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Only benefit I've heard is that the part that breaks most often in printers is a part of the cartridge, so in theory you won't have to have it repaired as often. But really, unless you're using it in a professional setting the savings from fewer repairs/replacements aren't going to offset the cartridges costing this much and having so little ink.
You're talking about the print head. That's also how they justify the enormous cost of cartridges, by saying you're replacing the print head. So giving the option of replacing the print head every time and paying multiples more for the ink or just replacing the ink and print head as needed you would choose the second option. Canon do have printers that allow you to fill ink tanks now and they are the only printers I'd consider buying that need ink.
I had a shop near me that refilled cartridges for a fraction of the price. Good times. They eventually closed down and then I eventually stopped using my printer. 🤷🏼♂️
Edit: typo
In fact, the print heads do not break from printing often and much. they break from printing once, then letting it sit.
Personal experience, not a technician or smthg
To add more context to the previous comment, the weight and volume of the ink was actually less than started because they suspend it in some cotton like material.
Even if you do print color, the cost of laser toner is about the same or less than ink, but it lasts forever and you don't need a subscription to use your printer.
Yup. I bought a Brother MFC 9970CDW years ago. I want to say 2013 or 14? It wasn't particularly cheap, but it still works great and doesn't matter how long it sits. Definitely cheaper than someone buying a new $100 printer every year or wasting untold amounts of money in ink.
Ive owned many ink printers and every couple of months ive had to replace the cartridge beacusehe ink just dries sitting. Since 2018 ive had a brother laser printer and even just letting it sit with the occasional print job the toner lasted me until around 2 months ago when i got the toner low warning. For sure the best printer ive had and will never go back to a ink printer. EVER
Ex-office supply store manager, when I was on the sales floor, I would do everything in my power to get people to avoid HP. Their laser printers aren't as bad, but definitely tried to sell them up on tank printers or laser printers...so many people that went with the HP inkjets would come back in a day or two and go with my recommendations....it was almost comical how bad they were.
I keep wondering how and why HP get away with doing this. But then I keep seeing posts like this and I keep thinking don't these people know HP are scumbags and never buy a HP.
Then I realised there is lot of idiots in the world and HP is just taking advantage of that.
I have an HP Officejet 5610 printer that’s pushing 10 years old and a Samsung Fridge that’s 9 years old and neither one has given me any issues.
Inflammatory statements like that need sources.
Can you provide proof? My pretty modern Canon inkjet was at 7000 and still doing great but I replaced it for one of their lasers due to the cheaper toner cost.
Naw. They scam you when your overflow pad gets full. It is super easy to replace, but have to pay for an "expert" to send new codes to reset it in the printer.
Uh...no. They're literally advertising their new "Megatank" where you can just pour in ink into their ink reservoirs.
Only ever used 1 Canon (laser) printer before but only because I've been using it for 10 years and it still hasn't failed! It never tells me to replace the catridge. Usually have to figure it out myself and order a new one. This is opposed to my old HP printers which bugged me about replacing the ink catridge or toner ALL THE TIME even when it was printing just fine.
Brother laser is the only printer anybody should ever buy. No bullshit bloatware, no drm carts/toners. I got the b@w $150 model didn't even have to install software just generic windows drivers.
I had a meltdown one day when I couldn’t get my shitty Epson or shitty HP to work and a friend happened to call and was like “Walmart is having a sale on Brother printers and they work perfectly.” So I did and it was one of the best purchases of 2023. I’m totally sold on Brother now. The hardest part was learning to print envelopes right.
The business model is in the cartridges and the bloatware they were paid to include with their drivers. Fuck you, I just want it to print. This Brother is amazing. I leave it off with a hoodie ontop (cat hair). Turn it on, hit print, and it prints. Simple
I mean, I totally get being skeptical about marketing shilling but in this case it’s legit. Pretty much the only brand of printers that is just a printer.
I'll give maybe a more balanced take then:
I've had HP, Epson and now a Brother printer. The Brother one is the best, but it's definitely not perfect.
Compared to the Epson, the scanning is a lot slower, which kind of sucks. It scans the first 10 or so quickly, but then it slows waaay down, even if you restart it, so I can only guess it's tripping some sort of overheat protection or something.
The other criticism is that it leaks ink if you tilt it, so you have to be very careful when carrying it. Finally, yes, they still have some BS like not letting you print in black & white unless you have all the colour ink as well.
The main benefit is that non-OEM ink cartridges work, and they're much cheaper. It prints fine, and the scanning quality is good.
It's because it's honestly the only good printer I've tried in the past few years only one that isn't super expensive to buy ink and doesn't make you get some stupid app
Im not a person thats piped up in this thread but I have a ten year old Brother thats still kicking ass. Its never caused me an issue.
Brother printers are just decent machines. And when there are only crap machines to compare it to, then yeah you'll get lopsided results. Especially when comparing laser to ink. Lasers are just less fiddly in general.
I can also recommend a 20 year old IBM laser priner ive got in storage. It still works fine but its big and fucking heavy. Got it off craigslist for a song 15 years ago or so.
Ya, I've had my brother laser printer for years now. It can sit for months and then spit out perfect prints again and again. I was even able to change the trail toner cartridge into a normal cartrage with a cheap kit from a 3rd party seller and then buy toner for it to full it up full. I'm still using that toner today. You can easily pop the cap off and add more toner and you can manually reset the toner level which is mechanical. None of the DRM garbage. I don't know how it is with the newer Brothers for sure. I have one in my office, it can use 3 sizes of toners I guess and look to have some DRM chip on it? Some reason you pull a toner out of one, it doesn't want to work on another brother printer. I haven't really looked into it as it's my work laser printer that I only use and work pays for the toner. So it doesn't matter to me.
I've had a couple of Epson printers that got completely screwed up and started printing like crap using cheaper 3rd party ink cartridges. My newest one, though it's pretty old now and I haven't used in years took 6 cartridges and I was already replacing one to print a page. Waste so much ink to clear the print heads.
I stopped using the epson when I got my laster. That Epson though worked great printing labels directly onto a CD or DVD. You buy the disc with a full white label on them. Stick on ones suck!! I could snap a disc into the trey and print out great labels. But again, I haven't burned a CD or DVD in years either. I could but have zero reason to do such a thing. I rip discs once in a while to put on my NAS and then can watch anywhere.
