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Consumer Association Says Avoid Epson Ink Cartridges

from the ouch dept

Tue, Jul 8th 2003 4:46pm — Mike Masnick

It sounds like people are beginning to get pissed off about the ink jet cartridge scams that many printer manufacturers are pulling. In particular, that original article highlighted problems with Epson ink cartridges, that tell people they're out of ink and refuse to print any more when they still have 25% or more of the ink left to go. Now, the Dutch Consumer Association, which very rarely takes sides when it comes to actual products is telling it's members flat-out not to buy Epson cartridges. Hopefully stories like this will continue to generate discussions, and Epson will be forced to change their policies.

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Anonymous Coward, 8 Jul 2003 @ 5:07pm

No Subject Given
I don't know since I don't own an Epson, but can you "trick" the printer that you have replaced the cartridge? I
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Mike (profile), 8 Jul 2003 @ 5:43pm

Re: No Subject Given
I don't know if there is a way to do so. I've tried with my own Epson, and haven't had any luck - but I haven't delved into the matter in too much detail. I'm sure there is some way to do it, but I don't know how involved it is. Besides, the bigger issue is the fact that most people won't be bothered, and most people actually believe it when their computer tells them the printer is out of ink.
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Urdvurk, 8 Jul 2003 @ 7:19pm

Epson sues!
Epson is reportedly now thinking about sueing the Dutch Consumer Association, claiming that they put the chips in the cartridges because of consumer demands.
No really, it's true.
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Anonymous Coward, 9 Jul 2003 @ 2:08pm

Re: No Subject Given
Yes. You can buy a little gadget that resets the chip, which was designed primarily to keep people from refilling cartridges and companies from manufacturing generic cartridges (i.e software copyrights, DMCA, etc.).

Yes, cartridges will frequently report being out of ink when they aren't. Unfortunately if the chip signals the computer that the cart is empty, you can't print. Period. The only alternatives are reset the chip or install a new cartridge.

BTW, despite claims by Epson to the contrary, the generic cartridges that sell at 20-25% of the brand name prices work just fine. They won't ruin your printer, make your hair fall out or give you cancer. They will save you money.
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b_has_opinions (profile), 29 Nov 2006 @ 3:57pm

Not only that but...
Have you ever disassembled an Epson printer? Underneath where the ink cartridges normally rest when not printing is a nice THICK pad of blotter paper. Mine was literally soaked through with ink. Probably hundreds of dollars worth.

I wonder if that's where all my extra ink was going?

Nice business practices there.

HP and happy now!
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Tyler, 12 Dec 2006 @ 9:22pm

Crappy Cartridges
When I got my Epson it came with the 25% full stock cartridges which went empty in no time. I bought new ones for $80 and they only lasted half a semester. I went back to using the cheapo HP that came with my computer and the $20 cartridges on that lasted 1.5 semesters. After those ran out I decided to buy new Epson cartridges, Big Mistake! After I installed them they still wouldn't print. I cleaned and cleaned and before I knew it the software said that the cartridges were empty. $80 for print cartridges and not one printed paper. I'll never buy another Epson printer.
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L MEACHAM, 20 Mar 2007 @ 1:17pm

EPSON 3-20-2007
TURN THE PRINTER OFF, TAKE OUT THE CARTRIDGES,TURN PRINTER ON, REINSTALL CARTRIDGES..PRINTER READS AS NEW CARTRIDGE...IT WORKED MORE THAN ONCE FOR ME....BEST NOT TO BUY EPSON ALSO.
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MEACHAM, 20 Mar 2007 @ 1:21pm

RE INSTALL
BEST NOT TO BUY EPSON FOR MORE REASONS THAN THIS. WHEN THIS HAPPENED TO ME ON MORE THAN ONCE...I FOUND OUT . RMOVE CARTRIDGES, TURN OFF PRINTER UNPLUG, WAIT A MINUTE, TURN PRINTER ON , RE INSTALL CARTRIDGES.
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Frank Link, 15 Sep 2007 @ 2:24pm

Epson Printer's and Cartridges
I too have an epson C66 printer which short of being a bit noisy when printing did well until one day it just stopped printing. I tried cleaning the heads and everything else I could think of. I am actually afraid to try to buy new cartridges for fear they won't work and I don't have that kind of money to just throw away. I think it is really sad that a printe company who was at one time the best on the market has turned to ripping off it's customers as a way of making money. Personally I will never purchase an epson product again. I have alwasy been very happy with HP and will continue to stick with HP for everything I buy in terms of computer equipment.
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B. Nardi, 26 Sep 2007 @ 1:05pm

Epson Printerws/Ink cartridges are an Institutiona
I bought an Epson C84 printer (BTW, a Consumer Reports Best Buy) and used it for B/W prints for months, without making a single color print. I noticed that the software color-ink-level indicators seemed to show small decreases over time, but paid little attention. When I finally got around to printing those digital photos that I'd been putting off, a print dialog box told me I was OUT OF INK. No joke. I was not able to make a solitary color print. The cartridges were completely full (I shook and weighed them) and I couldn't make a print. Hey, it's my ink. I paid ALOT(!) for it. I don't remember signing a lease agreement for 12 ml of ink at $50 for 6 months.

What balls, to devise such a sneaky way to prevent someone from using a paid-for product. And a ridiculously expensive product at that. This scam can only be Epson corporate and technical policy. You don't accidentally pick some one's pocket. It obviously takes effort. So did this. The Epson company decision makers are a pack of crooks. Period.

That printer experienced a violent trajectory into a garbage can. I will never buy an Epson anything again, and strongly encourage you not to.

What balls!
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Woodrow Olson, 30 Sep 2007 @ 5:48pm

Re: Epson Printerws/Ink cartridges are an Institut
My girlfriend and I purchased an Epson CX6000 over Christmas of 2006. We printed about 20 pages; some just black and some in color. When the black ran out we tried to replace it with a generic cartridge which the printer refused to recognize. While we were wrestling with that cartridge the printer decided to register that the yellow was out too, and we hadn't (couldn't have) printed.

We're looking for another brand of printer since we don't want to throw good money after bad.
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Curtis, 11 Oct 2007 @ 5:51pm

epson r380
Don't buy one of these!!! Brand new with brand new epson ink cartridges. And guess what error I get? Ink cartridges not recognized please install again. Installed them 100+ times over and over and same message. Now I have to deal with tech support crap...arg!! DON'T BUY EPSON!! Wife was so excited about this printer and it doesn't work.
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Cat, 2 Nov 2007 @ 9:43pm

Cartridges aren't being recognized by Canon R380
Right out of the box!!! I'm taking it back tomorrow.
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Katie, 3 Nov 2007 @ 3:49pm

Can't believe it's true
I called my brother the expert today, after my Epson CS5000 suddenly stopped recognizing that there is yellow ink. Actually, it first said the almost new magenta was finished. I took it out, put it back, and it decided the almost new yellow was empty, and the magenta was full. The error message told me to buy Epson cartridges. After what I have read here, I won't give Epson another dime. This printer is less than one year old, but I'll buy another brand instead of giving them money for ink. I do have generic ink now, and all was well, until I had a paper jam ... suddenly, it tells me the ink is empty. I'm stunned at what I've read here. I appreciate it.
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Robert, 7 Nov 2007 @ 8:26pm

RE: CX4600
I bought 4 remanufatured ink cartridges to replace all the old cartridges. I installed them and they registered new but did not print any images. I took them out and reinstalled them and they registered as half empty!! I tried to print and nothing....so I began reading the shut off and reinstall tips and thi8s time the cartridges registered as empty! I just spent $40 and I still can't print a thing. The company I purchased the ink cartridges will not take them back because they have been used. What a SCAM!! Epson you are run by a bunch of crooks!
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Richard, 24 Nov 2007 @ 11:38am

Re: epson r380
Amen, why didn't I read this article BEFORE buying my epson? CX6000 "Install Ink cartridges" ---- but it's there! I'm looking at it! It's IN I can see it and I can even take it out and shake it and HEAR the ink inside! ... well it'll only be a few more years till I can afford an HP....
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Brian Hinchcliffe, 16 Dec 2007 @ 8:23am

Re: Epson Printerws/Ink cartridges are an Institut
I wish i'd read this blog before buying a dual pack of Epson cartridges. 3à shetts of A4 later, guess what, OUT OF INK. I object to a supplier treating customers with utter contempt. Customers just walk away for ever.

How can Epson use such short term scams and expect to endure?
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Tim K SR, 1 Jan 2008 @ 7:38pm

Re: epson r380
I recieved one for Christmas and loved the photo quality. I just plugged in the mem card and did the search and print.
Wow.. this great..THEN I hooked it to the real world of computers ... Oh CRAP what a load of shit. I almost never got it installed and then almost never got it to print a picture. I thought I had solved the problems. Wrong. Went to bed ... next day tried to printout a SIMPLE damn email...no way in hell... it failed over and over and over and I finally said to hell with it. Thought well maybe it will still print a picture from my picture file... daaaaaaaaa hell no.. once again tried one from the mem card from the cam. Well low and behold the damn thing did it. I am less than happy with this unit. What is with the damn major problem of printing just an ordinary stupid everday printout????????????????!!!!!!!!!

I have not spoken with the company, however, rest asurred I shall tomorrow morning(1-1-08)if you buy one of these make damn sure to keep all the paper work and the name of whom you bought it from.

Tim
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sophia, 21 Feb 2008 @ 2:50pm

i've had mine for less then a year and very rarely print, and all of a sudden the red light goes on and apparently it is out of ink.

this is ridiculous. i have no intention of buying a whole new set of cartridges. i will keep it and use the scanner, as that is actually useful, but i will find another company to buy my printer from in the future.

crap ass printer.
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Claudia, 12 Mar 2008 @ 1:24pm

Re: your comment on Epson Printers
Sophia how are you able to use the scanner without replacing the ink? My printer wont let me do it unless i put in new ink! I have an Epson Stylus CX4600...howd you get around this problem?
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Anonymous Coward, 7 Apr 2008 @ 6:19pm

POS - Epson CX4800 Ink Scam
Just another victim in a long line of the current Epson Ink scam...

I never made a single color print with the color cartridges and they now ALL register as empty even though I can shake them and hear the ink inside sloshing around inside.

