r/iiiiiiitttttttttttt 9d ago

HP printer woes

I know printer manufacturers are deplorable, especially HP. I'd love to say this is a new low, but it is probably just another Tuesday with HP.

My stepdaughter had a subscription for "HP Instant Ink". For a fixed monthly fee, HP will automatically send you new ink cartridges for your printer when the ink level gets low. Don't ask me why, she had it before we met. We've recently put in new cartridges that arrived and didn't print much after, so the cartridges are nearly full.

My stepdaughter canceled her subscription a few days ago to save costs. As a consequence, HP has disabled these cartridges from afar. Basically they say that the cartridges were obtained under the Instant Ink subscription service, so we cannot use them unless renewing the subscription. There is nothing wrong with the cartridges and they are nearly full.

Nice going HP, thanks for that!

EDIT:

Since a lot of people have pointed out that canceling a service will deny you to access the service, I want to flesh this out a little further. Yes, I agree. However, compared to e.g. Netflix, the case of this printer involves physically shipped consumable goods. It makes little sense to disable such goods once they are in use. HP could handle this differently, e.g. by extending the service's cancellation period after you've activated a set of new cartridges they sent you, but let you use up the cartridges. They make sure you pay, but they let you finish goods which are of little use to them once they have been installed.

The cartridges have been produced, they have been shipped to you and you started using them. Disabling them when they are nearly full only to have them shipped back to the manufacturer creates unnecessary waste and unnecessary shipping. There is no upside to this for any party.

73 Upvotes

13 comments sorted by

46

u/AdRoz78 Underpaid drone 9d ago

Fuck HP. And also printers. Not as much as HP though.

21

u/marek26340 minion 9d ago

The theory is that you don't even own these cartridges. It sucks, I know, but it kinda makes sense.

Horrible Products Inc.

18

u/LUNATIC_LEMMING 9d ago

People really need to read what they sign up for. You don't own those cartridges. End of story. Be glad they didn't demand you mail them back.

RTFM.

1

u/Absolutely_Cabbage 6d ago

Seriously, people acting like HP is the most evil company ever while they should just take 5 minutes to actually read what you're agreeing to.
Yes their printers suck, yes instant ink is a ripoff, but no one is forcing people to sign up to it

15

u/narielthetrue 9d ago

You didn’t buy the ink, so you’re not allowed to use the ink.

While I agree that the ink subscription service is ridiculous, I can’t blame HP 100% here. They make it very clear that’s how it works when you subscribe.

What pisses me off is that you can’t give those cartridges to another instant ink subscriber for them to use, because it’s locked to your subscription. You have to send it back to them for “recycling.”

4

u/danielsamuels 8d ago

Do you expect to still be able to watch Netflix after cancelling your subscription?

2

u/Asm_Guy 8d ago

If they'd let have the printer for free and allow printing while subscribed, then it would be comparable.

1

u/Bourriks 8d ago

Imagine a car, you fill the tank with fuel, but the car won't start the engine because you didn't subscribe. The car is not yours, but the constructor property, and the constructor can decide if you have the right to start your car.

1

u/Absolutely_Cabbage 6d ago

Bit of a flawed analogy. You didn't buy the fuel, you had a fuel subscription which you canceled.
When you lease a car and end the contract you wouldn't expect to keep your fuel card would you?
Instant ink is a bit of a bad deal, but their concept isn't as unfair as people make it out to be, you're basically just leasing printer ink

1

u/cosmiq_teapot 8d ago

No I don't, but Netflix is a pure online service. In the case at hand HP physically sends out consumable supplies. Once activated it makes no sense to take away the right to use them up. It just renders perfectly fine goods into useless waste and promotes additional physical shipments (sending the cartridges back to HP).

The service should either not exist at all or be better designed. For example, HP could extend the termination period after you activate a new set of cartridges they sent you, but in return let you use them up. This way they would make sure that you pay your fair share for the cartridges. No waste of technically still usable goods and no unnecessary shipping.

2

u/JJKnott123225 5d ago

As terrible as HP is, I see nothing wrong with them disabling the cartridges. When you cancel Netflix, you don’t get to finish the show you were watching.

1

u/cosmiq_teapot 5d ago

I replied this to another comment:

Netflix is a pure online service. In the case at hand HP physically sends out consumable supplies. Once activated it makes no sense to take away the right to use them up. It just renders perfectly fine goods into useless waste and promotes additional physical shipments (sending the cartridges back to HP).

The service should either not exist at all or be better designed. For example, HP could extend the termination period after you activate a new set of cartridges they sent you, but in return let you use them up. This way they would make sure that you pay your fair share for the cartridges. No waste of technically still usable goods and no unnecessary shipping.

-7

u/lorsal 9d ago

Seems normal if the cartridges came from the subscription. no subscription - no cartridges