CONSERVATIVE's Printer No Longer Works!

I've had my computer for about six months now when suddenly it just quits printing. Ok, back to the problem solving stage. You should know that calling for outside help is the last thing I'll ever try. I'll only call or write for “support” as a last resort.

Okay I start the problem solving process, and click on HP's built-in “Help and Support Center”. Then onto “Fixing a Problem”. Then clicking on “Printing Problems”. Eventually reaching the “Printing Troubleshooter”, where going through this little wizard I follow all their suggestions.

No, I can't print at all. No it won't print from another program or a command prompt. No, turning the printer and my computer on and off doesn't fix it. Yes it is “local” and “online”. Yes, it has paper and other ingredients. Okay, I'll try another printing cable and make sure of the connections. No of course that doesn't help either.

Did I tell you yet that my printer still prints fine on my old PC? It sure does. This doesn't sound like it would be my printer at fault now does it? (Hint: it isn't my printer!)

Okay, I remove the printer port and reboot so Windows will install the drivers again. I eventually reach the last page that says; “This troubleshooter is unable to solve your problem”. I click on the button that says, “Okay, I'll try to get help elsewhere” and the next screen thanks me for using the printing troubleshooter. Now that was a great help.

I eventually run out of options and contact HP's “#1 Customer Support”. They suggest all the things I've already done, which was why I did them to begin with. Of course I could have provided you with some truly rewarding interactions here, but unfortunately when my Internet program froze up on this machine for some unexplained reason, I had no choice but to uninstall it all losing every scrap of my mails from this period. Could it be my computer is junk?

I went through the email process—which is the process of them not reading what I wrote to them—and replying to me anyway until they finally told me I needed to call them up for whatever reason that would change their information—I don't know. I had told them I thought it was my computer—maybe the motherboard had gone bad—and as proof I told them it wouldn't work on the other two printers I tried too! Nothing worked! They just would not accept that their PC might cost them a little to fix under warranty.

When I called as instructed, first of course after being on hold, I had to give them the rundown of my information, then they switched me to the printing department where I had to give them the information again. Here they told me that my HP printer was no longer supported. I told them "IT WAS NOT THE PRINTER!" (something they kept ignoring), and the accented woman on the other end then had me go through the same stuff I had been going through since before I had contacted them. Then she had me press a button on the printer to perform a self test (which wasn't in my manual), and since that didn't work she told me my printer was broken and that I could get it fixed for a little more than I could get a new printer for. But wait, I told her it works just fine on my other PC! She tells me it might have, but it sure won't now and her test just proved it.

So out of frustration, I quit trying to argue the point for a while. They did of course send me a quality assurance questionnaire I could participate in because “Our records indicate that you recently contacted HP because you had a problem or question while using your DJ 722C.”