WHAT A SCAM
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andy brennan, 7 May 2008 @ 5:26pm

This is the worst printer I have ever owned. DO NOT BUY this!!!!! it is a big scam..
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Paul, 8 May 2008 @ 5:40pm

epson sucks never buy one
I have to print all of the time because I'm a student and I rarely use color. Even though all I print is black it seems that my color cartridges slowly run out. Once the color is gone it won't even let me print black until I spend a shit ton of money to replace the color cartridges! The entire reason I bought the printer in the first place was to have the advantage of only buying the color I needed as they ran out but somehow they all mysteriously run out at the same time. And this has happened to me on multiple occasions. I'M PISSED!
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Ursula Schoeneich, 30 Jun 2008 @ 1:24pm

EPSON, get cash for empty EPSON ink cartridges
EPSON Recycling. NEW! We buy empty EPSON cartridges. Sell your used empty EPSON inkjet cartridges and get cash for EPSON recycling. Each shipment must be a minimum of 50 original OEM EPSON ink cartridges. All cartridges must be in original condition, not tempered or manipulated in any way. USPS Free Recycling.Purchase price is $0.10 each and free shipping. Recycling keeps jobs in America. Thank you Ursula Schoeneich, President & CEO Certified WBENC Women's Business Enterprise http://www.freerecycling.com
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Greg, 3 Jul 2008 @ 7:30am

Re: epson r380
I am having the same problem with a different all in one model from Epson. It won't recognize 1 of the 6 cartridges that came with it in the box from Epson!!! Totally annoying, and of course there is no way to tell if its the cartridge or the whole damn printer! Tech support can't tell either. SOOOOO this piece of junk is cetting returned!
Forget about Epson if you want to print anything!
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Lyn H, 3 Jul 2008 @ 6:47pm

Re: EPSON 3-20-2007
You champion it worked!!
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CPrice, 8 Jul 2008 @ 3:31pm

Epson not taking back unused ink
Epson will not take back my unused ink. Their CX5800F printer bit the dust yesterday. I have over $60 of unused, unopened ink left. When I called this morning, they told me that since my last purchase $60 was one week over the normal 30 day return policy, I was out of luck. I then asked how long the shelf life supposedly is for an Epson cartridge and was told it was 3 years. Then why oh why since I purchased another Epson printer (won't do that again) will they not replace my old ink with new ink. I think these companies are making their money on the ink and not on the printers since they are throw aways anyway.
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nanci, 10 Jul 2008 @ 7:06pm

epson tech support....a bunch of BS!!!
So I called tech support and the guy was an idiot! He kept saying that my cartridges are empty and they are not. So they said that they would send me a free replacement this one time. Doesn't do me any good now! I'll probably wait 2-6 weeks for them and they won't work either!
Any idea on were to get the thing to reset the chips?
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mariewild, 27 Jul 2008 @ 2:41pm

wot will epsom do to help us. will they give money back
epsom should be made to refund everyone who bought these printers after all they must have decided which company was going to manufacture the ink cartridges .they should recall them .I have the same prob with ink and how many more who people are there that haven't added comments ,hp inks, last for ages, I have gone back to using old hp and it still has ink from 12 months ago and they are a lot cheaper
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chuck capperino, 9 Aug 2008 @ 2:26pm

Re: Epson Printerws/Ink cartridges are an Institutiona
I own a cx5400 and had the same experience.

Used two whole black cartages, and when the second one ran out, the machine also told me I was out of color ink... even though I had only run 2 pages of color in all that Time. Epson sucks and the company is a thief with their business practices.

Yes, it would be nice if the machine would tell us that we are low on ink... but we should be the ones to determine that the cartage is empty.... not some asshole at epson.
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lou, 9 Aug 2008 @ 3:38pm

Re: Re: EPSON 3-20-2007
Please tell me what worked??? I am going crazy with the out of ink error!
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SirRod, 11 Aug 2008 @ 4:02am

Empty New Ink Cartrages
We bought out epson printer from Office Depot in Bradenton Fl.
It worked great for a while. Then quit printing.
We purchased new epson ink cartrages from Office Depot, and they would not work because there was NO ink in the cartrages.
I thought this was a fluke, and took the empty ink cartrages back to Office Depot, got new ones which were also empty.
If you weigh the empty ink cartrages they weigh the same as the brand new in the package ones. This is a complete rip off.
We bought a HP all in one, and have had no problem at all.
I feel that Office Depot should be aware of these brand new epson ink cartridges there selling. They don't seem to care.
Even though we bought our new printer from them as well as the epson that is gathering dust in my spare room.
Epson sucks I wouldn't buy another epson product ever.
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Pete, 13 Aug 2008 @ 3:00pm

Only Using Black
I cant believe I cant print with just black now. I feel the pain, I want to smash this printer everytime I touch it and attempt to get it to work. I used generic cart before and they worked fine, now I cant get past out of ink error msg. Then I decide to buy the black epson brand because it has the correct chip. However, it shows the black but wont let me print in just black unless I fill the color cartridges in? That is the most insane setting in any piece of equipment I have owned. How dare they even program a setting like that, someone start a class action lawsuit so we can join in, ha.
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jwow, 18 Aug 2008 @ 8:44pm

epson manufacturing know the jig is up!!!
As well as all of you posted Ive had the same problems with my supposed to be deluxe printer/scanner/copier! I have bought the last ink cartridge that I will buy ever for this thing. But, what I did do was call epson..got through pretty quick only to find myself in a back and forth argument with a phone person who gave me every excuse in the book why my printer won't recognize full cartridges, I told her that this was a major problem for everyone who owns these printers and that I am going to get another printer and copy all of the complaints and maybe sue for this issue..tada! She immediately decided to send me a NEW epson printer loll! just like the junk I already have. WOW. Maybe she didn't want me to have to buy or borrow another printer to copy with? I could tell by the way she spoke when I told her about all the complaints that this was an obvious very popular issue with epson. Thought this might give you a laugh.
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Jeroen Tel, 25 Sep 2008 @ 5:39pm

EPSON ink rip-off
I've used my EPSON Stylus DX4200 a lot for printing digital images & full-color invoices, which uses loads of ink (all 4 colors). When the printer told me the cardridges were empty I was surprised by the evenness of which each color cardridge had ran out... I scratched my head, but went out and bought new cardridges for each color anyway... (I was very happy with the amount of pictures I was able to print being a very very active printer back then)...

A couple of months ago I installed 4 new cardridges (one for each color), but haven't printed anything in color, thus using only black ink... yesterday my printer wouldn't print, cause MY COLOR CARTRIDGES WERE SUPPOSEDLY EMPTY!!! I thought to myself "WTF!!!"... I took them out and shook them next to my ear... they were full! Not just a little, but really really full!!!

I weight a new cartridge on my digital postal scale and compared it in weight to the supposedly empty one... suprise: only a 0.5 grams difference!

Having read the comments here I know for a fact EPSON has a fixed rip-off policy which scams people out of their hard-earned money and their -way- overprized still left-over ink.

(Remember: -in weight- printer-ink bought from the original manufacturer is more expensive than buying solid silver!)

Anyway, I -had to- (in an emergency) print a black-and-white invoice, but had to go out buying new color-cartridges just to print that black-and-white page, even though I installed a new black cartridge...

I'm so mad... SO mad... I can't describe it... I will print with this printer for as long as these cartridges work (or should I say for as long as my printer will have me believe they work) and then bring it to the recycle plant and buy another brand of printer which doesn't cheat me out of my ink.

EPSON: BOO! BOO! BOO! Shame on YOU! Never again will they receive 1 penny from me!
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Kev, 28 Oct 2008 @ 8:30pm

Can you scan without ink cartridges?
I have a great Konica printer and only need my Epson Stylus CX9400 scan function, but when I try to scan a window pop up saying "The scanner is warming up or in use. Please wait until the scanner is ready, then try again." The printer screen says "Ink cartridges cannot be recognized" I shouldn't need ink to scan. Does anyone know how to solve this?
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Darius Surenian, 18 Nov 2008 @ 7:19am

Epson Ink Cartridges
I had exactly the same experience. After replacingseveral individual cartridges and finding that they showed "empty" after only a few pages of print I purchased the full complement of the four cartridges and replaced the two that said "Low" only to find that one of the cartridges still says "empty" and refuses to print. I have decided that I am throwing good money after bad and I junked the entire printer. Now I am stuck two unopened cartridges, besides the two that I replaced but never got a single print out of it.
Discusting!!!!
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CG Mayell, 10 Jan 2009 @ 10:57am

Re: Epson Ink Cartridges
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cg mayell, 10 Jan 2009 @ 11:01am

Epson cartridges
I only use bulk MIS ink on my epson 1280 and epson 2200 (both are excellent printers that epson has since replaced with "more advanced" models in order to foil the use of bulk ink cartridges. I buy the bulk ink from MIS associates along with their CIS (continuous Inking system). It's basically a refurbished set of epson cartridges attached to plastic tubes that lead to ink bottles. The system works like a charm and costs 1/10 or less the cost of epson's rip-off cartridges. I am fussy about my ink because I am an artist making prints. But they look great.
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andre, 22 Jan 2009 @ 5:45pm

epson cx4600
my printer ran out of ink and showed that evil red light on the left hand side. so i took out all the cartridges and only the black was empty so i took it to a cartridge refill store in Brunswick new jersey, and he reset the chip. but after i reinstalled the reset black cartridge it still popped up a red light. I think all the chips on all the colors have to be reset in order for it to work. tomorrow imma bring all the cartridges to get reset and hopefully this will work. ill let you guys know how it goes
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Ron Chapiesky, 19 Feb 2009 @ 8:00am

Re: EPSON 3-20-2007
Thank you L. Meacham...it worked!
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Joe, 2 Mar 2009 @ 11:58am

Epson not so bad...
I understand this is the "haters" section, but I have a new Epson printer, and it's pretty darn good. (Artisan 800). Sure it goes through ink (as do ALL inkjets!), but not any more than an a newer HP (ex. C7280). In fact print quality is better, and the photo quality of Epson is WAY better than HP. Ink is about the same price as HP. (I don't know where you shop, but it's $9.99 before tax for HP (colors) and $9.40 for Epson (colors), so actually Epson is a little cheaper. Also, they are vacuum sealed, so they last longer stored - the HP ones are not as airtight, and have chips inside them that self-destruct/auto-expire, which sucks. I used only get HP, but after hardware and software issues, I decided to give another brand a chance. I am pleasantly surprised. I looked at Brother, but the print quality is not there in inkjets. I am curious how much longer the "high-capacity" Epson cartridges last compared to the "regular" ones, but at the end of the day, it's cheaper to use to regulars and get $6 in recycling credit as opposed to one "high capacity".
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Mar 2009 @ 10:38pm

Re: Epson not so bad...
I couldn't disagree more with Joe. I also own the Epson Artisan 800, and am so disgusted with the company that I could spit.

This isn't an issue of print quality or scan quality. It's an issue of repulsive and deceptive practices by Epson. If I had known that I could not print AT ALL even in GREYSCALE without color cartridges that aren't empty, I'd never have bought the machine.

I don't use color much, but the color cartridges (once installed), evaporate quickly even if not used. It may not even be evaporation. It's entirely possible Epson's other deceptive practice of arbitrarily reporting lower ink levels with every print irrespective of the colors used may be to blame. In any event, my color ink is constantly running out when I'm not using it at all, and that prevents me from printing plain black text -- which I use a lot -- without expending a lot of extra money.

