HP deliberately sabotages our OfficeJet Pro printers

Unless you use their (expensive) ink you'll get error messages. I was wondering what was happening! I use brand X cartridges to keep printing expenses in check. I bought my printer with no intention of renting. HP doesn't like that we don't use their ink, so they sent a security update to our printers that give error messages.

Can anyone guess how many HP products I'll but in the future?

Here's the story >>>>>>> click here <<<<<<<<<

I have an older HP Printer and was buying the HP cartridges. The problem is that I was tired of paying $78 for a set of cartridges. So I found some printer cartridges on Amazon for $8 and free shipping. I got these and they work fine. I do get the error message and hit clear and it goes away.

I once asked the manager of Staples where the generic printer cartridges were. She told me the printer companies told their company that if they sold generic ink, the companies like HP would pull all their products from the stores.

Knowing this now I won't be buying another HP printer.

I know we're in agreement Cin'. But this might read as though I'm arguing. I'm not.

It happened all of a sudden for me Cin'. One day it was fine, next time it needed ink it was giving me 3 close to full page error messages that needed to be read to select the right clicky area. I have all of my computer gear set to update as required and that's what HP sent out.

I'm still hot under the collar about the corporate mindset that would deliberately make a product difficult to use. I consider it to something like strong arming lunch money on the school ground. I bought the printer, so I'm somehow obligated to buy their ink? It's my printer and my warranty. I'll feed it what I want.

Too, I print in color. The last time I saw a color laser printer they were too large and expensive for my small space. Otherwise I'd consider the move to laser, and it wouldn't be HP. Maybe I should look into those again. There goes keeping printing expenses in check.

It's not just OfficeJet series. My Envy series does the same thing. The EFF might be filing a class-action suit against HP for just this.
http://arstechnica.com/information-techn...-eff-says/

Yeah, it's all down to the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act). It's being used in analogous ways in lots of industries, for example John Deere is preventing farmers from fixing their own tractors by copyrighting & DRM-protecting the firmware in the onboard computers. You can do serious jail time for breaking any form of DRM, thanks to the Act...

I know we're in agreement Cin'. But this might read as though I'm arguing. I'm not.

It happened all of a sudden for me Cin'. One day it was fine, next time it needed ink it was giving me 3 close to full page error messages that needed to be read to select the right clicky area. I have all of my computer gear set to update as required and that's what HP sent out.

I'm still hot under the collar about the corporate mindset that would deliberately make a product difficult to use. I consider it to something like strong arming lunch money on the school ground. I bought the printer, so I'm somehow obligated to buy their ink? It's my printer and my warranty. I'll feed it what I want.

Too, I print in color. The last time I saw a color laser printer they were too large and expensive for my small space. Otherwise I'd consider the move to laser, and it wouldn't be HP. Maybe I should look into those again. There goes keeping printing expenses in check.

All good.

I don't update the software on my printer so probably why I am ok at this point. I just have to tell the kids not to accept any software updates from HP.

Again - I will likely just switch to another brand if I have issues with this printer.

http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/h...e-block-2/

http://www8.hp.com/us/en/hp-news/blog/Sm...ience.html

I hope they come to their senses

If enough people just say "NO" to buying any of their products they'll figure it out. I have no loyalty to HP, and I don't care if they go belly up. If they do, other manufacturers will get the message.

I read an article where one of the brain dead HP folks involved said that they will undo it, but they reserve the right to do it again in the future. So after they undo their mess, I'll just take my printer off the internet. It's the last HP product I'll ever buy.

I became tired of HP's lack of quality a few years ago and switched to Canon. Quality issues have gone away for the most part. Also, I'm an Apple guy and Canon has been good about taking care of us.

I retired my Officejet Pro X476DW immediately after this happened and bought a Brother. The Brother is nowhere near as nice, but this was the last straw with HP.