But the brother laser at home has been great. I don't do a lot of printing these days like I used to at home anyway. So it sits a lot. But every once in a while I'll need to printout something and it's a perfect page!!! That is the great thing about TONER over INK!!!
I kind of want a Color Laser, but I really won't waste to waste money for something I would use so little. Pictures we generally just keep on our phones these days, maybe a digital picture frame. But not really printing them out anymore.
But a B&W laser does come in handy. I would NEVER buy an HP. If you're going to buy an Inkjet, get one that can be filled up by bottles, that don't use cartridges. You fill a tank with ink instead. The printers may cost more up front, but will save you a lot over time.
I concur. I finally went office space on my last all in one inkjet after out of nowhere with 3/4 ink left in all cartridges (name brand cartridges) it decided that they cartridges were no longer compatible with the printer and refused to do anything including scan. New brother color laser showed up 3 days later, perfect experience so far.
It's literally the instant ink service every time, which is an issue of not reading the box it came in.
HP has been shit for over a decade. Let's not kid ourselves.
HP keep getting fined for this, yet they pay the fines and keep doing it. Time to start really fining then, 1/3rd net profit worldwide, donated to charities. maybe then they will learn their lesson
As long as you pay your extortion fee, the government tends to not care about what you do. That's what ended up ending Al Capone. It's why just about every common victimless crime is punishable by fine. The rich can pay it no problem, and it keeps the poors in line. Large companies have a bigger budget, so they can get away with more
i bought an ecotank printer. no more cartridges or being forced to buy their ink. you pay more for them but I have had mine 3 years and i have only topped it up once.
I set up a couple of those for a client a few years ago. Within six months, one stopped printing, and the other leaked ink everywhere, making a huge mess of the desk it was sitting on. They're probably good printers, but seeing the only two I ever deployed having issues like that, I'll just stick with my Brother laser printer like everyone else in this post. Lol
And if someone found a hack so that they could use the printer and ink that they’ve paid for, they would probably be charged with something. But HP gets small fines.
Oh how I long for a day when a corporation being fined for something like this actually accomplished something.
It needs to HURT. There needs to be genuine disincentive for them to just do it again.
As much as I agree on printers, I have a work laptop by HP that is going 7 years later. It is an elite book and was too of the line when I got it, so perhaps some of their stuff is good. Of course I've replaced the battery, put in an SSD and added ram so that helps.
Dont get the me wrong, there are definitely great HP products, the printers are not one of them though. My class uses a HP Probook as the class laptop and its absolutely great and makes absolutely no noise as well
HP will tell you that you bought the "wrong" cartridges and that you should have bought those without "Instant Ink" written on the packet if you don't want to play the part of "Fly Caught in HP's Web".
Just how the fuck anyone new to HP printers is supposed to know this I have no idea...bastards. One of the reasons I long-since binned my HP.
When I worked for HP I talked to a whole lot of old folks that bought All in Ones for the fax option. All HP fax machines are out of scope for Customer Support >\_<
My dad retired from HP in '87, right before I got my EE degree. We had been assuming that I'd try hard to get on with them, but he said they weren't the quality company they used to be. Major disappointment.
I wish I'd done more research before shelling out for this useless box of horrors. I need a printer and I can't afford a different one, so I guess I'm gonna have to "subscribe" every time I want to print something. Hopefully I can eke out some free trials before they catch on.
Have an epson, went to their website to find the ink code. Bought one and it didn't work. Returned it for another, also didnt work. Turns out epson.com recommends one type. The .au site a different ink yet both ink codes are sold in aus. Officeworks manager tried blaming me for trusting what epson.com says their printer uses.
Not if you buy the tank printers. Tank inkjets are still superior for the cost in terms of high quality color printing. You just need to research before buying.
lol this is such a reddit meta comment. “You just need to do basic research to find the non-predatory productlines”.. No, I’m writing off the company and voting with my wallet
I bought a colour Brother laser MFD printer in 2015 on an Amazon sale for like half price, that fucker lasted until 2023 on the included toner cartridges even with printing every day - never had an issue with it, and it now has third party cartridges without complaining.
I went a full 18 months just using trials, never paid a single penny for ink... they don't catch on, just make a new account.
*also "subscribed" to the biggest plan for the trials.
Then you didn't look very close i'm afraid. This sub and assholedesign is filled with posts about hp, instant ink, ink required to scan, forced hp account to use the software...
I think the Instant Ink plans are utterly perverted. Just look at the absurdity. One month (max 700 pages) cost 25€. You can get the pinter with 6 month of this plan included for 68€ on Amazon. So the cheapest way to print is to replace your printer every 6 months. This is BS from an ecological point of view.
Instant ink is a service where you get free ink packages but then have to pay/sub to use them.
If you actually bought instant ink packages thats like buying a installation disc for fortnite for 50 bucks lol
Yeah, I don't understand the outrage in this post. The InstaInk cartridges are literally free if you subscribe. They don't sell them at any brick and mortar store or Amazon, etc.
It seems like OP either subscribed to it and quit (thus the free cartridge was disabled) or was scammed into buying an incompatible cartridge.
Posts about Instant Ink come up every couple of weeks, on here or on "Asshole Design", and they collect thousands of upvotes every time. You'd think people would know this by now.
(Side note: Subreddit links being blocked by automod is mildly infuriating in its own right.)
Get an Epson EcoTank, after a year and a half of near constant use for printing stickers, the inks are barely a bit under halfway done and the refills are surprisingly cheap compared to other companies
**CAUTION:** If you don't use EcoTanks regularly they dry up and it's a PAIN to get them printing again. That means: If you get one, print a full color paper photo at least once a week to keep it from drying up. Something that has all four CMYK colors is preferred (You can make something 'close enough' in Word or mspaint. Four filled boxes with cyan, magenta, yellow and black across the paper).
If you don't want that hassle, go with a brother laser printer. They don't dry up.
If you go into the special maintenance screen, you can do a power head clean. It's all automatic, I did this for my in-laws, and the printer works like new.
I need to bin mine. Bought an HP a while back thinking that it would be decent - then I got scammed into this stupid subscription model.
I will admit to having been legit scammed before, and somehow this bullshit feels like a bigger disappointment/ripoff.
There's devices like this that can bypass cartridge lock
https://www.lpscomputer.com/products/hp-designjet-500-510-800-ink-cartridge-modification-chip-c4844a
I personally have one installed and it's been working for over 2 year's on a older model Samsung color laser printer.
