Disappointed with HP Printer Support

After moving, I'm finally trying to reinstall our HP Color Laserjet 2600N that we purchased a couple of years ago for considerably more than they're selling for now. It always worked fine in our old office, but we didn't use it much. Today, I downladed the latest North America/Western Europe Full Software Solution to reinstall the printer in the kitchen at the new house so that we can have something to print to until we get the office fully set up. However, when I run the new driver software, I receive the following error:



I tried downloading the package again, then I tried manually unzipping it, still with the same results. So, I tried contacting HP Support through online chat. After entering my product and serial numbers, the first response I received was that it was out of warranty and I would have to pay $25 to continue. Jimi also asked what was wrong with my printer, which indicated that he hadn't taken the time to read the question that I submitted which explained the situation and the error I had received. I explained that I was reporting an error in the installation of the driver package and had a previous version available that would probably work for me. He downloaded the package and the installation worked for him, so I was back to paying $25 for support if I wanted to investigate further. Considering that I could buy the exact same laser printer or a similar one for about $300, it doesn't make sense for me to pay $25 when I have a solution on hand. Luckily, I save all my printer driver downloads, so I still have the one that I downloaded last March that has worked for me before. In this case there may be a couple more troubleshooting steps I can go through, like deleting the old printer files because it may be trying to unzip to the same location as the old driver package. However, this is a result of sloppy programming if it is the issue and most people wouldn't know what to try once they get this type of error.

This experience just leaves a bad taste in my mouth for HP. In the past, I have been very enthusiastic about HP printers and wouldn't consider a different brand because HP had the best quality printers and support. If they're not willing to support a printer that's only a couple of years old through online chat that I've barely used and experienced an issue based on software that they have changed, that's horrible service and I'm much more likely to consider other brands, especially now that the price point is much lower than when I originally bought the printer. HP may be saving on support costs by trying to charge for support, but they just shot their brand loyalty in the foot and, given that we tend to buy a new laserjet printer every couple of years, $25 is a lot less than the thousands of dollars in sales they may have just lost.

My online chat transcript is below:

