Price increase of HP Instant Ink

[Disappointed16]

You must be on a $5/month plan. You are lucky if it has only gone up to $6. Are you getting the same number of pages/ roll-over?

[UnhappyPH]

The higher price plans have increased by a lower percentage - in some cases 0%.

The lowest price plans have increased by slightly more than 50%. While it's not a lot in money terms, if people at least in the UK order cartridges online, there is usually no shipping cost. And I understand HP will send envelopes for recycling for free too.

If you only print a small number of pages per month, but the cost increased by 50%, then the benefits of instant ink may be less clear than if you're on a $5 price plan.

Besides, it's not only that - I signed up for instant ink at an agreed price plan. But within 24 hours of registering for instant ink and HP+, prices increased by 50%. If I downgrade to the lowest level, I would only get 10 pages instead of 15 per month for the same price. That's a stealth increase of 50%.  And while some users might cope with 15 pages per month, even for light users 10 pages per month starts to force customers to upgrade.  And then you go from £0.99 to £2.99 per month to get the same number of pages. Previously that would have been £1.99 per month. 

So, it's the way the price was communicated (or not) - it's misleading to advertise a service and increase prices immediately a customer registers. And that the effect is so pronounced on the lower price plans, which I understand a lot of customers are on.

The price per page on the lower price plans has increased dramatically. And the 15 page plan was free not so long ago.
It's gone from free 15 pages for life (but clearly not human life!) to 15 pages for £0.99 or equivalent in other countries to 10 pages for £0.99.  At this rate, it will be £0.99 for 1 page soon!

[PeteC22]

Yes, same # of pages & roll-over pages.

[PeteC22]

In my case, I've had this printer over 10 months now...That is a fair point, and had my costs risen 50% undoubtably I'd have been more upset!  Also, I've been using Instant Ink for years now, and this is the first substantial price increase.  Instant Ink actually winds up with me keeping the same HP printer longer than I used to!  Before, when I needed to buy a set of OfficeJet Pro (my favorite line of HP printers) cartridges, always the XL size as I do some work from home, I'd look at the total cost, and go "crap!  might as well buy the new model for a few bucks more!".  Usually, I'd end up having to run out to Staples and pay full retail price.  So, Instant Ink really has been a money/convenience saver for me, perhaps why I'm a bit more sanguine about this notification.  Did HP re-evaluate and discover the lower-page plans were not as profitable as the higher page count plans?  Maybe.  I will say that I can't disagree on how someone with a 50% plan cost increase would get pretty frosty!

[MikeSanf1]

After I complained to HP I received a free month with up to 700 pages on my main printer and a free month on my 15 ppm older printer. This won't really offset the price hike that I will receive after, though. 

[JW-instantink]

Just to inform all of you:

As I am located in Germany I wrote an email to the German CEO some days ago. Today I received a call from HP that they are offering an additional 3 month trial period, which equals ca. 12 €. This postpones the increase a year in my case...

I am still unhappy, but better a bird in the hand...

[MikeSanf1]

That is excellent news. At last they are hearing our voices. 

[Teddy2100]

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.

[MikeSanf1]

I have a 9015 Officejet Pro  A great printer. I have not bought cartridges for it as I have used Instant Ink since its conception having been one of the triallists for the UK. However they do seem to be expensive for the XL versions. 

[Llanelliguy]

I have the 9025 Officejet Pro and my cartridges are also expensive. It was cheaper for me to buy another printer than buying the XL cartridges.

I really liked my printer but it's the principle. The way they have increased the lower price plans is not fair.

With schemes like Instant ink it will be harder to find compatible cartridges as companies like HP take over the market with these schemes.

The only thing that is guaranteed with these plans is regular price increases.