, careful effort. Re-affix the US chip onto the 364 German cartridge and you can get back to printing.
HP Recommended

@LJS96076 wrote:
The chips are pasted on with light adhesive. They are easily removed with an X-acto knife and light, careful effort. Re-affix the US chip onto the 364 German cartridge and you can get back to printing.

Changing the chips between 364 and 564 cartridges is at best a temporary (and likely ultimately frustrating) venture.  At some point the printer will decide the original cartridges are empty and give warnings or block printing depending on the model.  

 

The best solution for the long term is to Contact HP to request a "Regionalization Reset". There should not be any charge for this, it is covered as part of the cartridge warranty. When you call HP make sure you specify the supplies warranty path rather than the printer.

 

You will need to have access to your computer and printer while on the line with HP. You will also need to have a set of cartridges for the new region, once the reset is complete cartridges from the original region will no longer work.  HP's web page on the subject is here.


Bob Headrick,  HP Expert

I am not an employee of HP, I am a volunteer posting here on my own time.

If your problem is solved please click the "Accept as Solution" button 

If my answer was helpful please click "Yes" to the "Was this post helpful" question.


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I agree, in THEORY, doing the regionalization reset is the simplest and best solution to the issue at hand.

 

Best of luck finding anyone at HP Support that can perform the reset. I spent literally hours with multiple Support staffers before I finally realized they were just stalling and had no idea how to do it, and were not going to figure it out anytime soon. Even after I came to the realization that they were not capable of helpign me, they flat out refused to put me in contact with someone who could get my printer back to work.

 

Until HP has personnel in its support centers that know what data they need in order to retrieve the reset code and they know where to get the code, then the procedure might as well not exist to begin with. Switching chips is the only option if you need your printer back to work, unless you can source a cartridge from the original country for an exhorbitant price + international shipping. Who has days to waste for this?

 

There is literally zero defense for this level of ineptitde. I understand a new guy on the team now and again dragging out a procedure step by step with a supervisor holding his hand along the way, but what I experienced, which is clearly not an isolated incident based on web feedback I have read, is absolutely inexcusable. I cannot imagine how there could possibly be a bigger failure of tech support for a product. Absolutely pathetic.

 

Also the fact that there is no feedback system for the support given, or in this case not given, says a lot about the value HP puts on customer satisfaction as well. If this keeps up, they won't be doing too much business for too much longer. It is far too saturated a market to take your customers for granted like this. Once those big government contracts dry up, they will be toast.

HP Recommended

Please see the PM I sent you.


Bob Headrick,  HP Expert

I am not an employee of HP, I am a volunteer posting here on my own time.

If your problem is solved please click the "Accept as Solution" button 

If my answer was helpful please click "Yes" to the "Was this post helpful" question.


HP Recommended

I fully agree and could not say it any better.

This whole region code idea is absurd.

Why is has to be remains a mistery.

To solve the problem HP could simply give us the set of codes to enter on the display panel (or PC/Mac keyboard) without charging assistance of a so called engineer.

(compare to "region free" DVD player).

HP Recommended

It's a fast way to lose customer loyalty HP - WAKE UP AND SORT THIS OUT.

I would also expect some compensation for the evening I have had due to this technical omnishambles (Printer problem, 2 hours on a phone to india and then a massive bust up with the wife due to wasting time)...

What amazes me is that I can find the solution here on the web, but no one in the asian call centre knows or understands anything about it... In the 21st century when we can clone mamals, grow new organs and go beyond our solar system it amazes me that you are unable to database a simple problem regarding a very specific ink cartridge next to a very simple solution...

 

Surely there can be a way of recognising new ink cartridges using the very specific barcode/manufacturing lot number that you print on these things...


What I don't want is some one repeatedly trying to sell me extended waranty when I have just spent $80 in walmart on a new set of inks that don't work!! And yes I insisted on following the supplies warranty but that appeared to also get lost somewhere 3 times...

 

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE - For the sake of saving family arguements, wasting precious hours of peoples lives and having anymore of your customers who pay you good money go through such similar pain ever again - put a link in your online tech support webpage... please..

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