Truly despicable to intentionally design the printer this way.
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mike, 22 Apr 2009 @ 9:23pm

I am so mad...
Same here. I don't care about few extra bucks, but my point I am tired of being screwed by companies like Epson. When you go to "print settings" (and of course you can't after the error message pops up)there is an option "black ink only" so, as far as my elementary knowledge of English goes, it means I should be able to print with black only. WRONG! And that really pissed me off.

What is even more deceiving, is that, as many of you stated here, you can't use any functions unless you replace the color ink. Why can't I scan or use fax when I am out of color ink? There is no need for ink when you scanning. I was in the middle of work, and I can't finish scanning because I ran out of ink? BS! Where is the logic?

So, this is my plan: I am filing a class action law suit agains you Epson, and I promise you lose this one! Bring it on!

Mike
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txbooklady, 20 May 2009 @ 2:11pm

Re: Cartridges aren't being recognized by Canon R380
Well, I bought a camera for my husband for his dad's day last summer...and we received the Epson r380 as a freebie.
So we have kept it in the box until this summer, as we were not needing to do any photo printing.

And now, I have it out of the box, put the ink in and presto magico, "inck cartidges cannot be recognized. "make sure ink cartridges are correctly installed."

I have tried shutting it off, taking them out, reinstalling them, still the same message. I have also bought a new black cartridge, tried it out, nothing different. Do I need to buy ALL new cartridges?
IS IT WORTH IT????
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james akers, 27 May 2009 @ 8:36am

epson stylus photo rx ,680, wont recognize cartridges
If you are looking for a printer tha t will work for one year and your in need of a boat anchor--this printer will fill the bill. Printer is 15 month 0ld and will nor recognized Epson cartridges. One positive about the Epson [ they are very polite when they tell you are screwed]
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CHRIS, 27 May 2009 @ 2:10pm

Epson
You will always find your colour inks going down, even if not being used, because the ink acts as a coolant for the printhead, this means that it has to have all inks working in order to operate. Every time you turn your printer on, it recharges the printheads, more ink into the waste pad underneath. If you rechip an empty Epson cartridge, you run the risk of burning out the printhead on your printer.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Jun 2009 @ 10:06am

Re: Re: Cartridges aren't being recognized by Canon R380
I think you mean an Epson R380, not a Canon as you stated
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Chris, 23 Jun 2009 @ 10:21am

As an add-on to my last comment, if you want to use refilled cartridges, keep a set of empty Epson originals handy. Take out and change only one cartridge, letting your printer accept it before you move onto the next. If you have any problem, just put your empty Epson originals back in and let the printer sort its brain out, then you can start again.. Trouble with Epsons is that you have to use them regularly, or the printheads will just dry out on you, then you use all your ink going around the cleaning cycle. Hope this helps a few frustrated Epson users.
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Marianne Mackay, 22 Oct 2009 @ 3:49am

epson
Cannot believe that I didn't read this before buying Epson. It's unbelievably bad. Just replaced all inks and my daughter printed one colour picture and now saying all inks are gone! This happened with the original ones but thought that was down to the 25% thing but now I realise it's just a complete con. Am taking it back this afternoon!
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shwa, 29 Dec 2009 @ 4:45pm

complete bunch of crap
epson is ripping all of us off. there are 50 pissed off people on this site at least, and i'm guessing thousands more. we absolutely should start a class action suit. there needs to be some accountability for this fraud.
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phil, 18 Jan 2010 @ 5:36am

epson still getting away with it
well, i can't believe that i've just read all these comments going back to 2007 and still epson has don't a thing about it - i know cos, yes you guessed it, I have a brand new epson telling me my yellow ink cartridge is empty (its not, lots of sloshing), then i bought a new one (bloody fool) thinking maybe the chip on the front was damaged, but the new one now is 'not recognized' AND its a bloody Epson not generic one. Blood boiling rage against the bloody machine! I set up a facebook group called 'never buy this!' please join and lets get some attention. My guess is most of us don't find this page till we've already been conned.
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Katy, 19 Jan 2010 @ 8:03am

Epson...
Brand new printer and ink I installed the ink and it seemed fine... a day later and it tells me that I am not using a black epson cartridge and it refuses to print!!
I wish I had seen this blog before buying!
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David Baez, 22 Jan 2010 @ 11:46am

Epson CX6000
As I can see I am not the only one that got ripped by Epson and as you all I will not buy any product with the brand Epson on it.
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Josephin, 2 Feb 2010 @ 1:55pm

Epson stylus c84
i've have had this printer for several years and the problem that goes with this printer is always the INK. I spend hundreds of dollars of this becauase the printer says the INK IS OUT. but in fact, when I took the ink out, i shake them, and it has about half of the ink left.. i tried the unplug and re install thing, it does not work!! i'm tired of this already!!
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Jennifer, 3 Jun 2010 @ 7:53pm

My Artison 800 doesn't recognize the yellow ink
I initially loved my Epson printer, even though I didn't care for how often the inks would empty. A couple of months ago, it said it needed Yellow. Well I put the cartridge in and it won't recognize it. I have tried everything. It will not let me go beyond the error screen, I cannot print, scan, copy - nothing!!!

I agree with everyone - we should be able to print in black if we want to. This is RIDICULOUS!
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Eric, 29 Jun 2010 @ 9:34pm

Hmmmm
Well, I work at a large retail store and I can tell you that EVERY printer that we sell will not allow you to print if any cartridge is empty. It really is common practice now. People get mad about ink for nearly every manufacturer that's out there. People think that switching printers will solve their printing woes, but I can tell you that there are shady things happening with every manufacturer. They all make most of their money on ink. Even at relatively low volume stores, we will make millions of dollars annually on ink alone.

I have 4 Epson printers for various uses and get most of my cartridges from ldproducts.com. Cartridges usually work fine. Results look fine. From my experience, Epsons will usually give you great results. They use pigment inks and piezo heads which vibrate, unlike most other printers. If you have the proper software you can actually control your ink output better than almost any other manufacturer. That's why many screen printers use them to create super black film positives.
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G White, 19 Jul 2010 @ 8:33am

epson R360 ink
I decided to pick the brains of a supplier of generic inks about Epson and was suprised to find out that Epson printers are programmed to kill the chips in the cartridges when a mere 5ml of ink has been used, even though there is usually the same amount still left in the cartridge. My local ink supplier can sell me cheap inks that the printer will kill after 5ml, or I can buy catridges which the printer cannot kill and they also give me 14ml of usable ink.
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greg, 14 Oct 2010 @ 8:18am

Re: Epson not so bad...
I dont know where you shop, i have never seen print cartridges for under $19.00. Most range in the $30s.
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LHP (profile), 25 Oct 2010 @ 6:59pm

Epson R380 is the worse printer I ever bought!
I bought it 4 or 5 years ago and I must have spent over $1000 on ink by now. Damn thing won't print if I run out of just one color! Even if I have a full black cartridge, if I run out of yellow I am SOL! I've also had problems with new cartridges not being recognized and had to unplug the printer and reboot to get around it. I have a new Vista laptop and even though I downloaded the R380 driver from Epson website, it just gives errors. Vista troubleshooter did not find the issue, it just says "error". I'm throwing this piece of shit out and am thankful that at least my cartridges are almost empty.
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Angela, 2 Nov 2010 @ 1:12pm

EPSON INK IS A SCAM. DO NOT EVER BUY THEIR PRINTERS OR INK.
I've never used the colored ink AND THEY TELL ME I RAN OUT. I CHECK AND IT'S STILL FULL!!!

THEY HAVE A CHIP IN THE INK THAT tells you to buy more INK.
WE MUST REPORT THIS AND SUE
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Kim, 19 Nov 2010 @ 12:38am

I broke open the 'empty' cartridge and guess what?
Everytime I spend $70 to buy a full set of replacement cartridges for my Epsom Stylus Photo RX600 I know I'm getting screwed. But, sigh, so many battles - I give in.

Tonite I got the familiar...'cannot print, light cyan cartridge is empty' from my printer. So I took out the old cartridge, put in the new one.

THEN, I took the old 'empty' cartridge and shook it. As usual, I could here the ink swishing around inside. THIS TIME I decided to break open the cartridge. Inside, I poked multiple holes thru the black plastic which covers several compartments, and turned the open cartridge over a yellow notepad. Guess what folks? My yellow notepad is now soaked with light cyan ink from my 'empty cartridge'. I wish I had a picture for you. I am mailing in this notepad to Epsom to demand a refund. Or perhaps, even better, I should mail in the ink soaked notepad to better business bureau.

The more ink that came out of the cartridge, the more disgusted I became. If the cartridges were cheap that's one thing but they're damn expensive.

Folks, this is a con game. It doesn't matter what Epsom charges for the printer if they can collect $70 to replace a full set of cartridges and kill the cartridge when there's still a bunch of ink left inside, not to mention the ink soaked up by the 'blotter'.

I am so disgusted. Class action lawsuit is what we need.
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too_bz (profile), 21 Dec 2010 @ 10:44am

Epson printers - worse than vampires
I own an Epson CX8400, having used an older Epson 800 before and was happy with it, I decided to get the CX8400. Like so many people, I was infuriated at how fast the inks go. I am reordering generics again. I would curse and swear @ Epson because even if I just want to use the scanner but am out of ink, the device refuse to work until I replace the ink. Never again will I ever buy another Epson product. We should all boycott Epson period. A greedy company like this who rip their "loyal" consumers off should be in existence. As far as I am concerned, I will never ever look at another Epson product again.
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lee, 30 Dec 2010 @ 1:47pm

DONT BUY EPSON
I own EPSON nx110.
When ever i replace the ink, it make s me sick!!!!!
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Martha, 8 Jun 2011 @ 2:44am

Re: R300
Ihave always bought Epsom printer,s because they allowed the use of Generic ink,s... I have ran the R300 FOR 1YEAR NOW and its been fine no problem...! however today I installed a set of new Ink,s and IT WONT ACCEPT THEM.... I am so angry..why why why !!! has this happened ..there must be a way to by-pass ..this problem the inks are so expensive ...i just cant afford to run with a full set of EPSOM INK,S ..
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Jerry Rossman, 24 Aug 2011 @ 10:42am

Epson Printers
What we need folks is some nerd genius to figure out how to alter the program in the printers to bypass the out of ink feature. That way we would get full use of our printer ink and we could keep printing even if one or two were out of ink.
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Evan, 3 Sep 2011 @ 8:34pm

Try ink from axiomarts2011 on ebay
I hated my printer because of cost and technical difficulty until I tried bulk ink from axiomarts2011 on ebay. They sell all kinds of ink you just have to ask. A liter of piezo pigment for my mimaki JV4 is only $65.00. They also sell a K3 alternative. For a fraction of epsons prices.
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Jock Itch, 6 Oct 2011 @ 1:43am

I have a Epson all in one printer. I actually only use the scanner part to bring in hand drawings to my computer. I never really use the printer part that much. Today I was getting an error about one of the cartridges being low, which it shouldn't be, but I thought I'd take it out and give it a shake to get rid of the error message. Big mistake to say the least.

