R
Roy Leon
Hi All,
I read with great interest the discussion regarding the new HP policy
to dupe consumers into buying 4 toners when they only need one.
We are the proud owners of 4 of these very fast, very efficient,
clean, trouble free superb HP5500 Clour Laser jets.
However the consumable costs are extreemly high when it is necessary
to change all 4 toners when only 1 is empty. At first I assumed that I
had failed in the set-up proceedure when I first installed them, and
looked everywhere for a correction. I even printer 150 pages of solid
Magenta to get a variation in toner levels. This worked even though it
was only 4% lower on the Magenta status. However the very next day the
printer consumables status had corrected itself and all toners were
registering the same again.
I called the HP Service Desk (Holland) who really had no idea of the
problem and suggested that it was natural that there was an even
distribution of colour usage and therefore there was no problem.
I called them back some months later after the 4th change of all 4
toners and asked them to send a tech under the warranty as there was
clearly a problem with consumable usage. It could no longer be a
coincidence. Again they failed to see a problem and therefore could
not send a tech or even open a case.
Several weeks later I had the bright idea to call the HP Service Desk
(U.K) They were a lot more helpful and after some consultations with
superiors they admitted that they knew about this problem. They
suggested that when Tray 1 was set to "Any" mode this problem did
sometimes occur. They even gave me a case number. They suggested I
ensured that Tray 1 was set to "A4 - Plain" this I did on all 4
printers. Needless to say that 2 weeks later there was no change.
I called them again and quoted my case number and this time they
carefully explained that as the page passed over each roller of each
toner it picked up a percentage of toner powder and if the toner
powder was not used is was deposited in a special receptical
compartment of the toner cartridge. This is a designed cleaning
process and this was the reason that when I weighed the cartridges the
still very full Yellow and Magenta cartridges were considerably
heavier than the supposedly empty Black and Cyan cartridges. It sure
beat my logic, but to be fair, the staff on the HP Service Desk are
not going to be informed by HP of the true nature of their latest
money spinning gimmick.
It would appear then that the official line from the HP Service Desk
is that we are obliged to pay for toner that we don't use. It would
seem that as the paper passes over the Toner roller it just dumps an
equivalent amount of toner into a "used resevoir" as part of a
designed cleaning process. Sure helps to clean out the customers
wallet, that's clear.
The one point I failed to get over to the HP Service Desk staff was
WHY oh WHY
did HP feel it necessary to provide a neat little graphical display on
the Control Panel window with 4 separate bars to indicate the Toner
available in each cassette.??? Such a neat idea but totally
unnecessary as they supposedly get used up at the same rate."
The Dutch newspaper "Algemeen Dagblad" had a report 2 weeks ago,
exposing HP, Epsom and others for chipping the Toners in Black and
White Printers to register the page count to indicate when the toner
was empty. Of course we all know that there is still 16 20% toner left
when the Control Panel advises Toner replacement. It also makes it
very difficult for refill companies to conduct their business on a
level playing field. The Dutch Consumers association have warned that
action will ensue if this practice continues after 2003.
I have noticed that the new HP4200 does not have this irritating
feature. Users know when the Toner is running out because the printout
becomes feignter.
When some clever researcher finds a fix for the HP5500 problem I'm
sure we will all be very pleased to hear about it. In the meantime we
must consider some alternatives when we have to replace the remaining
45 aging Colour LaserJets we have on-site.
These comments are purely my own critisisms and do not in anyway
reflect the views of my customers, who pay the bills.
groetjes uit Holland
Roy Leon
I read with great interest the discussion regarding the new HP policy
to dupe consumers into buying 4 toners when they only need one.
We are the proud owners of 4 of these very fast, very efficient,
clean, trouble free superb HP5500 Clour Laser jets.
However the consumable costs are extreemly high when it is necessary
to change all 4 toners when only 1 is empty. At first I assumed that I
had failed in the set-up proceedure when I first installed them, and
looked everywhere for a correction. I even printer 150 pages of solid
Magenta to get a variation in toner levels. This worked even though it
was only 4% lower on the Magenta status. However the very next day the
printer consumables status had corrected itself and all toners were
registering the same again.
I called the HP Service Desk (Holland) who really had no idea of the
problem and suggested that it was natural that there was an even
distribution of colour usage and therefore there was no problem.
I called them back some months later after the 4th change of all 4
toners and asked them to send a tech under the warranty as there was
clearly a problem with consumable usage. It could no longer be a
coincidence. Again they failed to see a problem and therefore could
not send a tech or even open a case.
Several weeks later I had the bright idea to call the HP Service Desk
(U.K) They were a lot more helpful and after some consultations with
superiors they admitted that they knew about this problem. They
suggested that when Tray 1 was set to "Any" mode this problem did
sometimes occur. They even gave me a case number. They suggested I
ensured that Tray 1 was set to "A4 - Plain" this I did on all 4
printers. Needless to say that 2 weeks later there was no change.
I called them again and quoted my case number and this time they
carefully explained that as the page passed over each roller of each
toner it picked up a percentage of toner powder and if the toner
powder was not used is was deposited in a special receptical
compartment of the toner cartridge. This is a designed cleaning
process and this was the reason that when I weighed the cartridges the
still very full Yellow and Magenta cartridges were considerably
heavier than the supposedly empty Black and Cyan cartridges. It sure
beat my logic, but to be fair, the staff on the HP Service Desk are
not going to be informed by HP of the true nature of their latest
money spinning gimmick.
It would appear then that the official line from the HP Service Desk
is that we are obliged to pay for toner that we don't use. It would
seem that as the paper passes over the Toner roller it just dumps an
equivalent amount of toner into a "used resevoir" as part of a
designed cleaning process. Sure helps to clean out the customers
wallet, that's clear.
The one point I failed to get over to the HP Service Desk staff was
WHY oh WHY
did HP feel it necessary to provide a neat little graphical display on
the Control Panel window with 4 separate bars to indicate the Toner
available in each cassette.??? Such a neat idea but totally
unnecessary as they supposedly get used up at the same rate."
The Dutch newspaper "Algemeen Dagblad" had a report 2 weeks ago,
exposing HP, Epsom and others for chipping the Toners in Black and
White Printers to register the page count to indicate when the toner
was empty. Of course we all know that there is still 16 20% toner left
when the Control Panel advises Toner replacement. It also makes it
very difficult for refill companies to conduct their business on a
level playing field. The Dutch Consumers association have warned that
action will ensue if this practice continues after 2003.
I have noticed that the new HP4200 does not have this irritating
feature. Users know when the Toner is running out because the printout
becomes feignter.
When some clever researcher finds a fix for the HP5500 problem I'm
sure we will all be very pleased to hear about it. In the meantime we
must consider some alternatives when we have to replace the remaining
45 aging Colour LaserJets we have on-site.
These comments are purely my own critisisms and do not in anyway
reflect the views of my customers, who pay the bills.
groetjes uit Holland
Roy Leon