What is the deal with me and 515? I use it for every user name on any website I log onto. It's been a part of every personal email I've ever created. It's even my anniversary! (One of my groomsmen looked at me and just shook his head when he put that together; I smiled.)
I just happened to drive by the place where this all started today, so I thought it fitting to talk about it. Fleetwood Roller Rink in Chicago- I was 14 years old. My sisters were going roller skating. I didn't particularly care for skating, but I really didn't want to go to the grocery store with Mom, so I went skating.
When I fell, I heard my leg snap. Anyone who has broken his or her leg should know exactly what that sound is. Before they had a chance to x-ray, they were thinking I might have just strained it. But I knew; I heard it snap. I can't forget that sound.
So anyway, the break was oblique, and as my luck may have it, a regular cast that everyone else in the world gets would not be able to set the break. So I had to have surgery to have an external fixator put in. If you've ever seen those people with huge halos and pins holding up their head or neck, that's an external fixator. Mine wasn't a halo, it looked like a shock for your car and it had two pins just below my left knee, and two at my ankle. I guess I didn't understand it when they explained it to me before surgery, because I woke up, looked at it and wondered what the hell was this!
I'm getting ahead of myself. Surgery. The anesthesiologist did her thing and told me to count backwards from 10. I, being a cocky 14 year old, figured I could make it to zero, and then ask, "Now what?" Right around 6, I realized she was going to win. Damn. It wasn't her first day. I did make it to 4, as I remember, but it was very drawn out, like a drunk guy softly warning other golfers of a misfired teeshot. Right before I was totally out, I remember the doctor saying, "515 chef." And then someone saying back to him, "515 chef." My mind was strong enough to think, "Hey, what's that mean?" But my body didn't want to seem to cooperate. I was out.
I never did find out what that meant. I can't even be sure that's what they said. It is what I heard. If anyone reading this has a clue what it could mean, please tell me. Yes, I've Googled it. But the number 515 has stuck with me for the last 17 years, easily my favorite number, as my wife could have told you on the day she agreed to getting married on May 15th. Sorry, I didn't go grocery shopping with you, Mom.
The 515
515 is an obsession of mine. Blogging is not. If I have something to say that requires more than 140 characters, it'll be on here. Happy reading!
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Monday, June 13, 2011
HP Customer Service Is the Worst
I guess if I'm going to be blogging again, I should maybe start with the story that has taken up a better part of the last two months. I just want to put it out there, so someone else can share in my experience. I've already given up hope on getting a satisfactory resolution to my issue.
Last spring, my wife and I bought a new printer because her old one had seen all of its better days. I was able to get one through hp.com because my employer offers a discount on their products. We spent about $100 on a Photosmart Plus All In One Printer. We don't really use it a whole ton, just enough to need to have a printer/copier/scanner in the house.
It prints beautifully. It's a little noisy for me, but I can live with that. The scanning and copying never really worked. It just always showed black and white lines on the image. Like I said, we don't really use it a whole lot, especially for copying or scanning, so it only bugged us every once in a while. Getting on the issue right away is the lesson I have since learned.
Not realizing that my warranty was about to expire, I finally decide to address the issue, in mid-April. I did an online chat with a tech who took me through all of the troubleshooting steps (unplugging the printer, uninstalling and reinstalling, cleaning the printer heads, a half reset of the printer, and a full reset). Nothing had changed going through any of these steps, so the tech determined that my printer needed to be sent in. I asked him how I went about that. He said that his manager would be sending me an email with information. I know that they had my correct email, because shortly after the chat, my email was blowing up with HP marketing emails. Before you log into chat, you have to verify your warranty, and the tech I talked to verified it during the discussion as well.
After realizing that I would not be receiving an e-mail for replacement, I decided to move to calling HP rather than doing the chat. Upon calling, the technicians tried to again go through all the troubleshooting steps that I had already gone through. That was not what I needed. What I needed was to get instructions as to how go about my replacement. It was during these calls that I was first told that my product was currently out of warranty. But again, I emphasize the fact that when I originally contacted HP, it was still under warranty.
During these calls I was told that if I faxed my receipt in to HP and called back two days later, I would have my printer replaced/repaired. I was confused as to why I have to look up my own receipt, because I found it on HP's website. I can find it on HP's website, I would think that someone from HP can also. Regardless, I sent the fax. The fax number I was given was incorrect. I called back, only to be told again that my product was out of warranty and have to explain my self over again. I was able to get a correct fax number and I was told to call back in two hours. At this point, I was sick of calling and going through the prompts and explaining myself three times, so I asked if it was possible for someone to call me when the warranty information was updated. The technician said it was not. Is it true that a large computer company like HP does not equip it's people with the ability to observe a case and make a phone call to it's customers? (If so, why was I asked to give my phone number every time I called?) I called back in two hours. The technician that I spoke with said the warranty information had not been updated. I tried to inquire as to why I had been told to call back in two hours if that was not the case. She recommended, vaguely, mind you, to call back in 24-48 hours. I again asked if someone from HP could call be when the information was updated. I was again told no. I had no choice but to ablige.
