| Printer manufacturers often use scare tactics to discourage
consumers from using remanufactured cartridges.
Reluctant to loosen their grip on the lucrative market
for printer supplies, they warn that remanufactured cartridges
are of inferior quality and that by using the cartridges
customers risk damaging their printers and invalidating
their warranty (which is not true).
Experts working in the field disagree. In the US, the Rochester
Institute of Technology tests and validates remanufacturers'
products at its National Center for Remanufacturing and
Resource Recovery.
Professor Nabil Nasr of the facility explained that the
processes used for remanufactured consumables today are
so sophisticated that performance is not generally an issue.
"Initially, remanufactured cartridges didn't live
up to customer expectations. But the industry has made
great strides," he said. "Of course it depends
on the individual companies, but remanufactured products
are as good and in some cases can exceed the performance
of new cartridges."
Colors may vary, but the difference is so slight it is
almost impossible to spot using the naked eye, said Professor
Nasr.
He said if the end result is poor, the blame is more likely
to lie with the type of paper used than the ink. Image permanence,
he added, is also not an issue.
"No one wants their pictures fading so we test color
permanence in an ozone chamber. Here we subject a test
picture to simulated sunlight equivalent to 10 to 25 years
of aging," he said.
The Consumers' Association's Which? magazine
found in its own independent testing last year that  the
difference in many cases was negligible, and that results
were sometimes better from remanufactured printer cartridges.
Most companies ensure that their ik products are heavily
tested, said Fran Blanco, a spokeswoman for Media Sciences
International, a manufacturer of printer supplies.
Consumers are also wary of using third-party cartridges
for fear that this will invalidate their printer warranty.
An Office of Fair Trading study found that 78 per cent
of consumers had not tried to switch to third-party cartridges
or refill kits because of printer manufacturer recommendations.
"The printer OEMs just want to create fear,"
said Blanco. "The likelihood of a remanufactured
cartridge damaging a printer is minimal. Yes, it can happen;
the cartridge may be faulty and leak ink. But so can an
OEM's cartridge.
"In a case like this the remanuacturer should be
responsible and the customer should check this."…and
Ink ReStore will take responsibility if it is clearly
shown that one of our cartridges damaged a printer because
of our remanufacturing process.
All experts agree that consumers should choose a source
that has a presence in the community, has a proven, robust
remanufacturing process, and stands behind their product.
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