HP Ink - Reliability Issues? February 03, 2010 10:33 by Matt Bird

Have you ever seen an angry ink specialist? Experiencing the kind of rage befitting the fiercest of warriors? No you’re right, it doesn’t exist, we’re a placid and serene bunch. But occasionally, some things we read are such blatant attempts to manipulate the reader, it makes us shake with.... a slight displeasure!

I wonder how many of our customers have seen the HP advertisements running on TV at the moment. Let me refresh your mind...

The claims: • 33% refilled ink carts failed during use • 41% of refilled carts from a refill station failed during use. • 65% more pages from original inks than compatible inks.

I firstly would like to quote the beautiful.... and highly appropriate.... “Now there are lies, there are damn lies, and then there are statistics”

I am almost disappointed with HP for not trying harder, they could have found some less reliable suppliers from the parent population that is America (the samples are from US suppliers only) and received even worse results for their promotion. But I thought, I won’t be petty, I will respond to numbers with my strengths – more numbers :-D

Before my results, and writing down all the evidence a court needs to charge me with libellous activities, I want to get something clear. HP Original Cartridges are the best (if you have a HP printer!). The results they get from prints are fantastic, and I hold my hands up to their vast array of scientists who make advancements in the industry consistently. Whilst undertaking research for our compatible ranges, original performance was tagged as well, and provided the same infallible results so typical of HP – in the 1500 sales for Original HP cartridges there is not a single return or refund through our company due to fault. A 100% performance rate, top notch.

What I do want to highlight however is the bias behind their third-party results, which is not making life easier for trustworthy retailers like StinkyInk to help consumers save money. Yes, there are poor quality suppliers out there who are out to make a fast buck. But we quality test our products and not only ensure performance – but guarantee it! So I thought, let’s compare their numbers to ours, and let customer satisfaction speak for itself.

HP Refilled Ink Cartridges - The Results:

Reliability:

1500 sales..... 1500 products.... an expectation of 495 returns if HPs estimated faulty rate was true....

Our faults: 17. We have had 17 refunds or replacements for refilled cartridges out of 1500 sales, a 1.1% fault rate. 17 faults, I may add, which got replaced or refunded with no hassle or issues, with the cartridge being returned to us so we could determine what went wrong for future purposes.

Want me to dig deeper? Well why didn’t you ask! Of these ‘faults’, 3 were not actually linked to the cartridge, but were issues derived directly from the supplier, where the wrong cartridge had been placed into the packaging – the cartridge was replaced free of charge, and none of the replacements experienced a fault. So knock that number down to 14 kind sir, pushing our success rate past the 99% mark! I think that speaks for itself.

Indeed look at the success rate in performance between original and refilled cartridges, can you tell the difference?

Ink Levels:

.... Let us joyfully prance to the second ‘embodiment of truth’. As far as ink levels for your money goes, and getting 65% more prints from an original cartridge – I honestly don’t know how they have calculated this, I really don’t. Following the train of links on their site related to this advertisement, I just end up on a page singing the praises of the high capacity originals. I hope this is not what they are championing, that an XL cartridge has more ink in than a normal sized refill, because that is desperation on a whole new level. In regards to the potential shortcoming of a refilled cartridge, yes refilled ink will dry out slightly faster than original inks, but this is only of concern to those who print very very rarely, so rarely the printer is more at risk of dust inhalation than dry ink... in all other senses, compatibles will beat originals on prints for your money. Let us look at one example:

HP 88 XL – 58ml of ink - £31.71 Compatible HP No88 – 59ml of ink - £10.49

I realise in an article promoting the questioning of given ‘facts’ that providing you my own value for price will be frowned upon - so I actively encourage you to find on our website a HP cartridge which outperforms its compatible for value, or ink levels, or page yield – any of the 3... all I can say is good luck to you.

Ultimately we want consumers to make their own decisions. If you want originals - great – hp cartridges are fantastic and you will get great prints. But if you are not after the ultimate in printing output, and just want simple things like a homework print or essay draft which won’t be analysed by the keenest of eyes, compatibles will be brilliant for your wallet.