Bay Area man tries to use HP printer. Why is it such a hassle to get it to do its one job?: ‘$8…to use something you ALREADY OWN??’
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A self-described “Bay Area-based delinquent” going by @clithaver went to print his résumé on the printer his late father left. Getting it to work, he says, cost him an HP account, an app, a 45-minute support call, and a surprise $8 monthly fee.
Why Did He Have So Much Trouble Using the HP Printer?
“I'm out here looking for a job right now, and I'm trying to print up my résumé,” he says. His father's printer was already in the house.
He says the printer told him to connect to the new Wi-Fi network, took ten minutes to update, then asked him to sign in. “A [expletive] account for a printer? All right, whatever, I make an account,” he says.
Then, the printer prompted him to download the HP app, he says, so he did. He says he then signed in again, reconnected the printer to Wi-Fi, and waited through another update.
Then a new message: The machine was still registered to his dad. “You're going to have to call support,” he says it told him.
He describes being on the line for 45 minutes with three different reps “just to get them to unregister my dad's name from this [expletive] printer.”
Set up at last, he says, he hit the wall that ended the video: “You need to pay $8 a month to use the printer in my [expletive] house! What is the point? Who buys this?”
His complaint isn't the ink; it's a subscription fee he says HP imposed for the privilege of using the item he already owns.
“It's not even an internet service,” he says. “It's not like it's being live-updated. It just prints [expletive] paper. I do all the work. All it does is put it on a sheet.”
‘Just Buy a Brother Inkjet Printer'
Viewers in the comments section generally agreed that the TikToker's reaction was a “valid crashout.” The consensus was that it was unreasonable of HP to charge a subscription fee.
“There was a woman on here, not too long ago, that wanted to print some pictures for her daughter's birthday party,” a commenter wrote. “She had an actual cord from her computer to her printer, and they were telling her that she had to set it up online and then once she set it up online, she had to pay a subscription. This is just getting ridiculous. We aren't mad enough about all this.”
Some people have seen this app-nag in other products. “This is how I felt about buying a new electric toothbrush, and it wouldn't turn on unless I downloaded an app and registered…my f%@ing toothbrush…like, what?” one wrote. “I need Bluetooth to brush my teeth? Then I couldn't return it because its a toothbrush and I opened it. The crasssssh out that occurred, wow.”
While others bragged about their older, untethered printers, one person asked a different question: “Is it possible to jailbreak a printer?”
When Did HP Printers Start Charging Subscriptions?
HP has been on these hyper-capitalist shenanigans for years. CEO Enrique Lores told CNBC in 2024 that the company's long-term goal is to turn printing into a subscription and described a customer who “doesn't print enough or doesn't use our supplies” as a “bad investment.”
The leash is in the contract. HP's own All-In Plan—a lease, not a purchase—states that “HP owns the printer and printer cartridges throughout the subscription, and they must be returned to HP upon printer upgrade or cancellation.” Cancel, and the printing stops. HP definitely plans to stay “all-in” your pockets.
Can I Opt Out of the HP Subscription?
It's unclear what HP subscription the TikToker is referring to, but the company seems to have two plans—Instant Ink and All-In. All-In is a lease, as previously stated, and Instant Ink is “an ink delivery service for eligible HP printers in which the printer monitors ink levels and automatically ships new ink cartridges before you run out.”
According to an answer on the HP Community site, it is possible to use HP printers without a subscription. However, it should be noted that the response was specifically in reference to the HP ENVY Inspire 7255e All-in-One Printer; it is unclear if all models can be used without a subscription.
Subplot News reached out to HP via email and to the TikToker via TikTok direct message. We will update this story if they respond.
The post Bay Area man tries to use HP printer. Why is it such a hassle to get it to do its one job?: ‘$8…to use something you ALREADY OWN??' appeared first on Subplot News.