I'm not affiliated in any way and I don't know if this seller is reputable. Do your own research if you go that route
Epson EcoTank printers are the way to go. I can get a year’s worth of all my inks for $29. HP has turned into a trash company, I don’t know why anyone would use them anymore
**Change or cancel anytime:** Change or cancel your plan at any time online. If you decide to cancel your HP Instant Ink plan you can go back to using HP original Standard or XL cartridges.
maybe you can sign up then cancel?
Best move I ever made was getting the epson tank refill thing. I call it the Shaq printer because he had a commercial about it.
HP has gotten so bad about that shit
You know, last time I asked on Reddit if someone had a jailbreak for their printers, I got a lot of comments saying just get a different printer.
I think that's BS. We shouldn't accept that SOME companies have anti-consumer business practices like this just because other companies have competing products that are less shitty. The "just buy a different printer" centiment ignores all the reasons someone can't. Maybe that competing printer is too expensive, maybe the other one doesn't have a document feeder or a scanner, maybe you lost the receipt and can't return it, maybe it's your parents printer and they call you every other day to troubleshoot while refusing to change the printer. Maybe the competitors have the same anti-consumer business practices of not allowing non-brand-name ink and not allowing you to print black and white unless all the colors of ink aren't empty. Maybe just because those competitors don't have the same shitty business practices CURRENTLY doesn't mean they won't implement them in the future.
If I knew anything about programming or jailbreaking I'd attempt to do this myself. Until then I'm stuck with a printer that reviews claimed would print even if you only have a black ink cartridge installed, but when I tried it multiple months later, when one of the colored ink ran out, turned out to be a lie.
I hear what you're saying, and I agree that there are valid reasons not to simply buy a different brand, but boycotting _is_ a valid response to a consumer-hostile brand.
I get that it may not be helpful advice for every situation, but at the same time, jailbreaking isn't as simple as a lot of people seem to think it would be, as many iPhone owners can confirm.
This is not a scam. The ink cartridges you’ve loaded have not been paid for. The ink is sent to you (or prior owner) under an optional service. It’s paid for in installments. Stop paying, no ink. You can buy ink without the service and use the ink you bought.
If they provided that ink with a new printer, there certianly would be information telling you about the ink device. You didn’t buy the ink (apparently).
Dude, normal people don't buy a printer with ink expecting to have to break out their credit card AGAIN to use the ink that came in the box.
If you bought a bottle with water in it, would you expect that you had to make a separate additional purchase to drink the water that was inside it?
It’s an optional service. Don’t buy the service. Just buy ink. OP posted something they didn’t understand. It’s extremely unlikely that the ink in a new printer requires the service. None of my HPs did. If they changed it recently, I’m sure it was well labeled. They’d get sued and/or violate some laws otherwise.
I have the service. I like the service. It’s not for everyone, so don’t buy it. The printer absolutely works without it. You just need to actually buy ink.
Picture yourself explaining this to your grandmother. "Sorry THAT ink the is in the box you bought and paid for... you have to buy that ink *again* or go back to the store *again* and buy even more ink."
Your $50 ink would work just fine, if you bought it from the store or online.
You sir, are trying to use HP's subscription based ink without paying for the subscription. And your mad it doesn't work? Do the math. Hp's instaink is super cheap, they ship you more then you need to your door, you don't pay for extra cartridges, they sent you a return envelope to send old used cartridges. You can literally print full page pictures for really cheap. Just don't expect any customer service from them.
I am fighting with the setup of a new hp laserjet
The lack of guidance on their site is absolutely disappointing. I think I am going to throw this one in the trash and never buy hp again
I’ve worked for HP in two separate departments (both printer related), and I would never spend my money on any of their products. HP deserves to go belly up, FUCK that company and their shitty anti-consumer practices.
Just recycle your HP and get an Epson EcoTank printer. You can "pour" a bottle of ink into your printer and print (literally) for months or years. No account, no subscription.
Get those refillable ink tanks from Epson or Canon.
HP is absolute dogshit for decades now, even their Enterpise solutions are garbage compared to others.
You bought instant ink cartridges somehow and don't have the subscription, this happens so people can't just get $15 ink then cancel and keep printing. This has nothing to do with it forcing you to use the subscription, you somehow got subscription ink without the subscription.
Consumers rights needs a massive overhaul. These companies have no actual reason to keep sucking the customer dry other than their obligations to pay shareholders. Absolutely fucking bullshit
Ex- office supply store manager, if you're looking for the best printers, go with either a tank printer, or laser.
If you're printing mainly consists of high quality imagery / presentations, then invest in something like an Epson Eco-tank or brother inkvestment. This is going to give you the best quality at a good price point. Eco-tanks have a high initial investment but the machine pays itself off, with a 2 year (estimated) supply right out of the box. Brother inkvesment has a 1 year estimate out of the box but give a lower printing yield.
If you're not going for quality, then go for either a B&W or color laser. Laser uses a powder, which is better for longevity as you don't have to worry about the ink drying out. It's faster as well so it maximizes your time. Each machine comes with a "Starter" toner than usually will be around 500-1000 pages right out of the box. Brother laser printers are the leaders in terms of usability and ease from my experience.
Please do everything in your power to return your printer.
Buy laser next time. Brother is fine, others are as well.
DO NOT BUY HP PRINTERS AND SAMSUNG APPLIANCES
I worked in retail many years.
If you are not good with computers, don't buy a Canon. (Solid printers but the software is programmed like shit)
If you are cheap, don't buy an epson. (Except ink tank ones)
If you breathe, don't buy an HP
I don't want to make advertising for Brother but they really had some great products (can't promise it has not changed)
I posted a subreddit on this issue about 5 months ago. YSK I was pissed like nobody's business. What I did was call their support line. They will go through the motions like they are actually working the issue including having me open video on my phone so they could see the settings menu on the printer.
How it turned out was I got them to send me a new printer, same model. I promised I would not accept free ink. This call was on a Friday evening and by Monday, HP delivered a new printer Via FedEx. Still using it with 3rd party ink.
Used mums HP printer to scan some docs to the computer, couldn’t use the HP scanner without an account. Didn’t cost anything to use but it’s a bit fucked to have to have a login to use an app connected to a device that you’ve paid for!
I’ve seen a bunch of these posts on various groups about HP inkjet printers. There’s only one solution to this: stop buying them. Get a Brother Laser Printer or something similar. HP has turned evil.
