Just read in the news that from a firmware update filled with corporate invented excuses,

¨HP disables customers’ printers if they use ink cartridges from cheaper rivals¨

I would love to see their CEO automobile disabled if uses another gasoline with methanol... Not that the competitor ink cartridge does not work, but disabling the printer ? That is too much.

 

Is this from the wayback machine? Really old news from HP.
https://seekingalpha.com/article/40...fficejet-printers-third-party-inks-cartridges

HP Deliberately Disables OfficeJet Printers With Third-Party Inks/Cartridges
Sep. 28, 2016 12:58 AM ET

 

Saw it in today's news... Am sorry, delete the post. Thanks.

 

Saw it in today's news... Am sorry, delete the post. Thanks.

Maybe it's new news but HP has Done this BS before.

 

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/ne...ricked-printers-after-faulty-firmware-update/
HP rushes to fix bricked printers after faulty firmware update

 

When they pulled this stunt in 2016, they were forced to issue an optional update that removed the limitation.
They have incorporated it into the printer firmware updates since, and in 2020 reached a $1.5 million settlement with US customers. They also payed out millions to customers in Australia and Europe. Now they are including this in their firmware for their new printers.
I wish I had known all of this a couple of weeks ago. I just bought a HP 4132E Deskjet printer!

 

Return it !

 

It's similar to the Right-to-Repair limitations that many products, such as modern farm machinery, have.
There's no valid reason, other than profits, to put limitations on what you can do with a product after its purchased.
There are considering, or have passed, laws to prevent these limitations.

It's probably fair to limit product warranties if you do or use something unauthorized with the product, but to brick the product when you do, should not be allowed.

 

Can't say that I have ever seen Ford, Chevrolet, or Chrysler gasoline. HP has lost their way...

 

HP has lost their way...

Unlikely that Hewlett or Packard would have approved.

 

Again in the news today...

 

HP has lost their way...

That was their business model from the beginning. Sell printers at very low profit margins and make a killing by selling ink for more than the price of gold.

I have an OfficeJet that I use only for scanning and faxing. It hasn't had ink in it for many years. I have a set of cartridges that are probably dried up in their sealed packages. I gave up on trying to use it, or any other inkjet printer, to print because I don't want the expense or hassle (use more ink cleaning heads than for printing). I have a Xerox Phaser 6500DP for color printing and a Lexmark Optra E+ for black and white. Toner cartridges are reasonably priced and I get thousands of pages from them.

 

I stopped using inkjet printers many moons ago. I found that it was less expensive to use laser printers.
At one point I was even refilling the cartridges with toner. Now the price of cartridges are much lower and I don't bother to refill them.

 

I stopped using inkjet printers many moons ago. I found that it was less expensive to use laser printers.

Epson is now selling their ecotank printer, which refills the ink from a bottle, so I would assume that would significantly reduce the inkjet printer ink costs.

 

Yup, I'm currently using an Epson Ink Tank color printer for my colored work and a Brother all in one laser printer for the black and white stuff. The Epson (as well as the Brother in monochrome) also color copies. Had both for a while and I was pleased with them. Except maybe the cost of genuine Brother toner cartridges.

 

I have had a Brother black and white laser printer for probably 16 years so far. I'm on I believe the third toner cartridge so far (I rarely use it), but it works every time. I thought about a color laser last winter for a bit to print out some manual pages in color, but decided black and white was good enough for what I needed.

 

I have always bought Okidata for all my printers. Third party cartridges are easy to come by and Okidata as a company has behaved quite honorably so far.

 

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/202...-36-month-to-rent-a-printer-that-it-monitors/
HP wants you to pay up to $36/month to rent a printer that it monitor

... if Your Service Plan entitles You to print fifty (50) pages for a Service Plan Fee of $8.99 and thereafter to pay $1.00 for each multiple of ten (10) pages, and if You print a total of sixty-six (66) pages in a Month Period where you had no Rollover Pages available, then Your Payment Method would be charged the Monthly Fee of $8.99 plus $2.00 for additional page blocks, for a total of $10.99, plus Taxes and the remaining 4 pages would go to Rollover Pages.

There's no other way to say it.
HP can f the f off.

They are on my official office products blacklist.

 

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/202...-36-month-to-rent-a-printer-that-it-monitors/
HP wants you to pay up to $36/month to rent a printer that it monitor


There's no other way to say it.
HP can f the f off.

They are on my official office products blacklist.

At the most basic level, I don't have a problem with this offering -- it's basically an approach that has been used in many industries, including business machines, for decades. Want a high-end copier but can't afford to buy one? Lease it. Lease terms vary all over the place -- some are straight up leases with no supplies or service included, while others include tons of support, including them monitoring the supplies and sending someone out to provide paper and toner (and install the toner) and maintenance and even include periodic upgrades to newer models. For many businesses, being able to count on having reliable equipment that you don't have to worry about your employees messing up trying to service it in any way is well worth it.

So I can see a plausible market for small businesses and even individuals that don't want to buy a printer or have to deal with going out and buying toner/ink when it runs out. I can see them needing to get certain information from the printer, such as pages printed and supply levels, for billing purposes and so that they can send you supplies before they are needed. But, as usual, they are going way overboard in requiring that you be continuously connected to the Internet. Also, they are clearly leveraging this as a way to steal your information and sell it or push products/services at you.

 

HP printer build quality and their business practices are just horrible.
The low end inkjet stuff is absolute trash. Their buggy drivers have mutated into spyware and the company acts like the Mafia with aftermarket refills.
https://www.wired.com/story/hp-ceo-ink-cartridge-hackers-dynamic-security/
HP CEO Says They Brick Printers That Use Third-Party Ink Because of … Hackers
The company says it wants to protect you from “viruses.” Experts are skeptical.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/202...-party-ink-from-printers-accused-of-monopoly/

HP is proud of its strategy of locking in printer customers. Last month, HP CFO Marie Myers praised the company's movement from transactional models to forcing customers into continuous buys through offerings like Instant Ink, HP's monthly ink subscription program.

"We absolutely see when you move a customer from that pure transactional model ... whether it's [to] Instant Ink, plus adding on that paper, we sort of see a 20 percent uplift on the value of that customer because you're locking that person, committing to a longer-term relationship," Myers said, as quoted by The Register.

They are losing market share and this attempt to use the classic low buyin, long term lockin tactic IMO will only accelerate that trend.
https://www.crn.com/news/computing/hp-says-recovery-in-pc-printer-sales-is-slower-than-expected

Printer Sales Down In Consumer And Commercial Segments
HP’s printing net revenue was $4.3 billion, a 7 percent year-over-year decrease. Net revenue on the consumer side was down 28 percent while commercial only declined by 6 percent.

Hardware units dropped 19 percent, with consumer printers down by 20 percent and commercial printers down by 8 percent.