Now it says that the cartridge is completely out of ink and refuses to start. I don't even care if prints or not. I just want to use the scanner. I'm not buying another cartridge, guess I'll just throw it in the trash.

It would be like having your dvd drive go out on your computer and when you go to start it you receive an error message "Sorry you can't use your computer until you've replaced the dvd drive, thanks and have a nice day." Seriously...
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Texas Matrix, 26 Oct 2011 @ 3:18am

Our Apologies
Greetings,

I have read each and every one of the complaints above. I empathise with each and every person who has posted a complaint here.

I also own and Epson CX5800F that will not print, scan or fax when the color ink is low.

My CX5800F sat in a supply closet for the last 3 years and was given to a new associate today. Of course like everyone else the ink levels were low according to the printer.

So, what does one do? We purchase more ink. Of course like everyone else, black ink was the only color purchased as color ink isn't needed.

No Joy! This printer will not print with only black ink.

So you ask - Why did I title the subject 'Our Apologies'?

Answer - I am the Chief Technology Officer of Texas Matrix. We are a national retailer of computers and consumer electronics sourced by the same distributor as Walmart, BestBuy, and Tiger Direct.

As a result of what I see as flagrant unethical business practices on the part of Epson America; Texas Matrix will no longer carry the Epson America manufactured products.

I have personally communicated this issue to the distribution source and encouraged them to drop Epson America as a client.

In closing I would like to offer a small suggestion to the consumer public. Laser printers are slightly more expensive, but the ink toner is much better today than it was years ago in price and the amount of printed pages. You can spend about $300 on a nice multi-function laser printer and expect upto 80,000 blk printed pages.

Have a great day!

J.H. - CTO Texas Matrix
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john suliot, 28 Feb 2012 @ 6:16pm

Re: EPSON, get cash for empty EPSON ink cartridges
Purchase price is $0.10 each and free shipping. Recycling keeps jobs in America. Thank you Ursula Schoeneich, President & CEO Certified WBENC Women's Business Enterprise http://www.freerecycling.com

Ten cents??????????????????? After all we have been through??? Get a real job!!!!
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John Suliot, 28 Feb 2012 @ 6:25pm

Re: Empty New Ink Cartrages
Sometimes I can repair these things, or maybe buy them from you. This is a growing business. Don't know who I would sell it to, but I can repair printers. I do art photography, and sell the prints. (yes, I have a bachelor's degree in it. jsuliot@gmail.com
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Rick, 18 Jul 2012 @ 10:14am

Epson Ink Fraud
A salesman praised Epson for its quality and reliability and sold me. What he didn't tell me is how fast the printer used ink and would get little use before having to replace the cartridges.
We have been ripped off as consumers making Epson very rich every time we have to replace ink. Additionally I don't believe the replacement cartridges are full of ink, meaning they don't fill them up fully counting on you (we the consumer) to have to replace in a very short time. I for one am looking to replace both printers, throw these in the dumpster and never look a an epson for any of my future printing equipment.
I AM DONE WITH GREEDY $$$$$ EPSON..........
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GERRYMAC (profile), 5 Sep 2012 @ 6:00am

ink not recognized
Anyone else had this...my EPSOM SX445W After installing non-Epsom cartridges and printing a few pics,my printer then comes up with a warning...''CANT RECOGNIZE CARTRIDGES''.....
I Dont understand how it printed the earlier pics but now doesn't recognize the same carts. that already printed.???
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Darthanos, 23 Sep 2012 @ 11:38am

Epson CX6000
I've had this printer for a long time, and I suppose maybe it has gone bad. It started printing crap (blank pages, or just a few gray lines on a page), and when I wanted to do a head cleaning, it said I couldn't because I was out of ink. Went to try to change the ink cartridge, and the printer won't let me, because I'm not actually out of ink. (It wouldn't even let the print head get into the proper position to remove the cartridge.) So I'm in a catch-22 - I can't print because the head needs a cleaning, I can't do a cleaning because the yellow is too low, and I can't change the yellow ink because it's not empty. What crap! I think I'll go back to HP - this sucks!
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Tom, 25 Feb 2013 @ 4:50pm

Clicklinks sold me Epson replacement cartridges that don
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Tom, 25 Feb 2013 @ 4:52pm

Clicklinks sold me replacement cartridges for Epson that don't work
I don't know if this is the right place to put this, but here it is.

I had been buying Epson replacement cartridges from ClickLinks for several years. The cartridges are expensive and don't last long. So when ClickLinks offered replacement cartridges for my Epson printer, "just as good" but cheaper, I bought 6 for $54.

Money completely wasted. When I installed the first one, no longer would the printer print with the black, it was an illegible mess.

I emailed ClickLinks -- twice -- to ask them to refund my money. They have not responded.

So I thought your audience would like to know.
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Dennis, 20 Mar 2013 @ 6:37am

Epson Workforce 840
I bought a Epson Workforce 840 in 2011. It's real name should be Work Horse. I do mass mailings from home to market my business. On one black XL 127 cartilage I can print around 300 letters and 300 envelopes. I have to change the colored ink probably once every two or three months. Should I be getting more performance from the ink cartilages? The only complaints I have about the printer is that I can�t scan legal size documents to PDF and I have to babysit the envelopes while printing. It�s hard to get them to start to feed. I was not aware of Epson�s problems until I tried to trade my empties. I have probably have 50 or 60. Does anyone know they best place to trade them in?
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kathy, 17 Apr 2013 @ 9:04am

Re: epson cx4600
regarding comment #40 jan 22nd, 2009@5:45pm. Andre writes that he would keep us all updated on the result of his quest to have all the chips reset in his ink cartridges.
Sooooo???
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Marianne, 21 Apr 2013 @ 12:11am

It all really depends.
I currently use an EPSON ME 320, i think it's exclusive to Southeast Asia, if I'm not mistaken. I bought an entire set of cartridges to print out a certain 200 page colored textbook (not at best though) and all the print-outs came out fine. Used up the entire $40 (10 for each 141 ink), but seeing the printout results, they were okay. Several key issues in this thread:

1) I think that this issue doesn't only apply to EPSON, in regard to having ink left even if the system says there are none. Our family had already gone through different refilling stations to confirm this to us, and since two of our printers (Cannon and HP) broke because of improper refilling, we best venture the originals. Refills and imitations also have a problem with ink detection.

2) In regard to the ink not being detected problem, just reinstall the ink PROPERLY, like the software instructs. Or try to reset the printer. If no result, then the cartridge is faulty.

3) Avoid moving your printer around. I don't know why, but it depletes the ink more. and then the printouts become choppy, then you have to do headcleaning, then ink is charged and wasted, AGAIN.

4) The scanning without ink is possible to me, if the Epson Scan prompt is used. If you have no ink, don't press the button on the printer to scan, use the software.

I'm a student and I have worked with Canon and HP, and I wasn't altogether satisfied. Probably because of my obsessive need to not have my print-outs jagged, since Cannon and HP does that when they print pictures.

I hope this helps, if ever. It really depends on what you prioritize in printing. Epson is not exactly a saving decision, but their print-outs are by far best to me.
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Jack, 11 Jun 2013 @ 1:21pm

Epson Printers and Ink rip off
I have had several Epson printers, but if I can find a printer that does not rip me off on the Ink. I will never buy another Epson. Oh! They print ok, but they are on their way out of my life. I Have a Artisan 725 that uses:
98 High capacity, and 99 low Capacity. This is bull S*&%$. I weighed the new so called High Capacity,98 It was 1.1. The depleated 98 weighed .6 making the usable ink only .4
Please help where can I find a printer that does not use this tactic to rip me off.
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Dave, 21 Jun 2013 @ 4:38pm

Epson cartridges
I have an Epson SX515W. I have been using non Epson replacement cartridges for the past three years. Today I replaced the black cartridge only to get the message that the cartridge could not be recognised. I have tried some of the suggested solutions from this forum but none worked.The printer will go in the bin and I will never buy Epson again.
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Jul 2013 @ 3:07am

I contacted epson after several issues with 2 printers not recognising the cartridges etc etc. i looked at several forums on the subject of Epson and their business ethics. It seems that Epson are totally unphased by any complaints made and throw all comments back to the customer with their stock reply we only guarantee epson products and our inks will - blah blah blah - below are two replies received - in the second email the representative mentions the Intellidge Cartridges that will record the amount of ink used, apparently if you refil the cartridge the chip will still think its empty - now i thought this practice had been outlawed by the EU in 2006 http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/12/30/eu_tells_hp_et_al/

I take the opinion now - epson printers- will never buy another one.

EMAIL REPLY 1
Dear
Thank you for contacting EPSON's UK Customer Inter@ction Centre.
In reply to your email, as non-genuine Epson ink cartridges are not manufactured by ‎Epson, Epson cannot guarantee the quality or reliability of non-genuine ink. Other products not ‎manufactured by Epson and non-genuine ink may cause damage that is not covered by Epson's ‎warranties, and under certain circumstances, may cause erratic printer behaviour.
Epson recommends genuine Epson ‎cartridges as they are specially formulated to consistently produce quality prints. Genuine Epson inks ‎will also guarantee the reliability of your printer and prolong its life.
Epson's innovative genuine ink is ‎developed and manufactured by Epson and Epson provides a complete printing system that combines its Micro Piezo technology, the printer and genuine Epson inks and paper and, all of which are designed to work together to provide optimum performance and print quality. Each genuine Epson ink cartridge is manufactured to the highest possible specification and is in fact an ‎entire system for preserving and delivering ink consistently.
When using Epson products you can be sure that each print will be the same high quality as ‎the last. For sharp everyday printing, and longer-lasting glossy photos, only genuine Epson ink and media guarantee the best quality for your Epson printer.‎
We are continually trying to maintain and improve the standard of service that we provide, therefore customer feedback, both positive and negative, is an essential part of our evaluation. We value the comments that you have made and I would like to thank you for bringing them to our attention.
If you require further assistance please do not hesitate to contact the EPSON Customer Inter@ction Centre and we will endeavour to resolve any further queries you may have.

Regards

Tom Bellingham

e-Service Support Technician

EPSON Customer Inter@ction Centre
Epson offers a choice of ways to contact us for support and assistance. Call, chat with or email our advisors from Monday to Friday, 9am to 5.30pm.
Call us on 0871 4237766. Calls cost 10p per minute plus network extras. For customers in Ireland please dial +44 (0)1436 7742.
Visit www.epson.co.uk/Contact-Us and click �Start Online Chat�.

