Adventures in Phone Support
My recently purchased HP 1300 LaserJet printer has taken to printing out pages with curling paper. I mean, severely curling paper; by the final page of a hundred-page document, the left and right sides of the paper are practically touching each other.
So, off to HP's website for technical support. First, I try an online chat; online chats are a great means of getting tech support, as you don't have to hold a phone up to your ear for half an hour, you can surf the web while you're getting support, and you don't have to deal with some godawful automated phone system.
Unfortunately, HP's online chat function only supports Windows. So I called the phone line. And got the godawful automated phone support system, which asked me for specific information about the product I was calling about, then routed me through to a live human being who asked me the exact same questions, in a series of conversations that went something like this:
HP: Thank you for calling HP phone support. Can I get your type of product and model?
Me: HP LaserJet 1300.
HP: Is the product in warranty?
Me: Yes.
HP: Thank you. Please hold while I transfer you to HP LaserJet support. Have a good day.
Me: Thanks.
[ten minutes of hold time. Bad music, interrupted by a message saying that, due to a "recent virus infecting the Internet," there are unusually long hold times. Which is about as convincing as blaming solar flares or Weapons of Mass Destruction.]
HP: Thank you for calling HP Phone Support. Can I get your type of product and model?
Me: ...HP LaserJet 1300.
HP: Was the product purchased under a year ago?
Me: Yes. Hey...
HP: Please hold while I transfer you to HP LaserJet support.
Me: Wait a second.
HP: Yes?
Me: The last guy said he was going to transfer me to LaserJet support, and I just ended up back with you. Can you make sure you transfer me this time?
HP: Yes, sir. Sorry for the inconvenience.
[bad music, message about that gosh-darn virus that's apparently finished off the Internet and moved on to HP's phone operators]
HP: Thank you for calling HP Phone Support. Can I get your type of product and model?
Me: Oh, give me a BREAK--
So, after three goarounds, they'd apparently determined that the HP LaserJet section's phone system was down, and I was advised to call back in fifteen minutes. I waited thirty, called, got bounced around twice before they told me the problem still wasn't fixed, try back an an hour or so. Called back two hours later, got a message that the call center had closed five minutes ago.
Whippee!
Posted by ekurzen at June 30, 2004 5:55 PMHaving just gone through something similar with Verizon, I am angry for you. Hulk angry.
Posted by: David Vaughan on July 7, 2004 6:47 AM