Ink Cartridge Refill @ Walgreens

Nomad · Post by **Nomad** » Wed Dec 17, 2008 9:21 pm

For those of us who have access to Walgreens and who have used their service to refill your ink cartridges heres a question for you. Earlier today I had brought in a HP PSC 750 color ink cartridge (which I might add was previously refilled by the same walgreens a while back, and I think more than just that one other time as well) and when I returned to pick it up the attendant told me that the cartridge did not pass their "electrical test". Now I know these contacts are a touchy subject but I had a story which I had to question the attendant about anyways. So when I first used their service for the very first time I had brought in my cartridge and picked up the cartridge when it was refilled. But to my surprise I was returned a different looking / feeling cartridge than my original I brought in. Now, after the incident tonight, I am told that Walgreens does not have their own supply of cartridges but only uses the ones which are brought in to be refilled. Is this true? Are Walgreens secretly plotting to boost their secret shares of stock in the ink cartridge wallstreet world? Am I being skeptical for reason or not? Anyone have any information to shed light on this subject?

Shadow250 · Post by **Shadow250** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 11:45 am

put a mark on your next refill that will tell you if you get the same one back.

normalicy · Post by **normalicy** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 12:22 pm

I always wondered the same thing.

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 1:03 pm

I would never ASSUME that you're getting your own cartridge back. They usually go in a bin and it's not important to them who gets what cartridge as long as it's the right number. Some carts are more common than others.

I never recommend refills. You are having a used cartridge that was never designed to be refilled, refilled by a minimum wage employee at a store that sells tampons who has no clue what he's doing (they follow idiot diagrams in a book), being filled with an ink that is in no way comparable to the manufacturer's original formula.

Yeah, you might save some money in the short run until you have your first cartridge leak on you then you may ruin your printer, and any clothes you are wearing that day.

If you ARE going to use a refill, only use it on a printer that has the inkjets built into the cartridge (like most HP printers), otherwise you will likely clog the jets sooner or later.

The best way to save money on cartridges is to mail order the manufacturer carts from someplace that has a good deal, or buy them at Costco (they're generally priced 2 for 1 at Costco).

MRCOMPUTER · Post by **MRCOMPUTER** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 1:45 pm

Walgreen's here does HP, Dell,(Lexmark) and Lexmark only. I have a nice Canon all in one but, they will not do carts for it...

Executioner · Post by **Executioner** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 2:20 pm

refilled by a minimum wage employee at a store that sells tampons who has no clue what he's doing

LOL

MRCOMPUTER · Post by **MRCOMPUTER** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 2:39 pm

Thats very true. Same as going to an auto parts store. Some kid who has never seen a alternator in his life, is given a 5 minute course on a catalog computer. He may not be a bad kid but, do you want him picking out the correct part for your vehicle?...

Nomad · Post by **Nomad** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 5:23 pm

I just know the next time I ever do get a refill I will mark the cartridge in some fashion, as well as remove any markings the store may have placed on it from a previous refill (seeing as they keep record of how many times the cartridge was refilled) and just only tell them what make and model it is...

But like I said, the Manager of the store told me they do not carry their own cartridges.

Who knows... having the service is better than nothing I guess, as long as it works once or twice.

EvilHorace · Post by **EvilHorace** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 10:23 pm

I had an old HP 722C (maybe 8 yrs old now?) and I tryed Walgreens but every cartridge I took there tested bad and they couldn't refill them. I just replaced that (and my Epson Scanner) with a Canon All-In-One printer too. Prints great pics too and has 5 $12 cartridges.

As for the person there being a minimum wage "tampon stocker" (LOL), I'd give them a little more credit as they're the same people in the photo department and they have to have some knowledge of their machines, although no, not experts by any means.