Ever Have One of Those Days...
...where it seems like almost everything that can go wrong does? That was my day on Friday.
I had quite a few things to do for the upcoming Showcase competition, most of which required the computer and printer and I also had a book column to write so I got a very early start and everything was humming along quite nicely when the printer suddenly stopped.
A few years back we bought an all-in-one printer that in addition to functioning as a printer is also a copier, scanner and fax machine. I send and receive a lot of faxes so that's an essential piece of equipment for me.
So I fiddle with the thing, get out the user guide and try all the troubleshooting tips but it still won't work so I called the HP tech line for help. Just my luck that they were having a heavy volume of calls that morning so I patiently wait and wait on hold for over an hour before I get to talk to an actual human being and not a recording.
So I answer all the ladies questions about what I have already tried etc. am given a case # and told I'm being transfered to the next available tech support specialist. Another hour on hold and at last someone picks up but it turns out I was transfered to the wrong department so my call is put back in line.
By this time I'm starting to fume with frustration and worry because I notice that the battery on the phone is almost gone. As usual nobody bothered to put it back in the charger and I begin to be afraid that the battery is going to die, I'm going to be disconnected and have to start all over again.
Then I have what seems like a good idea, why don't I just copy and transfer my files to the computer we recently bought for the boys and then I can get everything printed on theirs while I'm waiting on hold and still get everything in the mail on time. Turned out that wasn't such a good idea after all.
I needed to use both Microsoft Word and Excel and when I put the files on their computer the programs wouldn't work. I kept getting a you need to activate this product message which I found a bit confusing as I knew the boys had done plenty of school work with the new computer since we bought it about 6 weeks or so ago.
So I find and enter the activation key that came with the Microsoft Office version that was preinstalled on the computer. Nothing but another error message telling me it's the wrong number. I retype it a couple of more times very carefully so I'm sure it matches but still no luck.
At that point I am at last connected to HP tech support only to be told my printer is dead, the problem can't be fixed and I'm realizing that if I'd just gone straight out and bought another printer by this point it would be connected and good to go and I wouldn't have wasted almost four hours on hold. But of course in a last ditch effort to avoid having to go and buy another printer since there was a perfectly good one already connected to the boys computer I was silly enough to call Microsoft support to try and get the programs I needed to work.
Major mistake! They were even more of a pain in the butt than the HP folks and once again my call got sent to the wrong place. By this point I'm ready to start banging my head against the wall and after I calm down I try to decide which will be faster and easier: disconnect the printer from the boys computer, haul it to my office and reconnect it which will mean installing the driver before it will be good to go or just go out and by another darn all-in-one printer since I'd have to do that within a day or two anyway since the boys printer is just a printer and I really need the fax machine.
I opted to go out and buy what I needed. It's connected and working just fine which takes care of my immediate work needs but I still have to figure out why Microsoft Office won't work on the boys computer
I had quite a few things to do for the upcoming Showcase competition, most of which required the computer and printer and I also had a book column to write so I got a very early start and everything was humming along quite nicely when the printer suddenly stopped.
A few years back we bought an all-in-one printer that in addition to functioning as a printer is also a copier, scanner and fax machine. I send and receive a lot of faxes so that's an essential piece of equipment for me.
So I fiddle with the thing, get out the user guide and try all the troubleshooting tips but it still won't work so I called the HP tech line for help. Just my luck that they were having a heavy volume of calls that morning so I patiently wait and wait on hold for over an hour before I get to talk to an actual human being and not a recording.
So I answer all the ladies questions about what I have already tried etc. am given a case # and told I'm being transfered to the next available tech support specialist. Another hour on hold and at last someone picks up but it turns out I was transfered to the wrong department so my call is put back in line.
By this time I'm starting to fume with frustration and worry because I notice that the battery on the phone is almost gone. As usual nobody bothered to put it back in the charger and I begin to be afraid that the battery is going to die, I'm going to be disconnected and have to start all over again.
Then I have what seems like a good idea, why don't I just copy and transfer my files to the computer we recently bought for the boys and then I can get everything printed on theirs while I'm waiting on hold and still get everything in the mail on time. Turned out that wasn't such a good idea after all.
I needed to use both Microsoft Word and Excel and when I put the files on their computer the programs wouldn't work. I kept getting a you need to activate this product message which I found a bit confusing as I knew the boys had done plenty of school work with the new computer since we bought it about 6 weeks or so ago.
So I find and enter the activation key that came with the Microsoft Office version that was preinstalled on the computer. Nothing but another error message telling me it's the wrong number. I retype it a couple of more times very carefully so I'm sure it matches but still no luck.
At that point I am at last connected to HP tech support only to be told my printer is dead, the problem can't be fixed and I'm realizing that if I'd just gone straight out and bought another printer by this point it would be connected and good to go and I wouldn't have wasted almost four hours on hold. But of course in a last ditch effort to avoid having to go and buy another printer since there was a perfectly good one already connected to the boys computer I was silly enough to call Microsoft support to try and get the programs I needed to work.
Major mistake! They were even more of a pain in the butt than the HP folks and once again my call got sent to the wrong place. By this point I'm ready to start banging my head against the wall and after I calm down I try to decide which will be faster and easier: disconnect the printer from the boys computer, haul it to my office and reconnect it which will mean installing the driver before it will be good to go or just go out and by another darn all-in-one printer since I'd have to do that within a day or two anyway since the boys printer is just a printer and I really need the fax machine.
I opted to go out and buy what I needed. It's connected and working just fine which takes care of my immediate work needs but I still have to figure out why Microsoft Office won't work on the boys computer
posted by Booklover at
12:39 PM
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