And lets not forget how their executives like hiring corrupt private investigators to spy on their employees!!

MarySJ on December 18, 2006 at 3:47 pm

HP has one of its largest outsourcing departments in my home city in India and they suck terribly. To top it, even I can’t understand their fake American English accents! I had a similar problem last year with a HP product that I had bought six months earlier, and they took half a month to send me a replacement. I was so annoyed that I actually yelled at that customer rep and told to talk in Hindi since he had a problem communicating in his version of HP English. I don’t care which language they speak as long as they can solve the problem efficiently.
I know many guys who work in HP, Dell and other outsourcing call centers (called BPOs) in India. HP and Dell recruiters actually stand out on the road and give jobs to whoever has a high school diploma. I’m not kidding – there’s this guy who kept losing his job every month… until he was approached by a BPO recruiter. He doesn’t know the ABCs of using a computer…. and guess where he’s working now – yes, HP! He’s been working there for a few months and still doesn’t know how to install or uninstall a printer!
I have mixed opinions on outsourcing, but in the end, outsourcing greatly reduces quality and efficiency. Right now I do business with companies that have their customer support personnel in the US. And their technical knowledge and professionalism is unparalleled!
If companies that oursource do not take care that the quality of tech support is improved, blacklist those companies. HP/Compaq and Dell have lost me and several others. To hell with them.

anonymous twit on December 18, 2006 at 4:03 pm

Get a Mac Debbie. Get a Mac Debbie. Get a Mac Debbie.

billyradio on December 18, 2006 at 4:07 pm

Hey billyradio, just what I was going to post!
Yes Debbie, get a Mac. For your line of work Macs ROCK!!
http://www.apple.com/macbook/macbook.html

anonymous twit on December 18, 2006 at 4:09 pm

These combination printers are so cheap that it’s not worth spending hours of your valuable time rectifying the problem.
Spend another $200.00 to buy another one and save time, money, and aggravation.

Thee_Bruno on December 18, 2006 at 4:29 pm

hell you can get them for 80 bucks

FSM-FTW!(descent) on December 18, 2006 at 4:50 pm

You’d need to spend a little more than $80.00 for a decent printer/copier/scanner. Throw in fax capabilities and it runs about $200.00 for a good one.
And, as I said, these things are really disposable at this point. The manufacturers don’t make a lot of money on the printers, themselves. They make their money on extended warranties and print cartridges.

Thee_Bruno on December 18, 2006 at 4:54 pm

Sounds like a Gateway I had a few years back. I recently purchased a Mac Mini & now I rock!

piratelady on December 18, 2006 at 5:34 pm

Gateway and HP are both garbage.

lexi on December 18, 2006 at 6:12 pm

You SHOULD have known this would happen once they [HP] merged with that bastion of computer inefficiency, Comcrap!!!
How the hell they ever managed to define SHIT in the dictionary without *Presario* as an illustration escapes me

EminemsRevenge on December 18, 2006 at 6:19 pm

Debbie,
you forgot to say which model it is so your readers can avoid purchasing that particular model.

Chuck W on December 18, 2006 at 6:21 pm

These big manufacturers lure people with low prices. And if you’re lucky enough to never experience a problem, you will get a good deal.
But the fact is that most people are not techies, and will run into some problems from time-to-time.
I am a techie, and I often get asked what brand of PC, printer, etc. to buy. My recommendation is that the buyer base the decision on how much risk they want to take. If you want low risk, buy from a local computer store that makes their own systems. Yes, you will pay more. But not a huge amount more. And if there is ever a problem, you’re almost guranteed to have it resolved by someone in the U.S., from your area, who is an expert on those systems.
For printers: Thee_Bruno is 100% correct – they are disposable.
The trick to buying printers is this: look in the Sunday newspaper ads for places like Office Depot, Staples, Best Buy, Circuit City, and Fry’s. Almost every week they will have a super deal on a particular brand/model of printer. They usually come tied to a mail-in-rebate situation, but trust me: the wait for the check is well worth the savings.
We bought two multi-function printer/scanner/copiers (COLOR) this year and spent less than $100 all told after the mail-in rebates and store sale prices. The first one worked just fine – and in fact still works great. But we put it on a shelf because the ink cartridges cost so damned much. We just waited for the next super deal and then bought another brand of printer. Paid the same as a new set of cartridges cost for the existing one.
This method also helps to avoid wasted time when you run into problems that the manufacturer cannot (or will not) fix. Never buy an extended warrantee on these things. You may as well light your money on fire.