EMAIL REPLY 2

Dear
Thank you for contacting Epson's UK Customer Inter@ction Centre.
In reply to your email, ultimately, the choice about which make of consumable to buy is up to the consumer. Epson are reiterating the benefits of using genuine inks and confirming we can not guarantee the results when using compatible cartridges. Fortunately, most consumers recognise and appreciate the quality of Epson products, even though other brands of supplies for Epson printers are widely available.
The Intellidge Cartridges will record the amount of ink used from that particular cartridge. When refilling these cartridges, the microchip has no means of recording that the cartridge has been refilled and as such is relaying information to the printer that it is still empty.
With regards to the ink prices, most devices being launched today offer consumers a choice of cartridges with corresponding pricing to meet their needs. In addition, Epson is constantly reviewing the price of ink cartridges to ensure that they are competitive, and affordable for our customers.
Epson has no control over the prices that other retailers sell at and as such you will find suppliers that sell Epson cartridges at varying prices. The prices displayed on the Epson website are consistent with the UK RRP for Epson consumables.

We are unable to verify information posted on a non-Epson website. The views expressed by the forum users are personal and we can only deal with issues that are brought to our direct attention. Additionally, the conclusions made by users of this forum have not had Epson training in order to correctly assess the problems discussed.
Please be assured your comments are taken onboard and your feedback has been passed onto our marketing team.
Regards
Rachael Worthington-Jones
e-Service Support Technician
EPSON Customer Inter@ction Centre
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Mike, 14 Aug 2013 @ 7:16am

How do Epson know I am not using their ink or cartridges
Funny thing happened to me today, I re-filled my SX445 cartridges, not Epson but ones that are sold with a resettable chip so you can fill them with your own ink as many times as you like. I had a small problem getting the printer to work saying it didn't recognise the cartridges so reset the chips and turned power off printer etc, finally got it to work.

Anyway, the purpose of my note here is that within a couple of hours I have received an e-mail off Epson asking me if I am using the correct, ie Epson Ink. This make me think the printer software must be informing Epson perhaps that I have just changed the cartridge and there was an error. Has anybody else noticed this?
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David Parton, 1 Sep 2013 @ 2:26pm

Epson ink cartridges
I WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER EPSON PRODUCT EVEN THOUGH THE PRINTER PERFORMS BEAUTIFULLY BECAUSE IT CONTINUES TO REPORT THAT IT CANNOT RECOGNIZE THE CARTRIDGES (EVEN AFTER IT HAS HAD A "SPELL" OF RECOGNIZING THEM). I WILL TRASH THE MASHINE BEFORE I WILL BUY ANOTHER EPSON CARTRIDGE.
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hoppy (profile), 17 Sep 2013 @ 12:53pm

Ink is a bank job
Printers are updated faster than the ink dries, then they make the ink obsolete, and refuse to buy it back. they scam you and rip you off. the customer support lacks skill. all they want is money and your blood. One day they will pay back but for now we are all suckers.
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Jaime, 25 Sep 2013 @ 7:33am

Re: Re: your comment on Epson Printers
You have to have separate driver software to scan and it has nothing to do with having ink. I guess it depends on what you are using for scanning software, I use the EPSON SCAN software, super user friendly and easy to install. If it didn't come with your Epson, go to Google.com, type Epson scan drivers and it will take you to the Epson US website. From there select your model and install the correct scan software driver. It's fast and easy as pie, and then you won't need to have any ink to scan with you Epson. Unless by some chance you have an older Epson and it is different, but all of mine had separate scanning software. I have had three Epson printers over many years and loved every one of them. First of all Epson has the longest lasting ink I've ever used for the best price of all companies. Office depot sells the black for $9.99 most of the time, even better if you buy doubles or multi packs with color and black, or the high capacity. Office depot also gives you credit and rewards when you bring in your empty cartridges. And as far as longevity and life of the actual machine, Epson is second to none in my mind. I have used all brands and types of printers in my career and all brands of copy machines, or all-in-ones and Epson is by far the most affordable and longest lasting with the least amount of technical issues. Starting with the most expensive and least reliable, my list of 4 would be... Kodak, Cannon, HP and then Epson.
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Sarah, 3 Oct 2013 @ 4:15pm

SET IT ON FIRE!
I am about ten seconds away from pouring gasoline all over this piece of shit Epson printer and setting it on fire. I am seriously considering running over it eight or ten times before setting it on fire. It has been the biggest hassle of all time. This Epson printer does not print. Ironic, considering it has new ink cartridges and it's sole purpose is to print. It rejects ink cartridges (its OWN ink cartridges)and runs out of ink in record time.
This is the second time that I have needed to print something extremely important and I could not get it to function properly. The first was the night before a HUGE meeting that I had scheduled. It took me hours to finally get the printer to print! Now, I sit here...again...waiting for this printer to accept the brand new cartridges that I just purchased. Yes, they are Epson cartridges. Funny thing is, I checked the ink levels this morning. The only cartridge that needed to be replaced was Cyan. Black was COMPLETELY FULL as of 11:00 am. Now, hmmm, interesting, black is "all out" now and needs to be replaced. And, oh, it looks like Yellow and Magenta are now out as well. How convenient, Epson. You would like me to drop another $40 on your shitty ink? Oh, no problem. That sounds wonderful...considering I recently lost my job and quite frankly did not have the money in the first place to purchase overpriced ink that runs out every other day. So, now I am stuck wasting 4 hours now trying to print a resume to meet with someone in the morning. Because of your bullshit product I am unable to do so. It is pretty ridiculous to have to go to the Public Library to print something when I SHOULD have a working printer at my convenience.
I HAVE TRIED EVERYTHING! I have Googled ways to solve the problem and watched countless Youtube videos. Bottom line, your product is ripping people off. There is no way, NO WAY, that all my ink cartridges are suddenly out of ink! And there is NO REASON why it should be rejecting the very ink that you specifically sell for this specific printer. FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT!
I vow to tell every single person that I know (even the stranger pumping gas beside me at the convenient store and the person behind me at the grocery store), to NEVER EVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES purchase any of your products. I am going to email/facebook/tweet/text/personally write letters to every human being I know. You do not deserve their money and you sure as hell do not deserve mine.
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hoppy, 4 Oct 2013 @ 1:13pm

setting it on fire
cool your jets, no need for French either. but I had an issue with the ink showing as empty. and bout a 9 dollar 'chip re setter on amazon and was able to use the cartridge to the virtual last drop. but I hear. from Staples, the cheaper printers and their cartridges are money traps. the more exp and the hi cap ink are better. see back of the ink pack.
from one you get 120-200 pages from the more exp one you get 4-5 times as much.....gut feeling is they suck
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simi, 18 Oct 2013 @ 7:34am

epson cartridges,,
I,ve noticed that my cartridges are showing empty, only after I've printed so many prints,,,even when the line says half,,what the heck,,,thought it was just me getting a bad batch of cartridges at first,,,what a waste of money,,,
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Terence Hopman, 18 Oct 2013 @ 8:14am

epson sucks with ink scam
no no, it is the case wit a lot of them, the new generation chip tanks are meant to give a false reading. so you go out and get sucked in. buy a chip re-setter from amazon and you can re set them several times before you are really dry.
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mark, 23 Oct 2013 @ 6:06am

Epson ink cartridges dont even come filled with ink
Referring to Epson stylus ink cartridge, i am experiencing this problem at the moment - can not print because the ink cartridge needs replacing, I've cut open the ink cartridge to reveal that it was only ever half filled with ink - the cartridge contains different plastic sections and there was never actually any ink in the back half of the cartridge otherwise there would be some trace of ink being in there.Where there was ink - in the front half there is still ink, so i presume to begin there was only a few ml to begin with. What a hoax.
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Sun, 4 Dec 2013 @ 10:27pm

Epson R380
I've had this printer for a while now and used it only for printing photos and CD's. I recently changed the black cartridge (Epson cartridge) and now it's not recognizing all 6 cartridges. Turn the machine off several times and re-installed the cartridges with no luck. Has anyone have or had this problem? This will probably be my last Epson purchase since their ink is so high and doesn't last long at all.
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Dennis, 18 Dec 2013 @ 2:43pm

Re: Re: No Subject Given
I bought the gadget to reset the chip IT DONT WORK Not on the nx430 anyway
I will say flatout that it is B.S. I printed 25 pages with full cartridges and the flippen out of ink came up...
There are too many smart guys out there... There has to be a way to come up with something to shut the ink software off...COME ON GUYS THEY ARE ROBBING US BLIND
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Laura, 18 Dec 2013 @ 6:04pm

Epson - NEVER AGAIN!
So.. we decided to buy Epson and it was one of our biggest mistakes. EVER.
I knew, that i will need to print a lot for my studies, so we decided to buy a lot of compatible black ink cartridges through internet. And of course.. they couldn't be recognised... After 5 hours of stress, anger and all other super extra negative feelings I forced printer to print with compatible black ink cartridge. I was so happy, that I beated that damn devil machine.. But after few days i wanted to make a copy and i couldn't, BECAUSE my blue ink cartridge was somehow "empty". Even if I need only black and white mode, it doesn't work. So now I cant do anything with that printer, i even cant scan!!! My other colour cartridges are also getting low, so it means, that i need to buy all set of colours, and its more expensive than all Printer :D
Im so angry!! I will never ever buy Epson again. I will tell all my friends also not to do that. So i hope Epson will get what they deserve by charging people for nothing.
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Bob Van de Putte, 17 Jan 2014 @ 1:56am

Epson XP-600
New cartridges, printers says: cannot recognize �cartridge(s).
New cartridges are empty after 20 or so pages.
It 's a F�&#:& $CAM !!!
EPSON = FRAUD !
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dorian, 14 Feb 2014 @ 11:50am

wow
I read review of the Epson xp800. I was very pleased with the review. I had an HP that was a total piece of junk printing photos (it would eat my paper like crazy)

so I get the Epson, print about a dozen great photos with brand new cartridges. Come back about 2 week later, I have half my ink left. WTF? last print job said I had still almost full cartridges. I look in the printer and yup the cartridge park spot is saturated with ink. 2 weeks later, no printing, my cartridges are EMPTY. In a month they were empty without even using them. Now I read the comments in this group and see that this same problem has been going on since 2003?!? a full decade and Epson gets away with the same crap? What the hell is wrong with the consumer protection agency. Epson is clearly scamming customers.

my next purchase, I'm going to try and see if the generic ink and cartridges work at inkxpro.

so so so disappointed at Epson.
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david, 21 Feb 2014 @ 12:36pm

