Five hours — I spent five hours on the phone today talking to a series of people in India about the HP all-in-one that I purchased on July 21st. Yesterday I stopped by the office and did an hour’s worth of work while Chase was being de-mudded. (His three hours of racing around at the Corgi Club picnic imbedded the mud in his white underside coat). I used the all-in-one then, and it was just fine. When I came in this morning, it was absolutely dead notwithstanding the surge protector. There was no power to it at all. I unplugged at the socket, unplugged at the back of the machine. Nope — dead! My last one died the same way, but it was three years old.
Now the initial miracle is that I beat the 90-day full repair/replacement deadline by one day. Since I am always on the other side day of any warranty deadline, this was amazing. I am not saying this process was easy. I called HP back four times, each time I went through a lengthy automated system, gave them a magic case number, got to technical support, spoke with case agent, then technician, then senior technician. Finally, after explaining that I could not fax or scan/email them the receipt (hmmm, why would that be?), they rolled over and accepted my word that I purchased the beast on July 21st and it was, indeed, under warranty.
A senior technician decided the power cord adapter was dead. Since the adaptor’s light was not on, and it was cool to the touch, and the all-in-one had nary a light in sight, I’d say that was a good call. So, they are sending me a new power cord adapter. It would be here on October 29th to which I said “no way”, I can’t print letters and pleadings, receive faxes, make copies, or scan my SkyWatch Friday photos. So, the technicial said, “well, we can overnight it and you’ll have it Thursday.” I pulled out my FedEx account number and a credit card, ready to pay for this expedited service anyway they wanted it. The technician told me I did not have to pay for the expedited shipping. I’m pretty confused. Why don’t they just send stuff overnight to overwrought customers? That would be the sensible thing to do.
I may have a sufficient backlog of already scanned photos to post for Wordless Wednesday and SkyWatch Friday while I wait for the adapter, hoping all the while that the senior technician properly diagnosed the problem.
