HP Says Its New Subscription Plan Will Make You Hate Your Printer Less. But Will It?
Source: ZDNet, Ed Bott
Photo: simonkr/Getty Images
HP knows that printers make people crazy. Its answer is a subscription plan that includes hardware, software, and support. Just be sure to read the fine print.
You hate your printer. Of course you do. Everyone hates their printer, especially if it’s an inkjet.
They’re unreliable, they jam and they run out of ink at the worst possible time, and let’s not even get started on what those ink cartridges cost. It’s such a universal truth that the tech press and even stuffy mainstream outlets like the New York Times regularly publish rants with “why printers suck” in the title. (Seriously, just Google that phrase.)
A few months ago, HP decided to turn that marketing problem into an opportunity with a campaign by the AKQA agency that ran across Northern Europe, proclaiming that its printers are “made to be less hated.”
You won’t love your printer, but you can hate it less, the company promises, because of its new HP All-In Plan, which offers you a printer, all the ink you need, and a support contract, for one low, low monthly fee.
As millions of people who own HP inkjet printers know only too well, the company has built its vast printer empire on the razors-and-blades business model. [1] HP has offered an Instant Ink subscription plan for more than a decade, but this new offering throws in the hardware too.
Is it a good deal? If you’re in the market for a new printer, you might be tempted to try the “risk-free” 30-day trial. My advice: Read the fine print carefully. After the trial period ends, you are on the hook for that monthly charge for two full years, with a hefty termination fee if you change your mind and try to cancel early.
How does HP’s All-In Plan subscription work?
HP’s pitch goes like this: “You give us one low monthly payment and we’ll ship you a printer to use. If the printer starts acting up, we’ll troubleshoot the problem over the phone, and if we can’t fix it we’ll ship you a replacement to arrive the next day. We’ll supply all the ink, and even send you more ink, for no extra charge, when your printer tells us it’s running low. Because you’re just renting the printer, we’re going to insist that it remain connected to the internet at all times so we can keep track of how many pages you’re printing. Oh, and we’re also going to make sure you don’t go cheating on us with cheap knockoff cartridges.”
Step 1: Go to the HP All-In Plan site and click Get Started.
Step 2: Pick one of the three available printer models: a basic home inkjet that can print double-sided documents and also does one-page-at-a-time scanning; a slightly more sophisticated version of that base model that has a separate tray for photo paper; or a Pro all-in-one device that includes a document feeder and adds faxing (outbound only) to its repertoire.
Step 3: Choose how many pages you want in your subscription each month, from a low of 20 to a high of 700. (Any unused pages roll over to the next month, and you can bank rollover pages for up to three times your monthly allotment.)
Step 4: If the monthly fee looks acceptable, click Continue and accept the slightly alarming Automatic Firmware Update warning. That block of text informs you that you must allow automatic updates to the printer, which “uses dynamic security measures to block cartridges using a non-HP chip or circuitry.” Think you can shut off the Wi-Fi, swap in a third-party “compatible” cartridge, and print your 200-page manuscript without HP knowing? Think again. You’re being watched very closely.