Ink expring??? SCAM!!!!

[dh2ack]

While trying to print an airline boarding pass, I receive an error message stating that "ink cratridge nearing expiration". The messgae said to press "OK" to continue printing with this cartridge. The cartridge was not even close to being empty, so I pressed "OK" and nothing happened. The printer would not print at all. I tried to call HP customer service, but was placed on hold for over 20 minutes on a Saturday morning. No answer. So, I hung up. Fortunately, I had a replacement cartridge on hand and, after replacing the old cartridge, I was able to print my boarding pass.

I strongly believe this is a SCAM by HP which is forcing customers to purchase their overpriced ink cartrdges even when it's unneccessary. The printer was working just fine until this error message appeared.[Moderator edited comment] The ink expiration date thing is an arbitrary number and has nothing to do with the printer's ability to continue printing. I have proven this fact since after removing the old, functioning ink cartridge, the expriation date read: 07/29/2010! Today is 01/21/2012 and this cartridge as well as all the others in the printer were printing just fine!!! The "new" cartrdige I installed has an expiration date of 02/16/2011 and works perfectly!!! Come on HP!!! Stop ripping off your customers!!!

[educationplace]

This post is absolutely correct.  I have continually experienced these issues with my HP C7280.  Yesterday I had an ink go "beyond the expiration date".  The printer would not print anything, ... even though it said to press ok to continue..., it would not do so.   I went to the store and got a replacement cartridge for the light pink ink.  Looking at the gauge, I saw exactly what levels all the inks were at.   I replaced the carridge, and printed 1 page.  Today is the next day, and 2 more ink cartridges are listed as EMPTY. What happened here?  These inks were not empty yesterday.

This is clearly some kind of SCAM, as it has happened to me more than once.  The HP inks seem to go bad or expire, without even using the machine.   Other times the inks go "past expiration dates" and the machine will not function at all.  This makes customers angry, and the target in their mind is HP.  I do not feel that HP benefits by having this kind of poor judgement in their products, it feels very greedy.  It leaves customers without a working printer, right when they need it most.  It is the most negative way to treat someone who has paid for a product.  I for one, am not going to buy any HP products any more.

[Ciara_B]

Hi dh2ack,

I'd like to help if I can. What printer model do you have?

Thanks, Ciara

[dh2ack]

I have an Officejet Pro L7780. Thank you.

[pcroft3]

Same sort of problem.   I just put in new cartridges, purchased recently.  The L9650 now beautifully prints B&W and color pages from the scanning bed.   It also cleanly loads print files from my computers into the queue but they do not print and I cannot force them to print.   All the online diagnostic tools report that all is OK, but none of them offers the the question "Did the test print print successfully"

Anyone have any ideas?  Thanks.

[Ciara_B · Accepted solution]

Hi dh2ack

I came across the following document which has some detail on Ink Expiration

Was there any option to over-ride the message?

Thanks

Ciara

[dh2ack]

The message said "To continue printing press OK". But, nothing happened when I pressed "OK". The printer basically froze. I had to change the ink cartridge in order to make the printer work. So, there was no override as the document you found suggests.

Thank you anyway.

[Ciara_B]

Hi again dh2ack

That's weird, let me see if I can catch some folks that worked on the OJ Pro L7780 to see if they've any ideas.....keep you posted. Hopefully we can get this resolved - Ciara

[dh2ack]

Thank you.

[wyocop]

I have a B8550. It won't print yellow. I have replaced the printhead,I have replaced all ink cart. both with NEW HP product, still does not work. To date I have only printed a little over 300 pages and a littler over 40 (borderless) prints. Not happy with HP. I have a cell phone only and am not willing to wait more then 10min for a customer service, to get transferred to a Tech person, and keep on HOLD, so I too hang up. By the way the owners manual says one can overide the experiation date, however it does not tell you HOW.

The wide format printer is only 2 years old.

At over $500 a gal for ink, one would think that any customer service rep. would bend over backwords to help the consumer