David Svendsen on December 18, 2006 at 6:31 pm

HP sucks at INK-JET printers, but their laser printers are still hard to beat.
EXTENDED WARRANTY is a good idea for PC computers or pricier peripheralsÖthen they have to help you. Even have to agree with EminemsRevenge on this one.
SorryÖbut my MAC installs itís own drivers, and you can run XP on a Mac. Macs make computer usage ENJOYABLE. Other computer manufacturers have missed the importance of that feature.
THOSE OF US using MACS feel your pain, Debbie. Really. ìPC RAGEî is the closest Iíve ever come to psychosis~
Sounds like you may need some ìrelatedî comic relief: http://www.apple.com/getamac/ads/
SWITCH to MacÖand youíll never look back!

The Canadien on December 18, 2006 at 6:34 pm

Debbie this whole sad affair to me indicates you have too much time on your hands. If you move here I’ll introduce you to a million useful and cool Jews including a full minyan of computer geeks who would race to come fix your broken tchotchkes.

Anonymous1 on December 18, 2006 at 8:07 pm

Debbie, I’ve had an HP Invent PC for the past five years – it still runs. They did make some good products back in their day. Nobody would fix low cost electronics because they can be replaced cheaply. Unless your electronic gizmo costs half of what it costs to fix it out of warranty, the best solution is to just replace it. Your mistake was in not taking your printer to CompUSA for a repair quote. At the point, the decision is whether the printer is still worth what you paid for it when you bought it. I’d say no because these things begin depreciating from the day you bought it. You could have gone on eBay and bought a working printer/scanner/copier for less than the four hours you wasted with the HP tech. Life’s too short to be put on interminable hold.

NormanF on December 18, 2006 at 8:32 pm

I can certainly recommend Apple. They stand behind their products and their machines are beautifully designed. My Mac Mini is a marvel of what its possible to do in a small space – really small. They couldn’t build computers like that 10 years ago. Now they build them small enough so you can carry them in the palm of your hand!

NormanF on December 18, 2006 at 8:35 pm

I too have had my problems with HP–but no one tells me a decent alternative. I don’t want to try a Mac–it is so exclusive–lots of things won’t run on Mac.
MY BIGGEST BEEF WITH HP–is the price of the darn ink jet cartridges! That is a scandal! That is how HP makes the big bucks–we are hostage to buying these $30-50+ ink refills. Is there no wise geek out there with sound advice for us.

BB on December 19, 2006 at 12:00 am

i threw out my last two hp printers when they ran out of ink. it was cheaper to replace the whole unit than it was to buy a new ink cartrige. the way i look at it, if youre gonna buy an hp, get the cheapest piece of crap they got. then, nine months later, when it’s almost out of ink, you can pitch it. combination units are like console stereos. extended warranties are for suckers.

piker on December 19, 2006 at 5:08 am

I had the same experience with an HP 2175pscxi. The psi standing for “Printer Copier Scanner”. I got about a year and a half use out of it when it quit. I took the damn thing apart and most of the components were made in Malyasia. What a piece of shit. The first HP printer (722c) I had lasted seven years. No more of their shit for me. This also reminds me of my HP Pavilion 8240 I bought in 1998. I had three CD-Roms warranteed befor it was a year old. The HP support number was NOT toll-free. I paid out thirty dollars in long distance charges before I wised up and learned to trouble-shoot and repair the damn thing myself.

Rich B on December 19, 2006 at 6:19 am