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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
I also bought a new HP printer in the last year and I wanted to buy my ink locally but this week it is disabled and I can’t print anything
Hewlett-Packard :: Highly Pernicious.
What a petty and flagrantly unethical, parasitic business practice this ink scam has become. I don’t want to draw too close a comparison, but there are aspects of their behavior that seem very similar to the prescription opioid manufacturers, though obviously without fatal consequences.
I started Instant Ink exactly two years ago. At first it worked as advertised and I didn’t mind paying a little more for the convenience. However beginning in the second year, the print stopped detecting and reporting empty cartridges, they would read 1/4 full even when bone dry, causing extreme wear on the print heads. and I would have to contact customer service and ask for a courtesy shipment.
The last time this happened, about a month before the 2nd year ended, when I personally requested a new cartridge, the shipment time was notably longer than previous times, on the order of 7-10 business days. I agreed but no cartridges were ever shipped. When I tried again, two weeks later, they had no record of my prior request, and the projected shipping time was *3-4 weeks*. In disgust I canceled my subscription that day, but failed to note the caveat, in whatever fine print it was buried, that the remainder of “my” ink cartridges, three of which are still 75% full, would be rendered “Instantly” unusable, and I would be expected to purchase new ones for $75, and mail back the old ones! I guess that wasn’t “my” ink after all, nor is it effectively my printer.
HP should have marketed, or been required to market, this product as a lease. It is otherwise entirely deceptive and entirely in bad, sheisty, little grabby handed faith.
At the moment my all-in-one printer will respond to no commands, to print or otherwise. (“SCAN: You cannot use this function because it has been disabled. For more information, contact the person who set up the printer.” “CLEAN PRINT HEAD: The printer is busy. Try again later.”) and just shows an error: “These cartridges cannot be used until printer is enrolled in Instant Ink.”
An email from HP the day my subscription ended reads, in part, “Subscription cartridges will no longer work since you have cancelled, so install store-bought HP Original cartridges to keep printing…. Please send back all subscription cartridges in the postage-paid Planet Partners envelope that was provided. If you do not have an envelope, you can request one.” Nope.
It baffles me that HP would treat so many customers this way. Unless of course, they are intentionally loading the printer business with as much liability as possible prior to selling it…. Nah.
I’m ready to join a class action suit about the instant ink from hp. My printer was disabled when I tried to cancel the subscription.
I paid for it I’m highly upset
I purchased a printer on Oct 22 of 2022. I had the “free trial” for the insta ink and at the end of the trial period I did not renew because of me. it was not worth the cost due to the fact I don’t do enough printing. I would say around Jan? I started to have issues with my printer. Nothing was working and lights were flashing. I only have a tiny window on the printer and could not understand the error issue. I had a total hip replacement in Jan and did not have time really to mess with the printer. My HP laptop hard drive failed and it had all the info for the printer program Just this week I finally found out the problem and learned of the class action against HP. I had TWO insta ink cartridges that were FULL of ink they had just sent me. I found out that using these cartridges and the fact I opted out of not staying in the insta ink program. they were able to remotely access my printer and render it totally UNUSEABLE. I could not do anything. Today I replaced the cartridges with non HP brand ink cartridges and we will see how it goes. I turned off the remote monitoring part of the app. BUT for 10 of the 12 months I had this brand new printer I was locked out of using it. This is unacceptable. The printer was paid for in FULL by me the day I got it. They should not be allowed to lock anyone out of being able to use something that was paid for. I will never again by another HP printer again, Maybe not even any other HP product
Paid for HP InstaInk service from 2019 to 2022 and part of 2023. Pages never printed properly/legible/in proper color. I ALWAYS had to troubleshoot. I resorted to purchasing ink cartridges from the store, but now I’m getting an message that I cannot use the printer unless it is enrolled in InstaInk. So I purchased a printer and ink and can’t use it because it’s not enrolled in their monthly subscription – which I don’t need. Absolute rip off and waste of paper trying to print a document that never comes out right.
Ive never had a printer work better, so im afraid to cancel the service switch to normal ink because it had issues when i tried before. I cant afford another printer thats an all in one. So they got me hook line and sinker. HP needs to be held accountable. I sure hope this lawsuit goes somewhere….
I just bought a new hp printer and haven’t open the box yet …..I’m so disgusted with this “instant ink” ripoff and the ability of HP to “SHUT DOWN YOUR PRINTER” if they don’t like what you’re doing that I’ll probably return it and keep using the old Hp printer I have now that has never failed me and I can use any ink I want to.
Basically what they’re telling me is “sure you bought the printer” but if WE (HP) don’t like how you’re using it we won’t allow you to print on it. ……should be illegal to do that.
After paying the monthly fee for a couple of years and only getting one set of cartridges (we don’t print that much), we realized we were paying a very high rate for printing and canceled our subscription. HP killed the cartridges currently in our printer, cartridges we had already paid for (and more) and that still had ink in them. Apparently buying their product isn’t enough, you also have to pay a fee to use their product.
HP made their short term money grab and has lost a customer for life.
instant print subscriber for 4 years – what a waste of money