Posted on 09/19/2004 1:12:50 PM PDT by william clark
Is it any wonder HP has seen their fortunes fall? If my recent experience is any indicator, I'm not surprised.
A couple of months ago I bought an HP OfficeJet 5510 for my wife to use. In trying to hook it up, I discovered that a fundamental item for connecting it was missing from the box; the USB cable. I called the HP "Customer Support" (quotes are intentional and appropriate) line, and was told that the device isn't shipped with a USB cable. Sure enough, when I looked at the tiny-type inventory of contents on the box, no USB cable was listed.
Maybe it's just me, but the thought that an item necessary for the most basic hookup and use of such a device wouldn't be included, simply never occured to me. I'd bought an HP digital camera a few months before, and it came with the USB cable needed to download the pics.
On top of that, when you read the setup instructions, it repeatedly refers to hooking up the USB cable, not a USB cable; no parenthetical stating "not included" or "purchased separately." Personally, I think that's awfully close to a bait-and-switch type scenario, or some sort of fraud, anyway, implying that they've provided something which you actually have to pay extra for.
So after explaining in no uncertain terms how much of an "up yours" this was to their customers, the guy on the HP line told me that he'd send a USB cable out to me. I thought that was only right, and saw it as a matter of principal more than in issue of cost to me. So fine, he said he'd send me one.
So a few weeks later, with no cable having arrived, I call back. Of course, there's no record of my previous call nor of any shipment, intended or otherwise, of a USB cable. So I go through it again with this guy. This time I make sure to note his name, as well as a case number and customer service number he gives me. Well, a week-and-a-half later, still no cable. I figured I'd follow up tomorrow (Monday), since the numbers he gave me are on my desk at work.
I decided to pull the USB cable from my own printer and use it to hook up the new OfficeJet so that my wife could start using it, only to then discover that one of the ink cartridges packaged with it was wrong. So I call again. Again, they don't find any record of my previous call about the USB cable, and when I give them the Reader's Digest version of that issue, I'm given the standard "We don't ship a USB cable with that" nonsense, which just starts it all over again.
I ask for a supervisor. I get a guy who reinforces the USB cable nonsense, but says he'll help me with the printer cartridge issue. Along the way, he suggests that the previous two people who had promised to send me the USB cable had been lying, and that they just can't send out cables. But back to the cartridge issue. He tells me he'll overnight a cartridge to me, and I tell him I'll call back tomorrow with the numbers I was given and pursue the USB cable issue. Terrific. Then he puts me on hold, muttering something about a "problem," and comes back a few minutes later to tell me that they'll send me the new cartridge as long as I send the old one back to them. I pretty much lose it at this point. "Are you kidding me? The way I've been treated to this point by HP and you have the unbelievable nerve to tell me I have to go out of my way to help you correct your mistake? Forget it." Sure, I could have promised that I'd send it back, and then just not have done so, but I didn't even want to play their games to that extent. Perhaps if they had sent me the USB cable, as promised, they might have earned just enough good will for me to send the cartridge back.
I told him that I will NEVER purchase another HP product, and that I will inform everyone I know that they have the absolute worst customer service I have ever experienced.
Consider this a promise kept.
Maybe you should consider yourself lucky that you got a power cord.
1.) Install power cord (purchased separately)....
My HP psc 2110 did come with a usb cable, but maybe they figure that usb cables are so ubiquitous that most folks have a couple spares.
Sorry doll, but you sound like a real jerk.
USB cable doesn't come with it. End of story. I can't believe you wasted a couple MONTHS for an item that costs a few dollars.
Customer support is hard enough with reasonable people!
I am looking right now at the empty box that my new HP AIO came in. On the side, under a list headlined "Contents," it clearly states, in large boldface type with a box around around it for emphasis, "USB cable not included."
Underneath that, it says, "Please purchase separately: • USB cable: for best performance, use hp USB cable, hp part no. c6518a".
