HP's Instant Ink

[Anonymous]

I just realized that HP has been charging me a fortune for printing. I realized it because we cancelled one of our cards - and then all of a sudden our printer stopped working! It told me to go to Instant Ink.com to fix it. When I did, I found that they've been charging me $1 for every 10 pages printed - which has added up with all of my children homeschooling. I tried to cancel it but then it says my printer will stop working permanently!

I bought this printer years ago and signed up for this instant ink because they forced me into it. Usually, we don't print much at home so I never noticed.

Is this the same with all printer brands now or is it unique to HP?

[Anonymous]

You don’t have to, you can always buy the cartridges separately. But it is usually cheaper to do instant ink. You should’ve kept an eye on it and changed to a cheaper plan if you use it that much. We pay $10 a month for 300 pages. I find the pricing to be a bargain if you work out how much ink cartridges cost in color, and I never have to worry about it.

[Anonymous]

I have never even heard of this. How do you pay per page? Why not just pay for the toner when it runs out? We switched to an epson with ink you just pour in. Life changer. No more expensive toner cartridges.

[Anonymous]

We bought cartridges from the store and the printer wouldn't work. When I called customer support, she said we had to use the instant ink cartridges! So I pay $2.99 a month for 50 pages - which used to be enough - and I guess a few months ago, they started charging $1 per 10 pages we go over. It's insane. Now I'm looking for a new printer that is not HP.

[Anonymous]

Just up it go the $5 program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We bought cartridges from the store and the printer wouldn't work. When I called customer support, she said we had to use the instant ink cartridges! So I pay $2.99 a month for 50 pages - which used to be enough - and I guess a few months ago, they started charging $1 per 10 pages we go over. It's insane. Now I'm looking for a new printer that is not HP.

I don't know of any HP printers that won't allow you to buy cartridges separately if you prefer that to Instant Ink. Maybe you got a bad support rep.

[Anonymous]

How does instant ink work? Don’t they ship the cartridges to you?

I’ve been buying cartridges because the whole thing seems shady to me, but I’m curious to know how it works.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How does instant ink work? Don’t they ship the cartridges to you?

I’ve been buying cartridges because the whole thing seems shady to me, but I’m curious to know how it works.

I love instant ink!
It charges you per the pages you print & not the amount of ink. I am an ECE teacher so I print a lot of things in color. The instant ink program has saved me so much money!
I’m usually on the 300 page a month plan. Think it’s around $10 a month. If I go over- I pay $1 for every 15 pages. Unused pages roll over. HP also sends me new ink when I’m running low.
I print a lot & have found it incredibly useful. Cheapest plan is 50 pages- at $4 a month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How does instant ink work? Don’t they ship the cartridges to you?

I’ve been buying cartridges because the whole thing seems shady to me, but I’m curious to know how it works.

They ship the cartridges to you, but they don’t charge you for them. You pay your monthly subscription and they will just keep sending you as many cartridges as you need. I love being able to print as much as I want in color without worrying about how much more it cost than printing in black-and-white. I don’t think we would have survived distance-learning without it.

We started with the lowest package, but upped it twice because we were enjoying the printer so much. I print out my kid’s daily checklist, sewing patterns, signs…