But people would ask their knowledgeable friends, or Google, about what printer to buy. Where's the point where the bad reputation of the company grows enough that sales begin to decrease?
Maybe they already are in a death-spiral, and that's why they're becoming more cunty about the ink...
Next, HP should pay influencers to write/record rave reviews about their printers, so if someone googles what printer to buy they think HP is good.