Printer ink SCAM, Canon HP & others ripping off their customers!

One of the biggest consumer rip offs in the I.T. industry is that of the sale and supply of ink, within the printer / MFD (Multi-function Device) consumable, namely the ink 'cartridge'.

This corporate rip off does not have enough mainstream media air time, especially when the corporations are sued.

Canon is exposed with giving their cusomters a 1/3 fill of the cartridge, as opposed to a third party near entire fill of the volume of the cartridge.

Another aspect (deliberately?) over looked from the very beginning by the legal profession is the 'anti-competitive' nature, where the maunfacturers are locking/forcing their customers where they are being gouged by the corporate giants.

HP goes to the trobule of 'hacking' your printer's firmware with one that disables the use of generic cartridges.

Some may say that this alleged problem has been solved by the manufacturers making their printers/MFDs have ink tanks:

BUT not all is rosy their either.

See Epson's ink sponge waste scamming users in the video below:

Or even worse they get you to 'subscribe' to ink in your printer, then disable it.

Note: Since the posting of Turquoise Coast Computers video, Epson has changed their policy.

See:

UPDATE: Epson have updated their policies regarding these printers since the making of this video, and now offer a service to replace the inkpads. https://epson.com/Support/wa00369

Canon, HP sued over ink use on their multifunction devices

The ‘consumer’/corporate fodder/serf/pleb/general population, are told all sorts of anecdotal reasons to recycle or care for the environment, yet it’s the corporations that control the movements of the people.

Consumers that use consumables for their ink based devices are being ripped off by corporations such as Canon and Hewlett Packard.

The (CEOs of) corporations do not care about the environment, as seen by their actions, but rather about profiteering from their customers while also engaging in anti competitive behaviour.

Ink is deliberately priced as an expensive on-going consumable where (cartridge) waste is dictated by the corporations.

They lock you into to their deliberately designed highly inefficient cartridge use.

They have even taken the audacious step, that once ‘your’ MFD (Multi-Function Device) runs out of ink, you cannot use the scanner.

You then have to purchase the manufacturer's overpriced cartridge, which is a quarter filled of what the volume indicates in can actually be.

So that is caring about the environment, right?

It’s a shame this practice was left alone for so long and not brought to the attention of the courts earlier.

See:

and also article from bleepingcomputer of the title:

Canon sued for disabling scanner when printers run out of ink

Canon USA is being sued for not allowing owners of certain printers to use the scanner or faxing functions if they run out of ink.

David Leacraft, a customer of Canon, filed the class action lawsuit on Tuesday alleging deceptive marketing and unjust enrichment by the printer manufacturer.

Refusing to scan when out of ink

While using his Pixma MG6320 printer from Canon, the plaintiff was surprised to discover that the "all-in-one" machine would refuse to scan or fax documents if the printer ran out of ink.

As ink is not necessary to perform scans or faxes, the argument is that the printer features should continue to work even if there is no ink in the device.

"Plaintiff Leacraft would not have purchased the device or would not have paid as much for it had he known that he would have to maintain ink in the device in order to scan documents," reads the complaint for the class action lawsuit.

Since at least 2016, other customers have contacted Canon about this exact problem [1, 2] and were told by support agents that ink cartridges must be installed and contain ink to use the printer's features, as shown by the agent's response below.

Canon customer support agent saying you need ink to scan

The complaint further illustrates with images of a Pixma MG2522 box that Canon advertises its All-in-One printers as including three distinct features - print, copying, and scanning.

However, there is no warning to show that ink is required for all of these features.

Further posts [1. 2] found by BleepingComputer also shows Canon telling customers that all inks tanks must contain ink if they wish to print in greyscale, as it may damage the printer.

"The PIXMA MX710 must have all ink tanks installed and they all must contain ink. If you attempt to print with no ink or an empty ink, you would risk damaging the printer," a support agent posted to the Canon forums.

Forcing users to buy ink cartridges

As such, the class action lawsuit states that consumers had been deceived into buying a product that was designed to artificially and unethically introduce functional bottlenecks by tying them to ink levels, even if there's no practical link between them.

"As opposed to the “single function” printers it sells, Canon calls these multifunction devices a “3-in-1” or “4-in-1” for the fact they purportedly provide three or four functions," reads the class action complaint against Canon USA.

"In truth, the All-in-One Printers do not scan or fax documents when the devices have low or empty ink cartridges (the “Design Issue”), and Canon’s advertising claims are false, misleading, and reasonably likely to deceive the public."

According to the lawsuit, Canon is only doing this to increase its profits by selling replacement ink cartridges, hence the accusations for unjust enrichment.

Considering that printer inks expire typically after two or three years, even if someone rarely or never prints on these all-in-one machines, they would be practically forced to keep buying new ink just to use all functions of the device.

"There is no reason or technical basis for manufacturing the All-in-One Printers with an ink level detection function that causes the scanner to stop functioning when ink is low or empty. Canon designed the All-in-One Printers in such a way to require consumers to maintain ink in their devices regardless of whether they intend to print," continues the complaint.

"The result is an increase in ink sales from which Canon obtains significant profits."

The lawsuit was filed in the District Court for the Eastern District of New York and seeks at least $5,000,000 in awards, exclusive of interest, fees, and litigation costs.

The alleged violations alleged in the complaint are:

• The New York General Business Law § 349
• The New York General Business Law § 350
• Breach of express warranties
• Unjust enrichment
• Failure to disclose material information

If you have bought an all-in-one printer from Canon and faced similar problems, you could be eligible for receiving compensation in the future.

However, it is important to note that this class action was filed this week and is not approved by the court yet, so it's too early in the process right now.

BleepingComputer contacted Canon USA with questions regarding this lawsuit but did not receive a response.

"You will own nothing" (and be happy?)

See video: "Mainstream media catching onto the "you own nothing" culture shift"