The next day, I received an email from HP's warranty team telling me that my product was no longer under warranty and they couldn't help me.
I called and immediately asked again to speak to a supervisor. Rather than connecting me to a supervisor, I again had to go through the entire rigamarole of who I was, what my problem was, and (wait for it) that my printer was out of warranty. After being placed on hold for longer than is professionally acceptable, I was connected to a manager. She reiterated that my product was no longer under warranty, and that there was nothing she could do. (Even outside of warranty, she should at least be able to offer some services to get my printer fixed, for a fee, but nothing she can do? Outrage!) I again exhaustingly explained that when I first contacted HP, my product was in fact under warranty. She responded with since I had done an online chat, that I should direct my issues to the chat team. So, even because at this point I was totally jerked around, she cant help me? She said she couldn't. I implored her to try to do the right thing by the customer who is at his wit's end. She again told me how long my product had been out of warranty. I did not get her name, but she failed to respond with any sort of empathy or caring. Why did I bother to ask for a supervisor? I insisted that there must be someone there with the ability to make things right. I then told her that I intend to never buy another HP product for the rest of my life, and I intend to tell everyone I know as well. I resisted the urge to make any sort of threat like that for as long as I could. At the start of her next string of excuses, I hung up. I was done.
After I calmed down, I decided to once more broach the subject. I went on hp.com, and followed the same steps that I had done before to get to the online chat help. Before you are able to get into the chat area, it notifies you that chat help is only available for customers with products under warranty, and then it asks you to fill out the information to verify your warranty. I don't have the patience for another computer screen, person, or otherwise to tell me that my product is out of warranty, so I stopped there. I was advised to go back to chat, when, now I cannot.
A friend of mine located a section of HP's website that allows you to contact the CEO, Leo Apotheker. I sent him a review of my problems thus far. Two days later, I received a call from someone at HP who had read my email, and was connecting me to a case manager, Jose. Jose asked me a lot of questions, mostly about the amount of time between my various contacts with HP. I tried to explain to Jose that this issue was very frustrating and I couldn't dedicate my whole life to trying to get a printer fixed. I also didn't appreciate being judged for my reaction to HP's failure to contact me. Jose then told me the only thing he could do was to offer me a discount on a refurbished printer. I asked him why he didn't want to try to address my original issue of HP not contacting me for getting my printer fixed. He didn't have a good answer for me. Frustrated, I asked Jose if he could email whatever offer it was that he had.
I opened the email to find a refurbished printer offered at $40 off of the list price of a new one. To boot, the offer was for a printer that was more expensive than the one I just wanted fixed. Why would I spend more money on what was previously someone else's busted printer? Also, this so called "offer" could be negated with me spending 5 minutes on Ebay. It just didn't make sense.
I emailed Jose back. I told him this offer was unsatisfactory and I demanded his supervisor call me. Jose called me back to tell me that his supervisor doesn't speak to customers. WHAT?! Jose then said that if I didn't take his offer, he was closing my case. I just couldn't believe after everything, a specially assigned case manager couldn't do anything to make the situation right.
I tried emaileing the CEO again. It's been a week. They haven't gotten back to me, and I doubt they will. I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, and am looking into sending my story to Consumer Reports and LifeHacker (I wanna get some nerds to read this too.) Pretty sure they've won, but I can throw this up on the internet, and maybe, just every once in a while, someone will search the phrase HP and see my story.
Thanks for listening.
Last spring, my wife and I bought a new printer because her old one had seen all of its better days. I was able to get one through hp.com because my employer offers a discount on their products. We spent about $100 on a Photosmart Plus All In One Printer. We don't really use it a whole ton, just enough to need to have a printer/copier/scanner in the house.
It prints beautifully. It's a little noisy for me, but I can live with that. The scanning and copying never really worked. It just always showed black and white lines on the image. Like I said, we don't really use it a whole lot, especially for copying or scanning, so it only bugged us every once in a while. Getting on the issue right away is the lesson I have since learned.
Not realizing that my warranty was about to expire, I finally decide to address the issue, in mid-April. I did an online chat with a tech who took me through all of the troubleshooting steps (unplugging the printer, uninstalling and reinstalling, cleaning the printer heads, a half reset of the printer, and a full reset). Nothing had changed going through any of these steps, so the tech determined that my printer needed to be sent in. I asked him how I went about that. He said that his manager would be sending me an email with information. I know that they had my correct email, because shortly after the chat, my email was blowing up with HP marketing emails. Before you log into chat, you have to verify your warranty, and the tech I talked to verified it during the discussion as well.
