Ink Refilling Bugger

I own a Hewlett-Packard printer, the All-in-one version with printing, scanning and photocopy options. The price of the printer itself is affordable. However, the price of a new ink cartridge if you've dried up every tint in your original ink cartridge is worth more than 1,000 pesos. This means that after buying six cartridges, you've spent the purchase price of the printer itself.

I decided to try the ink refill stations. The most advertized ink refill station in the country is the company endorsed by the girlfriend of Jericho Rosales. The thing with ink refilling is that they remove the sticker of the original manufacturer, inject the ink inside the containers, and replace the sticker with their own. After two refills with this company, I rarely used my printer so it took a several months before requiring a new refill. When I brought the ink cartridge to the same ink refilling company, the person who entertained me told me that they do not refill unoriginal cartidges. She made the remark because of the sticker, which she surprisingly did not recognize as their sticker. I went to another branch and they told me the same thing.

At home, I looked-up the website of the company to learn about this weird policy. I texted my concern to the number given and they said that the company "does not refill replacement cartridges because they cannot guarantee the quality of the refilled ink cartridge.

One would think that at least the company is concerned with quality. . . but so are the other ink refill businesses. If their issue is ensuring quality, then they could have assessed the condition of the cartridge and not the sticker alone. After inquiries, I learned that the company is retailing ink cartridges, those worth more than 1,000 pesos.

The implication of the policy is that after your first refill with the original sticker replaced, you have to buy a new cartridge, which they also retail for all printer brands. How's that for a revenue-focused business policy, which is impressive on the business side with disappointing on the consumer side.