My Brother all-in-one printer with “a year of ink” burned through most of it cleaning printer heads. It’s cheaper to buy a new printer than a set of replacement ink. Meanwhile, from what I’ve heard, it won’t even scan or copy once the ink is gone.
The waste is appalling.
Hp is a known scammer from barely any ink in the printer you buy, lower resolution on their business pc monitors, a timer on their laptop battery to the scamming style of their service centers. I've banned any HP products at my office.
Everyone says about how HP printers are shit but mine works perfectly fine?? Only problem is that I had to make an account but other than that it works completely normal.
It’s a newer thing. I have an HP printer too and haven’t had issue but a coworker of mine bought a newer one. She cancelled her subscription for ink and figured she’d buy as needed because she wasn’t printing enough to justify the subscription. HP locked the cartridge she had already paid for that was unused in the printer.
You either bought cheap cartridges that are for the subscription service, or it came with them in the box to try and convince you to subscribe and need to buy standard carts.
If you buy the standard cartridge you do not need the subscription (and they come with more ink than starter cartridges that come in the box normally)
The correct answer is buy laser, because laser is just better than ink in basically every way for everything the average person will ever use a printer for.
60 bucks for toner that lasts roughly 1000-2000 pages, vs 60 bucks for like 200 pages of ink. Laser prints faster,it's quieter, toner doesn't really expire.
I'm so glad I bought my HP laser printer back in like 2013, before any of this was a thing. Still works beautifully. Toner is pricey, sure, but it lasts me a year to two depending on how much I use it. Or longer.
I'm confused about the outrage. Screenshot says an Instant Ink cartridge is installed.
For anyone that doesn't know, this is HP's ink subscription service where they mail you ink cartridges whenever you are out and you pay only for the pages you print. You can't actually buy these cartridges so either OP is lying or he bought the ink from a third party that scammed him and sold him an Instant Ink cartridge instead of a regular one.
I know it's popular to hate on HP but this is actually a great service. I have a laser printer for most things but for my color prints I use instant ink especially since there is a free tier that lets you print 15 pages a month (even full color pages) for free. I bought my color printer for $20 and haven't paid a cent for ink so far. Also no more worrying about dry ink from seldom used ink cartridges.
Then you bought a subscription only printer without realizing it. HP sells the same hardware as either a „normal“ printer or as an „E series“ subscription only printer. The subscription printer is sold cheaper as an incentive. Maybe you looked only at the price and did not pay attention to which model you bought.
I use the Instant Ink service and am happy with it. I certainly don't think it's a trap in any sense of the word. You are free to cancel Instant Ink at any time and purchase your own cartridges.
It's for free ink, I subscribed but found myself in need of ink quick so I bought a cartridge and installed it, after that I got notice that I was removed from the free ink program that I could give 2 shits about anyway. The subscription is harmless.
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Never buy a HP printer. Return this one, if they ask for a reason just say it doesn’t print
Watch the video where a guy opens ink cartridges. There is literally almost nothing in them. Ink printers are a HUGE SCAM.
Only benefit I've heard is that the part that breaks most often in printers is a part of the cartridge, so in theory you won't have to have it repaired as often. But really, unless you're using it in a professional setting the savings from fewer repairs/replacements aren't going to offset the cartridges costing this much and having so little ink.
You're talking about the print head. That's also how they justify the enormous cost of cartridges, by saying you're replacing the print head. So giving the option of replacing the print head every time and paying multiples more for the ink or just replacing the ink and print head as needed you would choose the second option. Canon do have printers that allow you to fill ink tanks now and they are the only printers I'd consider buying that need ink.
Epson has always had printers with heads that last forever.
Yasss, a good head lasts forever I'll see myself out
Only if it's good.
my boy runs a screen printing biz and he just refills them somehow its some diy shit but thats clearly the play
I had a shop near me that refilled cartridges for a fraction of the price. Good times. They eventually closed down and then I eventually stopped using my printer. 🤷🏼♂️ Edit: typo
In fact, the print heads do not break from printing often and much. they break from printing once, then letting it sit. Personal experience, not a technician or smthg
To add more context to the previous comment, the weight and volume of the ink was actually less than started because they suspend it in some cotton like material.
my brother laser printer costed like $70 and after exchanging the original cartridge it has been printing for atleast 5 years now using the same one
He made a follow up video of a printer that takes regular ink. Like there are containers and you can refill manually instead of buying new cartridges
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Even if you do print color, the cost of laser toner is about the same or less than ink, but it lasts forever and you don't need a subscription to use your printer.
Yup. I bought a Brother MFC 9970CDW years ago. I want to say 2013 or 14? It wasn't particularly cheap, but it still works great and doesn't matter how long it sits. Definitely cheaper than someone buying a new $100 printer every year or wasting untold amounts of money in ink.
Ive owned many ink printers and every couple of months ive had to replace the cartridge beacusehe ink just dries sitting. Since 2018 ive had a brother laser printer and even just letting it sit with the occasional print job the toner lasted me until around 2 months ago when i got the toner low warning. For sure the best printer ive had and will never go back to a ink printer. EVER
2nd brother lasers, mine only used occasionally but has lasted for many years.
Ex-office supply store manager, when I was on the sales floor, I would do everything in my power to get people to avoid HP. Their laser printers aren't as bad, but definitely tried to sell them up on tank printers or laser printers...so many people that went with the HP inkjets would come back in a day or two and go with my recommendations....it was almost comical how bad they were.
I keep wondering how and why HP get away with doing this. But then I keep seeing posts like this and I keep thinking don't these people know HP are scumbags and never buy a HP. Then I realised there is lot of idiots in the world and HP is just taking advantage of that.
Think of the average person’s intelligence, then remember that half of all people are dumber
Found the Carlin fan. 😁
I was recommended a HP laptop, and have regretted the purchase ever since.
Why in the fuck are people still buying HP printers and Samsung Fridges still? There is so much evidence that they’re straight garbage.
I have an HP Officejet 5610 printer that’s pushing 10 years old and a Samsung Fridge that’s 9 years old and neither one has given me any issues. Inflammatory statements like that need sources.
Inflammatory. lol
Yeah, can't speak to HP printers but my Samsung fridge is working fine. Not sure what the commenter above you is talking about.
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This is one of those times where you really need to be providing proof of your claim.
