Epson Generic Printer Ink - Here I Go Again!

[leebo]

I have an Epson Stylus Photo R380 that was given to me about a year and a half ago. I had purchased generic ink cartridges from Meritline and they worked fine for my purposes (printing B&W text on my printable DVD's).

Then generics disappeared for about a year, as everyone probably knows. 4 months ago, I needed a black cartridge and checked Meritline, and to my delight they once again had generics!
I purchased a set and installed the black one, and it has worked fine.

This week I needed to change one of the colored ones, so I installed one of the generics. The printer wouldn't recognize it. I had to order some DVD blanks, so I ordered from Meritline and added a genuine Epson ink cartridge as I didn't have time to play games.

I also wrote to Meritline and explained the situation. their response was to read their return policy, which I did. It states that returns must take place within 30 days, so I'm screwed. I don't change all my cartridges at the same time, I change them when they're empty, so it's normal for me to have a few sitting on the shelf for a couple of months.

Here's where it gets weird:
After installing the "genuine" cartridge, the printer reported that yet another cartrage, one that it had happily been using for the past 4 month, was no longer recognized!!! My R380 seems to have developed Alzheimer's!

After a string of cus words, off I went to Staples to buy a few more genuine cartridges. After replacing that cartridge, my printer all of a sudden could not recognize the final two cartridges (cartridges it had also been happily using for months).

So my question is, how come it stopped recognizing cartridges all of a sudden? It's not even a matter of who made the generics. I used to use G&G but can't find them anymore. The newest say only "Re-manufactured cartridge" and "Made in China".

I found this old thread that seems to be related, but it still doesn't explain my situation.
http://forum.videohelp.com/topic3288...=generic%20ink

[craigarta]

I have a Workforce 500 and I got some generics that work great and cheap too


http://myworld.ebay.com/ink.manufactory/

[minidv2dvd]

don't feel bad. epson's have a nasty reputation for not even recognizing "genuine epson" carts at times. if i ever lost my mind and bought an epson the only thing i'd use is a cis system.

[disturbed1]

Epson sued G&G, one of the few manufacturers of generic Ink carts that actually worked. Epson patented their chips on carts, so it's harder for generics to work properly. You can try the ol' switch-a-roo, but it gets tiring constantly popping carts in and out every time you want to print. Not to mention Epson does a head cleaning every time you swap carts.

One way to get by all of this crap, is to remove the genuine Epson chips for their ink carts, attach them to the generics. Get a chip resetter, and be happy until it clogs your print heads

[leebo]

Come to think of it, the last batch of generics that worked had a removable "clip" that the chip was attached to. You had to assemble it before putting it in the printer. Unfortunately, the clips only work with the special carts they snap onto. There is no way to use them with other cartridges.

I wish there was a printer that printed on DVD's, that only used black ink. Six carts, only one is black. That's 5 X $15 for no reason. $75.

[BobbyScot]

Epson sure know how to charge for cartridges to suit their c42 printer - £22 for the black colour cartridge.