do i have to use the instant ink plan, or can i buy the ink as i want to? null

Question

Dianna · Accepted Answer

The problem is with instant ink, as I am discovering now, in the middle of the night with college papers due- can and will shut down your ability to use your printer if they deem that there is an issue with your instant ink account- I can't figure out what that problem is- and there are no reps obviously to help me at this time of night. So now I have leave my home, go out in the middle of the night and find a way to print my assignments- all with a perfectly brand new printer on my desk, but held hostage by HP instant ink. I would not recommend this. It sounded like a great idea, but now, not so much.

Answered by Dianna 5 years ago

TVfan · Answer

You do NOT have to use the instant ink plan. Be careful when you register your printer so you don't click to subscribe to instant ink. I don't & HP doesn't bug me with pop ups to use it..

Printerhostage · Answer

Do not get the Insta Ink plan. STAY AWAY. I've had it for years. They haven't sent me ink when I needed it. I've had to request ink every single time. I overpaid for the amount of printing I actually do. They say its based on what you actually print. If so, I wouldn't pay anything per month for some months. They charge you a set price based on an estimate of how much you will print, and if you don't print that much, tough luck. Use it or lose it, apparently. And then my printer started telling me that Insta Ink couldn't send me a new cartridge until it ran a certain test, which I could not get it to run. So, no printing. I cancelled my subscription, so now I can't print with ink in the printer because I am not in the service any more though I paid for that ink multiple times over. So, now I have to go out and buy ink separately (which is fine), but I don't know if it will release the printer even when there are new cartridges in there. Will it release the printer?

Answered by Printerhostage 3 years ago

Tschu · Answer

You can by your ink from any place that sells the cartridges you need. The ink plan seems to only be of value if you do a substantial amount of printing.

Batman · Answer

no, you may buy it as you need it

Randy · Answer

You can buy your own ink cartriges Dont forget to recycle your used cartriges

BrandyB · Answer

Ugh well as I was on the plan. I usually don't use it much so IDK if it's really worth it. I am getting ready for a craft show this weekend and used all my backup pages which came out to 1,020 or so pages. The problem is I'm not done with what I need, and now I'm out of ink. They don't send the ink fast enough so now I'm going to have to go out and buy the ink. As they are shipping it out today. So I am thinking it's not worth having for this reason. No one can predict what you need monthly cuz' your habits change instant too. LOL

Answered by BrandyB 4 years ago

Rozr · Answer

I buy my on ink as I need it. I didn’t get the ink plan.

Debb · Answer

You can buy ink as you want to.

Answer

I found out today that this is true. My wife enrolled in intangible ink when we worked from home. We cancelled our subscription. Went to use the printer today, a few days after our subscription ran out. We couldn’t print. Logged in to all of the apps it kept saying we needed to go to. The only message we had was that our subscription expired. To use HP ink cartridges only. I called support. They told me to re enroll to get it to work. Reluctantly we did and all of a sudden our printer worked again. Will not be buying HP again.

Answered by Anonymous 2 years ago

Answer

Do NOT subscribe to instant ink. I had the subscription and then cancelled (I don't print much and figured I'd just buy the cartridges when I needed them instead of getting charged every month). I'm still using the ink cartridges from instant ink only now the printer 'does not recognize the cartridges' it was printing fine before I cancelled the subscription. Also, you can't delete your credit card information on the HP site. Was charged even after cancelling and had to issue a dispute with my bank. All help and support takes 40+ minutes in chat. Do not subscribe. I just want to print with the printer and ink I paid for but no go.

jnelsong · Answer

So, my printer stopped working when it was full of ink and barely used.  I signed up for instant ink and problem fixed.  I canceled instant ink (because after paying $6 a month for a year plus, I hadn't gotten anything in return).  Then, I canceled and it my printer stopped working the day it ended.  I signed up again tonight, and what do you know, it now works!! within 2 minutes.  That is insane, they kidnap the printer you paid for.  I would rather rent the printer and no where I am.  This is robbery.  Shame on you!!!

Answer

Yes you do!!  They kidnap your printer.  My printer didn't work after a few months. I signed up for instant ink and every thing worked fine.  My husband died and I was looking at the bills and decided to make it, I had to cancel this $6 every month subscription. As soon as it was cancelled, my perfectly good printer just quit working.  I signed up again just now, and guess what, now my printer works.  They should just rent you a printer and you pay a monthly fee.  This is complete wrong and horrible.  This is American business, shame shame shame on you.

Hardy89 · Answer

You don’t have to use instant ink plan but you can not use the ink you purchased through the plan if you don’t. So I am going to buy my ink today and see what happens it should let me print

Gett · Answer

Actually, yes...you do. But only if you bought one of the HP printers with the model number ending in the letter, "e" such as the HP Office Jet Pro 9010e or the Laser Jet M209dwe. If you look on the box, it explicitly say so...albeit in the smallest print possible. 
These printers are cheaper than their standard counterpart such as the OJ Pro 9010, because Instant Ink is a requirement. But you can opt out of the Instant Ink program after awhile....I just don't know how long you're required to stay IN the program!

WhymeIwashappy · Answer

Yes it worked for years and now I’m a hostage ? hp envy 5660 why what is this ? My ink plan is so very simple the ink runs out I run out to get more INK ! It worked great I don’t need a plan I just need to be set free!

Victoria · Answer

Needing to hp ink service

HP7155 · Answer

You an but it separate

jojomonkey · Answer

I am a big fan of the Instant Ink system. When it first came out, I was a little weary at first, but once I sat down and did the math...it is a no brainer. If you look at your average box of ink for HP printers that use similar ink, you will get around 200 black and white documents, and up to approximately 175 color documents. I didnt know what the printer world lingo for "documents" was, so I looked it up and it is generally accepted that a black and white document is considered 5% ink coverage, and a color document is that plus a few percent in color coverage. The example given for a color document was a website, which is mainly black and white with some color thrown in. If you compare that to what a picture would be considered with coverage, for every photo you print, you would use the equivalent of 10-30 prints out of your 200 on those cartridges. With the Instant Ink program, you dont pay for ink. You pay for prints, and however much ink is required to provide you with the prints you have paid for is provided by HP. That means that at the end of the day with Instant Ink, a document and a photo( even a 8.5X11 photo) cost the same under Instant Ink. So with that being said...in the $3 plan you can print 50 prints a month. At the end of the year its around $36 plus tax, and you can print 600 prints in total. So whether you print 600 black and white documents, or 600 8.5x11 pictures...it costs $36 plus tax. If you were to do 600 8.5x11 photos, you would be buying upwards of 10 replacement packs at around $36 each. Yes I know you can buy XL cartridges that will be a bit more economical...but still nowhere close to the Instant Ink program. I also considered the fact that, typically your average consumer will buy one set of ink per year...whether you use it or if your printer dries out(yes they arent supposed to...but it does still happen). So by that logic...I can buy my own ink and get the normal small amount of ink at full price...or I can do Instant Ink and they take care of everything. They will send me the ink before I need it with free shipping to and from me. They remember the model number of printer and ink cartridge. They give me WAY more ink for the same dollar as buying it myself. I think HP has a home run product here and my honest question would be can anyone give me a reason NOT to sign up???

“do i have to use the instant ink plan, or can i buy the ink as i want to?”

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