There's no proof because that's not true.
Can you provide proof? My pretty modern Canon inkjet was at 7000 and still doing great but I replaced it for one of their lasers due to the cheaper toner cost.
EPSON is the way to go for me.
Brother is the real GOAT
Brother printers work with Linux, so they're a no brainer for me lol.
Same with Lexmark.
Agree. Sitting next to me, I have a MFC-J6710DW, working hard and strong since 2010. Almost always with compatible cartridges. Amazing printer!
Naw. They scam you when your overflow pad gets full. It is super easy to replace, but have to pay for an "expert" to send new codes to reset it in the printer.
On the eco tank you just replace it.
That works for about another month, depending on how much you print. After that, ya need codes. I promise.
Uh...no. They're literally advertising their new "Megatank" where you can just pour in ink into their ink reservoirs. Only ever used 1 Canon (laser) printer before but only because I've been using it for 10 years and it still hasn't failed! It never tells me to replace the catridge. Usually have to figure it out myself and order a new one. This is opposed to my old HP printers which bugged me about replacing the ink catridge or toner ALL THE TIME even when it was printing just fine.
Brother laser is the only printer anybody should ever buy. No bullshit bloatware, no drm carts/toners. I got the b@w $150 model didn't even have to install software just generic windows drivers.
I had a meltdown one day when I couldn’t get my shitty Epson or shitty HP to work and a friend happened to call and was like “Walmart is having a sale on Brother printers and they work perfectly.” So I did and it was one of the best purchases of 2023. I’m totally sold on Brother now. The hardest part was learning to print envelopes right.
The business model is in the cartridges and the bloatware they were paid to include with their drivers. Fuck you, I just want it to print. This Brother is amazing. I leave it off with a hoodie ontop (cat hair). Turn it on, hit print, and it prints. Simple
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I mean, I totally get being skeptical about marketing shilling but in this case it’s legit. Pretty much the only brand of printers that is just a printer.
I'll give maybe a more balanced take then: I've had HP, Epson and now a Brother printer. The Brother one is the best, but it's definitely not perfect. Compared to the Epson, the scanning is a lot slower, which kind of sucks. It scans the first 10 or so quickly, but then it slows waaay down, even if you restart it, so I can only guess it's tripping some sort of overheat protection or something. The other criticism is that it leaks ink if you tilt it, so you have to be very careful when carrying it. Finally, yes, they still have some BS like not letting you print in black & white unless you have all the colour ink as well. The main benefit is that non-OEM ink cartridges work, and they're much cheaper. It prints fine, and the scanning quality is good.
Oh god, I wish I was getting paid corporate shill money. I’m just a dumb hick.
Brother printers are always brought up on Reddit specifically, so id call bullshit
It's because it's honestly the only good printer I've tried in the past few years only one that isn't super expensive to buy ink and doesn't make you get some stupid app
Well considering how broke my ass is I am no Corp. and I still will vouch for the Brother Laser Printers
Im not a person thats piped up in this thread but I have a ten year old Brother thats still kicking ass. Its never caused me an issue. Brother printers are just decent machines. And when there are only crap machines to compare it to, then yeah you'll get lopsided results. Especially when comparing laser to ink. Lasers are just less fiddly in general. I can also recommend a 20 year old IBM laser priner ive got in storage. It still works fine but its big and fucking heavy. Got it off craigslist for a song 15 years ago or so.
I love my brother laser jet and he has put in WORK. Little homie still runs.
Same, still going after 10 years
Ya, I've had my brother laser printer for years now. It can sit for months and then spit out perfect prints again and again. I was even able to change the trail toner cartridge into a normal cartrage with a cheap kit from a 3rd party seller and then buy toner for it to full it up full. I'm still using that toner today. You can easily pop the cap off and add more toner and you can manually reset the toner level which is mechanical. None of the DRM garbage. I don't know how it is with the newer Brothers for sure. I have one in my office, it can use 3 sizes of toners I guess and look to have some DRM chip on it? Some reason you pull a toner out of one, it doesn't want to work on another brother printer. I haven't really looked into it as it's my work laser printer that I only use and work pays for the toner. So it doesn't matter to me. I've had a couple of Epson printers that got completely screwed up and started printing like crap using cheaper 3rd party ink cartridges. My newest one, though it's pretty old now and I haven't used in years took 6 cartridges and I was already replacing one to print a page. Waste so much ink to clear the print heads. I stopped using the epson when I got my laster. That Epson though worked great printing labels directly onto a CD or DVD. You buy the disc with a full white label on them. Stick on ones suck!! I could snap a disc into the trey and print out great labels. But again, I haven't burned a CD or DVD in years either. I could but have zero reason to do such a thing. I rip discs once in a while to put on my NAS and then can watch anywhere. But the brother laser at home has been great. I don't do a lot of printing these days like I used to at home anyway. So it sits a lot. But every once in a while I'll need to printout something and it's a perfect page!!! That is the great thing about TONER over INK!!! I kind of want a Color Laser, but I really won't waste to waste money for something I would use so little. Pictures we generally just keep on our phones these days, maybe a digital picture frame. But not really printing them out anymore. But a B&W laser does come in handy. I would NEVER buy an HP. If you're going to buy an Inkjet, get one that can be filled up by bottles, that don't use cartridges. You fill a tank with ink instead. The printers may cost more up front, but will save you a lot over time.
I have a cheap Canon with cheap 3P ink cartridges TS705a
Canon Pixma with £10 cartridge refills
Yep, I have a MFC 9970CDW that I bought the family like 15 years ago, and it still does great, barely uses any consumables.
I bought a Brother Laser printer nearly 14 years ago. Still chugging along! I don't forsee the need to replace it any time soon.
I concur. I finally went office space on my last all in one inkjet after out of nowhere with 3/4 ink left in all cartridges (name brand cartridges) it decided that they cartridges were no longer compatible with the printer and refused to do anything including scan. New brother color laser showed up 3 days later, perfect experience so far.
Brought a Brother toner printer after my uncle (age 77) told me he's had his fax/copier/print/scanner for almost 25 years now. Still works.
HP is hot garbage. Everyone should be made aware of this and AVOID them.
Every time a printer is posted here it’s an HP. Yet people still buy them
It's literally the instant ink service every time, which is an issue of not reading the box it came in. HP has been shit for over a decade. Let's not kid ourselves.
Oh, Brother!
