Generic toner cartridges.

Lord Farquart

Lord Farquart

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I always buy extra toners and ink cartridges for my printers so as not to be inconvenienced by it running out when there is no shop open. I also like tom buy printers where each color has its own cartridge for obvious reasons.

With this in mind, Esquire had a special on cartridges in April. I went there and purchased spar generic toners and ink for all my printers. I have uses almost all of them except the blue toner for my Canon LBP5050N. This we installed a week ago. Problem is it keeps on dropping ink blots on the paper. I have used the self cleaning function etc to sort it out to no avail.

Today I decided to take it back as it was basically new, except for the purchase date. Although it did the same there when they tested it, they would not replace it as there is only a month guarantee on it from purchase date. So how do they expect you to cater for your printing needs? Buy when it runs out?

Anyway, I think this is the last time I buy a generic. I have had issues with HP ink cartridges before, and if reported before the expiry date, they have had no issue replacing it. These that I bought from Esquire only expires in January 2015, but due to the purchase date, they refused a replacement.
 
In my experience, you will never get the same quality as original cartridges. So if you choose a generic, you should expect to have at least some problems.

That said, some generic cartridge manufactureres offer a 100% money back guarantee on all their cartridges, and will even offer you a guarantee/warranty on your printer if the cartridge messes it up. One brand that I know of, and that I use and trust, is Katun.

Haven't had any major issues with them yet.

Where are you based (where is Midstream?), how many printers do you have, and are they inkjet or laserjet printers?
 
Clearly they do not have confidence in their product.

I only buy from suppliers who offer a year, the larger part thereof or more.

Sadly I doubt they will do anything about it.
I can only suggest that you find a supplier/retailer of a brand that believes in their product.
 
To my limited legal knowledge, any goods bought after April 2011 carry a 6 month implied (automatic) warranty against being defective as per the CPA.

A cartridge dropping blotches would definitely count as a defective.

There is a loophole whereby if a good is known and sold as inferior quality, the 6 month implied warranty doesn't apply. I guess Esquire may argue that because it's the generic version of a branded product, that it's seen as a cheap, inferior alternative. Though I guess only a judge would be able to rule for certain whether that argument would hold up in this case.
 
Midstream is next to Midrand. The printer in question is a laser. This is the first generic that has failed me in 3 years, so I guess I can not complain too much. Had only one OEM fail on me in 16 years, so that is even better. More so as the OEM was replaced by the manufacturer.
 
Take the faulty toner to a cartridge warehouse or similar place, most likely it can be repaired. Messy prints are usualy caused by the drum or some seal that wasn't properly replaced and neither problems is very expensive to fix.
 
ODTech said:
Take the faulty toner to a cartridge warehouse or similar place, most likely it can be repaired. Messy prints are usualy caused by the drum or some seal that wasn't properly replaced and neither problems is very expensive to fix.
Click to expand...

could be a seal, but more likely, the waste tank was not emptied and is now overflowing.
 
Venomous said:
Clearly they do not have confidence in their product.

I only buy from suppliers who offer a year, the larger part thereof or more.

Sadly I doubt they will do anything about it.
I can only suggest that you find a supplier/retailer of a brand that believes in their product.
Click to expand...

Always bought from Cartridge connection without issue. This time I followed the special.
 
Saajid said:
In my experience, you will never get the same quality as original cartridges. So if you choose a generic, you should expect to have at least some problems.
Click to expand...

We actually do not get any warranty on any consumables items especially on Generics Toners and Cartridges but still offer a seven (7) DOA and up to One (1)month shelve life to Retail and Online shops , this is by far the best warranty you will ever get on a cheap Generic Toners and Cartridges.

Generics are an extremely difficult business and that is the reason we never sold them until now as our customers kept requesting them, hence the reason to start selling them and to be honest we don’t like to sell them, That is why you will never find them on our pricelist or website or even the Xpress Stores.

We just do a “ once in while” special to clear out stocks which you saw last saw in April 2013.

From your post you mentioned that you purchased others and used all of them with no issues ,so having one go faulty is actually not bad and the only reason why the Toner you mentioned was not swopped out as it was brought in seven (7) months after it was purchased.

I would strongly recommend you purchase originals in future especially if the printer is still under warranty, we don’t even use any of these generics in our own printers in any of our branches and not even on my own printers at home.

However you most welcome to bring it again and we will speak to the local supplier to see if they will make an exception. in this case , but may I please ask you bring in after the 20 October as I will be at our Shenzhen, China office from Sunday until next week and can sort this out when I back.

@Saajid
You are 100% correct you will always find issues with Generics (and even with originals), Regarding the Katun generic products these are 10-15% cheaper based on the originals, the Toners we sell are between 40-60% cheaper based on the originals and the Ink cartridges are between 70-80% based on the originals.

We have sold a fair number of these products and have had our fair share of issues with them, but they keep selling as we keep getting request for them

if this was brought it in within the seven (7)days or even within a one (1)month there would have been no issue.
 
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My advice is to stay away from generics. Somebody in our office also decided to save some money and buy cheapies, sent them back the same day as it was just toner all over the place.
 
Lord Farquart said:
Midstream is next to Midrand. The printer in question is a laser. This is the first generic that has failed me in 3 years, so I guess I can not complain too much. Had only one OEM fail on me in 16 years, so that is even better. More so as the OEM was replaced by the manufacturer.
Click to expand...

took back an original hp toner to Advanced Channel Technologies in milnerton 2 mnts after purchase and they refused to swop or replace , the branch manageress Chantel or Charlise told me that there was no warranty on consumables.
 
@Esquire. I did not expect much when i took the toner in on Friday, so I am not going to bother going back again. That is also why this thread was not a rant against you, but a warning against generics I guess. I will go back to buying generics from Cartridge Connection if I have to.

I still don't know what is the best way to stock up on cartridges then? If a cartridge gets to end of life, I order a full set. So one gets replaced immediately and the others will then follow in due time. It is a waste of time and money to buy one at a time and discount is also offered for buying a full set. Now this might cause some cartridges to get replaced six months later. What to do then?
 
We use catridges from Royce Imaging at work and have not had a single problem with them in the last three years. My mono laser Samsung at home also uses one from them and works as intended. They are in Strydompark near Sybaritic.
 
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