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A consumer says that he and others with an HP “Instant Ink” subscription are left with faulty, error-prone cartridges in a class action lawsuit filed in California federal court Tuesday.
Lead plaintiff Radek Barnert wants to represent other HP Instant Ink subscribers who were promised an “endless supply of printer ink,” but ended up with late and faulty cartridges that leaves their printers inoperable for extended periods of time.
The plaintiff claims he pre-paid for a two-year HP Instant Ink subscription when he purchased a new printer from Best Buy in June, 2020. As a result of late shipments of multiple error-prone cartridges, he says he was unable to use his printer for 35 days. He says that other flaws in the program render him unable to cancel the subscription or use store-bought ink for excessive down times.
“In a rush to convert its business model to a subscription-based business, HP launched its subscription-based ‘Instant Ink’ program, which is supposed to provide owners of HP printers with an essentially endless supply of printer ink—without ever having to wait to purchase new ink cartridges—because replacement ink cartridges are always at the ready,” explains the class action lawsuit.
Those who subscribe to the HP Instant Ink program are promised that their printer will notify the company when the cartridges get low. Then, in exchange for a flat, monthly fee, HP will send subscribers replacement cartridges so they never run out of ink.
The HP Instant Ink subscription comes with two “significant catches,” alleges Barnert.
First, subscribers are only allowed to use HP ink cartridges that are supplied by the program and cannot use store-bought supplies. While this should not be a problem because the HP Instant Ink program purports to keep subscribers supplied with the cartridges they need, the plaintiff says “HP routinely cannot deliver upon the promises it made regarding the Program.”
“Specifically, HP routinely fails to timely provide Subscribers with replacement printer cartridges, and, even when it does, Subscribers find themselves overwhelmed with errors that prevent them from printing,” alleges the class action lawsuit.
Barnert alleges that he and other HP Instant Ink subscribers are often left unable to use their printers for extended periods of time because of problems with the program. Further, when customers complaint, HP claims that it cannot fix the problems and instead offers to ship more ink cartridges – a process that can take more than a week.
To add insult to injury, HP requires subscribers to purchase ink cartridges as a part of the Instant Ink program; however, if they cancel their subscription, HP disables the cartridges and forces them to buy new ink cartridges from a retail location, claims the class action lawsuit.
The plaintiff also accuses HP of misrepresenting its promise to recycle used ink cartridges at no cost to subscribers. Barnert alleges that the company refused to send the prepaid shipping materials to return his used or malfunctioning ink cartridges and told him to instead throw them away.
HP violated the terms of its own contract with its Instant Ink subscribers, as well as consumer protection laws, alleges the class action lawsuit. Barnert wants to represent Instant Ink subscribers nationwide, as well New York subclasses.
The plaintiff wants to put a stop to the HP Instant Ink subscription and also force the company to reimburse him and other Class Members.
Do you pay for an HP Instant Ink subscription? We want to hear from you! Tell us about your experience in the comment section below.
The plaintiff is represented by Mark L. Javitch of the Javitch Law Office, and Thomas A. Zimmerman, Jr. and Matthew C. De Re of Zimmerman Law Offices.
The HP Instant Ink Subscription Class Action Lawsuit is Barnert v. HP, Inc., Case No. 5:21-cv-05199 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California San Jose Division.
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572 thoughts onHP ‘Instant Ink’ Renders Printers ‘Entirely Worthless,’ Claims Class Action Lawsuit
We also have been ripped off by HP Instant Ink. We paid hundreds of dollars for ink that we now cannot use. It is a scam.
HP is a joke, i have had the same experience as everyone else, i had over 100 rollover pages so thought i would cancel my subscription and use those up and start back again when i had used them up. instead printer stopped working the next day and i lost all the rollover pages. when i tried to print some thing, instead it printed a page saying i needed to renew my subscription. I went to do that and get the lowest one to be told i had to pay for previous month in order to make it work. Never will buy another HP product
Yes, I am also a victim of the HP instant ink program. Although HP was still billing me monthly for the instant ink cartridges, I ,too, ran out of ink and had to buy xtra HP ink cartridges for my HP printer. After several months of HP ink service billing (and getting paid) by my credit card – paid) but not receiving the HP ink cartridges that I paid for – and running out of ink – I got tired of running out of ink and bought several HP ink cartridges from Amazon – even though HP was still billing my credit card monthly and getting paid. I got fed up and called the HP ink service and cancelled my print service. Now, I can not print using my HP printer. I would like to join the Class Action lawsuit filed on behalf of the users of the HP instant print service.
I purchased my HP printer from Amazon in June of 2023. It came with a free trial of the instant ink subscription service. The free subscription service ran out the beginning of February 2024. This is when HP started billing my credit card. However, while I was trying to print out some very important documents, my printer ran out of ink. I had to purchase HP ink from Amazon that day. Thank goodness I have Prime and it was delivered the next day. I was livid that I ran out of ink. So, I canceled the subscription service. Now, I’m unable to print out anything. I even have installed the HP ink that is specifically for my printer. First, it said that my ink wasn’t compatible. Then after installing the exact style of ink recommended for my printer, it now says I have to enroll in the instant ink service. I paid for my printer. I pay for the paper. I pay for my electricity. I bought verified hp ink. Yet I’m being told that I can’t use my printer unless I pay a monthly fee. This can’t be legal. I could understand if HP was leasing me the printer, were paying for the paper, etc. But they aren’t. This just doesn’t seem legal to me.
Everything about HP instant ink is garbage, but especially the final charge the month after cancelling, the inability to use the printer because it “can’t connect to HP” regardless of our fiber internet, the rollover pages disappearing, and on and on. More effective to just light money on fire, then at least I get a little warmth out of it.
Interested in becoming lead plaintiff in hp lawsuit due to inability to used printer due to poor wi fi connectivity and instant ink
HP Instant Ink program is a scam. After reading the other comments on this we are experiencing the same issue with HP Instant Ink. My wife bought her HP 7900 all-in-one printer and we subscribed to the instant ink plan, 100 pages per month is what the plan said. We have been paying two payments of $6.37 each per month since May 2023 and have never gotten another ink cartridge from them. My wife doesn’t print off many pages per month. I think 58 pages was about the most she’s used the printer. I chatted online with HP and they said I could cancel my plan but it would run until Mar 20th 2024 and then we’d be billed a final payment of $6.99. I wanted the plan stopped immediately. Plus, the HP customer rep I chatted with said we still had 100% of the color ink remaining and 40% of the black; however, these ink cartridges would not work in the printer after 20 March 2024 since we were canceling our account. I asked about the $12.74 we’ve been paying them for 10 months and they said that was the cost of the subscription. (I have all of the chat saved with them). I told them this not right and wanted to speak to a supervisor but the person said the supervisor would tell me the same thing. HP needs to be help accountable for this scam they are running.