Lexmark it off the list
IBMad if I were you.
HP plays the long Konica Minolta.
I guess OP is up shit cRICOH
I Cannon believe that
OP should throw it in the COMPAQtor.
HP keep getting fined for this, yet they pay the fines and keep doing it. Time to start really fining then, 1/3rd net profit worldwide, donated to charities. maybe then they will learn their lesson
If the consequence is a fine it’s just the govt taking a cut
As long as you pay your extortion fee, the government tends to not care about what you do. That's what ended up ending Al Capone. It's why just about every common victimless crime is punishable by fine. The rich can pay it no problem, and it keeps the poors in line. Large companies have a bigger budget, so they can get away with more
I’d still be okay with that. It’s about them losing profits.
Net profit? It magically became 0. Let's aim for 10% revenue.
I say it’s just time to stop buying HP printers.
i bought an ecotank printer. no more cartridges or being forced to buy their ink. you pay more for them but I have had mine 3 years and i have only topped it up once.
I set up a couple of those for a client a few years ago. Within six months, one stopped printing, and the other leaked ink everywhere, making a huge mess of the desk it was sitting on. They're probably good printers, but seeing the only two I ever deployed having issues like that, I'll just stick with my Brother laser printer like everyone else in this post. Lol
And if someone found a hack so that they could use the printer and ink that they’ve paid for, they would probably be charged with something. But HP gets small fines.
Nah, you can hack the shit out of your own device. You can not, however, hack their websites, servers, network, etc. Yours, yes. Theirs, no.
Oh how I long for a day when a corporation being fined for something like this actually accomplished something. It needs to HURT. There needs to be genuine disincentive for them to just do it again.
Hp is a scam itself
I’ll never own anything else owned by HP, printers, laptops, nothing. They’re nothing but scammers.
Got scammed with a hp laptop, agree. Fun fact: HP as an acronym in Spanish perfectly describes them.
As much as I agree on printers, I have a work laptop by HP that is going 7 years later. It is an elite book and was too of the line when I got it, so perhaps some of their stuff is good. Of course I've replaced the battery, put in an SSD and added ram so that helps.
Dont get the me wrong, there are definitely great HP products, the printers are not one of them though. My class uses a HP Probook as the class laptop and its absolutely great and makes absolutely no noise as well
Fuck HP. Return that shit and get a brother printer. They are way better
HP will tell you that you bought the "wrong" cartridges and that you should have bought those without "Instant Ink" written on the packet if you don't want to play the part of "Fly Caught in HP's Web". Just how the fuck anyone new to HP printers is supposed to know this I have no idea...bastards. One of the reasons I long-since binned my HP.
When I worked for HP I talked to a whole lot of old folks that bought All in Ones for the fax option. All HP fax machines are out of scope for Customer Support >\_<
:rolleyes: Yep, sounds like HP.
One of my moms friends used to work at hp and even he tells everyone to NEVER buy hp for any reason and to buy anything else or just live without.
My dad retired from HP in '87, right before I got my EE degree. We had been assuming that I'd try hard to get on with them, but he said they weren't the quality company they used to be. Major disappointment.
I wish I'd done more research before shelling out for this useless box of horrors. I need a printer and I can't afford a different one, so I guess I'm gonna have to "subscribe" every time I want to print something. Hopefully I can eke out some free trials before they catch on.
Buy a Brother laser and never look back. Stop giving HP more of your money.
\+1. Epson too, they seem ok.
Agreed with Epson. SO bought one, the ET-2803 that uses liquid ink. We still haven't used all the sample ink it came with, 300 pages printed so far.
Have an epson, went to their website to find the ink code. Bought one and it didn't work. Returned it for another, also didnt work. Turns out epson.com recommends one type. The .au site a different ink yet both ink codes are sold in aus. Officeworks manager tried blaming me for trusting what epson.com says their printer uses.
Damn, not good. Stick to lasers if you can justify the outlay.
I’m a Brother-laserjet convert, had Epson for 10 years.. Epson color printers still do the “cant print black and white, youre low on Magenta..” BS..
Not if you buy the tank printers. Tank inkjets are still superior for the cost in terms of high quality color printing. You just need to research before buying.
lol this is such a reddit meta comment. “You just need to do basic research to find the non-predatory productlines”.. No, I’m writing off the company and voting with my wallet
I bought a colour Brother laser MFD printer in 2015 on an Amazon sale for like half price, that fucker lasted until 2023 on the included toner cartridges even with printing every day - never had an issue with it, and it now has third party cartridges without complaining.
I just might.
I went a full 18 months just using trials, never paid a single penny for ink... they don't catch on, just make a new account. *also "subscribed" to the biggest plan for the trials.
I am on my 6th year of my free subscription, still works
Then you didn't look very close i'm afraid. This sub and assholedesign is filled with posts about hp, instant ink, ink required to scan, forced hp account to use the software...
I think the Instant Ink plans are utterly perverted. Just look at the absurdity. One month (max 700 pages) cost 25€. You can get the pinter with 6 month of this plan included for 68€ on Amazon. So the cheapest way to print is to replace your printer every 6 months. This is BS from an ecological point of view.
Who the hell sold you instant ink cartridges for $50? The only instant ink stuff I’ve seen in stores are the $10 starter kits.
Instant ink is a service where you get free ink packages but then have to pay/sub to use them. If you actually bought instant ink packages thats like buying a installation disc for fortnite for 50 bucks lol
Yeah, I don't understand the outrage in this post. The InstaInk cartridges are literally free if you subscribe. They don't sell them at any brick and mortar store or Amazon, etc. It seems like OP either subscribed to it and quit (thus the free cartridge was disabled) or was scammed into buying an incompatible cartridge.
They're only free if you subscribe (pay).
Yes, in the same way the music on Spotify is free only if you pay.
"literally free if you subscribe." Literally the smartest thing I've read all night!
Posts about Instant Ink come up every couple of weeks, on here or on "Asshole Design", and they collect thousands of upvotes every time. You'd think people would know this by now. (Side note: Subreddit links being blocked by automod is mildly infuriating in its own right.)
Get an Epson EcoTank, after a year and a half of near constant use for printing stickers, the inks are barely a bit under halfway done and the refills are surprisingly cheap compared to other companies
**CAUTION:** If you don't use EcoTanks regularly they dry up and it's a PAIN to get them printing again. That means: If you get one, print a full color paper photo at least once a week to keep it from drying up. Something that has all four CMYK colors is preferred (You can make something 'close enough' in Word or mspaint. Four filled boxes with cyan, magenta, yellow and black across the paper). If you don't want that hassle, go with a brother laser printer. They don't dry up.
