Thursday, November 21, 2024
HP Faces Class Action Suit for Color Ink Underprinting
HP Faces Class Action Suit for Color Ink Underprinting
Actionable Intelligence has broken the news HP Inc has been “named in a new class-action lawsuit that accuses the printer maker of misleading consumers by failing to disclose that its inkjet printers consume substantial amounts of color ink when printing black-and-white images and text, a process called underprinting.”
The lawsuit was filed by Ms Christina Rose in the United States District Court Northern District Of California on April 10. According to Actionable Intelligence, Ms Rose claims, “HP fails to disclose to consumers that the printers are designed to cease printing if the Product’s color ink is depleted”—even if the consumer only wants to print black-and-white using the black ink.
Ms Rose asserts her HP Officejet Pro 8630 uses costly color inks even when she is only printing in black-and-white.
In addition, the complaint states, “Consumers are unaware of these material facts not only because the Defendant (HP) fails to disclose them at the point of sale, but they defy common sense.”
Ms Rose claims she has been injured because had she known about the color underprinting, she would not have purchased the printer.
She further asserts consumers have to “spend more on ink than they reasonably expected and are forced to buy costly color inkjet cartridges even if they choose to print in black-and-white.” She is pursuing this legal action on behalf of all of HP’s customers in the United States who are affected.
The claim against HP includes violation of the Consumer Legal Remedies Act and the Unfair Competition Law in California. Ms Rose says that at no time during the in-store purchase, nor the in-store advertising and shelf tags, nor on the packaging of the Printer, does “HP directly disclose that the Printers utilize underprinting.”
Actionable Intelligence also notes that Ms Rose refers to a similar class action against HP which was settled by HP in 2011. The Plaintiff is seeking damages, costs and restitution and “all other forms of equitable monetary relief.”
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I was enrolled in the Instant Ink program with HP and cancelled because I was paying a monthly fee and not using ink fast enough to justify the cost.. I have two good cartridges in the printer and one unused color cartridge that will not work in the printer because I am no longer enrolled!! I have paid for these cartridges and should be able to use them. This is unfair. Earlier I spoke to a HP rep about canceling or using another type of membership and he only advised me there would be a charge for each page I printed over the estimated usage amount, not that the cartridges would be disabled. Scam alert!
Bought a HP Office Jet Pro 7740 since my last HP printer lasted for 17 years and was still working fine but was no longer supported by HP with updated drivers. Decided to get the 7740 because it could do larger format. Bought it in January of 2019 and used it up until we moved in July of 2019. Finally got it set up in March of 2020 at the new house and it worked for a month when it said it was in need of yellow ink. Upon installing a non-HP ink cartridge it said the new one was bad also. Ordered a complete set of the overpriced HP cartridges and it still says a problem is in the ink supply. Did dome investigating on the net and found that this is a known problem and that HP is causing the printers to have a problem if you don’t use their products. Sounds like if Ford or Chevrolet were to say you can only use there gas or oil only. I called the company that I purchased it from and there answer to the problem was to just buy a new one. Looks like I will be looking for a new printer. Does anyone have any recommendations on one that will last and do large format? And not an HP product.
Thanks, Craig. Many share your frustration with HP. It seems HP does not care. I have been a loyal customer of HP myself for almost 30 years but it is forcing me to look elsewhere too.