The Hewlett Packard confidence trick

I wanted photos for a relative to take back to Chile with her in a nice wee frame I bought online. I've had plenty of time to get the photos together, except that I got ill before Xmas and I only got well enough to get organised a few weeks ago. My old printer then failed. Well, it was 10 years old - it owed me nothing.

I've been using Hewlett Packard printers for years. They have always been good quality, so I went ahead and ordered a Deskjet 2622 all in one device. I ordered it through Curry's and it arrived promptly. The first problem I found was that there was no disk or handbook for setting up the printer. 

The HP website directed me to a 'customer support' website. There my troubles really began. Whenever I reached the crucial point of registering my computer, the website refused to do the job and transferred me to a customer support centre overseas. 

No one actually answered my question: where can I find the handbook for this printer? An 'agent' at once told me that my computer was old (the word Acer seemed to set him off). He didn't hear me when I told him I had replaced the stack, the screen, even the keyboard. several times over, so the only 'old' thing about this computer set up was the name and the HP printer. 

Two agents, one after the other, accessed my computer online and told me that the problem was the 'drivers' on my computer had been 'corrupted' and would have to be replaced. I pointed out I had 2 separate security systems installed and didn't see how any kind of 'corruption' could have crept into the system. That meant nothing to these guys. I would have to pay 150 quid for the HP security system. When I laughed at that, the second 'agent' offered me a special deal costing only 75 quid. I hung up.

With the help of my friend G and a couple of Youtube videos I eventually got the printer set up and connected. I had to guess a lot of things, like how to connect the printer to my wifi, how to load the paper and the cartridges, etc. All this took a day and a half of my time and should have been contained in the non-existent manufacturer's handbook. 

When I started on the photos, I had to work out for myself that the photographic paper had to be inserted 'the wrong way round' - the opposite way to what I'd been used to. That wasted a fair amount of ink. But I suspect you don't get 100 photos out of one HP ink cartridge anyway. 

So today I ordered new cartridges. HP cartridges looked to be competitively priced. It was only when I had just about completed the order that I discovered HP prices don't include VAT and do include a hefty delivery charge. More annoying still, HP's proud boast is that they aim for 'next day delivery.' That's the only reason I ordered from them. Our relative leaves in Sunday and I want photos for her to take with her. Next day delivery may be the aim but HP failed again: the earliest I can expect to see these cartridges is Wednesday. 

This cannot be how a reputable company does business. Imagine going to the expense of setting up a 'customer service centre' and failing to provide a service. Not to mention staffing your customer centre with people whose job appears to be to con customers out of large amounts of money - four times the cost of the printer in my case. Not to mention misleading the customers with incorrect cartridge delivery dates and pricing. 

I have no recourse naturally. It's a 'buyer beware' situation. I should have known there are companies that con their customers and that HP - big and rich though it is - is quite likely to be one of them. 

I can refuse to buy anything from HP in future. And buy cartridges from any company other than HP. And I can warn anyone who reads my blog that this was my experience so they can avoid it happening to them.