Industry companies have responded with solutions, while global news sources have reported on the issue as further consumer comments have been sent to The Recycler.
HP Inc’s OfficeJet 8615
The Recycler first reported on the firmware update earlier last week, and reported further complaints from the industry and consumers, with the OEM’s EU helpdesk claiming that it was “working on a solution” last week. The OEM then told The Recycler that “printers will continue to work with refilled or remanufactured cartridges with an Original HP security chip”.
US remanufacturer LD Products noted that its call centre “was inundated with calls and emails from frustrated customers”, who “were quick to reach out upon discovering an unexpected change”. The company has “worked closely with their suppliers and began shipping new cartridges at no additional cost to their affected customers”.
Aaron Leon, CEO of LD Products, commented: “People aren’t emotionally invested in things like ink and toner, but it certainly becomes emotional when you feel like it’s cheaper to buy a new printer rather than a new set of cartridges. We know having choices is an important factor in customer satisfaction and we truly appreciate when customers discover LD brand printer cartridges. We work hard to produce a quality product day in and day out. We’re not perfect, but we do our best to keep our customers happy!”
UK retailer INKredible introduced a ‘Firmware Guarantee’ to “offer customers full peace of mind” after the issues surrounding the update. The “industry first” offer is also a response to “the ongoing trend from OEMs to implement similar tactics against aftermarket consumables”, and allows customers to replace affected cartridges “free of charge as soon as updated stocks are available”.
Tom Coley, General Manager of INKredible, commented: “Last week saw many of our customers simply unable to use their printers, and looking to us for help. As soon as we were made aware of the issue we contacted all affected customers and offered refunds or replacement cartridges that would work with the new firmware.
“What shocked me the most was how surprised our customers were that we adopted this approach. Many simply assumed that the update meant they were out of pocket. We have introduced the ‘Firmware Guarantee’ today to get rid of any uncertainty and give customers confidence that using our Aftermarket consumables is not a gamble.”
More consumers got in touch with The Recycler, including Matej Miklavec, who has also had a “problem with HP OfficeJet 8610 with lock[ed] cartridge 950 and 951 series”, and “also [a] problem with [the] OfficeJet 6600 six months ago”. Graham Bailey commented that “I’m now having problems with my 8620 not accepting non-OEM cartridges. I have bought two sets of cartridges on eBay and both have failed to be recognised correctly by the printer.
“I imagine that the sellers of these cartridges are fuming since it is costing them a packet. Must admit that I’m now considering on buying a non-HP printer”. Sean Gibbons got in touch to say he has also “come across the cartridge-blocking issue with my HP OfficeJet Pro 8610 on 13 September. I bought some cartridges on Amazon about a month ago and barely got any use out of them before my printer saw them as damaged.
“I had assumed they were just poor quality cartridges. That was until I started seeing the articles come up about the issues for everyone. I have since ordered new cartridges on Amazon which appeared to be refilled actual HP cartridges. I’ll let you guys know if those ones actually work. I’ve since blocked automatic updates on my printer settings”.
Finally, Charles Woodgate stated that he was also getting the same error message on 14 September, adding that the “printer model is the Officejet Pro 8610. The cartridges are non-HP. I did indeed replace the offending cartridge 951XL magenta. This was from Office World. [I] still got [the] same message after half a page of printing.
“[I] replaced [this] with a third cartridge from another generic cartridge supplier. Again half a page of printing before “failing”. [I] nearly ended up taking out the print-head (and fearing it had failed), before coming across your article about this matter. Like many other people, I have been disrupted by this ‘error’ and am also extremely angry and suspicious that it was an intentional under-handed change; sneaky and arrogant.
“I trust that their promised firmware update means that customers can continue using their existing stocks of cartridges”. Static Control discussed its chips working in the affected printers, stating that its chips “for use in HP’s 950/951, 934/935 and 970/971 family of cartridges continue to function correctly”, while European trade association ETIRA is looking into the update.
If you’ve experienced issues, please let us know at news@therecycler.com.