First off, Printer Cartridges are THE BIGGEST SCAM out there as you can
usually buy a new printer for dirt cheap - but then the Printer
Cartridges cost a small fortune - ESPECIALLY in Costa Rica!!
Sure
the standards - Office Depot • WalMart • Jimenez and Tanzi - have them - but I think they have
some of the MOST EXPENSIVE prices on Ink Cartridges (ESPECIALLY Office Depot) and
they tend to mainly have the Printer Cartridges for printers they sell
in Costa Rica.
(on that note, I have found MANY electronic things or
appliances purchased in Costa Rica - that model numbers don’t seem to
correspond with anything you can find on the web. Hmmmm - I wonder why
that could be???).
Either way - Printer Cartridges are LOTS MORE EXPENSIVE in Costa Rica!!!! I’ve PAID $18-$38 (YEARS AGO) and that adds up since I've found I usually had to buy a FEW if
you have a Color Printer (sometimes 3-8 different color cartridges) - AND - THE BIGGEST BIGGEST scam I’ve
experienced is even when I did NOT print hardly ANYTHING in color - I
seemed to HAVE to buy new ones all at the same time as - they DRY UP!!!!
So if you've brought your printer from the U.S./Canada - IF it were ME, I'd somehow get LOTS of EXTRA cartridges down here as you can usually find them online for WAYYYY CHEAPER.
WARNING ABOUT SHIPPING INK CARTRIDGES TO COSTA RICA:
Shipping ANYTHING to Costa Rica these days OFTEN seems to get caught up in the Aduana - Costa Rica's version of the Tax Man!! This can be VERY COSTLY but worse - a pain in the tush if you are doing it yourself vs having shipped it through a private mail company (usually based in Miami. See my article on those:
OFTEN you can get Printers on sale REALLY CHEAP - so
sometimes it’s cheaper just to buy a new Printer (THOUGH - NOTE that
MANY of those do NOT come with FULL regular size Printer Ink Cartridges -
but at least you’ll have a Printer that MAY be easier to find new Ink
Cartridges for!!
BUT - if you think you can get your cheaper Ink
Cartridges in the States and have someone bring them for you - guess
what - you can NOT find those model numbers in the States - hence can
NOT find that Ink Cartridges for them or the CHIP that's in it is not programmed for it (I've heard that those Chips CAN be removed if someone knows what they're doing)!!!
So what’s a girl to do to get her Printer working when the Ink Cartridges run out . . .
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RECYCLING • REFILLING
WalMart's do Refilling in their Electronics Departments (they used to
when they were HyperMas AGES ago) but NOT ALL printers can accept
Refills as they have a Chip in them (I've heard that a more technically minded person can figure that out).
Some you will screw them up BIG TIME - hence potentially
screw up your Printer (been there - done that [trying to do it myself
even though I was warned!!])
Ink.UnlimitedComSA.com
Has a section where you can give the province in Costa Rica and it will give you a list of people that can do refills.
JACO
The Jaco Library and Monster Ink have partnered with a cartridge refilling station
I had a guy up in Tamarindo that had a business doing refills and he was looking to expand that business. I'm checking to see if he's still doing them and will comment back here.
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You can check with the Printer Manufacturer to see who some of their "officially authorized dealers" are - but chances are REALLY GOOD that that will equal LOTS more $$$.
The BEST place I’ve found in my 9 years of living in Costa Rica for Printer Ink Cartridges and at WAYYYYYY CHEAPER PRICES than ALL of the big boy stores is:
MANIA DIGITAL
ManiaDigital.com •
facebook.com/ManiaDigital
2-290-7322 / info@ManiaDigital.com
IN THEIR STORE they carry the standard popular brands of Ink Cartridges -
Epson, HP, Canon, Lexmark.
BUT - they can SPECIAL ORDER other printer
cartridges - it just takes 1-2 business days. Ana (who speaks GOOD
English) said to do that, just CALL, they’ll tell you if they can get it and the price and
to guarantee you're going to honor your order, you would TRANSFER 50% of the total to their BCR, BNCR, BAC account.
They
also carry Printer Paper • Photo Paper • Scanners (Canon, Epson,
HP) • Printers including all-in-1’s (Canon, Epson, HP) • WiFi
Routers • Wireless things from Printers, Keyboards and Mouses •
Computers (Dell, Lenovo, HP, generic) • Computer Equipment and Parts
(NO Apple) • Computer Repair (diagnosis is just - 10,000-c) •
Computer Cables • Tablets (Samsung, Toshiba, Dell, HP, Lenovo, iPad,
and some generic brands) • Laptops (Dell, HP, Toshiba, Acer, Lenovo)
• SmartPhones (iPhones, Samsung, Sony, Huawei) • USB Memory Sticks
(they have some incredible sales on these every so often on their
Facebook page!!) • Headsets (I’m checking to see if they have any
Apple compatible ones) • Webcams (I’m checking to see if they have any
Apple compatible ones) • Digital Cameras • External Hard Drives •
Speakers • Audio things • Software • Projectors (Epson, Sony) •
Computer Desks • Ergonomic things (mouse and keyboards, gel strips)
• Chairs++.
If they don’t have it - ask - they might be able to order it.
SPECIALS:
Make sure to sign up and regular check their FACEBOOK page as they have LOTS of specials on that!! (MY FAV is their USB Flash Drive - 16GB for JUST 6,780 IVI!!!!)
ENGLISH SPEAKING PERSON:
Ana (she speaks good English & gives GOOD Customer Service). Owner Rodrigo also speaks English.
(make sure to tell them Vicki with the blog Connected you!!)
HOURS:
Mon.-Fri. 8am-5:30pm. Closed on Saturday and Sunday
LOCATION:
San Jose-Sabana Sur - NEW LOCATION!!
FROM ESCAZU: Take the Old
Road•Calle Vieja - that runs along side the pista going into San Jose -
Turn RIGHT at AM/PM. Go 1 block and at the light (and church) turn
RIGHT. Go 1 block and turn RIGHT & they’re on the RIGHT side of the
street about 25 meters inside the Centro Comercial Sabana Sur - on the
right side (ahhh - all the one-way streets).
I gave directions from Escazu as I'm not sure you can always enter from the East side of the Old Road (by McDonald's in Sabana - all depending on traffic hours) as I've seen it blocked off at times so perhaps you could figure out how to get there till I can find this out.
(Glad I called as I noticed
they had moved but I kind of assumed they closed - but they’re not!!! They
used to be Oeste/West of de La Contraloria - across from Sabana Park
(their site says de la Iglesia Perpetuo Socorro - 100 Oeste•West, 25
Norte•North)
I noticed on their facebook page they had a Grand Liquidation Sale and
it’s after hours so I’ll check tomorrow to see if they’re still around.
LOCATIONS:
Tenemos sucursales en Diferentes Zonas del area central del pais.
Acerquese a nosotros sera un gusto atenderle
Moravia - detras de la Iglesia catolica - 2-240-4451
San Jose - Detras de Diario Extra - 2-222-7809
San Jose por el Hotel Balmoral - 2-221-4305
Heredia - Del Bar Doble Cero 25 al norte - 2-261-8718.
San Ramon de Alajuela - a un costado de Alis - 2-447-0031.
HOURS: Monday-Saturday - 8am-5:30pm