[Friday, February 08, 2008 12:54 PM] -- Automatically generated
message:This is an automated message. Your request has been received by the
Technical Support Center and has been queued until a support analyst is
available. Support for HP printers is available Monday thru Friday, 6am-Midnight
Mountain Time excluding holidays. You will receive a response to your support
request in 5 minutes or less during support hours.
[Friday, February 08,
2008 12:55 PM] -- Automatically generated message:For reference, your Case
ID is 3600905439
[Friday, February 08, 2008 12:55 PM] -- Automatically
generated message:A Support specialist, Jimi H has been assigned to your case.
[Friday, February 08, 2008 12:56 PM] -- Jimi H says:Hello Janine, thank
you for contacting HP and for your interest in our Active Chat online support.
My name is Jimi and I see you have a question regarding your HP Color LaserJet
printer. I'm going to take a few moments to review your information and will
message you back very soon.
[Friday, February 08, 2008 12:56 PM]
-- Janine White says:ok
[Friday, February 08, 2008 12:58 PM]
-- Jimi H says:According to your serial number, your warranty for support
has expired. However, there are options available to assist you: · We do have a
pay-for-support option. There is $25.00 charge for out-of-warranty support which
covers only the software and hardware that came with your product. · Support
websites links can be provided to you now if you'd like. The links include HP
Forums, FAQ and Microsoft links. · If none of the above appeal to you, you can
also take your product to an Authorized Service Provider. Would you like to
continue with the out-of-warranty support for $25.00 or would you prefer to use
the other self-help resources available to you?
[Friday, February 08, 2008
12:58 PM] -- Janine White says:The problem isn't with my printer. Your
download isn't working.
[Friday, February 08, 2008 12:58 PM] -- Janine
White says:It's in your best interest to fix it.
[Friday, February 08, 2008
12:59 PM] -- Janine White says:I have a previous driver download that will
probably work.
[Friday, February 08, 2008 1:00 PM] -- Jimi H says:Please
give me few minutes to have look at the link.
[Friday, February 08, 2008 1:00
PM] -- Janine White says:http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=18972&prodSeriesId=446153&prodNameId=446154&swEnvOID=228&swLang=8&mode=2&taskId=135&swItem=ly-40572-2
[Friday,
February 08, 2008 1:01 PM] -- Janine White says:from page: http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareIndex.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodNameId=446154&prodTypeId=18972&prodSeriesId=446153&swLang=8&taskId=135&swEnvOID=228
[Friday,
February 08, 2008 1:01 PM] -- Jimi H says:Thank you for the link. It seems
to be download the software from the URL.
[Friday, February 08, 2008 1:02 PM]
-- Janine White says:Yes, I downloaded the software. When I run it, it
aborts with the can't create output file error, which appears to be for the
first file in the zip package.
[Friday, February 08, 2008 1:05 PM]
-- Janine White says:I've downloaded this package before, but wanted to
make sure that I got the latest and greatest drivers, etc. I am a software
engineer. Most likely, the problem is in the zip packaging, not me.
[Friday,
February 08, 2008 1:05 PM] -- Janine White says:It is a different package
than the one I downloaded in March of last year, but I can use my old
one.
[Friday, February 08, 2008 1:08 PM] -- Jimi H says:The printer
software is still downloading to my system. Currently I am not in a position to
verify if there is any issue with the downloaded software.
[Friday, February
08, 2008 1:08 PM] -- Janine White says:I'm using Windows XP Pro SP2 with
all of the Microsoft updates on a Pentium 4 2 GHz and 512Mb RAM. I'm
reinstalling because I moved.
[Friday, February 08, 2008 1:09 PM]
-- Janine White says:Yes, it took me about 5 minutes to download each time,
which I did a couple of time to make sure it wasn't a random error in the
transmission.
[Friday, February 08, 2008 1:11 PM] -- Jimi H says:I
understand that. I will escalate the issue to the concerned department, they
will look into the issue and take the necessary action.
[Friday, February 08,
2008 1:12 PM] -- Janine White says:Will someone contact me when it's been
researched/fixed?
[Friday, February 08, 2008 1:13 PM] -- Jimi H says:I
would suggest you to contact us at later point of time, by that the issue will
get resolved.
[Friday, February 08, 2008 1:14 PM] -- Janine White
says:Why would I contact you again? I'm doing you the favor by reporting an
error in your software.
[Friday, February 08, 2008 1:15 PM] -- Janine
White says:I have an existing alternate solution.
[Friday, February 08, 2008
1:15 PM] -- Janine White says:But other customers probably
don't.
[Friday, February 08, 2008 1:17 PM] -- Janine White says:This
kind of service makes me want to go with another brand. Goodness knows they're
cheaper. If I'm not getting better service from HP, then what's the
point?
[Friday, February 08, 2008 1:18 PM] -- Janine White says:Have you
at least verified the error?
[Friday, February 08, 2008 1:26 PM] -- Jimi
H says:Janine, I have downloaded the complete printer software into my systems
and have tried to install and seems to be installing fine without any error.
[Friday, February 08, 2008 1:28 PM] -- Janine White says:Are you
installing on XP Pro on a US system?
[Friday, February 08, 2008 1:30 PM]
-- Jimi H says:That's correct. Please let me know if you are facing any
issue with the printer.
[Friday, February 08, 2008 1:31 PM] -- Jimi H
says:Would you like to continue with the out-of-warranty support for $25.00 or
would you prefer to use the other self-help resources available to
you?
[Friday, February 08, 2008 1:31 PM] -- Janine White says:I can't
communicate with the printer to test it. The light's green. I guess I'll just
use the old drivers.
[Friday, February 08, 2008 1:32 PM] -- Jimi H
says:Janine, since you have not chosen the fee-based support, I am going to
close this support request at this time. If you should need assistance in the
future please try our Active Chat program again. Thank you again for contacting
HP and have a great day!
[Friday, February 08, 2008 1:33 PM]
-- Automatically generated message:The support specialist would like to
close your service request. If your question has been resolved, you can click here to close it. If
this did not answer your question, please submit the reason and we will provide
you with more assistance.

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