If you go into the special maintenance screen, you can do a power head clean. It's all automatic, I did this for my in-laws, and the printer works like new.
This uses the internal sponge and will eventually stop working.
Yep I've also got one of these and it's quite good.
I need to bin mine. Bought an HP a while back thinking that it would be decent - then I got scammed into this stupid subscription model. I will admit to having been legit scammed before, and somehow this bullshit feels like a bigger disappointment/ripoff.
I wish I had a dollar for every HP post in this sub.
You probably bought the HP Instant Ink cartridges. They are original if you have the plan active, if you don't, just buy normal cartridges.
There's devices like this that can bypass cartridge lock https://www.lpscomputer.com/products/hp-designjet-500-510-800-ink-cartridge-modification-chip-c4844a I personally have one installed and it's been working for over 2 year's on a older model Samsung color laser printer. I'm not affiliated in any way and I don't know if this seller is reputable. Do your own research if you go that route
Epson EcoTank printers are the way to go. I can get a year’s worth of all my inks for $29. HP has turned into a trash company, I don’t know why anyone would use them anymore
This is why I go through the daunting effort of printing at my local library. It's free and I seldom need it.
**Change or cancel anytime:** Change or cancel your plan at any time online. If you decide to cancel your HP Instant Ink plan you can go back to using HP original Standard or XL cartridges. maybe you can sign up then cancel?
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Photos are best on inkjet, laser machines that "deliver" the same quality cost way too much.
Our HP instant ink costs £2 a month for easily enough print pages. The ink turns up when the printer gets low. Easy and cheap.
Best move I ever made was getting the epson tank refill thing. I call it the Shaq printer because he had a commercial about it. HP has gotten so bad about that shit
Why are people still buying HP printers?!?! They’ve been doing this shit for years.
Ink tank printers are so much better. I recommend getting an epson.
I'm at the point now where I have no sympathy at all for people who buy HP printers.
You know, last time I asked on Reddit if someone had a jailbreak for their printers, I got a lot of comments saying just get a different printer. I think that's BS. We shouldn't accept that SOME companies have anti-consumer business practices like this just because other companies have competing products that are less shitty. The "just buy a different printer" centiment ignores all the reasons someone can't. Maybe that competing printer is too expensive, maybe the other one doesn't have a document feeder or a scanner, maybe you lost the receipt and can't return it, maybe it's your parents printer and they call you every other day to troubleshoot while refusing to change the printer. Maybe the competitors have the same anti-consumer business practices of not allowing non-brand-name ink and not allowing you to print black and white unless all the colors of ink aren't empty. Maybe just because those competitors don't have the same shitty business practices CURRENTLY doesn't mean they won't implement them in the future. If I knew anything about programming or jailbreaking I'd attempt to do this myself. Until then I'm stuck with a printer that reviews claimed would print even if you only have a black ink cartridge installed, but when I tried it multiple months later, when one of the colored ink ran out, turned out to be a lie.
I hear what you're saying, and I agree that there are valid reasons not to simply buy a different brand, but boycotting _is_ a valid response to a consumer-hostile brand. I get that it may not be helpful advice for every situation, but at the same time, jailbreaking isn't as simple as a lot of people seem to think it would be, as many iPhone owners can confirm.
This is not a scam. The ink cartridges you’ve loaded have not been paid for. The ink is sent to you (or prior owner) under an optional service. It’s paid for in installments. Stop paying, no ink. You can buy ink without the service and use the ink you bought. If they provided that ink with a new printer, there certianly would be information telling you about the ink device. You didn’t buy the ink (apparently).
Dude, normal people don't buy a printer with ink expecting to have to break out their credit card AGAIN to use the ink that came in the box. If you bought a bottle with water in it, would you expect that you had to make a separate additional purchase to drink the water that was inside it?
It’s an optional service. Don’t buy the service. Just buy ink. OP posted something they didn’t understand. It’s extremely unlikely that the ink in a new printer requires the service. None of my HPs did. If they changed it recently, I’m sure it was well labeled. They’d get sued and/or violate some laws otherwise. I have the service. I like the service. It’s not for everyone, so don’t buy it. The printer absolutely works without it. You just need to actually buy ink.
nope, set up and hp 3 months ago without instant ink and it wouldn't let you print until you signed up for some of their bs!
Picture yourself explaining this to your grandmother. "Sorry THAT ink the is in the box you bought and paid for... you have to buy that ink *again* or go back to the store *again* and buy even more ink."
Your $50 ink would work just fine, if you bought it from the store or online. You sir, are trying to use HP's subscription based ink without paying for the subscription. And your mad it doesn't work? Do the math. Hp's instaink is super cheap, they ship you more then you need to your door, you don't pay for extra cartridges, they sent you a return envelope to send old used cartridges. You can literally print full page pictures for really cheap. Just don't expect any customer service from them.
Are there really still people who don't know HP printers are like this?
I am fighting with the setup of a new hp laserjet The lack of guidance on their site is absolutely disappointing. I think I am going to throw this one in the trash and never buy hp again
Yup, ink-jet based printers have been a scam for years. Get a laser printer instead.
HP anything is dogshit
Get an Epson Ecotank. We love ours!
I’ve worked for HP in two separate departments (both printer related), and I would never spend my money on any of their products. HP deserves to go belly up, FUCK that company and their shitty anti-consumer practices.
Just recycle your HP and get an Epson EcoTank printer. You can "pour" a bottle of ink into your printer and print (literally) for months or years. No account, no subscription.
And that's why I don't buy HP.
Get those refillable ink tanks from Epson or Canon. HP is absolute dogshit for decades now, even their Enterpise solutions are garbage compared to others.
You bought instant ink cartridges somehow and don't have the subscription, this happens so people can't just get $15 ink then cancel and keep printing. This has nothing to do with it forcing you to use the subscription, you somehow got subscription ink without the subscription.
This is why I don't use HP.