I support that statement.
Indeed, That is very unprofessional of those companies, I am so irritated and I wonder why I have an epson printer in the house. Now that I am doing engineering I have come to understand. Majority of these companies do ensure that they put intentional sabotage in their products. Imagine you can't scan without ink!!! You can't refill those cartridges they go into waste, every time you switch on that printer, some reasonable amount of ink has to be spilled, and they claim that is the cleaning operation.??? That's where all your money goes, they want you to keep buying from them...
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hoppy (profile), 21 Feb 2014 @ 2:15pm

Re the ink empty syndrome
well well cant agree more, they get rich in the Bahamas they say, and we pay for it. Beat them at their own game. de activate the Epson printer monitoring for ink levels and you can print til the cows come home, or buy a chip re setter for 9 bucks. Believe me, the de activation works wonders, I don't have the steps here, but google 'how to de activate epson ink monitoring' and you will save tons of cash
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Apr 2014 @ 7:15am

Re: Not only that but...
That "blotter paper" you refer to catches the ink when you run a Nozzle Clean. Otherwise they do nothing. Epson warns against doing Nozzle Cleans in the manual since they state it uses lots of ink. That's where the ink is going.
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rony009, 30 Apr 2014 @ 9:49am

hey i have also faced the same problem.. but i resolved the problem with the help of this link...
http://goo.gl/HLYNdp
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manitramx, 30 Apr 2014 @ 10:29am

I'm so sorry that I didn't read all these comments months ago!!!
I bought an epson all in one and now cannot scan because out of ink.... NEVER hade these problems when I had the HP all in one.
In short terms - I will never buy an epson printer again!!!!
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Kim, 23 Aug 2014 @ 5:48pm

Re: Crappy Cartridges
SAME thing.... Even though this is an old post, its obviously still a very current business practice. I am done with Epson. My company is swapping our print dollars back to a more honest competitor. Productivity and Epson, economy and efficiency and Epson: DO NOT MIX. Very dissapointing.
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Theresa Spencer, 2 Oct 2014 @ 3:07am

Epson Multipack Daisy ink Cartridges
My printer was telling me that it was out of black ink so I replaced it with a genuine Epson ink. Then it wouldn't print saying the new ink cartridge wasn't genuine. I rebought the whole set of bl/col ink cartridges and now my printer is telling me that the new ink cartridges are not genuine Epson ink. I now have two new sets of genuine Epson cartridges which dont work. What can I do to get then to work?
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Dian Aleksandrov, 7 Oct 2014 @ 9:42am

Just wasted 2 sets of 30EUR worth cartridge packs and the thing got them empty in no time, and now doesn't recognize anything, even the older appears like nothing on the computer.
Dont Buy Epson
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lpfowlie (profile), 17 Oct 2014 @ 5:33am

ink cartridges won't come out
Ok I hate to ask stupid questions, but, my ink is out, and I can't remove my old cartridges? this is my 5th Epson Workhorse, 2540 so I actually know how to do it, they just won't come out, HELP
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nancy haefner, 10 Dec 2014 @ 8:40am

Re: RE INSTALL
I turned off plugged in unplugged and waited- re-installed did this several times to my Epson printer it reads incompatible ink cartilages they worked a month or two ago and I hardy used the printer to begin with still don't know what to do
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john elijah, 13 Dec 2014 @ 9:01am

Epson ink scam
Epson ink is a scam and of course, it comes from America where they want all your money in their pockets. Epson ink scam is like a car manufacturer, who insist you buy their petrol only for their make of car. Shame, Shame on you Epson.
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Jill Pearson, 9 Jan 2015 @ 6:58pm

I only use epson printers because they are spongless ink. I have had epson for years. This is my solution. I still have refillable ink in the bottles from 2 years ago, and still good ink. I think I paid a total of $40 4 years ago and have not bought new ink since! refillable ink cartridges that reset. I had to buy new empty cartridges now only because my 6 year old printer crapped out and wanted better quality more modern printer. Ink tanks hold more ink and I do allot of printing for various including photos wall decals, and i do allot of couponing with 4 computers, and its way cost effective this way! You really dnt go through alot of ink at all! They are way easier to refill as well then the sponge kind of ink. You don't have to worry about doing it wrong, over filling ruining the cartridge. No other way to go. http://www.amazon.com/Brand-Refillable-Cartridges-WF-2510-Resistant/dp/B00MU2FUII/ref=sr_1_12?s=elec tronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1420858468&sr=1-12&keywords=refillable+ink+epson+T200
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eileen, 16 Jan 2015 @ 3:26am

Re: Re: No Subject Given
You say there is a little gadget. What little gadget? What is it called, where does one buy one? Help!
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ChrispyT, 6 Mar 2015 @ 3:50am

Calidad fail
About generic scare mongering -

The XP620 allows generic cartridges up to a point.
Mine was printing fine until all of a sudden it 'failed to recognise cartridge, please replace'!.

Sack of putrid excrement! Nothing will get it back. Nothing so far - any ideas? HELP!
My printer is being a bitch. It won't print. Just all of a sudden... grrrr.
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Carol Glover, 20 May 2015 @ 10:52pm

Epson ink
I agree Epson ink for xp 600 is an absolute scam. I get nothing like the number of prints assured, it's an absolute rip off
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Carol Glover, 20 May 2015 @ 11:00pm

Re: Epson Printerws/Ink cartridges are an Institutiona
Ditto, Epson are absolute crooks. I bought a refil recently, hardly used it and it's empty. Several times.
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joe, 27 Jun 2015 @ 6:04am

Re: I am so mad...
i am in on that suit
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John, 24 Aug 2015 @ 3:41pm

Epson Rip Off
Two days ago, my M cartridge was empty, my B cartridge was low and the other two were fine according to the software. I replaced the M and printed fine. Today, the printer needed the B replaced. I did that and suddenly the other two cartridges were reading empty! It just can't be - I printed one B&W text document!
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Gary, 11 Sep 2015 @ 8:36am

Evaporating Ink???
I'm not kidding, I bought all new cartridges some months ago as all the ink levels were pretty much empty. So I replaced them all with genuine Epson high capacity cartridges. I hardly use the printer, maybe printing a dozen pages since I put the new ink cartridges in however, last month I went an printed a single black and white text page and it told me one of my color cartridges was getting low. In fact, all of my cartridges were less than 25%. Today I went to print another single black and white text page and I can't as one of the color cartridges is completely empty.

Seriously, does Epson ink evaporate; does it leak into a hidden drainage well; maybe God himself came down and smite my printer ink for it had sinned. Whatever the hell happened with that disappearing ink the one think I have learned from this experience is perhaps Epson is one brand to stay away from.
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tim jennings, 19 Nov 2015 @ 5:43pm

epson ripped me off too
Bought Epson color cartridges 3 pack #88 have had them in printer for two weeks. Printed 6 black and white pages. Black ink is still near full, but can't print because printer says color cartridges are now empty. How can that be? Now not only is my remaining 60$ black ink going to go to waist, as I refuse to buy more color ink and be ripped off in order to use it. But 3 brand new color cartridges claim to be empty despite being un used. Wasted about 100 dollars to print 6 black and white pages over a two week period.......never again. Epson is poison.
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Clifford Roe, 2 Dec 2015 @ 1:14am

Re: Re: Epson Printerws/Ink cartridges are an Institut
I too wish I had read these damning blogs before I bought an Epson printer with an insatiable "ink-well". I purchased my xp-520 from Curry in Chester uk, I was approached by a salesman and I asked him to show me some printers that were economical on ink usage.He took me over to an Epson xp 520 stating it was excellent on ink consumption, he forgot to mention for whom! I too will never buy an Epson anything!!
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Al, 18 Dec 2015 @ 3:54pm

Rip off Prices for Ink Cartridges Hurting Brands
Printer manufacturers are tarnishing their image by charging exorbitant prices for ink cartridges that contain less and less ink every year. This on top of making customers buy 3 cartridges when one goes empty just to keep the printer operational turn off customers even more. These tricks may provide cash in the short term, but turn off consumers to the brand. Short-sighted product managers are ruining the brand. I find myself printing less and less -- and always in B&W draft mode. When my current printer dies, I'll probably never replace it. Printing things on paper is so yesterday and it destroys trees. Hi-res graphics and docs can be presented much faster digitally via iPhone, iPad and other means.
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Gene Anthony, 9 Feb 2016 @ 7:15pm

epson wf2540 ink
ran out of ink. bought generic ink. all in one printer won't use it. Now it won't even scan pictures. What does ink have to do with scanning?? Last Epson brand of anything for me!!! I am prone to tell anyone, who'll stop long enough, for my to cry about it. The sad parts I see people on this blog with the same problem 10 years ago... why didn't i research any better than i did...
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talie, 10 Feb 2016 @ 8:05pm

ink scam
I just replaced all my epson ink cartridges (the printer would not let me print grayscale before replacing *EVERY* color!) and have only printed about 15 pages and it is already giving me low ink warnings! How is this possible?! I certainly feel like this company is majorly scamming customersl; firstly forcing me to replace the color inks which i do not need for my printing and now it seems magical fairies must be printing while i'm sleeping because thats the only way I could possibly be running low after printing FIFTEEN PAGES!~! Outrageous!
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George Quenneville, 28 Feb 2016 @ 12:27pm

Epson xp-320 printer
This printer is only 2 months old and I'm going to junk it. It won't print in black because 1 color cartridge is expended.
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Noreen Sullivan, 15 Mar 2016 @ 9:37am

Damn!
I too wish I had read these comments before I bought. I never print in color although sometimes grandkids do. I have a full black cartridge but the others are empty and I need to print a report! Won't buy another epson!
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stevem (profile), 19 Mar 2016 @ 7:03pm

Epson ink cartridges going empty
There is something mysterious about this series of reports. I own an Epson CX9400Fax that I purchased in 2008, and it has always performed perfectly and has been economical on ink - until recently. The last three or so sets of Color/Black #68 ink carts I purchased, since about the first half of 2015, have had SOME carts that either exhausted prematurely, or exhibited the "sudden drop in ink level" behavior reported here by some users. The printer of course takes the cartridge's word for it that it is low on ink, and reports that condition to the computer, even disabling printing - as is normal - if the cart says it is completely empty.

My conclusion is that there is some fault with the current run of cartridges that is causing this issue. Perhaps there has been some design or manufacturing change to the cartridge itself, or to the chip that reports the ink level, since my printer has always worked normally before. I would expect Epson to move to correct the situation fairly quickly, since things were obviously not designed to work this way. In the meantime, I'll try the suggestion given above to remove the carts and turn off / unplug the printer, then turn it back on and re-install the carts and see if the level meters are reset. Otherwise I'm not sure what else can be done... except switch to my backup Canon printer for a while until something changes with Epson. But I would miss the Epson's features and higher density print quality.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Mar 2016 @ 1:36pm

Re: No Subject Given
get a cartridge resetter
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Ric, 17 Apr 2016 @ 12:32pm

Re: Re: No Subject Given
May I ask you to post a link to one here ? Are they printer vendor or model specific?
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ARG, 22 Apr 2016 @ 2:01am

Seriously, how in the name of Jesus Christ do I load the paper into this Epson Small-In-One?!?! It tells me how to load letters and photos and I could care less about that!