I do agree that the warning should be larger, though. For what it's worth, when I bought it, the salesman wouldn't let me leave without either buying the necessary cable or swearing on my parents' lives that I had one at home already. He said lots of people come back, sometimes bringing the entire printer in an open box, thinking the cable was left out.
That's how it works, buddy. When I bought a ~vey~ expensive Epson inket printer a few years ago, no cable was included. I was a bit annoyed, but just took it in stride, and drove back to the store to get the cable.
The model I bought could be connected by USB or parallel. Both types of cables are available in various lengths. How are they supposed to know what kind and what length you want or need? Should they include an assortment, and let the extras get thrown away?
Why all the bitching and moaning and weeks wasted with HP when a few bucks at the local Target is all it would have taken to get you hooked up?
Thanks for your understanding. So in your view it's okay, I guess, that they can lie to me twice about sending me something.
I see nothing unreasonable about expecting someone to deliver what they've promised. The reason this has taken as long is because there was no urgent need to get this device working right away, and I do have a life apart from placing customer service calls to HP. Also, I was naive enough to think that they would honor their promise.
I'll say it once more. I have looked that box over several times, very thoroughly. NOWHERE does it say "cable not included." Only be scouring the list of included items do you get that indication.
And by the way, it's incorrect to say that printers never come with cables. My prior Epson printer came with one, as did the Canon I have hooked up to my Mac
W/o power it won't work. So, you should demand free electricity too.
And, incidentally, your car analogy is fundamentally flawed. The customer could leave the lot and use the car on a quarter tank of gas. However, if the car came battery-not-included, it would be a different matter. The car can be operated on a quarter-tank. This OfficeJet cannot be operated with what came packaged.
I still say that it is disrespectful to the customer if the product doesn't come with at least enough components to allow you to get through the setup procedure. That said, I could live with it if I did have advance warning, because then I could have made an informed decision (and in all likelihood, would still have purchased the item with the knowledge that I'd have to provide the cable). But since there was no such warning on the packaging (apparently they've learned a lesson somewhere, if other devices are carrying the warning now), I bought it with false expectations.
Right.... it wasn't an emergency it was only your wife's printer ;~D
Yeah - it's a shame they promised you something they didn't deliver on.... They didn't do a perfect job here, but you stayed on the phone and ranted and raged up through the chain of command ~twice~ to demand something you were never entitled to. I think I'd be more embarrassed to be ~you~ than I would be embarrassed to be HP ;~D
Man, you sound like a Democrat. Completely unable to follow a line of reasoning without dragging something irrelevant into it.
Well, I guess we have to just agree to disagree, since in the absence of clear packaging indicating (combined with my past experience purchasing other computer, audio and video devices) that I was not getting a crucial component, I do believe I am entitled to it.
I'm hardly one to stick up for bad service, but you are being totally unreasonable here. First, I've never bought a printer that came with a cable -- parallel printer or USB. I have bought several printers that, when I got it unpacked, I discovered it didn't have a cable and went, "oh, ____", then went back and got it. Or stole a cable from some other hardware item. Either way I never called the manufacturer.
I've bought several HP printers over the years and frankly, consider HP one of the best hardware companies going. All have worked flawlessly. I've bought a Deskjet, an Office Jet, a LaserJet 5MP, my wife's color one (don't know model number), and recently a 1012 that I use on my desk at work. On the other hand, I bought a Canon machine for copies and faxes that I am now having trouble with.
If you are that unhappy with the product, why don't you return it?
Right democrat. HP didn't include a cable with anyone's printer. They told you that. The cable's only ~$7. You wasted how much time on this?
It's a little late for me to return it. I wasted too much time anticipating that they'd honor their promises to me.
I should probably note that no one from HP ever gave me any justification for not including the cable, as several have done on this thread.
Why not take it back and get a refund. I boycott HP and dear ole Carly. What makes them think they're entitled to a sale when they treat people this way?
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