Penaltys for opting out of HP instant Ink?

[Lee Beck]

I purchased a HP Inljet Envy Photo7858 Printer a few months ago and enrolled in the 'Instant Ink" program witout doing much research. The printer stopped working because I didn't purchase additional cartridges. After complaining to a chatbot then a real agent i was 'rewarded' by receiving a couple of fresh cartrtidges (B/W and color). i now find myself in the same dilemma. I want to opt out and now after reading the contract i find that my printer will again be disabled if I con't continue the Instant Ink program, and if I opt out my unused cartridges will no longer work in my printer. My questions are:

• Can I disconnect my printer from the internet by unplugging the telephone-like cable fro the printer?
• Is there a was to reenter setup routine and NOT enable WI-FI on the printer
• Can I then use the unused cartridges and purchase non-program cartridges from e.g., Staples?
• Will third-party cartridge manufacturers' cartridges work in my printer after I opt out of Instant Ink?

I don't believe that I'll ever buy another HP printer, but I'm trying to salvage what I already own.

Thanks for your coennts and suggestions.

 

[Stormlight]

I cannot help you on the T&Cs but I can help you on the technical side.

Option 1 wireless: disabling internet: change encryption key, change wifi SSID. This means USB access only!
Option 2 Wireless or Ethernet: remove gateway in your IP configuration. If it does not let you leave it blank then type in another IP that do not match the existing gateway.
Option 3 Set your printer IP not to connect to the internet, configured in your router.
Just do one of those and it won't be connect to the internet.

On these printer, if I was to design them, I would put a heartbeat into them. If the printer does not get a signal from the HP server, it would time out and die. If that is the case, it needs to be reconnect to the internet once a while.

 

[Tony4597]

I am not familiar with your printer or HP T&Cs, but I was under the impression that you could cancel the Instant Ink contract and your printer would still work until the end of the contract period with your existing inks

Being curious I did some research and it seems that impression is false and IMO this type of action by manufacturers needs to be outlawed. I believe that Epson did something similar with some of their printers e.g. SC P800 where in the USA they were chipped to only work with genuine Epson cartridges; in the UK this was banned and the printers supplied were not chipped!!

Anyway, there may be ways around this first turn off HP instant ink plan and then purchase ink from an alternative supplier examples are in the links below.

It seems that your cartridges are chipped and will be unusable after your billing cycle as stated by HP
"Your Instant Ink cartridge will no longer work at the end of the billing cycle".
Once you cancel the program, you can use regular HP ink cartridges in your printer.

Upon canceling the service, you will need to return your cartridges to HP.

The company should provide a postage-paid envelope or you can visit Recycling HP to request one."

I hope the links here may be of some use but I suggest that you do some research to satisfy yourself that the suggestions from the links are viable for your circumstance

https://www.tonerbuzz.com/hp/how-to-turn-off-hp-instant-ink/

https://www.inkcartridges.com/ink-and-toner/hp/hp-envy/photo-7858-all-in-one

 

[James Mike]

I purchased a HP Inljet Envy Photo7858 Printer a few months ago and enrolled in the 'Instant Ink" program witout doing much research. The printer stopped working because I didn't purchase additional cartridges. After complaining to a chatbot then a real agent i was 'rewarded' by receiving a couple of fresh cartrtidges (B/W and color). i now find myself in the same dilemma. I want to opt out and now after reading the contract i find that my printer will again be disabled if I con't continue the Instant Ink program, and if I opt out my unused cartridges will no longer work in my printer. My questions are:

• Can I disconnect my printer from the internet by unplugging the telephone-like cable fro the printer?
• Is there a was to reenter setup routine and NOT enable WI-FI on the printer
• Can I then use the unused cartridges and purchase non-program cartridges from e.g., Staples?
• Will third-party cartridge manufacturers' cartridges work in my printer after I opt out of Instant Ink?

I don't believe that I'll ever buy another HP printer, but I'm trying to salvage what I already own.

Thanks for your coennts and suggestions.

You are likely required to keep the printer online to continue to use the instant ink cartridges whether you continue to use the service or opt out (and are allowed to use the remainder of your page allocation but probably not the remaining ink volume in the carts). After which your printer will require ordinary cartridges (third party carts are an unknown since its likely that a firmware update may have blocked them).

You can try disabling wifi in the settings (probably only visible after you opt out of the service)