Is Kodak Ink Really The Best Value? November 18, 2011 11:17 by Matt Bird
A class action suit has been bought against Kodak due to misleading information on ink yields in their massive advertisement campaigns. You've doubtlessly seen them on the television, and one customer has had enough of the figures!
The customer, Daniela Apostol, discovered that Kodak printers use a small amount of coloured ink even when printing black, which makes their page yield claims completely meaningless for the colour cartridge. Indeed, a Kodak 10B black cartridge is advertised as approximately 425 pages, but there is no mention of the impact these 425 pages will have on your cartridge. This has pushed Daniela to the edge, forcing the class action suit, and my how it has been done...
The lawsuit amazingly covers all of the following claims of a breach of law:
- Violation of The Consumers Legal Remedies Act
- Violation of The Unfair Competition Law
- Violation of The False Advertising Law
- Unjust Enrichment and Fraudulent Concealment/Equitable Estoppel
Adding to Kodak's woes
We recently blogged about the the struggles Kodak are experiencing, and well publicised action on their famous tagline "the cheapest manufacturer ink" won't do them any assistance. With sales flagging and the company struggling, this announcement is so badly timed it's as if Kodak has incited some form of divine wraith.
It's a pity really, as Kodak's line of ESP printers are great All-in-one machines, and the simplicity of their labelling of Kodak ink is something all manufacturers should follow. Simple labels of Kodak 10 ink or Kodak 30 ink cartridges, with standard and high capacity versions of each, makes being a Kodak customer pretty simple...
But is this fair?
Whilst the adverts are misleading, it must be emphasised that Kodak are not the only manufacturer that uses coloured ink for black prints.
In fact, many of you readers will know that the vast majority of home printers nowadays will use a small amount of colour when printing black, which leads to the incredibly frustrating scenario of being unable to print a plain black document if your colour cartridge is empty. (If you are interested in why printers do this, read details of why printers use colour to print black.)
Ultimately, as long as this class action suit paves the way for more realistic advertisements, further details on why manufacturer original ink costs so much when third-party prices are so low, and explanations for why they use colour ink for black prints, this lawsuit can only be a good thing for the industry and it's consumers.... unless you're Kodak.
