Canon makes 'all-in-one' printers that refuse to scan when out of ink, lawsuit claims
- Reference: 1634602548
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/10/19/canon_lawsuit_ink/
- Source link:
David Leacraft bought a [1]Canon PIXMA MG2522 All-in-One Printer from Walmart in March, and was appalled when his device was incapable of scanning or a faxing documents if it ran low, or out, of ink. Unlike printing, scanning and faxing documents do not ordinarily require ink.
He wouldn’t have spent the 100 bucks on Canon’s printer if he had known this, his legal team noted. Feeling cheated, Leacraft fired a lawsuit at Canon USA, seeking class-action status on behalf of other disgruntled customers.
[2]
“There is no legitimate purpose for selling the All-In-One Printers with scanning or faxing functionality that is directly tied to existence or level of ink contained in the devices,” Leacraft's complaint
[3]PDF
, filed last week in a New York federal court, stated.[4]
”Ink is not needed for scanning or faxing functionality. Ink does not improve scanning or faxing performance. Tying the scan or fax capabilities of the All-In-One Printers to ink contained in the devices offers no benefit, and only serves to disadvantage and financially harm consumers.”
[5]For a true display of wealth, dab printer ink behind your ears instead of Chanel No. 5
[6]HP bows to pressure, reinstates free monthly ink plan... for existing customers
[7]Paperless office? 2.8 trillion pages printed in 2020, down by 14% or 450 billion sheets
[8]HP: That print-free-for-life deal we promised you? Well, now it's pay-per-month to continue using your printer ink
Canon is accused of deceiving folks with false advertising. It's All-In-One printer series are marketed as being “multi-functional”; they can perform tasks like faxing and scanning as well as printing. But Canon didn’t fairly warn customers its devices would not work at all if they contained little or no ink, the lawsuit argued.
Leacraft wants Canon to pay damages, stop its “misleading advertising and marketing campaign,” and make it clear to consumers that its printers don’t fax or scan documents without ink. The biz could be forced to cough up at least $5m to disgruntled customers because there are more than 100 class members who have been affected by the issue, according to the lawsuit.
The Register has asked Canon for comment. ®
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[1] https://www.walmart.com/ip/Canon-PIXMA-MG2522-Wired-All-in-One-Color-Inkjet-Printer/108208974?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=101035116
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YW5DAA7Y7WcOEoZ8ZGR4pgAAAJE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://regmedia.co.uk/2021/10/18/canon_class_action_lawsuit.pdf
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YW5DAA7Y7WcOEoZ8ZGR4pgAAAJE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/26/which_printer_ink_costs_survey/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/17/hp_reinstates_free_tier_printing_plan/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/05/idc_pages_printed_in_2020/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/12/hp_free_printing/
[9] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
It is still multifunction
It gently warms the desk by consuming electricity, is a cat bed and it serves as an advertisement for other brands.
Edit: I didn't say that it performs these functions equally well.
There had to have been a logical reason, right?
I know of an HP multi-function that is warning about a "scanner error" but the scanner isn't the flat bed scanner on the top of the device, it is the laser scanner that paints the image on the drum when it should print that isn't spinning fast enough that causes the error. At least that device has reasonable errors vs the guess the light dot pattern problems of my older HP printer.
Standard Industry Malpractice?
I've got an Epson inkjet that's exactly the same. When *any* of its colours run low, it flashes up a warning that can't be bypassed & covers the entire interface, essentially blocking the use of any of its other features.
However...if you use a generic driver instead of their 400MB monster, the touch screen remains blocked, but you can still send print/scan commands via the OS.
They don't pull this shit with laserjet. I've decided this is the last inkjet I'll ever own. It's not worth it. When you calculate the total cost of ownership, it's far cheaper just to pay a professional printshop for the odd high res prints you might need.
Re: Standard Industry Malpractice?
Exactly, I’ve done the same. Inkjets’ main function is sucking money out of your wallet.
Don't by canon ink
It's true and to make it worse the printer guzzles ink every night to ensure the print heads don't terminally dry up (which they do if they aren't fed with ink; I'm sure you can think of an analogy.)
So I buy Canon ink because I do print from time to time; most of the ink I buy goes keeping the print heads working. But I used to buy non-Canon ink and it is much much cheaper and works just fine if you don't want to have prints that look readable. IRC once you have accumulated enough used cartridges you can start re-filling them with alcohol and the printer will not remember that it has used them previously, but I haven't tested that. For certain they do seem to detect ink levels, so you could maybe rig an arrangement with some needles, some tubing, and a bottle of Vodka and it would carry on forever.
No print? No buy.
We had the same issue with Canon printers a few years ago. The solution was that we haven't bought anything from Canon since then.