Price increase of HP Instant Ink

[Philco1]

On Saturday 22nd January, I setup my new printer and registered for HP ink on a 6 month free trial and then £1.99pm (with no mention of any price increase)

I wasn’t sure of registering as I also have a laser which I use as my default printer, however, I thought at £24pa it’s probably worth it as it will take at least a couple of years to go through a set of normal inks as it did with my previous printer

To my surprise, one day later on Sunday 23rd January, I received an email to inform me the price had gone up by £1pm to £2.99

That's one day after I signed up at £1.99!!!

I will be cancelling

[UnhappyPH]

That's exactly what happened to me.

Yet, HP are still advertising the previous price plans on their website.

The increase feels unjustified, but it's even more unreasonable to advertise a deal, then increase the prices - in my case, the new plan prices were emailed less than 24 hours after signup.

I see another community member has contacted UK trading standards. And I'd agree that this does come across as misleading advertising.  Other community members report receiving emails about the price increase since around 8th January. So, clearly, HP knew about the increase when we signed up.

Also, HP claim 'up to 70%' savings if you use instant ink. Clearly the savings have been hit by the price increase. But also, the claimed savings only apply if you had signed up to the 700 pages per month business plan. HP state on their website that the most popular ink plan is 100 pages per month.  So, to claim savings on a plan which is 7 times what most people are signing up for (probably less now following prices increased) doesn't seem justified.  Again, one for trading standards perhaps.

[Aqua4]

100% price increase for me, 50 page plan: 1,99€ to 3,99€. This will not save any money anymore, as advertised, but will be far more expensive, even when using all 50 pages:

By weight (530g), the instant ink cartridge seems to be the same as the HP 135X, claiming 2400 pages. I'm currently using about 30 pages per month.

HP 135X on Amazon: 73€

New Instant Ink @50 pages/month: 2400/50 * 3.99€ = 191.52€

New Instant Ink @30 pages/month: 2400/30 * 3.99€ = 319.20€

Old Instant Ink @50 pages/month: 2400/50 * 1.99€ = 95.52€

Old Instant Ink @30 pages/month: 2400/30 * 1.99€ = 159.20€

HP 135X @50 pages/month: 73€/2400 * 50= 1.52€/month

HP 135X @30 pages/month: 73€/2400 * 30= 0.91€/month

Seeing these numbers I realize that even before the 100% price increase it wasn't worth it, but now it's just excessive.

[BillingSurprise]

I also have been notified of a price increase on my plan starting with the February billing.  

[thewildrover]

Ok, so I've done some sums, not wanting to cut off my nose kind of thing. I've looked at all my usage and cartridge replacements since I got the printer 18 months ago. It looks like this:

• Total Pages printer = 715
• Average Page Printed = 37.63
• Subscription paid (@ £1.99) = £37.81
• Replacement cartridges Used = 2x colour 1x black - I do have a pair sent ready to be put in, but the colour is still around 50% and the black is low, but probably around 15-20%. 

Increasing the subscription to £2.99 would mean it would have cost me £56.81 over the same period.

I notice that the cartridges have the XL part number on them, so that does make a significant difference in calculating the costs.

So far my current cartridge usage would have cost £60.99 (assuming I buy HP cartridges).

If I assume a certain usage left in the current set, then actually, it is still cheaper sticking with the £2.99 plan. I'd estimate another 6 months still in the colour, and the black is fairly imminent, so that's going to work out at roughly £75 in subscription (at the new rate), but I'd have used £83 in cartridges.

Of course this all depends on your usage, how many photos you print etc., but it does seem to be a fine line now, and not so clear whether it's worth the subscription or not. Of course you could factor in convenience, as you don't have to go hunting for replacements in a last minute rush.

It also seems that third party ones aren't all that cheap either.

So, overall, yeah, it's an unpleasant thing they've done, and for sure new customers have been totally screwed, but as far as I can work out, we're not being overcharged either.

Hope that helps,

Andy.

[sjmleicester]

It's still a very hefty hike in price.

Their print cartridges were always extortionately priced. I supposed the lower Instantink prices over the last few years were to get people to sign up to their scheme. Now let the gouging begin.

I might just drop down to the 99p level and if I go over it'll just be an extra quid. I print off monthly bills for my records but then usually just the first page summary sheet.  

[Zavaged]

It's a criminal price increase.

A price increase which will make me cancel my subscription entirely.

How can this ever be for the good of the consumers? Give me a break.

Methods like this should be illegal.

[ProgRod]

Yep, same here. Just had email notifying me of a 50 PERCENT !! increase in the cost of my plan. Utterly outrageous unjustifiable and greedy. If I put the prices of my products up that much I would go out of business. Nothing we can say will change that though...that's big corporations for you, they will take the hit of losing a few customers and still up their profits. Shall be shopping around.

[ghfd]

This is shameful behaviour from HP who also seem suspiciously quiet on here. For those who do max out their print allowance each month, £2.99 probably does still work out as a good deal for them, but for lower users, it's not acceptable. It's the 50% increase which is the main kick in the teeth for everyone regardless of how much they print. I understand prices go up and unfortunately this is the main downside of products supplied as services as ultimately the customer has their hands tied when they enter into such schemes and simply has to suck it up. Either that or they have to downgrade to a cheaper package to save money but get much less for it. Perhaps HP could have softened the blow by introducing a 30 page plan at £1.99. For my usage, which averages 22 pages a month on a cheapo HP home printer, I'm seriously considering moving to an Epson model and their ReadyPrint scheme just as a matter of principle. There's also a possibility to save money that way too. They currently have 30 pages at £1.29, 50 at £1.99. Saying that, they'll probably follow HP's lead too and whack their prices up as well after profiting a bit from customers migrating over to them in protest over HP's greed. 

 

[MuggedOff]

50% increase - and I had been warned Against buying an HP printer because of the companies  ink pricing policy. . Feeling like a fool for ever trusting HP. only an occasional user. £1.99 for 50 pages a month not cheap but just about acceptable. Nothing to stop them moving to £3.99 £4.99 £9..99 / month whatever in the coming months  Exploring other avenues, and as head of procurement at a large listed company we will be migrating away from all HP lease agreements as soon as they expire.