Misleading advertising from HP
Some time ago, I bought an HP 2550L colour printer. I soon realised there was a problem – I couldn’t find the software (HP Toolbox), which HP’s product specification says is on the driver CD, to control the setup of the printer under Mac OS X.
I raised an issue about it in the HP support forum. For over a year there was no reply from HP, only further reports from others that they were also having this problem and also some people were additionally having a problem with slow black and white printing.
Today, one of the people, Mel Beckman, who has commented in the past on my posting reported that HP has recently told him that they never put the software on the CD and never completed development of it either. However, HP still state that the software is on the CD in their product specs and printer handbook. After escalating his problem to their management, HP has offered to take back his 2550N (the same printer as mine, but with a network card pre-installed) and sell him a different printer that works with the Mac (at list price) at a price over 60% more than he paid for his original printer, and having consumables which are twice as expensive as on the 2550N. Very generous.
Customer service and honesty like HP’s deserve to be rewarded – they are now on my blacklist. No more HP products in this household – ever.
Here is Mel’s posting in full:
Hi all.
I’ve spoken with HP several times about this on the phone, since they refuse to answer questions in this forum. I have the 2550N version, which has Ethernet capability, but has the same problem with the HP Toolbox: it’s not there.
Here’s the scoop. HP realizes full well that the Toolbox is missing, but chooses to simply remain silent about that fact in both their advertising and in these support forums. I’ve gone to great lengths to try and get HP to address the issue, escalating the problem to management. The end result has been that they offered to take back my 2550 and sell me (at list price) a Postscript printer that works fully with the Mac. Alas, my consumables costs would double with a model upgrade, and I’d have to shell out another $1000 up front—on a $600 printer!
The lack of honesty HP has exhibited, and their failure to provide reasonable support, is inexcusable. I spent many hours trying to resolve the HP Toolbox problem before HP finally admitted that they’ve simply decided to not spend any more effort on trying to make it work with the Mac and silently canned it. The disturbing thing is that HP support knew I was spending this time and chose to remain silent on the matter for several weeks. Only when I happened across a sympathetic tech who told me “you’re wasting your time—we deep-sixed the Toolbox” did I learn of HP’s duplicity.
I just checked, and HP’s advertising STILL states that the Mac version includes the HP Toolbox sofware, as does all the online documentation. Nothing in the support FAQ or knowledgebase says anything about the Mac lacking all printer remote control functions provided by the missing HP Toolbox. This has been the situation for more than a year.