Internet Ink Orders

As I have previously written, I have refilling ink cartridges down to a science. However, there is a natural limit to the number of times it can be done without sophisticated equipment, and I don't refill photo cartridges, anyway. That preamble is to explain why I sometimes buy ink supplies from internet sites. I have had reasonably good luck with most purchases; some of the dealers are misleading in their ads and some are downright shady, but in general, I have received the value I expected from any transaction that I completed. There is, however, one glaring exception.

I did a Google search to find a dealer to use for the new printer I acquired a few months ago, the Lexmark 7170. Considering the availability of the merchandise I wanted, the price, and the shipping options, I chose Click2Ink, a firm out of Kansas. I paid by credit card. I ordered the supplies on Feb. 8. The card was charged on Feb. 8. On Feb. 12, I received a confirmation of the order, with a "paid in full" receipt and a note about their "next day shipping." That, however, was the end of any contact. I tried to 'sign in' to track the shipping. There was no record of any transaction. I tried to respond to the e-mail address from which the receipt was sent. "No such person." I tried to go through their "contact us" site and was immediately warned that their certificate was issued to someone else and not to open the site. Moving right along, in full fool feather, I opened it anyway (five times) to inquire about the order. They hava a form for "orders lost or not received" that you are allowed to fill out if ten days have passed since your order. I filled it out. In all, I sent them five messages to no avail at all. The fourth and fifth messages stated that, absent some response, I would have to revoke the credit card payment and treat the transaction as a fraud. Still no response at all.

Minutes ago, I got off the phone with Capitol One, who make it very hard to reach the right department. In such instances, I have found that repeatedly pressing zero on the phone usually allows access to the hidden departments that do not exist on the menus, whether or not 'zero' is ever given as an option. This time, after searching, in vain, for the proper department, the "zero three times" strategy reached someone who took all of the information and then said she would route me to the proper department. Ten minutes later, I found Polly. Polly had not been given any of the information that my first contact had sworn she would have, so I started over again. Finally, I arrived at the point at which I could identify the charge that I disputed. That's when the conversation became much more interesting.

I told Polly the amount of the bill and the company name. I then asked her whether she needed the details of the transaction, "No," she said, "not in this case."

"What do you mean, 'not in this case'?"

"Uh, I've heard complaints about this company before."

"Click2Ink?"

"Yes."

"Do they exist?"

"Apparently not."

"THEN WHY DO YOU PAY THEM?!"

"Uh, we're investigating them."

Realizing that I was unlikely to gain further victory, I thanked Polly, and tried to hang up. Polly, however, was under some obligation to read me the entire section of their policy and legal ramifications that could in any way be construed as relevant to our transaction. Six minutes later, I thanked her, again, and hung up without awaiting further response.

While I was mildly disappointed in Capitol One's highly advertised protection response, I am, once again naively, willing to believe that they will, in fact, reverse the charge. I find my continued trust in financial institutions completely puzzling, but we shall see, I guess.

In any case, this is a warning. If you run across any invitation to "Click2Ink," DON'T DO IT!

As an afterthought, I think it would be useful to share more positive experiences. MyInks.com (Jodie Clark) delivers what it promises and is responsive to e-mails. They do not have a complete inventory, however, and, while their prices are better than retail, they are not the lowest available. Nevertheless, on balance, I recommend this site. 123Inks, which is apparently the largest such company, has many gimmicks and 'giveaways' of questionable value but their prices are reasonably good even without all of the gimmicks. The main problem I have had with them is that their "discount coupons," through which you access the site, never seem to work. They supply a phone number which they claim will remedy this, but as I never order anything during reasonable hours, and I hate the phone, anyway, I have never tried this route. I just go elswhere when I encounter that event.

I then turned to the various sites that rate internet stores and discovered that all ratings that were not
obviously sponsored by the company validated my experience. No customer who did business with Click2Ink was satisfied overall and most received no items ordered. Those who received anything at all indicated that the merchandise was late, incomplete and very shoddy. Recent ratings of MyInks (as above) were generally favorable. Almost all complaints were at least three or four years old. In the end,I ordered from Office Depot.

As a general rule, ratings of all internet ink sites (except Click2Ink) were highly polarized. It seems as though many of the "remanufactured" or "equivalent" cartridges were very unsatisfactory. Apparently, though, some brands worked well. Insufficient details were provided to make any judgment regarding which brands were satisfactory and which not, however. I ordered original equipment cartridges and feel more confident in the outcome.