After realizing that I would not be receiving an e-mail for replacement, I decided to move to calling HP rather than doing the chat. Upon calling, the technicians tried to again go through all the troubleshooting steps that I had already gone through. That was not what I needed. What I needed was to get instructions as to how go about my replacement. It was during these calls that I was first told that my product was currently out of warranty. But again, I emphasize the fact that when I originally contacted HP, it was still under warranty.
During these calls I was told that if I faxed my receipt in to HP and called back two days later, I would have my printer replaced/repaired. I was confused as to why I have to look up my own receipt, because I found it on HP's website. I can find it on HP's website, I would think that someone from HP can also. Regardless, I sent the fax. The fax number I was given was incorrect. I called back, only to be told again that my product was out of warranty and have to explain my self over again. I was able to get a correct fax number and I was told to call back in two hours. At this point, I was sick of calling and going through the prompts and explaining myself three times, so I asked if it was possible for someone to call me when the warranty information was updated. The technician said it was not. Is it true that a large computer company like HP does not equip it's people with the ability to observe a case and make a phone call to it's customers? (If so, why was I asked to give my phone number every time I called?) I called back in two hours. The technician that I spoke with said the warranty information had not been updated. I tried to inquire as to why I had been told to call back in two hours if that was not the case. She recommended, vaguely, mind you, to call back in 24-48 hours. I again asked if someone from HP could call be when the information was updated. I was again told no. I had no choice but to ablige.
The next day, I received an email from HP's warranty team telling me that my product was no longer under warranty and they couldn't help me.
I called and immediately asked again to speak to a supervisor. Rather than connecting me to a supervisor, I again had to go through the entire rigamarole of who I was, what my problem was, and (wait for it) that my printer was out of warranty. After being placed on hold for longer than is professionally acceptable, I was connected to a manager. She reiterated that my product was no longer under warranty, and that there was nothing she could do. (Even outside of warranty, she should at least be able to offer some services to get my printer fixed, for a fee, but nothing she can do? Outrage!) I again exhaustingly explained that when I first contacted HP, my product was in fact under warranty. She responded with since I had done an online chat, that I should direct my issues to the chat team. So, even because at this point I was totally jerked around, she cant help me? She said she couldn't. I implored her to try to do the right thing by the customer who is at his wit's end. She again told me how long my product had been out of warranty. I did not get her name, but she failed to respond with any sort of empathy or caring. Why did I bother to ask for a supervisor? I insisted that there must be someone there with the ability to make things right. I then told her that I intend to never buy another HP product for the rest of my life, and I intend to tell everyone I know as well. I resisted the urge to make any sort of threat like that for as long as I could. At the start of her next string of excuses, I hung up. I was done.
After I calmed down, I decided to once more broach the subject. I went on hp.com, and followed the same steps that I had done before to get to the online chat help. Before you are able to get into the chat area, it notifies you that chat help is only available for customers with products under warranty, and then it asks you to fill out the information to verify your warranty. I don't have the patience for another computer screen, person, or otherwise to tell me that my product is out of warranty, so I stopped there. I was advised to go back to chat, when, now I cannot.
A friend of mine located a section of HP's website that allows you to contact the CEO, Leo Apotheker. I sent him a review of my problems thus far. Two days later, I received a call from someone at HP who had read my email, and was connecting me to a case manager, Jose. Jose asked me a lot of questions, mostly about the amount of time between my various contacts with HP. I tried to explain to Jose that this issue was very frustrating and I couldn't dedicate my whole life to trying to get a printer fixed. I also didn't appreciate being judged for my reaction to HP's failure to contact me. Jose then told me the only thing he could do was to offer me a discount on a refurbished printer. I asked him why he didn't want to try to address my original issue of HP not contacting me for getting my printer fixed. He didn't have a good answer for me. Frustrated, I asked Jose if he could email whatever offer it was that he had.
I opened the email to find a refurbished printer offered at $40 off of the list price of a new one. To boot, the offer was for a printer that was more expensive than the one I just wanted fixed. Why would I spend more money on what was previously someone else's busted printer? Also, this so called "offer" could be negated with me spending 5 minutes on Ebay. It just didn't make sense.
I emailed Jose back. I told him this offer was unsatisfactory and I demanded his supervisor call me. Jose called me back to tell me that his supervisor doesn't speak to customers. WHAT?! Jose then said that if I didn't take his offer, he was closing my case. I just couldn't believe after everything, a specially assigned case manager couldn't do anything to make the situation right.
I tried emaileing the CEO again. It's been a week. They haven't gotten back to me, and I doubt they will. I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, and am looking into sending my story to Consumer Reports and LifeHacker (I wanna get some nerds to read this too.) Pretty sure they've won, but I can throw this up on the internet, and maybe, just every once in a while, someone will search the phrase HP and see my story.
Thanks for listening.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)