There isn't a picture ANYWHERE in the user manual, on their website, on YouTube, or on the entire damned internet that will tell me. The paper just does NOT go in. No matter what I try to do with it, it doesn't accept the paper. Am I just supposed to ram it in as hard as possible or something? It's not like this is the first time I've used a printer and I've never had this problem before. Sensor issues or whatever the reason - wasted $150!
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Sam Spade, 10 May 2016 @ 5:41am

Re: Not only that but...
ALL ink jet printers have these pads (which are, fittingly, called "waste ink pads"). ALL ink jet printers expel extra ink during borderless printing, cleaning cycles, head charging (the print head must operate periodically to prevent drying out whether you print something or it goes into the pad), etc.. If someone told you HP doesn't do this, they lied to you. It is a necessary function for ink jet printers. The only way to avoid these pads is to move to laser printing. Oh, wait. Nope. All laser printers have a toner waste bin (instead of waste ink pads).
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Tat Hodges, 22 May 2016 @ 5:14pm

Epson Ink Cartridge
I just purchased the XL Epson 220 ink cartridge and the blue, yellow, and magenta - installed them this afternoon and the one page I tried to print wouldn't even show the lines in the table. Guess what? My Epson Workforce 2650 is already saying the ink levels are low and I have not even printed one page yet. They are scamming people, for certain.
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Liz Morin, 2 Jun 2016 @ 11:31am

Epson XP-830 Expression Premium
I'm glad I read these reviews because I thought it was my fault, that I couldn't get the ink in right. I called Best Buy, which is where I bought it and they said I had to call Epson because I wanted to return it. Called Epson and they said they wouldn't take it back to call tech support. Luckily I bought my ink at Office Max and they gave me my money back no questions asked. Then I tried a generic brand ink and after several days it worked. Today I'm trying to change the yellow and it's still saying not recognized. Your right, in the garbage it goes because my blood pressure can't take it!!!
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J.C., 17 Jun 2016 @ 10:55am

Epson is crap. Buy this instead...
Like so many past and recent reviews, Epson either purposely or through utter quality control failings does not read ink levels correctly. Furthermore, its nag-screen about using generic ink and "recording its use for future warranty service" comes across as bullying and threatening. What is this? The Epson Police? Will we be written up and sent to printer detention?! Lower the price of your inks (and make them print properly, regardless) and we would be more inclined to buy. So, what kind of printer should you buy instead? BROTHER. Never had problems with print quality. Can adjust settings to print in black and white when out of color. You can even choose to use the Photo Black when running out of regular black! Built solid. Sorry I gave my Brother away. Huge mistake...fortunately, I'll live. ;)
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Marie-Josée Fonseca, 21 Jun 2016 @ 5:36pm

Epson: Straight Up Crooks
Bought brand new set of cartridges and Immediately printer said to replace cartridges. When you really need to print something, have a nearly new printer, new cartridges and can't print! Colossal waste of money and time. All these printer companies suck. The amount of time spent trying to get it to work is absurd. This is criminal.
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Dr. Anil, 4 Aug 2016 @ 10:45pm

CHEATERS, LIARS AND INEFFICIENCY FROM Epson.
CHEATERS, LIARS AND INEFFICIENCY FROM Epson.
Epson -------- LEAST BOTHER FOR SERVICE AFTER WARRANTY.
Customercare ---------- INEFFICIENT, MISGUIDING AND STUBBORN.
SERVICE CENTRE ------- INEFFICIENT, ARROGANT AND STUBBORN.
These people say that they have escalated my matter to the highest possible level on 22nd July all LIES but uptill now dated 27th July there is no help from Epson, only false hopes and lies. They are LEAST INTERESTED in giving support after WARRANTY. Once newly purchased there is help and soon as WARRANTY is over the customer is left deserted by giving some FAKE AND FALSE HOPES, only ASSURANCE but without HELP. Never ever purchase any of Epson products and if purchased forget for the support. Only in WARRANTY period the product works fine after WARRANTY gets over the product starts giving trouble.
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mark, 9 Aug 2016 @ 6:55pm

epson wf2540
i bought an epson wf2540, i don't use my printer much, maybe once a month. when ever i go to print, at least one of my inks is "empty"!where is the ink going?
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Noel, 2 Sep 2016 @ 5:37am

EPSON STYLUS SX205
For the 5th time - in the middle of a 250 page print run this damned printer needs new ink. I have the cartridges but now the on-screen OPEN and ACCESS cartridges icon has vanished (again). Following EPSON instructions takes me to their damned shop - and updates (again). It used to work well but I am throwing this crap machine in the dustbin. I'll give the ink I just bought £40 to charity. Which printer works without me spending hours and hours just to replace ink??
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J Lewis, 23 Sep 2016 @ 1:53pm

Re: Crappy Cartridges
That just happened to me not one printed page but im out of f ing ink
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Terence Hopman, 23 Sep 2016 @ 8:15pm

how to correct the issue of no ink
in the printer setting of your printer preferences, go to the tab that has 'ink status monitor' or similar. select 'do not monitor' or un check this selection. and you will be able to print til the last drop of ink.It wont be long when Epson will have this option removed, then you are up the creek with no paddle
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Terence Hopman, 23 Sep 2016 @ 8:20pm

Re: epson wf2540
go to your pirnter settings, in the window of options you should have 'ink status monitor' or ink monitor or something similar. un check this option this will remove the status monitor and you should be able to print with no issues til the last drop. Dont Ask Epson, as they will try to sell you more ink. the ink is there, just gets over monitored.
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terence hopman, 23 Sep 2016 @ 8:24pm

Re: Re: Re: EPSON 3-20-2007
go to printer settings and un check ink status monitor ' or ink level monitor, am not sure of the exact wording, but you can un check this and you will be able to print til the last and final drop., but you wont be able to tell when you run out, so always have a back up cartridge. however, the chip resetter does not always work.
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Mark, 1 Oct 2016 @ 9:18am

Re: Epson Printerws/Ink cartridges are an Institutiona
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Mark Craven, 1 Oct 2016 @ 9:20am

Re: Epson Printerws/Ink cartridges are an Institutiona
HP does the same thing and I swear I'll never buy another HP product. Looking for an honest printer company without cartridge scam.
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Katherine Jones, 13 Oct 2016 @ 11:00pm

BeGreenInk is the best solution in our Printer for your printer toner then you are use ink cartridges for dell printers.
brother ink cartridges
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Rizwan Abbasi, 26 Nov 2016 @ 10:34am

i bought epson printer yesterday, today black ink has finished after printing 5 pages, i am going to return it tomorrow,never buy epson.
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Unanymous, 8 Dec 2016 @ 5:55pm

So, I have an rosin artisan 835 and my magenta ink cartridge won't work. It's says standard capacity for ink is 99 for this magenta and it won't go past 98. Am I stupid or something because I don't really know how to work with printers well
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Anonymous Coward, 8 Dec 2016 @ 9:07pm

Epson doesn't know how to make good printers anymore. I used a large format 7800 for years with little problems. Now that I replaced it with a 7900, I have nothing but trouble. It's as if the engineers set out to destroy it by overcomplicating every single feature. I waste so much time fussing with it! I would have happily purchased the 7800 again, but no, they had to "IMPROVE" (read: totally ruin) it. And what a waste of ink!!!!

I also tried a desktop model. I went for a less expensive model, hoping it wouldn't be overloaded with features that don't work properly. What a wretched excuse for a printer!!!! You send to print, and of course it can't find the printer. Yes yes, go through all the literature...to no avail. Seriously, Epson wants to ruin your life.
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Pat, 23 Dec 2016 @ 3:27pm

Re: EPSON, get cash for empty EPSON ink cartridges
I think Staples give you $2 for each used cartridge.
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Pat, 23 Dec 2016 @ 3:49pm

Epson Motto "I AM SCAM. SCAM I AM."
So, I went from an Artisan 710 to an Artisan 1430. The prints were just gorgeous. I started printing more and more from labs because when I got my fancy computer with calibration devices, I just could not get my prints to match my screen. So, flash forward to this military ball I photographed. Before the ball, I figured I would run some test prints off so I looked at my ink levels. They all looked great except for Light Magenta and Light Cyan would probably need to be replaced by the time I was done with them. So I ordered them and threw in a black. A day or so after, I noticed that my yellow was probably going to not last long so I ordered one of those. The Magenta and Cyan were completely full. Mind you, I buy the HIGH CAPACITY cartridges.

I must have printed off about ten prints of various sizes to check for coloring, etc. I ran a check on the heads to make sure they were clean. I ran a test to make sure that the heads were aligned. Suddenly the yellow was flashing as being out. I went to replace it and Epson had sent me the wrong one! Mind you they OVERNIGHTED me the ink cartridge and it arrived just today. No hassle. Completely professional. By this time the Magenta is halfway empty and the Cyan is halfway empty.

Tonight print out a 4x6 of an image from the military ball and the entire image is a series of magenta stripes, seemingly over the top of the image (mostly blues and blacks). I check and the Magenta is now at 1/4. So literally I lost FIVE DOLLARS printing out that 4x6. I ran a test on the heads and suddenly they all need to be cleaned?????? So I ran the cleaner. Then, ran the test. Again..... had to run the cleaner. Magenta ink...... COMPLETELY OUT and now I can't print. The closest ink cartridge is over an hour away at Staples. How is it even possible that the Magenta is gone? Now I can't print out and get these orders in the mail.

I am livid.

My pro lab charges me around the same prices that Wal-mart charges consumers. They do not charge for shipping and I usually receive it in three or four days. I can pay a bit extra (which is accounted for in my markup) for two day shipping. So, guess what Epson..... I am going to buy a cheap printer to print out client release forms that uses black ink that I can get cheap on Amazon. The printer will not be an Epson. I am going to purchase my prints from the lab which uses a better process anyway than inkjet. You have accepted thousands of dollars for me over the years and your technology is NOT that great! I have this printer that prints great images, but the day I got it I almost broke it because it moves so damned slow that you think you can put the slider tray in, or you think you can lift up the ink cover only to have the mechanism start to move again and make some horrible crunching sound. Yes, your printers systems are SLOW and inconsistent. I will not be paying for any more ink after these military ball orders have been processed. As a matter of fact, I'll just order the prints through the lab. The five remaining orders that I have will total up to less than two ink cartridges. Worth it.
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vickie, 26 Dec 2016 @ 10:58am

Epson XP 420 Printer is a rip off
I have to constantly fill with ink.
I didn't print 20 pages--and it's already dried out.

