Transcript:

8:09 AM  Connecting…
8:09 AM  Connected. A support representative will be with you shortly.
8:10 AM  Support session established with Vinn.
8:10 AM  Vinn: Welcome to HP Customer Support & Services for Imaging and Printing Group. My name is Vinn and I will be your technical support specialist today. While I review the problem description details please confirm your country and phone number, just for the records .
8:12 AM  John Carmack: USA 303-774-4526
8:13 AM  Vinn: Thank you for providing the details.
8:13 AM  Vinn: Could you please elaborate the issue with the printer, so that I can assist you in better way?
8:16 AM  John Carmack: Simple: Instant Ink sucks. The user has had nothing but problems with it. First, she tried to enroll and ended up unenrolling. That was bad enough. Now, she purchased cartridges from Staples, genuine HP cartridges, and only after attempting to use them did anyone realize they were Instant Ink cartridges. Nothing on the box says this, but they are HP manufactured cartridges. Only small print (and I mean so small that 2 other people missed it) on the cartridges themselves revealed the problem. She does not want to hassle with this any longer, and I don’t blame her.
8:16 AM  John Carmack: In short, we are getting rid of this printer. Will you accept it back, or do we have to eat the cost?
8:18 AM  Vinn: Are you near the printer right now?
8:18 AM  John Carmack: No.
8:19 AM  John Carmack: I have an 8:30 meeting, can I have an answer please?
8:20 AM  Vinn: If the printer is not enrolled on instant ink, it will run with regular ink cartridges only. I would suggest you to get the inks replaced from the stores and get the regular ink cartridges to print successfully.
8:22 AM  John Carmack: No. We tried that and YOU, HP, screwed us by packaging them with an illegitimate and probably illegal marking that hides the fact they are Instant Ink cartridges. We want rid of this printer. Period.
8:22 AM  John Carmack: Will you accept a return for it?
8:23 AM  Vinn: John, there is no hardware failure with the printer, we can replace the printer only in case hardware failure with the printer. Just the correct ink needs to be placed in the printer.
8:24 AM  John Carmack: The hardware failure is in your deceptive packaging of the ink cartridges.
8:24 AM  John Carmack: Will you or will you not accept a return for this printer? I will not ask again.
8:28 AM  Vinn: John, I understand your concern, however you need to contact the store to get the ink replaced with the correct ink. We are not authorized to replace the printer in this case.
8:28 AM  John Carmack: Very well. I can see that you do not stand behind your products. I gotta go.
8:28 AM  Saving chat transcript

How to earn a bad reputation by frustrating your customers to death.

The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are, first, hard work; second, stick-to-itiveness; third, common sense.

~ Thomas A. Edison

Supposedly, Voltaire coined the saying that common sense is not so common. When it comes to American business practices, that is in full evidence. I’m a busy guy. I have not been busy updating the blog recently. Why? Mostly because I have been dealing with stupid things that companies do to drive away customers. Continue reading “Stupid Things Companies Do to Drive Away Customers”