Price increase of HP Instant Ink

[MikeSanf1]

Exactly. 

[thewildrover]

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@Teddy2100 wrote:

I'm not sure what printer you have but for my printer, cartridges from "The Cartridge People" are £15.99 (BLACK 190 PAGES) & £19.49 (TRI-COLOUR 165 PAGES).

For a equivalent cartridge to what instant ink send out, I would need to get HP302XL and these are £30.99 (BLACK 480 PAGES) & £31.49 (TRI-COLOUR 330 PAGES).

Even at £2.99 a month that's only £35.88 per year, its still a massive saving as they send out the XL cartridges.

I myself will be moving down a package, not because of the price but I currently have no need for 50 + 150.

I'm in no way justifying the massive price increase.

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 Be careful with this calculations though. You seem to have forgotten to factor in how long a pair of XL cartridges would last you. Mine have been lasting about 18 months, the colour could even go as far as two years. When you allow that per year, that changes a lot.

A pair of HP XL cartridges for my Envy 4630 are about £42, even if they lasted 18 months, that's £28 per year. So, no, it's not a massive saving on the new plan, it's about £8 more. On the old plan I was saving around £4.

Now that was the kind of incentive I had to use the Instant Ink Plan in the first place.

Of course we're not talking about megabucks here, and it wouldn't hurt me much to carry on with the plan. It's the principle of it though. Using the 'Plan' is supposed to work out better for all, both the user and the supplier. It's also the way they've mislead new customers into the plan, and also mislead my when I cancelled, and they presented exaggerated figures to entice me to stay (they have basically calculated the ink they've posted to me, and not the ink I've actually used).

[Dilip_18]

@thewildrover

Thank you for responding, I appreciate your time and effort.

I apologize for the inconvenience. 

For more details regarding the Ink please click here or visit this link

Please feel free to contact us here anytime you need any further assistance.

Have a great day!

[thewildrover]

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@Dilip_18 wrote:

@thewildrover

Thank you for responding, I appreciate your time and effort.

I apologize for the inconvenience. 

For more details regarding the Ink please click here or visit this link

Please feel free to contact us here anytime you need any further assistance.

Have a great day!

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Thank you for responding, but that link just goes to the page that shows the out of date prices, so isn't very helpful. Or are you saying that all of this is not happening and it's going to stay at £1.99 for 50 pages?

It's not assistance I need, and this isn't inconvenient. It's simply a fair (and honest) pricing and price increase policy that's being asked for. I accept that prices do have to go up from time to time, but not by this kind of margin.

Even half the increase would have put it nearer to my real running costs. So if you'd increased the 50 page plan by perhaps 50p/mth, that would have been easier to justify, and I probably would have stuck with it.

But even now, you're still pointing me towards incorrect information. That is not acceptable either.

[UnhappyPH]

I echo Wildrover's thoughts.

Also, the 'change plan' options in the app still show the old prices and number of pages. That is very poor - given that changes apply from the next billing period, when higher prices and lower pages/month apply.

That is very misleading. Some users might have missed the email. Or if they want to check/change plan, might reasonably assume the options displayed via the HP smart app would be the prices they will be charged. Customers shouldn't have to locate emails to verify the prices they will be charged, as your app and website show prices that will no longer apply.

[MikeSanf1]

Yes I agree.

It is misleading and unprofessional.

[UnhappyPH]

Certainly not what customers (or potential customers) would expect from a major company.

And the old plans continue to be promoted to new customers - that is not only misleading and unprofessional, but probably illegal.

[Aqua4]

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@thewildrover wrote:

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@Teddy2100 wrote:

I'm not sure what printer you have but for my printer, cartridges from "The Cartridge People" are £15.99 (BLACK 190 PAGES) & £19.49 (TRI-COLOUR 165 PAGES).

For a equivalent cartridge to what instant ink send out, I would need to get HP302XL and these are £30.99 (BLACK 480 PAGES) & £31.49 (TRI-COLOUR 330 PAGES).

Even at £2.99 a month that's only £35.88 per year, its still a massive saving as they send out the XL cartridges.

I myself will be moving down a package, not because of the price but I currently have no need for 50 + 150.

I'm in no way justifying the massive price increase.

---

 Be careful with this calculations though. You seem to have forgotten to factor in how long a pair of XL cartridges would last you. Mine have been lasting about 18 months, the colour could even go as far as two years. When you allow that per year, that changes a lot.

A pair of HP XL cartridges for my Envy 4630 are about £42, even if they lasted 18 months, that's £28 per year. So, no, it's not a massive saving on the new plan, it's about £8 more. On the old plan I was saving around £4.

Now that was the kind of incentive I had to use the Instant Ink Plan in the first place.

Of course we're not talking about megabucks here, and it wouldn't hurt me much to carry on with the plan. It's the principle of it though. Using the 'Plan' is supposed to work out better for all, both the user and the supplier. It's also the way they've mislead new customers into the plan, and also mislead my when I cancelled, and they presented exaggerated figures to entice me to stay (they have basically calculated the ink they've posted to me, and not the ink I've actually used).

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In page 8 of this thread you can see the calculation specific to my case - and I was hit with a 100% price increase. To sum up, with instant ink I would pay 319.20€ for the same cartridge that is currently sold for 73.19€. 

[GrumpyBill]

I'm only using around 15 to 20 pages a month. While £1.99 was Ok at c£24 a year the 50% rise to £36 a year makes instant ink economically unviable, so I've bought a tricolour and xl black for my 6400 printer for £27. If they last a year I'm on a winner. Very disappointed with HP's behaviour with this when UK inflation is around 5%. I felt I was being ripped off so I have cancelled instant ink from today. 

[choddo]

@GrumpyBill

That's pretty much my exact situation. New cartridges installed, just cancelled and will be looking at other manufacturers next time I buy a printer.

Nice to see "Once my billing cycle ends, I will receive one final bill of £1.99 plus any additional charges for extra pages printed." - How is that additional month's payment justified? Unless we've been paying in arrears? In which case fine.

edit: it's clearer in the confirmation email that it is indeed paid in arrears so I retract my previous whinge.