HP is not the only printer manufacturer that employs "smart" chips in its devices to get its customers to buy more of its consumables. Lexmark, after all, is the real champ in that regard. But when it comes to the passion with which its customers denounce the practice, HP is way ahead of the field.
"I have a huge boat anchor called an HP Office Jet D155xi," a reader recently wrote. "I purchased it three years ago as a complete 'office solution' -- color copier, color fax, card reader, printer with networking capabilities -- for $1,100 Canadian. Now, it's dead as spam."
The reader's problems began when the printer stopped working shortly after its warranty expired. "I assumed -- incorrectly as it turned out -- that the problem was the ink cartridges, so I bought a new set for $75," the reader wrote. "When that failed to fix the problem, I took it in to the local HP service center, who said the problem was actually the printheads. Thanks for the obscure error message, HP. I had to replace three of the four printheads, for which I paid $135 apiece. This took three weeks, as the printheads had to be special ordered by the HP service center."
While that was annoying, worse was to come. "Once the new printheads were installed, these new ink cartridges which has sat idle in the machine for those three weeks immediately said they were empty," the reader wrote. "They were well within their 'use-by' date, but they had mysteriously expired. The service guy told me they had 'probably congealed' and that the smart chip wouldn't let them work. So, another $75 for new ink. Two months later, the final printhead expired."
Rather than continue with this cycle of buying new printheads and ink cartridges only to have them expire, the reader finally gave up. "Enough is enough," he wrote. "I blame the smart chips in these printers for all of my problems including the unforgivably high cost of new printheads and ink. I used to have an older HP inkjet. If a printhead clogged, you carefully used isopropyl alcohol and a swab to clean the head, and it worked again. Ink didn't run out until the little cartridges were really empty. Now, thanks to these chips, ink has a use-by date and supposed smarts. If anything seems out of sorts, the cartridge simply quits and demands you purchase a new one."
The reader says he will never buy or recommend another HP product. "This may not sound like much, but during my career as a software developer and consultant since 1980, I've been in a position to recommend or purchase IT products for clients ranging from small businesses to huge corporations," he wrote. "Now when they call to ask my opinion, I tell them to avoid HP inkjet technology forever. Those smart chips inside the printheads and ink cartridges were sure a smart idea, weren't they?"
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