I’m frequently surprised by how often customers we’ve worked with for years have never needed to contact support and don’t have a number handy. I think that’s telling of the experience customers have come to expect from HP. Plug it in and go. But of course we all need help from time to time.
You’ll recall in my earlier post that I mentioned this site is not a support resource. True, but now I’d like to share with you the options at your disposal for warranty and support of your Hewlett-Packard product. These resources are detailed on the Canadian Support and US Support websites of course. But I’d like to share with you some opinions on what options I and some of my Canadian customers tend to prefer to use and under what circumstances you might consider using them.
So you are working along, life is grand. Then the phone rings or an email flies by with a panicked alert or you’re notified on your smart phone about a new case waiting for you in Peregrine. Something is wrong with a printer or connected MFP.
We all solve problems differently. Personally, I always prefer to start my search in the product support website or IT Resource Forums to get a feel for if this is something HP itself or other users have had to work with. Then dial-into support after doing a little research. Other people may prefer to pick-up the phone and work with a representative right away. So let’s take a look at the support offerings available.
TIP: regardless of the service option you pursue, always have these minimum bits of information with you: (a) at least one serial number for the product in question; (b) at least one product number for the product in question (the product number and serial number are located on the device identification sticker and also available in the embedded web server); (c) a description of the issue and (d) versions of the operating systems, applications and drivers involved. Investing the extra couple of minutes up-front to gather this information ultimately helps you save time.
Work with your HP Authorized Service Provider in Canada or the US:
I’ve had the opportunity to work with a number of service partners over the years and am a firm believer in “local is better”. If you’re not already working with a local service partner (who also sell HP product), you may wish to consider it. They obviously have access to provide hardware break/fix support. Many more provide value-added services beyond the box. Have a conversation with the service or sales representatives for the preferred partner in your area. They’ll be able to better describe the array of services which are offered and to what level that can offer troubleshooting assistance. You HP sales representative may be able to offer some local suggestions as well.
Contact HP for support by phone in Canada or the US:
I find that working with the phone support is the best option for more complex technical issues. While hardware break-fix and general Q&A can be answered and worked on with the support agent, in my opinion I prefer to use other methods below for these types of considerations.
Note that some customers may have alternate service contracts in place with HP. If so a unique phone number and PIN would have been provided at the time of purchase.
Tip: Always conclude the call by asking for a case number and the first name of the agent you were speaking with. If there is something that you need a service manager to investigate further, this helps expedite any investigations.
Primary Product Support Website for Canada or the US:
This is my favourite place to start my troubleshooting. HP has a massive array of products, so the best way to navigate to it in my opinion is by typing in the product name (or part of it) in the search field. You’ll find driver, firmware, and software updates of course. Manuals, user job aids, product specifications and many other resources are available here as well. Once on the product support page, you can type in a brief description of the issue or error you are seeing. Results will show HP troubleshooting steps in many cases or even posts from other users in the IT Resource Center forums. Depending on the product and time of day, a live chat link will be available too.
Tip: If you prefer to use a non-HP search engine, many of the support pages and forum topics are indexed (although perhaps not in real-time). I know some of my customers like to use Google. If for example you were searching for drivers on the LaserJet 4200, the search term would look something like this: “LaserJet 4200 drivers site:hp.com”. In this case “site:hp.com” tells the search engine to limit results to any hp.com site. Other search engines may use different search term arguments or have an advanced link to specify additional criteria in different fields.
Email Support for Canada or the US:
I like this option for sending off general product questions for non-urgent issues. Sometimes you may have questions that span multiple product lines (or none at all) and are just not sure where to start. I haven’t used this one in a while, but figured I should include it.
Online Chat Support for Canada or the US:
I love this one. It’s live and very handy if you are in a server room without a phone nearby. For more complex issues or cases where the issue is determined to be hardware, the agent may ask for you to call into the phone support discussed above. I used this as recently as two months ago for getting help with an HP notebook and it was amazing. The chat room generated a case number for me, I had a name to reference of the person I was chatting with and once the chat completed, it prompted me to send an optional transcript to my attention by email. I did find it took a little time between the Q and A, but what I loved about this was I could keep working away on other stuff without having a phone glued to my ear. The chat window would simply flicker and beep with the information I was looking for when the agent had it ready for me.
Online Case Submission for Canada or the US:
While you can submit more complex technical issues here, I find that it just doesn’t offer the same natural exchange that has to happen with a phone call and to some degree online chat.
But for hardware break/fix, this is possibly the best online case tool that I’ve ever used with any manufacturer. Not that I’m biased of course, right? You will sign-up for an ITRC username and password. Once given access, submit cases by entering the serial number and product number combination. Previous cases you submitted using this tool can be looked up as well. It has some nice touches like remembering the serial number and product name pairs you submit. Be sure to specify the problem category as “Repair” if you require an onsite technician or will be shipping back to HP for resolution (your product warranty, Care Pack or support agreement determines which options are available to you). Only select “Parts Only” if service trained and authorized or if the parts are “End User Replaceable” (EURP). I work with several customers who prefer to replace their own parts due to restricted access to facilities or cases where they manage their own hot spare inventory.
TIP: Take a look at HP Part Surfer. It’s a fantastic tool to sift through product diagrams or locate parts by keywords. It’s not a necessity for submitting a case. But if you are certain what the affected part is and wish to include, it’s not a bad idea.
IT Resource Centre – The one-stop Shop for IT Administrators and Corporate Purchasers
This site was designed for customers with an IT or corporate purchasing backgrounds. It refers back to the HP Product Support Websites, but offers much more as well including the ability to:
· submit new hardware cases listed above
· lookup warranty on product in your inventory
TIP: If looking for information on how to upgrade warranty for newly purchased products, take a look at the Care Pack Lookup tool.
· search the entire technical knowledge base more quickly
· review/contribute to the user forums and more.
But I have to say, the biggest feature has to be subscribing to customized email alerts. Specify the product you own, the operating systems you need to monitor and the HP service will contact you automatically with updates that are customized for you.
