ink cartridge refills - do they work?

[Claire B]

has anyone on the forum had their ink cartridges refilled?

I have heard bad things (mainly that they leak everywhere) and good things (mainly from ink cartridge refill companies!!), so just wondered if anyone had tried them. :)

[confused]

Are you talking about a specific printer or just generally?
Going back quite a while I useed to refill mine, now I can get a set of 6 compatibles for my printer for £8 delivered so not much point in messing about with bottles of ink !
I will however attempt to refill my laser toners when they run out.

CALV

[CG Effect]

I'm still undecided about inkjet refills the ink has to be 100% bob on for serious photograpers and artists. Think I will try it next time I run out but I doubt the man in the street can match epson.

[fastfences]

Hi Claire,
I tried doing it once, and like Calv said, I had mess everywhere. I, too, get cartridges from an online supplier (Choice Stationery) and you've probably noted a couple on the forum.
Cheers, Nigel

[coxadmin]

I ruined a really good printer by using a self refill kit - there was ink everywhere.

The other thing you need to consider is the age of your printer. If it is under 12 months old and is still under warranty using anything but the manufacturer's cartridges can invalidate your warranty.

[Urban Space]

You know when you buy a new legit' cartridge, it says on the side 'only use our official cartridges,' it says that for a reason! They ruin everything!

Liam

[lgylsen]

Apart from self refills has anybody gone to cartridgeworld to get them professionally refilled?
I am on the last little blobs of ink and am tempted to go this week.

[Urban Space]

Why not just stick with somewhere like Argos? They're just as good! And Argos will exchange anything, with or without a receipt, even if you didn't buy it from their store. Just something I've picked up on :lol:!

Liam

[Tin]

Another reason to consider having cartridges refilled or to use the ever growing number of spurious cartdrige suppliers is the stink Epson got into when the media found out they were using 'smart chips' in their cartridges which resulted in the printer driver software stating that the ink was almost empty when it was 50% full thus leading Epson owners to purchase new cartridges before they needed to. I believe they were fined £1,000,000 as a result.

Ray

[Urban Space]

That's disgusting... £1mill's nothing to a big company like Epson, they should've been charged more! :x!

Liam

[confused]

I wouldnt agree that they ruin averything, or anything for that matter. I have used compatibles for ages and had no probs, I have an Epson R300 which is a reasonable printer, and cant tell the difference between compatibles (£8 a set as mentioned) and originals (about 4 to 6 times that). A new printer would cost me now £80 or 2 sets of original ink, so if I used 4 sets of compatibles then had a problem, I'd still be quids in. The printer was almost £150 when I got it, after the ink ran out, I got compatibles and have done ever since, if you are concerned about warranty, you could bend the rules a bit if things went wrong but Im not going into that here.
Thays my opinion, I'm sure others will have a different opinion.

[LindseyMHC]

We have a Dell All-in-One printer and Dell cartridges are really expensive. We use Cartridge World all the time for refills and they're less than half the price of new Cartridges (Black = £14 and Colour = £15 to refill). Never had any problem with leaking.

Tip - take the cartridge to be refilled before it completely runs dry.

Lindsey.

[Urban Space]

We've got a Lexmark and their cartridges are £20ish! Have only ever bought their brand make.

Liam

[Real World Hypnotherapy]

This was actually covered by Watchdog a few weeks ago. Printer ink is like the 2nd or 3rd most expensive liquid on earth! The high cost official ones do perform better but the refils and cheaper clones work just fine.

I would suggest to just buy news ones instead of refilling them. Probably more cost effective and less chance of spilling ink.

Matt

[coxadmin]

I wouldnt agree that they ruin averything, or anything for that matter. I have used compatibles for ages and had no probs, I have an Epson R300 which is a reasonable printer ... Thays my opinion, I'm sure others will have a different opinion.

We've had an entirley different experience of compatibles on our church office Epson Stylus CX6600. For cost reasons we used compatibles until the printer had been replaced THREE times in less than 7 months from date of purchase - then we used orignals. We were advised by the Epson engineer that compatibles send more ink into the waste collection so it fills up quicker. For the remainder of the first 12 months we used originals and even then we were barely out of warranty and the printer had the same problem.

We just took delivery of a colour laser printer, which will be far better suited to the print jobs the church office does, but it's a lesson well learned that compatibles may not always be the cheapest option.

[confused]

Very interesting, as I said, I have had no problems in the last 12 months or so, my old printer (stylus 850) had nothing but compatibles either and lasted well over 3 years, its now in the loft but still prints, its just very noisy. Maybe you were just unlucky, or maybe I was just lucky or a combination of both. Colour lasers are definatly affordable now, I have one I recently bought. One thing to be aware of with any laser, is not just the price of toner, but other consumables such as fuser, drum, etc. Tally 8008 are a prime example, they are even offering free black toner for a year , they dont say the opc belt is like about £300 and I think the drum isnt a lot less from memory.

CALV

[Claire B]

Thanks guys, it was Cartridge World that I had in mind actually (but couldn't think of their name when I first posted)

I wasn't considering doing it myself (can't even top up the salt dispenser in the dishwasher without getting mess eerywhere!)

So, for those of you that have had them refilled professionally - was it worth it?

[clairemackaness]

Dont do it Claire, I started re-filling with kits, then got it professionally done and then moved onto compatibles. Each time my printer kicked up a fuss and died after 6 months.

Now I am printerless as I cant afford a new one, but I can assure myself that when I buy a new one I'll investigate the costs of the cartridges before I buy so I can ensure that the machine can always be using what it is suppose to use.

[Claire B]

thanks for the advice Claire, I will also be looking at the cost of ink cartridges when I choose my next printer. Hadn't even given it a thought until now!

[Whistle Ink]

Hi,

It is cheaper to refill, but if you don't do it properly and it damages your printer then thats it! Only one person that I contacted in my small survey said they got them refilled and they were a charity.

Below is a link to some common mistakes when refilling:

http://reviews.ebay.com/Common-mistakes-when-refilling-ink-jet-cartridges_W0QQugidZ10000000000048084

Compatible / Remanufactured products are more safer (depending on the brand). If the cartridge does damage your printer, the manufacturer / retailer will repair your printer (after mega investigation!).

Some customers have told me the compatible / remanufactured cartridges they have had before have leaked (not mine!), colours weren't as strong etc. But there are good high quality compatibles / remanufactured cartridges on the market. Granted every now and then you may discover a bad cartridge - but then that could happen with originals too.

At the end of the day you get what you pay for!

I would go down the compatible / remanufactured route. The brands to look out for are Alphajet, Print Rite and Access. Below is a link to some common mistakes when refilling:

http://reviews.ebay.com/Common-mistakes-when-refilling-ink-jet-cartridges_W0QQugidZ10000000000048084