If you thought Glowforge support needed improvement

[chris1]

My interaction with HP support this morning. Note this is a “live” chat, where the average time between when I respond to one of their trivial questions like “what country are you in” and getting the next response is 45 minutes.

10:18 AM

You sent

Hi. Thekeyboard that camewithmy HP Chromebase 21.5 inch All-in-One Desktop (xxx), serial number xxx, has developeda flaky space bar, as you can see.I would like to knowif this is covered under warranty, and how to obtain a replacement.

HPSupportus

To clarify, did you mean:

<list of options, none of which quite match my problem>

You sent

Stuck keyboard keys

HPSupportus

I’ll connect you to a live agent to help with the stuck key.

HPSupportus

Before we begin, I’m HP’s automated Virtual Agent. I’ll help solve your problem, if I can’t, I’ll connect you to a live agent. You can reply with numbers or words, but please don’t send attachments, reactions, or stickers, as I don’t understand them.

HPSupportus

To get you connected, first I must ask some simple questions. For most people these take 5 minutes or less to answer.

HPSupportus

What is your first and last name?

You sent

Christopher Masto

HPSupportus

Ok, what is your email address?

You sent

xxx

HPSupportus

Thank you! Just a few more questions and I’ll get you to the best live agent

HPSupportus

How do you primarily use your HP Product? 1 Personal Use 2 Business Use

You sent

1

HPSupportus

Ok, what type of product do you need help with? 1 PC 2 Printer 3 HP Instant Ink

You sent

1

HPSupportus

Which type of computer are you using? 1 Chromebook 2 Pavilion 3 Spectre 4 Envy 5 Omen 6 Other

You sent

6

HPSupportus

I’ll need the serial number of your product. It is normally found on the back or bottom of your product. This document may help you locate your serial number: HP PCs, Printers - Finding the serial number | HP® Customer Support

HPSupportus

What is your serial number? If you don’t have it reply with NA

You sent

xxx

HPSupportus

Thank you, I’ll pass your answers to the live agent.

HPSupportus

Please wait while I get the best live agent to assist you.

HPSupportus

To learn more about HP’s Privacy Policy please refer to: https://www.hp.com/go/privacy

11:01 AM

HPSupportus

Hi Christopher , Thank you for reaching out for HP Support . I apologize for the experience you’ve had and would love to help you out . To better assist you - As we could understand you are facing issues with keyboard of the desktop . Please help us with the country you are contacting us from and please share it with us . Looking forward to your reply. Sonia - HP Social Media Support

You sent

USA

HPSupportus

Thank you for sharing the details us . Please could you help us with the images of the key board and please share it with us .

You sent

11:37 AM

HPSupportus

Thank you for the images with us . Please could you help us if the space button is popping out or is it having issues while typing on the keyboard .

You sent

There is nothing physically popping out. But the space bar sometimes randomly doesn’t work. It started doing this about a week ago. Battery is at 100%. None of the other keys are giving me any problems. There doesn’t seem to be any physical damage.

12:34 PM

HPSupportus

We would be sorry to know that .I really appreciate you for helping us with the issue .We would request you to please keep the key board under observation and let us know as the case would be open for you .

You sent

I don’t understand what that means. Are you going to replace it?

HPSupportus

We are sorry . My bad . As we could understand the key board is having random issues as there is no physically issues . We would request you to please keep the key board under observation for one day or two day and let us know .

You sent

Ok. It has been under observation for a week, but if you are asking me to come back tomorrow and try again to get support, I will do that.

End of 2.5 hour conversation that went nowhere.

[eflyguy]

I have had to deal with (clearly Indian) “tech support” (script readers) twice in the past couple of months.

The cost of just replacing the product is worth the lack of frustration. Which is what the manufacturers want - except I would rather choose to switch brands.

[Deleted]

“did you reboot your machine many problems are fixed with that”

[chris1]

They did that to me last time. The monitor was physically crooked at a 15° angle. They asked me to reboot and to wipe it and reinstall the operating system.

When I said something like “I don’t think you understood the problem correctly. There’s no way rebooting will reattach the screen correctly”, they hung up on me. I spent 4 hours on hold to get to that point. I called back and they were closed.

Never buy HP. I really like this machine, but it’s not worth it.

[CMadok]

They obviously didn’t get the memos on where the spaces go with a period.

[deirdrebeth]

Sometimes 24/7 customer service is worth it…most often it’s…whatever this was.

[chris1]

[shop]

i’ll add myself to the “never buy HP” group. when my company switched from HP to lenovo, i was ecstatic. i’ve loved my lenovo the past 3 years. when it was time to replace it, they had switched back to HP and i was very sad. thankfully, since i requested an out of spec laptop (4k screen requirement), i ended up with a Dell instead.

[GrooveStranger]

I kept reading “HPSupportus” as “HPsupportopotamus” which would have made for a funnier chat, at least.

[trually]

[jamesdhatch]

I think it’s ironic that #2 & #3 of their response shows lost spaces and extra spaces. Suggests that the spacebar may be endemic in HPs

[rbtdanforth]

Just say that everyone is drunk at the space bar and are spaced out.

I cannot even remember the whole circumstance. But a part that was fastened fell off.

• XYZ part fell off

• Did you try rebooting or unplugging it and plugging it in again

• !The Piece Fell Off !!!

• Oh, we can’t help you with that.

then they hung up

[randy.cohen]

I’ve worked in the computer industry pretty much all my life. Many years ago I worked for a company that made HDDs, and one of our customers was Dell. When a drive failed in the field, Dell would return it to us with a “toe tag”, a handwritten note about why the drive was returned. We’d get drives back with toe tags that said things like “drive screeches and smells like egg” (it didn’t) and my favorite, “no dial tone” (which was actually accurate, although not unexpected since a HDD isn’t a modem).

If you’re not an Enterprise customer, the big computer company’s customer support has always left something to be desired.

[shop]

i don’t think the HP support is necessarily great for enterprise. we’re a 10k employee company and their support (IIRC) is why we bailed for lenovo in the first place. i didn’t get a good reason why we went back to HP (but i think it was $$).

[dr.krawetz]

The conspiracy nut in me wonders if they are trying to run out the clock on the warranty return/replacement? 2.5 hours for a few questions could mean months to actually diagnose. “We’re sorry, that item is now out of warranty.”

Honestly: if it’s under warranty, then return it or exchange it.

If it’s out of warranty AND you are good with electronics: it’s either a bent board or a bad sensor. If the underside metal is bent, then try to unbend it. If the metal is straight, then it’s probably just a switch needing cleaning. (Don’t blame me if you take this suggestion and end up breaking it.)

If it’s out of warranty AND you’re not good with electronics: get a new keyboard – preferably something that isn’t HP. (HP hasn’t manufactured any hardware in decades. It’s all third-party OEM with the HP name slapped on it.)

Full disclosure: Almost 2 decades ago, I worked at HP. I don’t buy anything that is HP-brand.

[eflyguy]

At the end of the 90’s, the tech company I worked for was looking for a laptop brand (all remote sales/marketing). One of my colleagues’ father was a senior exec for HP, and told him NOT to go with HP.