OfficeMax gyps customers out of printer ink cartridge refills by only refilling them halfway, a class action lawsuit claims in Illinois.

Plaintiff Richard Schaefer alleges in the OfficeMax ink refill class action lawsuit that he and other Class Members “each paid $10 to have Defendants ‘refill’ their printer ink cartridge at an OfficeMax ‘refill’ station and were damaged when in fact only half of the ink cartridge was refilled.”

According to the class action lawsuit, "OfficeMax carried out its unfair and deceptive scheme by advertising that an ‘Ink Refill’ would only cost ‘$10,’ while secretly instructing employees to only fill ink cartridges halfway. No reasonable customer would expect ‘refill’ to mean ‘half fill.’”
The OfficeMax class action lawsuit continues: “OfficeMax failed to disclose its common practice of half refilling printer ink cartridges with the intent that Plaintiff and members of the proposed class would rely on this omission in paying for printer ink cartridge refills instead of purchasing a new printer ink cartridge. Defendants should have either refilled the ink cartridges in full or charged $5.00 for the half refills.”

Schaefer is seeking $5 million in restitution for a proposed class of all persons or companies in Illinois who paid to have a printer ink cartridge refilled by OfficeMax but did not receive a full refill of the ink cartridge.

A copy of the OfficeMax Printer Ink Cartridge Refill Class Action Lawsuit can be read here.

The case is Richard Schaefer v. OfficeMax Inc., et al., Case No. 12-L-12L334, Circuit Court for the 20th Judicial Circuit, St. Clair County, Illinois.