I really should have done more checking on people’s experiences with the HP Instant Ink scheme. I don’t print often (use scanning more than printing), and £0.99 per month for 15 pages with free replacement ink seemed bearable. But the price rocketed up to £1.49 in January, so I foolishly thought I could empty the two ink cartridges and get replacements before cancelling the subscription – seeing as I’ve been paying out every month with mostly zero use!. Yes, I got the replacements, but I then cancelled and immediately the printer told me that the cartridges will be bricked at the end of this payment cycle! Apparently, Reddit has a workround to stop the cartridges getting bricked – but it requires implementing BEFORE cancelling the subscription…
So what now? I have 4 days to at least use up some of the ink – but have bugger all I need to print, so not much point. Plus it all seems an unnecessary waste as brand new cartridges are going to be binned. Do I risk getting some third-party inks off Amazon and maybe having them rejected as none seem 100% certain to be accepted? Buy genuine HP inks – but expensive and I don’t really want to give the shysters any more of my money? I’ll wait to see exactly what happens in 5 days time, and hope that, at least, scanning does not get disabled. If it does not work, then I’ll look at buying a new printer from a company that is not a greedy bastard. Already avoiding Canon, and now HP. At the moment, Brother looks like a decent alternative for a new printer, but I’ll tread more carefully next time…