HP’s Instant Ink service left me with invisible benefits | Consumer affairs
I subscribed to Instant Ink for my HP printer a few years ago. The monthly cost is based on how often you use the ink. When the ink runs out, the printer will send a message to HP and send a replacement cartridge by mail.
However, I have been hardly using my printer so I tried to reduce the amount of ink ‘ordered’ each month. It is very difficult to do this on the website. In the end, I got conflicting messages saying that I had cancelled and changed my subscription.
In the end it turned out that it had been cancelled and, after a very frustrating call to the customer service helpline, I was told it couldn’t be reset.
HP has sent me a message to my printer, stating that the subscription is over and the ink has been made unusable. This means that I have four ink cartridges that I cannot use. It is hard to believe how much ink I have used and how much I paid for it.
CR, Norfolk
HP’s Instant Ink subscription, which the company says has 11 million subscribers around the world, claims to offer Britons a saving of up to 70% on their printing costs. HP claims that subscribers pay for the pages printed per month, rather than the cartridges. This is a fact some users might not be aware of. For a home user, this monthly subscription service starts at 99p for 10 pages, and goes up to £9.99 for 300. You started out paying £1.99 in 2019 for 50 pages but the cost of this plan increased to £2.99 earlier this year.
HP says: “Customers can adjust their plan or cancel whenever they like. Instant Ink subscription cartridges can only be used if the printer is signed up for the HP Instant Ink service. The subscription will be cancelled at the end. After that, the cartridges will cease to work and you will need to return them to HP for recycling using the enclosed postage-paid envelopes. To continue printing after the billing cycle ends, customers are still able to use standard cartridges in their printer.”
Overall you spent about £90 and feel that by disabling the cartridges HP is preventing you from using ink you have paid for. While the company does follow the rules of this scheme, it seems cruel not to allow you complete the cartridge in your printer. This is why I feel you were shortchanged.
We accept letters but are unable to answer them individually. Email us at [email protected] or write to Consumer Champions, Money, the Guardian, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Include a contact number for a daytime. All letters must be submitted and published in accordance with our terms and conditions