8620 cartridges

[sbennettlaw]

Have used 8620 for 18 months, changing cartridges every 3-4 months.  Always use original HP, and never refills.  Never a problem until now.

 Latest cartridges purchased from Amazon, plus another set purchased at Office Depot, will NOT work -- printer says they are not compatible and not for use in this printer.

I have reloaded software, incuding firmware, from HP website.

What now?

Throw printer and $250 of new cartridges away and buy new printer?

[Bob_Headrick · Accepted solution]

Are you in the USA?  Unfortunately HP has introduced regionalization into the cartridges for the Officejet 8620 as described in the document here.  For the US the proper cartridges will have a -Z10 designation. 

The problem is that the printer will "lock" itself to the first -Z cartridge that is used in the printer.  In the early days of the change it seems many folks got -Z20 (for Europe) cartridges from Amazon.  The printer then becomes locked and will only accept the universal (no -Z numbers) or -Z20 cartridges.

Likely the recent cartridges you purchased on Amazon, and almost certainly the ones you got at Office Depot, will be -Z10 cartridges (if you are in the US).  If you have a set of -Z10 or universal cartridges you will need 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. You will need to have access to your computer and printer while on the line with HP.  Once the reset is complete cartridges from the original region will no longer work.  HP's web page on the subject is here.

If you have any difficulty with the reset process please post back here.

[sbennettlaw]

I appreciate your response, but I’m “techno challenged” and not sure What to do. So I called a phone number given to me by HP Support. After letting them “take over” my computer I became suspicious and pulled the plug. Could you please give me a good phone number at HP to call? Thanks for your support!

[sbennettlaw]

Geek I talked about called me back. He told me I’m using the wrong cartridges. He said to take the printer to Best Buy so they could see it and give me the correct cartridges!
I’m really pissed at HP over this.

[Bob_Headrick]

Did the supposed HP Support folks contact you through the Private Message system here?  There have been cases of spammers claiming to be HP agents spamming with messages that say it is difficult to go through the details on the forum and you should call them.  The fake US numbers I have seen end in -2414 or -0765.  THESE ARE FAKES.  If you got a similar private message please let me know, I will send you a message asking for some details.

From a post by Sunshyn2005, to contact HP Support see the following link to create yourself a case number, then call and it may help speed up the call process:

Step 1. Open link: www.hp.com/contacthp/
Step 2. Enter Product number or select to auto detect
Step 3. Scroll down to "Still need help? Complete the form to select your contact options"
Step 4. Scroll down and click on: HP contact options - click on Get phone number
 
Case number and phone number appear.

[Bob_Headrick]

What are the cartridges you have?  Do they have a Z10, Z20, Z30 or Z40 suffix? Are you in the US?

Please print a Printer Status Report as follows:  from the front panel scroll to the right, Setup, scroll down, Reports, Printer Status Report.  Please report the results from the following lines:

6.  Printer Zone (PX):

42.  Ink Zone

[sbennettlaw]

The phone number I used was 800-322-2414
I have always been in USA
Thank you for everything. I am having a really busy day, but I will send you another message.

[Bob_Headrick]

The message and number you got is fraudlent.  I will be sending you a private message, I would appreciate if you would reply to the message with details of the fraudlent private message you received.

[sbennettlaw]

I just joined the HP Support Forum to seek a cure for my 8620 cartridge problem.

The very same day I received a private message from "The HP Support Forum Team."  That message told me to be alert for fraud and scammers.  It also gave me the phone number 800-322-2414

What made me suspicious?  I called this number two times, and each time it was answered by the second ring.  That doesn't happen on real support sites!

[sbennettlaw]

Mr. Headrick:

I sincerely appreciate all of your help, but nothing works.

For example, when you told me to copy you with the fake message I got from a scammer, you told me to click on the “Quote” button - but there was no such button to click.

The post that told me how to contact HP Support and get a case number gave instructions, but when it said: “Scroll down to: ‘Still Need Help? Complete the form to select your contact options.” --- there was no such thing on the screen.

You asked me to print a “Printer Status Report” but I don’t know how. I looked at the various HP pages for my printer, but could not find that.

All I know is that I purchased this printer in Feb. 2016 and have NEVER had a problem with it until this.

And now I can’t figure out how to solve it.

You gave me what appears to be the solution, but it requires actually communicating with someone at HP.

I have probably owned 15-20 HP printers over the years (remember the first “personal laser printer” that weighed 75 pounds? I had one.) And have never had a problem like this.

I’m beginning HP wants me to get so frustrated that I throw out the printer, throw out the $250 of HP cartridges I just bought, and buy a new printer. I may just do that, but it certainly won’t be another HP printer!

I would also add I have read several posts on the HP Support Forum about this very issue, and NONE of them contained the information you sent me about having HP reset the printer.  Steve Bennett