I'm getting rid of this printer.
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Me, 8 Jan 2017 @ 4:33am

Re: Re: Re: your comment on Epson Printers
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Me, 8 Jan 2017 @ 4:36am

Re: Re: Re: your comment on Epson Printers
Oh come on now! Do you work for Epson or are you a major stock holder? Every comment and allegation everyone is making here are disgustingly TRUE. Never ever will I go anywhere near anything Epson again.
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john, 28 Jan 2017 @ 10:45am

printer not working
I put 4 new wf 200 in cartridges in the printer and it is not printing I want to know how to get it working
John
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JC, 2 Mar 2017 @ 11:34am

Epson Ink/ Consumer Services
Without a doubt Epson has the worst consumer service ever experienced. Contacting them about ink that was dry when the package was opened after just being purchased, they refused to stand behind their product. The other issue for those thinking of purchasing an Epson printer is that the cartridges do not last.
Steer clear of their products. JC
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Anne, 25 Mar 2017 @ 7:00pm

Re: Re: No Subject Given
But they can also have a lot less ink in them too.
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Richard Jacobs, 17 Apr 2017 @ 12:45pm

Epson refill cartrages
I bought a set of refillable cartridges for my Epson 735 Artisan and they work great had them for over two years and I refill and reinstall and they work fine they are NOT Epson but work great anyway Only problem is after refill it takes a while for the printer to recognize the full cartridge but it prints good and no problems .Sometimes I have to clean the cartridges after filling but that's not a big problem hope this helps
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Richard Jacobs, 17 Apr 2017 @ 12:47pm

I made a mistake it should be Epson 835 Artisan Printer NOT 735
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Eugene F.Chapman, 17 May 2017 @ 5:11pm

I was truly ripped off.by SuperAntiSpy,Ware
I BOUGHT A NEW EPSON PRINTER THE XP330 IT HAD A VERY SMALL AMOUNT OF INK. AND HAD A VERY IMPORTANT LETTER TO WRITE TO THE LAWYER. Go i went to Walmart and bought a Cart, that had the chip in it.CAN'T SAY WHAT i NEED TO SAY W/ A FEW WORDS AND YOU SHOULD WANT TO HEAR.
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Eugene F.Chapman, 17 May 2017 @ 5:25pm

Beware this Company wanted 190.00, knocked out my USB & 5years work.
Cant say in just a few words.
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I Norm, 15 Jun 2017 @ 10:19pm

Re: RE INSTALL
I did that and it went from saying my black is 3/4th full to half full and I only installed the black today afternoon. After I printed a few empty pages, meaning I attempted to print but my new cutter software didn't let me print my design so only empty pages went through the printer, the fresh installed cartridge showed 3/4, after only 4 prints that didn't use any ink whatsoever. Where did the ink go if it didn't go on the paper.
I am really bummed now, because I trusted this advice and instead it made it worse. I am sure the cartridge is more then half full. But it sure will tell me soon I am empty.
Sigh...HP and Canon are not really better either, tried them all, they are all thieves. It's the business of thievery once they got you on the hook
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Tony Mangano, 12 Jul 2017 @ 11:44am

Epson Printers
I have documented proof that Epson programs their copiers to intentionally decrease the quality of the copy if you admit to using another brand of ink. I own 7 Epson copiers
in my office complex and I have personally witnessed while printing Color Brochures using Brand X ink, the Brochures were fantastic until a screen pops up and ask "Are you using Genuine Epson Ink" When you say No, The printer stops and then Re-adjust to a new setting, the copying continues, but now the color is faded and the streaks show up. NOTHING HAS CHANGED. The first 20 copies were perfect, Now, after the pop up, they are really bad.
Same Ink, Same Paper, same print request. NOTHING HAS CHANGED except the programmed reset of Epson by Epson.
I have the documents to prove it.
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Edward, 21 Sep 2017 @ 10:45am

Re: Re: No Subject Given
ok how do you get this chip or order it and what cost are we talking about
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My horrible experience with EPSON devices., 18 Oct 2017 @ 12:32pm

Regarding Epson devices
In my experience and opinion: The best answer is DO NOT buy Epson as they have done the most terrible job of causing people to be cheated. I saw: First, spend far more than the Epson piece of junk was worth. Then, the device would STOP even just printing black (even when black had not run out) and I was told I had to spend money on several other colors before it would print any color again, including black (yet a good black only printer uses ONLY one black cartridge and does print in various needed shades of black (what most people really need anyway) and no need for those other cartridges. Epson, just one rip off after another. And the system was designed to stop completely until a person spent far more money (and repeated time) before they could even print anything again even in black. You would need to keep nearly an unknown number of ALL colors (paying for EACH one) and never knowing which one would claim to be OUT and needing replacement just to print a simple black printed document, and running out of ink far too soon. No way that suddenly, 3 or 4 were out at the same time, every time the machine stopped and this happening with very little use in between. And I found it to be WORSE than with other well known companies in this field. After the way EPSON treated people, the answer is: DO NOT BUY "EPSON" anything, ever.
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my opinion, 18 Oct 2017 @ 8:10pm

Re: Re: No Subject Given
But why buy Epson at all?? In my experience they cheated people and I've found better options so I won't waste time using such a company (they do not deserve my business) and then trying to trick the machine!!
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my opinion, 18 Oct 2017 @ 8:14pm

Re: Epson Printers
But why buy Epson at all?? In my experience they cheated people and I've found better options so I won't waste time using such a company (they do not deserve my business) and then trying to trick the machine or otherwise have to deal with it. I would not be surprised if they are successfully sued. Epson has given me numerous reasons to not trust them.
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Regarding Epson devices, 18 Oct 2017 @ 8:24pm

Re: Re: Re: your comment on Epson Printers
I have used devices (made by several companies) which both scan and print, and Epson was by far the worst performing, the most time consuming with ridiculous ink replacement issues and most expensive to continue trying to operate. I have less trust in Epson than any major company which makes such devices and probably less trust than I do in about ANY company.
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BodyBySteph, 17 Nov 2017 @ 7:26pm

Re: Calidad fail
Me Too!!! Happened to me today. Grrrr!!! I was using generic cartridges just fine and then all of the sudden it stoped and said “failed to recognize cartridge.” This is illegal. Federal law prohibits any company from requiring you to purchase only their products and prohibits a manufacturer from voiding your machine’s warranty simply by using alternative cartridge solutions. I just don’t know how to force them to “obey the law!” Sucks!!!
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Tracy Millward-Bourne, 11 Dec 2017 @ 9:57am

Re: Epson is crap. Buy this instead...
Hi J.C,

We have a Epson XP-830 which I purchased because it was a Consumer Report Best Buy. I should have done more research. It goes through ink like crazy, and I get the low ink message when I rarely print in color, and now I really print in black as well because the ink is so expensive. What model of a Brother Printer do you recommend, as I don't plan to buy any more ink for the Epson-830 based on the reviews I read in this blog.

Thank you.
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Manny Cervantes, 26 Apr 2018 @ 4:56pm

Epson WF-3640
Printer has never worked properly and is timed to request inks every six months even if you didn't use colors. Also, Epson did not say other than fine print from the manual that the Fax software is not made to work with Apple products. You can send a one page fax but you have no confirmation if it was delivered.

I was happy with my Canon i850 but it would not work with OS X.
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Anonymous Coward, 12 Jun 2019 @ 3:42pm

Re: No Subject Given
No you cannot any longer Epson has created a firmware that stops. It's a big rip of a clear legal robbery against the consumers, it's bad time this rip off market should be regulated and not by crooks in operation
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Weston, 12 Jun 2019 @ 3:50pm

It's a legal rip off
It's bad time this market should be regulated, it's just a big legal robbery at the expense expense of consumer, they are selling 1 litre of ink for 3thousand euro. Epson has created a firmware that will disable the printed if your cartridges are not original. Consumers are blackmailed into an extorsión proceso racket to buy their cartridges for which are not even garateed that will work, as after 100pages are already empty, a clear robbery by the most crooked people
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Weston (profile), 12 Jun 2019 @ 4:03pm

Cartridges rip off
It's bad time that this racket Mafia market should be regulated, those crooks sale 1 litre of ink for over 3thousend euros, liquid gold. That have also invested billion into new firmware that stops any printer if you use cartridges not original, and it's nothing big you can do.so my solution was to throw away those printer ,as I will not pay money to those crooks in operation
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Christina, 26 Oct 2019 @ 1:08am

Re: Re: Calidad fail. I buy ink and a diabetic needle and fill
You can fill the cartridge with your own ink by using a diabetic needle to fill the Epson cartridge as long as you do not touch the magnetic strip. Be sure to wipe excess ink off ,certain to avoid the strip.
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Chrissy Barnett, 25 Apr 2020 @ 4:56pm

Re: Re: Re: No Subject Given
I am turning them into bbb and contacting atty general. I’m livid. I printed 50 pages tops. I’ve got a lot to do. I’ve spent gross amount of money. No wonder places buY them back. I’m going to contact them and they better give me the eco tank that does everything this one does. So angry.
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Michael, 29 Apr 2020 @ 5:48pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: No Subject Given
I hear you, I have the exact same issue with a barely used Epson XP-330. So angry!
Let me know if you found a way around it. Best, Michael
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Michael, 29 Apr 2020 @ 5:52pm

Re: Re: Re: No Subject Given
Can you tell me what is the better option? Terribly disappointed about my XP-330. Thanks, Michael
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Anonymous Coward, 2 May 2020 @ 4:39pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: No Subject Given
Same here! Epson XP-446
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Anonymous Coward, 2 May 2020 @ 4:42pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: No Subject Given
I was only able to get 1 1/2 pages with a new black ink cartridge! That’s right! One and a half page! Cost me $9 for the Epson black ink. I’m not paying $7 a page to print with their printers. I need to contact an attorney or spread the word about Epsons nasty products...
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largocrayfish (profile), 27 May 2020 @ 8:08am

Epson 220 Ink
Ugh! Frustrating that this has been an issue for years (as evidenced by the date thread started and years of comments) I've tried everything that epson said should fix the issue, for every one of the possible problems they claim could be causing it (no touching chip, shaking well before opening, pulling all out before reinserting, no 3rd party sellers since they tend to be older, etc.) So now, Ive been ordering brand new cartridges, black and colored, directly from Epson. I've done this the past three times I needed to replace the ink. I LITERALLY printed 2 things on draft setting; and when I went to print a third, it told me I needed to replace Y, C and the others were low! And even if only one cartridge is out, the printer won't print. Even if a color is out and I want to print greyscale. Sorry for the rant. I really needed to get that off my chest!!! :)
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largocrayfish (profile), 27 May 2020 @ 10:35am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: No Subject Given
I guess I'm just lucky I got 3 whole pages 🥳 lol
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Anonymous Coward, 27 May 2020 @ 11:33am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: No Subject Given
I guess I'm just lucky I got 3 whole pages 🥳 lol
[ link to this | view in thread ]

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