Just say NO to fake ink

Last January 2010, HP convinced me to trade in my beloved Epson printer for an HP Photosmart Premium.
While I was very hesitant to give up my trusted printer, the idea of having a wireless one appealed to me.
So I gave in, accepted this, and fell in love.

It printed beautifully without much problems. But by May 2011, I had already spent 25,000 on HP ink alone. I wish I could trade the empty cartridges for something, like they do at MAC cosmetics, where you can trade in six empty foundation compacts for a free lipstick (but only in richer countries like Hong Kong and Singapore).
Since HP doesn’t have a program like that, I actually took my empties to the HP office in Singapore for recycling.

I tried to find other ways to save on ink costs and found an offer on Amazon.com. Unfortunately I misread the description and failed to read the word “compatible.” I thought I was buying Hewlett Packard ink. I was really surprised to receive a ton of fake ink, which worked in the beginning but ultimately destroyed my printer heads.

It was so bad, I ended up throwing out even genuine HP ink that refused to work because the printer heads were clogged.
My printer is currently being repaired. Luckily, HP gifted me with an improved version of their wireless printer. Not only does it print photo-quality pictures and documents, it also scans and photocopies whatever you need at home.

The good news is, it comes with four ink cartridges (instead of five), with a more affordable price tag (black ink is Php 390 and cyan/magenta/yellow are Php 260 each, instead of the Php 500++ I used to pay for the other model).

The printer itself costs only Php 7,900. I just installed it today—no need to read instructions as I’m quite used to the HP setup.

As for the other printer I refuse to give up, that’s going to my new apartment which should be occupiable in a couple of months (I hope!).
To know more about HP wireless printers, click here.

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