Watch out for these spurious products in Dubai!

If you are the owner of a HP Inkjet printer or a laserjet, you would know of the high cost of the ink toners and cartridges. But these days you get replacement cartridges of a different make at lower cost that can be used in your HP printer. But beware!

One of my friends, an entrepreneur had this experience.

He had received a fax from a computer company in Dubai offering HP cartridges refilling and replaceables from Canada. He asked his assistant to call up the company and enquire the cost for a replacement cartridge for the HP1010 Laserjet printer, which the assistant did.

What happened was, the computer company seemed only too ready to dispose off its products and immediately sent over the cartridge with a bill for Dhs.125 uunasked for.

The replacement cartridge came neatly sealed in a box carrying the computer company's name with the seal "Country of Origin - Canada". On opening the box, a black plastic cover was found inside (as any other normal ink cartridge cover). But this black cover seemed to peel open easily which is not the case for any well packed ink-cartridge.

Inside the black plastic cover, there was an ink cartridge alright. It was exactly the same shape and make as the original HP cartridge. The only thing amiss or too close to the original was that this cartridge too had the "hp Q2162A" blue sticker running along the entire length of the cartridge as the original had. It even had the same "Made in Japan" markings as the original.

And therein lay the conflict.

The outer box had a different name whereas the cartridge inside looked exactly like a HP cartridge with the same stickers etc. For all you know, it could even have been a refilled HP cartridge.

My friend's assistant called up the computer company again asking for an explanation. The company tried to cover up by stating that its a HP compatible cartridge and hence the sticker.

The company was charging only Dh.75/- to refill old HP laserjet cartridges. Their fax claimed that replacement cartridges are Dhs. 100/-. They had sent my friend a cartridge with a bill for Dhs. 125/-. A clear case of hoodwinking. They were working under the assumption that people would not be too tech savvy and would oversee the HP sticker on the catridge.

Dubaians, if you are ever in the cost-saving business of buying replacement HP cartridges for your HP Laser printers, then watch out for such fly-by-night operators.

I recommend IMAGEPLUS cartridges for HP Inkjet printers. Imageplus has a showroom in the AL Ain Centre in Bur Dubai. Their cartridges are HP compatible and cost 40% less than originals and yet provide the same quality.