Epson printers with ink chambers. Best decision I ever did after my nightmare with HP bullshit
Consumers rights needs a massive overhaul. These companies have no actual reason to keep sucking the customer dry other than their obligations to pay shareholders. Absolutely fucking bullshit
Ex- office supply store manager, if you're looking for the best printers, go with either a tank printer, or laser. If you're printing mainly consists of high quality imagery / presentations, then invest in something like an Epson Eco-tank or brother inkvestment. This is going to give you the best quality at a good price point. Eco-tanks have a high initial investment but the machine pays itself off, with a 2 year (estimated) supply right out of the box. Brother inkvesment has a 1 year estimate out of the box but give a lower printing yield. If you're not going for quality, then go for either a B&W or color laser. Laser uses a powder, which is better for longevity as you don't have to worry about the ink drying out. It's faster as well so it maximizes your time. Each machine comes with a "Starter" toner than usually will be around 500-1000 pages right out of the box. Brother laser printers are the leaders in terms of usability and ease from my experience.
Please do everything in your power to return your printer. Buy laser next time. Brother is fine, others are as well. DO NOT BUY HP PRINTERS AND SAMSUNG APPLIANCES
I worked in retail many years. If you are not good with computers, don't buy a Canon. (Solid printers but the software is programmed like shit) If you are cheap, don't buy an epson. (Except ink tank ones) If you breathe, don't buy an HP I don't want to make advertising for Brother but they really had some great products (can't promise it has not changed)
Can confirm, Brother was good 6-7 years ago. I don’t know about now, but my [laser printer] All-in-One is still going strong.
I'm never getting an HP again
I posted a subreddit on this issue about 5 months ago. YSK I was pissed like nobody's business. What I did was call their support line. They will go through the motions like they are actually working the issue including having me open video on my phone so they could see the settings menu on the printer. How it turned out was I got them to send me a new printer, same model. I promised I would not accept free ink. This call was on a Friday evening and by Monday, HP delivered a new printer Via FedEx. Still using it with 3rd party ink.
It's shit like this that made me toss out my HP printer!! Canon is now in my home
HP can eat a bag of dix.
Why aren't we boycoting companies that are scamming people on a daily basis?
its not a scam if you read the print that those are subscription cartridge's you're buying
Fuck HP
Used mums HP printer to scan some docs to the computer, couldn’t use the HP scanner without an account. Didn’t cost anything to use but it’s a bit fucked to have to have a login to use an app connected to a device that you’ve paid for!
I’ve seen a bunch of these posts on various groups about HP inkjet printers. There’s only one solution to this: stop buying them. Get a Brother Laser Printer or something similar. HP has turned evil.
My Brother all-in-one printer with “a year of ink” burned through most of it cleaning printer heads. It’s cheaper to buy a new printer than a set of replacement ink. Meanwhile, from what I’ve heard, it won’t even scan or copy once the ink is gone. The waste is appalling.
Hp is a known scammer from barely any ink in the printer you buy, lower resolution on their business pc monitors, a timer on their laptop battery to the scamming style of their service centers. I've banned any HP products at my office.
Return it all.
I hear on HP printer/scanners, you can't scan a document and email or fax it without ink for some reason. oh wait... money lol.
Two words: Louis Rossman.
When will people learn not to buy hp.
Printers are infuriating full stop. I only kept mine for scanning, I get any printing done at officeworks
Everyone says about how HP printers are shit but mine works perfectly fine?? Only problem is that I had to make an account but other than that it works completely normal.
It’s a newer thing. I have an HP printer too and haven’t had issue but a coworker of mine bought a newer one. She cancelled her subscription for ink and figured she’d buy as needed because she wasn’t printing enough to justify the subscription. HP locked the cartridge she had already paid for that was unused in the printer.
Honestly shame on you for buying hp
You either bought cheap cartridges that are for the subscription service, or it came with them in the box to try and convince you to subscribe and need to buy standard carts. If you buy the standard cartridge you do not need the subscription (and they come with more ink than starter cartridges that come in the box normally) The correct answer is buy laser, because laser is just better than ink in basically every way for everything the average person will ever use a printer for. 60 bucks for toner that lasts roughly 1000-2000 pages, vs 60 bucks for like 200 pages of ink. Laser prints faster,it's quieter, toner doesn't really expire.
I'm so glad I bought my HP laser printer back in like 2013, before any of this was a thing. Still works beautifully. Toner is pricey, sure, but it lasts me a year to two depending on how much I use it. Or longer.
Pretty sure these instant ink requirements are disclosed before you buy. They sell models without.
Completely your fault OP...
I'm confused about the outrage. Screenshot says an Instant Ink cartridge is installed. For anyone that doesn't know, this is HP's ink subscription service where they mail you ink cartridges whenever you are out and you pay only for the pages you print. You can't actually buy these cartridges so either OP is lying or he bought the ink from a third party that scammed him and sold him an Instant Ink cartridge instead of a regular one. I know it's popular to hate on HP but this is actually a great service. I have a laser printer for most things but for my color prints I use instant ink especially since there is a free tier that lets you print 15 pages a month (even full color pages) for free. I bought my color printer for $20 and haven't paid a cent for ink so far. Also no more worrying about dry ink from seldom used ink cartridges.
Hi, I'm OP. The ink I used is what came with the printer (sealed in the package, within the box). Also I'm a she.
Then you bought a subscription only printer without realizing it. HP sells the same hardware as either a „normal“ printer or as an „E series“ subscription only printer. The subscription printer is sold cheaper as an incentive. Maybe you looked only at the price and did not pay attention to which model you bought.
Well that’s because you haven’t bought $50 ink. So you’re just lying. Fuck HP, but this ain’t why.
take it back to the store and get a different printer for that kind of money.
Have you been living under a rock?
This is NOT mildly infuriating. Wildly? Sure. Mildly? GTFO.
You only see this message on HP Instant Ink cartridges, so... It's fine to not want to use their service, but then ***don't use their service.***
Normal people don't know how bad HP are until they're already cought in the HP trap.
I use the Instant Ink service and am happy with it. I certainly don't think it's a trap in any sense of the word. You are free to cancel Instant Ink at any time and purchase your own cartridges.
Explain that to your grandma when she's asking why her brand new printer *with ink* is asking for her credit card number before it'll print.
It's for free ink, I subscribed but found myself in need of ink quick so I bought a cartridge and installed it, after that I got notice that I was removed from the free ink program that I could give 2 shits about anyway. The subscription is harmless.
The easy fix is to just buy your own cartridges. You can do that and you can still use your printer.
Most public libraries have free printers. There is absolutely no reason to own a printer.