HP disables home printer after user’s credit card expires

The owner of an HP home printer was recently shocked to discover the company could disable the device remotely after he failed to pay an InstantInk subscription fee.

Charlie Warzel — a writer for The Atlantic — discovered he could not print after seeing an error message that said his printer had been remotely disabled by HP.

After going to HP’s website, he discovered the credit card linked to his account had expired.

He first got the InstantInk subscription shortly after buying his OfficeJet Pro printer for $200 (R3,500) in 2022.

Warzel had understood that the subscription was effectively a remote ink-level checking service that allowed HP to see when they needed to ship a new cartridge.

What he didn’t realise until HP cut him off was that the subscription terms stipulated the cartridges remained the property of HP and were effectively being rented.

InstantInk is essentially a printing-as-a-service alternative to buying HP’s expensive ink cartridges, with customers paying for their ink on a per-page basis.

It functions much the same as a video or music streaming service, like Netflix, Disney+, Apple Music, and Spotify.

Subscription prices range from $0.99 (R17.31, excl. VAT) to $24.99 (R437), depending on how many pages you want to print every month, as shown in the table below.

As long as your subscription fee is paid, you can keep using the cartridges HP provides as part of its InstantInk plan.

Had he realised the trade-off he was making, Warzel would’ve been able to choose to buy his cartridges if he preferred to own them and didn’t want to be dictated to regarding how many pages he could print every month.

Warzel is one of many consumers coming to grips with subscription-based services linked to physical hardware.

Several carmakers — including BMW and Mercedes-Benz — have started charging customers subscriptions for features like heated seating and maximum engine power.

For example, Mercedes-Benz has started charging a $1,200 (R20,994, excl. VAT) annual fee for faster acceleration in its EQ range.

The companies have argued that this approach makes the cost of having these features cheaper for some clients and might, at times, be justified due to requiring software updates and improvements as time goes by.

Instead of making various car configurations or fitting add-ons, they take a one-size-fits-all approach by including the parts as standard in all models.

If you wish to use those parts permanently, you can either pay a hefty once-off premium to buy them outright — as would have been the case previously — or pay a fraction of the price monthly or annually to have access as and when you need it.

The automakers can turn these features on or off over the air, just like HP.

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