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A customer came in today to return an inkjet cartridge we refilled for her. Ok, so these things happen. What's wrong with it?
She informed me that she had the cartridge working for about a month, and then out of the blue, her printer complained that an "incompatible inkjet cartridge" was installed. So I took the cartridge over to our machine, and sure enough, it failed the electrical test. This meant that the electrical part of the cartridge was physically damaged. How it got that way, I'll never know, but our machine will not fill the cartridge if it fails the electrical test, so therefore, the cartridge had to have been in good working order when it left the store after the refill.
I explained this to the customer, who asked for a refund. The conversation went something along these lines:
Me - "I apologize, but I won't be able to issue a refund for this order. The cartridge failed our electrical test, which means that there's something physically wrong with the wires here on the outside."
SC - "I tried your refills once as a test, and this is not a good sign."
Me - "Unfortunately, the cartridge cannot be fixed. But what I can do for you is, we'll recycle the cartridge, and I'll give you this coupon for 10 free digital prints, as per our policy. In the meantime, let me get you a new cartridge."
SC - "I don't want 10 free prints. (hands me back the coupon)"
Me - "Fair enough. (hey thanks for the tip!)"
SC - "How much is the new one?"
Me - "It's $38.99, and I'll give you this coupon so you can get it refilled for free."
SC - "But I don't want to refill it again."
Me - "I'm not sure exactly what happened to your cartridge, but I can tell you this. We have done well over a hundred refills, and a couple do come back, but what happened to your cartridge was the exception rather than the rule. And I'd like to prove that to you by offering you a free refill on this cartridge."
SC - "If you take the $18 from my refill off the price of the cartridge, I'll buy it."
By this point I'd had enough. Time to let her have it.
Me - "I'm sorry, but we tested the cartridge three times before it left the store, and it worked perfectly in your printer for a full month. When the cartridge fails the electrical test, that usually means that the cartridge has been physically damaged."
SC - "But how would it do that??"
Me - "A printer is full of mechanical, moving parts. Plus, just between you and me, inkjet cartridges were never made to be refilled. The manufacturers want you to keep buying the $40 cartridges. So there's no guarantee as to how many times a cartridge can be refilled. But even if you can only get it to work once, it's still worth it not to have to spend the $40. In your case, I would speculate that there might have been something wrong with the cartridge when you bought it, or your printer might be playing a little rough with the cartridges. Either way, this was not caused as a result of the refill, so I won't be able to refund the order."
SC - "But... but... 'Incompatible Cartridge'. What does that mean?"
Me - "As I said, the cartridge was physically damaged. How your printer interpreted that....
"
SC - "But... but...."
Me - (hold pose until customer gives up and goes home).
I can understand not wanting to try a service a second time if the guy behind the counter doesn't know what he's talking about... but I'm the most knowledgeable person in our district when it comes to inkjet refills; I've even managed to teach tech support a thing or two about those machines. When I say it was a fluke, you can trust me that I know what I'm talking about.
She informed me that she had the cartridge working for about a month, and then out of the blue, her printer complained that an "incompatible inkjet cartridge" was installed. So I took the cartridge over to our machine, and sure enough, it failed the electrical test. This meant that the electrical part of the cartridge was physically damaged. How it got that way, I'll never know, but our machine will not fill the cartridge if it fails the electrical test, so therefore, the cartridge had to have been in good working order when it left the store after the refill.
I explained this to the customer, who asked for a refund. The conversation went something along these lines:
Me - "I apologize, but I won't be able to issue a refund for this order. The cartridge failed our electrical test, which means that there's something physically wrong with the wires here on the outside."
SC - "I tried your refills once as a test, and this is not a good sign."
Me - "Unfortunately, the cartridge cannot be fixed. But what I can do for you is, we'll recycle the cartridge, and I'll give you this coupon for 10 free digital prints, as per our policy. In the meantime, let me get you a new cartridge."
SC - "I don't want 10 free prints. (hands me back the coupon)"
Me - "Fair enough. (hey thanks for the tip!)"
SC - "How much is the new one?"
Me - "It's $38.99, and I'll give you this coupon so you can get it refilled for free."
SC - "But I don't want to refill it again."
Me - "I'm not sure exactly what happened to your cartridge, but I can tell you this. We have done well over a hundred refills, and a couple do come back, but what happened to your cartridge was the exception rather than the rule. And I'd like to prove that to you by offering you a free refill on this cartridge."
SC - "If you take the $18 from my refill off the price of the cartridge, I'll buy it."
By this point I'd had enough. Time to let her have it.
Me - "I'm sorry, but we tested the cartridge three times before it left the store, and it worked perfectly in your printer for a full month. When the cartridge fails the electrical test, that usually means that the cartridge has been physically damaged."
SC - "But how would it do that??"
Me - "A printer is full of mechanical, moving parts. Plus, just between you and me, inkjet cartridges were never made to be refilled. The manufacturers want you to keep buying the $40 cartridges. So there's no guarantee as to how many times a cartridge can be refilled. But even if you can only get it to work once, it's still worth it not to have to spend the $40. In your case, I would speculate that there might have been something wrong with the cartridge when you bought it, or your printer might be playing a little rough with the cartridges. Either way, this was not caused as a result of the refill, so I won't be able to refund the order."
SC - "But... but... 'Incompatible Cartridge'. What does that mean?"
Me - "As I said, the cartridge was physically damaged. How your printer interpreted that....
"SC - "But... but...."
Me -
(hold pose until customer gives up and goes home).I can understand not wanting to try a service a second time if the guy behind the counter doesn't know what he's talking about... but I'm the most knowledgeable person in our district when it comes to inkjet refills; I've even managed to teach tech support a thing or two about those machines. When I say it was a fluke, you can trust me that I know what I'm talking about.
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