June
25, 2018
Dion
J. Weisler, President, CEO & Director
HP, Inc.
1501 Page Mill Road
Palo Alto, California 94304
Palo Alto, California 94304
Dear Dion,
I realize there is an
electronic way to contact you from an HP page, but I will not agree to the
terms and conditions and I believe there is a certain symmetry to contact you
about a printer problem the old-fashioned way — in writing.
It seems to me has an HP
customer since 2001, your printer business has been inconsistent. My first HP
printer, a DeskJet 832C, performed admirably for many years until my stupidity
of buying an Office Depot cartridge ruined it. That was only three years ago,
so that gives you the kind of quality your printers had until Carly Fiorina and
Mark Hurd took over the company. Then became the era of inferior products,
lousy tech support and an entire company devoted to the “customer go to hell”
attitude.
After those two miscreants
disappeared, HP clawed its way up hill and offered a near return to its former
glory. I worked with several HP support people in the past and they came
through for me and redeemed your company in my eyes. This was particularly
important for business reasons; as a personal user, perhaps less so although I
don’t really believe that.
So, in that context I
returned to the HP fold and subsequently purchased an Envy 7640. However,
“better” became the enemy of excellent and forced firmware updates have now
turned what was a pleasant user experience into a time suck nightmare. The
firmware update, which was not optional and therefore what I believe to be an
involuntary product modification and a violation of the product I purchased,
now fails to keep the printer available to my computer via the wireless
connection. The firmware update also forces the printer to sleep after 15
minutes instead of staying awake indefinitely which has affected the wireless
access for my main computer.
And so, I can only conclude
that HP has spiraled back down into the maw of mediocrity and essentially
driven me back to a printer firm that never gave me problems — Epson. The tech
support now is back offshore with people who can neither right nor speak
American English well enough to provide support. They are haughty and
insensitive.
I acknowledge that some of
your folks and tried to make this good and offered me $125 credit, but the Envy
7640 still malfunctions and as a result I have to ask why I should take
advantage of a credit with the company that has deteriorated once again. Have
enclosed as much documentation as I have. And, not surprisingly, it took two
hours to reinstall the printer on Ethernet to print this letter and the
documentation.
It is my belief that you
really won’t see this letter because the American executive class has been
imbued with a quantitative outlook. It is my hope that the corporate culture
from Australia might open the door for you to address this more personally.
I doubt you will answer me
and I challenge you to do so.
