My new printer came with a free 6-month “instant ink” subscription whereby HP monitored my page count and sent me refill cartridges when the supply ran low. I have a very irregular printer usage so their ongoing plans don’t work for me, and I canceled before the paid plans kicked in. It was then that I learned once the subscription ends, even the ink in my printer will no longer work!
This seems to me like a petulant bully on the playground — if you won’t play with me, I’m taking my ball and going home. If you won’t buy my ink, I’m making it so you can’t either. They don’t want it back — they just don’t want me to use it, seemingly out of spite.
It’s yet another example of where a company does something that irritates the customer even though it gains nothing from the process. The grocer who throws away a $7 package of brats rather than redeem my $1 coupon they feel is not for that specific variety. The restaurant that remakes a meal rather than offer an adjustment for an improperly prepared dish. The supervisor who would rather lose a good employee than provide her with some flexibility.
You may be right and you may be following policy or upholding your principles, but in the long term, you’re doing more harm than good. Let common sense prevail.
