Lexmark/Dell info

WARNING

Lexmark No2, No3, No4 and No5 cartridges are sold ONLY by the DSG retail group.  A deal was struck between the retailer and Lexmark whereby the retailer was granted EXCLUSIVE rights to sell these cartridges at whatever price they like, without fear of competition.  Most owners report that they were not advised of this when they bought their printer.     

If you are unlucky enough to own a printer that uses hellish expensive cartridges, here's some food for thought.....  A pair of Lexmark or Dell cartridges will typically cost around £40-£60.  For the same amount of money or less, you could buy a NEW PRINTER (that will come with inks), which can be run on much cheaper compatible cartridges.  Over the life of a typical printer (say 7 years or so) you'd save hundreds of pounds.  For example - a Brother DCP-167C printer/scanner/copier is on sale at around £60 for example (we do NOT sell printers).  We have a very similar Brother model (among other printers) in daily use in our office, and it's a great little machine - fast, quiet and reliable.  We choose to run ours on compatible cartridges which are very low cost, and contain high ink volumes so last for ages.  Alongside black there are 3 seperate colour cartridges (cyan/magenta/yellow) so you don't end up throwing away a part-full tri-colour cartridge when only one colour has expired.  Many of our customers have reported back to us, having bought this printer model on our recommendation and - without exception - they've been absolutely 100% delighted.  We have nothing to gain but some satisfaction from offering this advice - we believe customers should know the whole truth.   Our honesty has won us many regular customers over the years.

So be very careful....  Before you buy a REMANUFACTURED Lexmark or Dell inkjet cartridge (from ourselves or any other cartridge supplier) please carefully read and understand the following:

The more recent ranges of remanufactured colour Lexmark and Dell ink cartridges have been remarkably unreliable - the failure rate being massively higher than all other remanufactured goods we supply.  Our remanufactured HP's, Canon, and older Lexmark/Dell ranges remain very reliable. 

It seems almost certain the micro-electronics in these cartridges have been developed in the factory to ensure failure at a given point.  THE MODELS MOST LIKELY TO CAUSE PROBLEMS ARE THE LEXMARK No1, No2, No3, No4, No5, No28, No29, No36, No37, No31, No33, No35, No43 and No44.  THE DELL MODELS TO FIT PRINTERS 922/924/942/944/962/964 and Dell printers sold since around spring 2007.  For some reason the main problems seem to be with colour cartridges - black units remain quite reliable.

On the reverse of a brand new Lexmark 29 colour cartridge box (in print so small it's almost impossible to read) it says: "THE PATENTED PRINT CARTRIDGE CONTAINED INSIDE IS LICENSED FOR A SINGLE USE ONLY AND IS DESIGNED TO STOP WORKING AFTER DELIVERING A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF INK.  A VARIABLE AMOUNT OF INK WILL REMAIN IN THE CARTRIDGE WHEN REPLACEMENT IS REQUIRED." In plain English this means the cartridge will certainly fail - even when there is ink inside.

Although this is not printed on the boxes of certain other models, the high failure rate suggests similar technology is deployed.  A perfectly good remanufactured cartridge can be installed, and used - albeit temporarily.  Suddenly and without explanation, an error message "UNSUPPORTED CARTRIDGE" appears, and the cartridge refuses to work ever again.  Most will almost certainly end up in landfill.

IF YOU WANT TO ENSURE RELIABILITY, THE REMANUFACTURED CARTRIDGES SHOWN ABOVE SHOULD BE AVOIDED.  OUR PRICES FOR ORIGINAL BRANDED LEXMARK GOODS ARE AMONG THE LOWEST AVAILABLE.  WE ALSO SUPPLY A RANGE OF ORIGINAL DELL CARTRIDGES.