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Do Toner Cartridges Really Deliver the Promised Number of Copies?

HMC, a regular reader, recently described a problem he had buying generic toner cartridges for his HP printer. For years he spent over $200 for a single Hewlett Packard 26X toner refill worried that using an off-brand would damage his device. Over time and after spending thousands of dollars on HP-branded cartridges, HMC finally came to his senses and decided to cut his toner costs by 90% by buying a generic brand instead.

toner cartridge

Just like the name brand, the Aztech cartridges he now purchases promise 9,000 copies at 5% density. But to double-check, HMC always uses a feature of his HP printer that calculates how much toner is left in a cartridge and how much was already used. So, after a recent batch of toner was delivered from Amazon, he put each of the two brand new Aztech cartridges in his printer to test and got a surprising result.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Print counter

It showed that the cartridges only had enough toner to yield approximately 7,200 prints, not the 9,000 the package and the Amazon listing promised. Whenever he previously tested new, genuine HP cartridges, as well as prior orders of Aztech toner, his printer always reported the full 9,000.

HMC called Amazon, and after some negotiation, he got a full refund for the cartridges and he didn’t even have to return them. He’ll probably try a different generic brand next time around.

The lesson here, dear reader, is if your printer has a counting function to calculate toner capacity, use it every time you install a new cartridge to see if you are at least theoretically getting what you paid for.

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Are King’s Hawaiian Sweet Rolls Really Made in Hawaii?

That’s the issue raised in a new lawsuit filed by two consumers who said they were misled into believing that King’s Hawaiian Sweet Rolls were manufactured in Hawaii.

*MOUSE PRINT:

King's Hawaiian

These rolls were first made in Hawaii in the 1950s, and eventually they became so popular that tourists would take them back home, or those on the mainland with friends in Hawaii would ask them to send some.

The consumers who have filed the lawsuit say that it was not only the packaging that gave them the impression that these buns came from Hilo, Hawaii, but language on the website that says the company will send the product to the “mainland” (continental US) for free:

King's mainland claim

There are many local and national brand knockoffs of King’s Hawaiian sweet rolls but these consumers paid a premium price which they would not have done but for the fact that they thought they were getting the real thing from Hawaii.

All is not totally sunny in this case for the plaintiffs, however. There is nothing explicitly on the package or on the website that says these buns are “made in Hawaii.” In fact, when reading the history of the company on their website or looking at the back of the package, one learns that their bakery is in Torrance, California.

So, how do you think a judge will rule? Will he or she side with the consumers or declare their claims to be half-baked?

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Peloton’s $4000 Treadmills Bricked Unless Owners Pay $39/mo Fee

Tread+Imagine buying a $4,000 treadmill and then being told unless you buy an online membership program for $39 a month, the company will disable the machine, making it a very expensive doorstop.

That is exactly what Peloton, the maker of high-end exercise devices, including the recently recalled $4000 Tread+ treadmill, is doing to its customers who own this model.

The company had to come up with a fix to keep young children from turning on the machine and accidentally getting sucked under its moving belt. So, they now require entering a password on the treadmill’s screen to operate it. And the unit will also stop functioning after 45 seconds of inactivity. To start it up again, the user has to re-enter the passcode.

But there’s just one problem.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Apparently, to implement the operation of the new locking and password mechanism, a recent software update removed the “Just Run” option from users’ screens. That mode lets users operate the treadmill without the online interactive features and classes that have made the brand so popular.

So, how do users get to use the machine on their own AND have the safety features enabled? They have to buy a $39 a month membership.

Peloton membershipEmail sent to Business Insider from unhappy owner

Customers have taken to the Internet to complain that in essence Peloton is bricking their exercise equipment if they refuse to sign up for a membership.

A spokesperson for Peloton has said in published reports since the controversy erupted that it is working on updates to its software to remedy the problem. Upset users are considering suing the company if a fix is not forthcoming.