S
Santos L. Halper
I have some important information for current and prospective
customers of Epson, especially owners of the Epson Stylus C64 and the
Epson Stylus C84 printers with Durabrite (Durabright) ink and T0441,
T0442, T0443, and T0444 ink cartridges.
As many of you know, the Epson ink jet printer protection counter, or
waste ink counter, keeps track of how much ink goes into the sponge at
the bottom of the printer during cleaning cycles. When the printer
thinks it's full, and it usually isn't, the printer shuts itself off
and can only be reactivated by an authorized Epson service center,
which will probably cost more than the printer is worth, so you'll
have to buy a new printer. Obviously, if you're refilling your
cartridges with reasonably priced, 3rd party ink, and you have to run
lots of cleaning cycles to get the air out of the cartridges, you'll
run out the protection counter in a few months or less. I'm confident
this is NOT an accident. Epson wants to force you to buy their ink.
After my protection counter ran out, in mid-April, 2004, I called the
Epson pre-sales line (1-800-463-7766, 6am to 6pm EST Mon-Fri) and
pretended to be a prospective customer who wasn't willing to buy a
printer without knowing how to reset the protection counter. At first
he pretended not to know what that was. He actually said it was "not a
feature highlighted by Epson" as if he knew nothing more than what's
on the promotional brochure. Then, a few moments later, he argued that
the protection counter shouldn't run out for 5 to 7 years.
As I pressed him, the guy got obviously uncomfortable and defensive
and said categorically that nobody at Epson would be able to give me
that information. He then volunteered the fact that Epson is not even
accepting new applications to become an authorized Epson service
center. Apparently the evil Epson corporation is going to keep this
secret from its customers as long as possible in order to sell as much
obscenely overpriced ink as they can. They should rename it the
"profit protection counter." It's like something out of a Dilbert
cartoon!
--->I strongly recommend that nobody buy an Epson printer unless they
know in advance how to reset the protection counter for that
particular model.<---
Also, people with newer Epson printers should avoid using the head
cleaning function of the printer until finding out how to reset the
protection counter. If the print head needs cleaning, I would put a
folded paper towel under the print head, push a flexible tube onto the
spike (which pierces the ink cartridge) and very gently inject ink or
cleaning solution. (Be sure not to inject any air.) You could even
disassemble the printer, disconnect the tube which sucks on the print
head, and connect it to a syringe in order to suck it out manually.
Doing these things obviously won't advance the protection counter.
customers of Epson, especially owners of the Epson Stylus C64 and the
Epson Stylus C84 printers with Durabrite (Durabright) ink and T0441,
T0442, T0443, and T0444 ink cartridges.
As many of you know, the Epson ink jet printer protection counter, or
waste ink counter, keeps track of how much ink goes into the sponge at
the bottom of the printer during cleaning cycles. When the printer
thinks it's full, and it usually isn't, the printer shuts itself off
and can only be reactivated by an authorized Epson service center,
which will probably cost more than the printer is worth, so you'll
have to buy a new printer. Obviously, if you're refilling your
cartridges with reasonably priced, 3rd party ink, and you have to run
lots of cleaning cycles to get the air out of the cartridges, you'll
run out the protection counter in a few months or less. I'm confident
this is NOT an accident. Epson wants to force you to buy their ink.
After my protection counter ran out, in mid-April, 2004, I called the
Epson pre-sales line (1-800-463-7766, 6am to 6pm EST Mon-Fri) and
pretended to be a prospective customer who wasn't willing to buy a
printer without knowing how to reset the protection counter. At first
he pretended not to know what that was. He actually said it was "not a
feature highlighted by Epson" as if he knew nothing more than what's
on the promotional brochure. Then, a few moments later, he argued that
the protection counter shouldn't run out for 5 to 7 years.
As I pressed him, the guy got obviously uncomfortable and defensive
and said categorically that nobody at Epson would be able to give me
that information. He then volunteered the fact that Epson is not even
accepting new applications to become an authorized Epson service
center. Apparently the evil Epson corporation is going to keep this
secret from its customers as long as possible in order to sell as much
obscenely overpriced ink as they can. They should rename it the
"profit protection counter." It's like something out of a Dilbert
cartoon!
--->I strongly recommend that nobody buy an Epson printer unless they
know in advance how to reset the protection counter for that
particular model.<---
Also, people with newer Epson printers should avoid using the head
cleaning function of the printer until finding out how to reset the
protection counter. If the print head needs cleaning, I would put a
folded paper towel under the print head, push a flexible tube onto the
spike (which pierces the ink cartridge) and very gently inject ink or
cleaning solution. (Be sure not to inject any air.) You could even
disassemble the printer, disconnect the tube which sucks on the print
head, and connect it to a syringe in order to suck it out manually.
Doing these things obviously won't advance the protection counter.
