When I first registered my new PIXMA TR7020A I enrolled in the PIXMA print plan for 30 pages per month. When I used a few pages over 30 in that first month, the total charges came to more than the cost of the 100 page/month plan, and so as not to have that happen again, I immediately upgraded to the 100 page plan. So as of today I have paid for 1 month at the 30 page rate, plus 13 months at the 100 page rate, which comes to a little over $80 total, and I still have 50% of the original black cartridge remaining, and 35% of the original color cartridge. I recently was sent a color-only replacement, whose label says it is a PIXMA Print Plan cartridge, and not for resale. This has of course not yet been installed.
So I have been waiting for the black cartridge to also be replaced under the subscription so that I can change my plan to the simple Auto Replenishment Service, which should suit my usage pattern better. However now I read in the subscription cancellation provisions that the subscription carts will not be usable after my subscription ends, so that even the brand new, full, black and color cartridges will both be "dead" and useless at that point. Therefore there is no logic in waiting - I may as well just switch immediately to the Auto Replenishment plan, yes?
HOWEVER... To switch to the Auto Replenishment plan, I must first have a set of new retail cartridges available to install, since my subscription carts will stop working at that point. Therefore the situation is that I have already paid roughly $80 for two half-cartridges of ink, and must now buy a full retail set for around $50 in order just to change my plan to Replenishment. I also have 178 pages of credit in my subscription account which will all disappear when the plan is changed.
Why does this seem so patently customer-punishing and usurious? Is there something I'm missing?
Thanks for any feedback.
