Price increase of HP Instant Ink

[Angsu1]

I also need to add my voice to the chorus of people using HP billing to complain bitterly about the 33% increase in my monthly bill.  Cost of living going up by about 6%.  What a way to run a company.  If the increase were to have been 10% it would have been livable with but 33% is really exorbitant.  

[Silky86]

Horrific increase in percentage terms. Will put myself and a lot of others off. Very disappointed

[4spa]

Very disappointed by the unexpected price increase and I echo the comments of others.

I was going to 'recommend a friend' but I don't think it would be fair for them to sign up and then be hit with an instant 50% price increase.

[UnhappyPH]

I agree with the comments above.

I bought an HP Envy printer, signed up for instant ink and the next day, the price increased - by 50% for the £1.99 plan.
If I downgrade to the £0.99 option, I would only get 10 pages instead of the previous 15.

In both cases, it's effectively a 50% price increase.

This 50% increase is galling. And not a great start to be notified the day after buying the printer and signing up to instant ink!

Given the number of pages we print, buying original HP cartridges elsewhere eg from Amazon is probably more cost effective.

[thewildrover]

Yes, same here, on the old £1.99 plan for about 18 months.

I appreciate that costs go up, and to be fair the price is good for me at £1.99, and doesn't break the bank at £2.99. But, the level of increase, even at this price point is not acceptable. At around 50%, it's 10x higher than the level of inflation at this time (which is at a decades all time high already).

I'm not a heavy user by any means, but fall somewhere between the lower 10 page level, and my current 50 page level, so dropping a level is not really an option.

Consider this feedback, but I will be considering options in the future.

Cheers

Andy.

[UnhappyPH]

"Ink technology is expensive to develop,"

Maybe, but surely that cost has already been met. 

HP advise it's regarding demand and other factors.

[amanda_mcd]

I have tried speaking with HP through WhatsApp but it's going round in circles, getting no where.

The cheapest price plan is still 99p but 15 pages has been reduced to 10.

The second plan of £1.99 has a 50% price increase.

The third plan of £3.49 has approximately a 28% increase.

All other plans remain unchanged with no price increase.

How can HP get away with this? It's completely unfair pricing. Is there anyone we can take this to?

I understand inflation etc but these rises aren't fair or consistent. 

[UnhappyPH]

I share your concern.  However, I'm not sure there is much we can do.

We can raise this through various forums. However, ultimately, I guess we all have the choice to cancel the instant ink subscription if we are not content. That's said with me having just joined and having a free subscription for the next few months.

I will have to decide at the end of the free trial whether to stay with instant ink - or not. 

If you need to print more than 100 pages a month, it looks like you'd be better off purchasing a new printer with another free trial - of 9 months+.

[thewildrover]

That's not why I bought this printer though, I wanted to get away from the disposable system. I didn't buy the cheapest printer in the range, and considered the running cost when I bought it.

The monthly payment was perfect for my needs, but even this small (monetary value) increase will force me to reconsider as this machine gets older. It's not a lot for sure, another £12/year, but that's a pack of third party cartridges.

They can market the benefits of using genuine ones all they like, but for light users, it often doesn't matter, and the differences are often not noticeable to the average home user.

I probably should have known better really, and perhaps we've all been too naive. I wonder how many will not have even looked properly at the Email, or even notice their bills have gone up slightly, and just accept, or be ignorant, that this is happening.

[HippoM]

I also received email advising price increase effective February, increase from £1.99 to £2.99 for 50 pages

I lodged a complaint with HP, they offered 1 month free to compensate when they automatically increased my December direct debit

Has anyone any positive ways of advertising our complaints, especially as the Plan is till offered online at £1.99 per month