I understand updating printers so that they wont work with second party manufacturers. I get that their business is in the ink, not the hardware. But I wish they could have beefed up their own ink manufacturing before updating our printers. I have two ip8720s and a Pro-200. Three printers going full time to keep up with orders. And now I have to toss them all on Ebay to make room for an Epson (or three).
Canon's own site has my ink on backorder every time I check. Now the only place I can get it is Staples and Amazon. Staples has it 50% of the time and if I want it same day, I have to drive to 3 different Staples (I'm too rural for this). Amazon always has it but it's not always authentic. In fact, now that there's sudden demand for genuine ink, more imposters are flooding the market, making the problem worse. They use the name "Canon" right on the package more than they used to. I've been buying and returning ink like crazy. One Amazon seller said "We literally use the same ink from the same factory" not realizing that the ink is no longer the problem. Another imposter used crap ink and managed to fake the ID so the printers would accept it. It fooled the ip8720 but prints looked like garbage. The Pro 200 wasn't fooled. Most of the sellers were just fly-by-night accounts that simply sell a thousand boxes of almost convincing "genuine canon" ink and then disappear.
Hopefully one of two things will happen. 1) Canon will figure out exactly how much ink we're trying to buy and will catch up (though it will be smaller after all of the people like me have already switched to Epson). 2) Imposters will put the good ink in the same cartridges as the convincing chip.
Canon, I've been with you a long time. I prefer you over the others. I was with you back when your customer support people actually knew how to use your own printers and ink was priced for mortal humans. I would even switch back if you fix this supply chain issue. But honestly, it better be half the price to make up for this. Otherwise, my Epsons will be as deep into my process as canon has been.
Anyone else have a similar experience? Is there a genuine canon ink supplier that google doesn't know about? Is there an imposter who can do the trick? Are you happier with your new Epson?
