Complaint Review: Adaptive Ink

My previous report for Adaptive Ink is missing on Ripoff
Report. I'll include it again following my addition to the original report.



I have had the Adaptive Ink Mini Pro Series CISS system installed on my HP
8500A printer for 6 months. The cartridges are the HP 940 small series. I
initially question the success of the Adaptive Ink product and am surprised to
see a lot of printing. I bought the 1/2 cup ink bottles and the black is now
1/3 full. The colors are 50% full. So a lot of ink has gone through the
printer.

 

After 6 months the HP 8500A printer went bad. Tech support
insisted I needed to change the ink cartridges. So I installed HP 940XL
cartridges in each of the 4 slots. I assumed Adaptive Ink was not responsible
for all the extra printing I got so I left it off the larger XL cartridges.
Well the old defective printer used up a lot of ink trying to set itself up. By
the time I put those 940XL cartridges in the new replacement printer they were
said to be 50% full for the yellow. Keep in mind I had not printed anything yet
from these cartridges. So I proceed to print and after 2 weeks the printer
comes to a halt and says I am out of ink. It absolutely will not print. I weigh
the cartridge and I believe it really is empty.

 

Lets add up the time here. I get 6 months of printing with
the small cartridges using Adaptive Ink supply. Then I get 2 weeks of use out
of the large 940XL cartridges and they are empty. I complained to HP and they
are sending me replacement cartridges, only the smaller size.

 

So I put my old small cartridges back in the printer along
with the Adaptive Ink system and I print out far more than I did with the 940XL
cartridges. I really printed a large amount of graphic material. So I think the
Adaptive Ink system is incredible.

 

We still have a problem with Adaptive Ink and others
continue to complain about it. Adaptive Ink has terrible customer relations.
They have done a very good job on an engineering level. No matter how good they
do, they will have problems because the manufacturer of any ink cartridge puts
a computer chip in the cartridge. There may be no way for anyone to completely
get around the programming. The programming on one set of print cartridges may
be different than on another. The software in the printer may be different and
may change when you do a software update.

 

I want very much to support Adaptive Ink. I totally support
what they are doing. I identify with the difficult job they have. I am
disappointed in their unfortunate customer relations. I have read several
responses from Adaptive Ink to several people and it is sad. I believe there is
a way to be professional and still survive. That survival would require a
little understanding by the general public in the difficulty Adaptive Ink is
confronted with. I mean most stores have one isle just for ink cartridges and
the cost to actually produce ink is cheap. The people selling the ink want a large
markup and greed is powerful. The actual markup on ink from manufacture to the
retail price is 10,000 percent.

 

So Adaptive Ink might do a great job and then the printer
manufacturer will put up road blocks. Then we will blame Adaptive Ink. This is
not fair. The Adaptive Ink customer correspondence makes it worse. What we need
is a list of printers that Adaptive Ink is having success with. I am successful
with the HP 8500A but that could change at any time. HP will not allow this to
exist on a large scale.

 

 

 

The following is my article from 5 months ago.

 

I am using the HP Officejet Pro 8500A printer. I have the
Adaptive Ink Mini-Pro Series CISS external ink supply installed.

A new HP 940 cartridge contains the following information: Intended for single use only.

I have no idea what will happen when the printer ink
cartridge chip activates for low ink. Inquiries to Adaptive Ink yield no
information.



Five emails to Adaptive ink prior to purchase resulted in 4 good responses
concerning the purchase of a printer and the selection of external ink
supplies. After the purchase of the Mini-Pro Series CSS I sent 2 emails asking
about the operation of the printer and the external ink supply when the printer
indicates "low ink" or "out of ink". I asked about the
dates on the cartridge. I have received no response.

I made phone calls prior to the purchase and got good
response but all phone responses are return calls. They never pick up the phone
when you are calling. I made 3 phone calls after receiving the ink supply and
left a message regarding the exact nature of the external ink supply and the
printer when low ink indicator activates. I got a response once because they
did not know what my question was. Once I asked the question about low ink
activation they told me they did not have time to talk about it and would call
back the next day. Then they spent time talking about other things. They did
not call back. I also told them I needed additional information to write my
review and no information has been provided. All indications here say I will
have unpleasant results when the low indicator is activated by the HP ink
cartridge chip.

One online response is given concerning Adaptive Ink and Adaptive
Ink acknowledges their problem and ask the customer to call back again. Of
course we know they will not pick up the phone or return the call. They are
using deceptive methods to generate a good public image but it is the place of
the consumer to offer that advise on any public forum for opinions and reviews.


The existing data is as follows:

Purchased HP Officejet Pro 8500A on Monday, December 04,
2010 at Sam's for $240.

Seventeen days later the ink left according to the HP8500A
printer readout is approximately 70%. The Mini-Pro Series CISS plastic ink
container has lost 5.1 grams total weight for all colors. This indicates ink is
being sucked into the printer ink cartridges from the Mini-Pro Series CISS.

Original color cartridges that came with printer:

HP 940 cartridge date on cartridge is 2013/03/06

Warranty ends 2012/09/09 as per date on packaging.

Original black cartridge that came with printer

HP 940 cartridge date on cartridge 2013/03/05

Warranty ends 2012/08/30

Original HP 940 cartridge weight after about 10 low coverage
prints. Please use this information if you are checking the weight of your
cartridge after extensive use or when it indicates low ink.  Note; this is not the higher volume 940XL
cartridge.

         
Blue 1.48 oz
or 45.9 grams,  Monday, December 06, 2010

         
Red 1.47 oz or
45.9 grams,  Monday, December 06, 2010

         
Yellow
1.51 oz or 47.1 grams,  Monday, December
06, 2010

         
Black 2.24 oz or 69.7 grams   Monday, December 06, 2010

Adaptive Mini-Pro Series CISS supply

         
Installed Saturday, December 11, 2010

         
Weight of ink supply container upon initial
installation = 324 grams + or - tension on ink tubing. (11.76 oz)

         
Tuesday, December 28, 2010. Weight when about
70% of ink is left according to printer computations  = 318.6 grams(11.28 oz).

         
Therefore the Mini-Pro Series CISS ink supply
container has lost 5.1 grams total for all colors after 17 days of use. The
HP8500A indicates about 30% of ink used on cartridge.

Bottle of Adaptive Ink Weight (use for reference after
weighing an empty bottle.)

         
Black ink bottle full weighs 151.8 grams

         
Yellow ink bottle full weighs 154.4 grams

         
Blue ink bottle full weighs 149.2 grams

         
Red ink bottle full weighs 151.6 grams

         
Total amount of all colors = 607 grams including
plastic container bottle.

The HP Officejet Pro 8500A came out in October or November
of 2010. It is too early for most results. According to the amount of ink used
by the 8500A computations it is economical without an external ink supply. So
far, I have printed about 100 4" x 6" high quality photos and about
400 written pages. If there is really 70% ink left, this is good compared to my
previous printers.

There is no reason to get in a hurry since the external ink
supply can always be added later when more reviews are in. Even with no
external ink supply, HP has improved the cost of ink.

I'll submit a review of the HP8500A printer in a few days.
So far, I really like it.

I will update this message board as needed.

As things presently stand I would wait until March or April
of 2011 to see the results before doing business with Adaptive Ink. At present,
their business practices are highly suspect.