Quote from: SeanB on Today at 07:55:07 AMConsumer printer division can be renamed "Canon", as they make the same machines and consumables, just with slightly different case parts and one has crappier firmware.
Is this true?
Yep. If one of those monster HP MFPs doesn't do what it is supposed to do, obtaining service goes roughly like it follows:
Calling HP help line.
Getting dispatched to a call center in Romania, Bulgaria or a similar country in eastern Europe, where some former farm worker (no joke) which had been turned into an HP call center help staffer for minimal wage picks up the phone.
Farm worker doesn't really understand what you want, problems are the language as well as the technical knowledge.
Farm worker picks random service script out of his PC and starts reading the script. Script might even have to do something with printing. But that is more by accident.
Caller just repeats "printer broke down", and responds to every question of the kind "did you try to turn it off and on?" with "Yes, didn't help."
At the end of the script farm worker agrees to forward the call to some "printer specialist".
The "printer specialist" is located somewhere at the other end of the world, in Singapore or Malaysia, where it is night.
At that time the help line there is manned by the most junior staffer.
Junior is barely capable of finding his own ass with both hands, even if a flashlight would stick out of it. Junior doesn't find the printer service contract in the system. Farm worker previously didn't have that problem and even added all the data to the ticket. But junior doesn't even manage to read all parts of the ticket.
Junior "printer specialist" also does know shit about MFPs.
Back to the farm worker. The magic word is escalation.
Escalation means an "escalation manager" is put on the task. Probably the most wank title they have. Escalation poser sends you an escalation plan and promises regular follow-ups. Escalation poser actually gives a fucking fart if the issue is fixed or not.
After three follow-ups ticket is closed, printer is still broken, but SLA was about to be violated.
ESCALATION of the escalation ...
Ups, maybe we should send a service technician?
YES.
So, ticket gets forwarded to, you guessed it, local Canon office to dispatch a service technician with a clue.