[sarahw]

OK - just had a bit :roll: ha! of a run in with Dell Computers in New Zealand! (well it was a call centre in Asia somewhere - the time delay on the phone was awful we kept talking over each other!)

I have spoken to 8 staff members in the quest to get 2 printer cartridges for my brand newly bought (prior to leaving UK) Dell printer.

Long & the short of it - Dell don't sell printers or cartridges in NZ and their website says you can ONLY buy cartridges from Dell!!! - their suggestion was to get someone in Aus to take delivery & ship it on!!! :wah

They seem to sell every make of ink but Dell here. If anyone has been in a similar situation and has got around it in other ways than getting someone in Aussie/UK/USA to buy the cartridges & ship them to you I'd love to know :yes

Otherwise - I would not recommend anyone bought or brought a Dell printer with them unless they arm themselves with a load of ink cartridges first! (and this is an ex-Dell employee speaking!!!)

[RoadRunner]

Sarah,

Um, how absurd!!

Okay, I can't help with a long-term solution but I will be arriving in Wellington on the 21st. If you want me to bring some, just PM me.

RoadRunner

[sarahw]

Thanks for the offer Roadrunner but you'll have enough to carry with you!

For the meantime we've got friends coming out next week & I'm going to get them to bring some with them...

I did write a long letter of complaint (and rant!) to the UK customer care department to see if I could get any sense from them. :hopeso

[SteveR]

take a printer cartridge from the printer and go to dick smith electronics/noel leeming or look for a printer refill shop and see if they can match it. Dell probably only badge the printer "DELL" and its really a LEXMARK/CANON/EPSON etc. lexmark make quite a few printers for other companies including Hewlat Pakard and the lexmark branded cartridges are usually cheaper and are the same. :nice1

[Iain]

As SteveR says, it's probably just a rebadged jobbie from another manufacturer.

If it's only a low end ink jet, you may be better off throwing it away and buying another. Sounds daft, but most new printers come with cartridges and if you total the cost of your new cartridges (especially if you buy Dell) I suspect that it won't cost you much more to replace it, and you'll have a printer which you can source replacements for in NZ. Not exactly eco-friendly though ;)

[Chris Blunt]

There is an interesting piece on this on the Register. The link to below takes you to all the post:-

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/02/08/letters_0802/

But this is the important bit:-



Well, don't know about regionalisation, but Dell do have some tweaks to make you buy their ink.

I have a Dell AIO 920 printer/scanner, which is a rebadged Lexmark 1150. Local PC store does Lexmark cartridges for the 1150 that fit the Dell - almost. The cartridge is identical apart from the top cover - it's a recessed 'U' shape on the 'Dell' cartridge, but has a raised diagonal plastic tab on the Lexmark - upshot is, you load it in, close the lid, and all your printing is badly misaligned (colour against black). No way of adjusting it to fit with the supplied software as it is so far out of alignment.

Solution? Snap off the diagonal tab - works a treat!

Cheers,

Peter



I hope this helps.......

Cheers,

Chris.

[sarahw]

Thanks guys - that has made me feel a lot better!! :nice1