Can anyone share a story of an HP purchase from a retailer where they also bought the EW? I'd like to know how that worked out if you had a problem during the EW period, and how it was handled.

Most of my clients would prefer that I come to their home and work on their computers even if they have a warranty. I'd like to save them money and heartache, but I don't know if the EW from retailers like Best Buy and Circuit City could help them or not.

The other problem I ended up having was a few months ago, we ordered parts to upgrade a SAN for a new server install a month later. Two weeks roll by, and only two parts have come in, still missing a few others. Our sales rep had suddenly quit as well. 5 long calls and five entirely different answers later (including "we have no record", "it shipped out two weeks ago but there's no tracking number", and "here's a tracking number but UPS's site says it's invalid"), it finally comes out that the part is on backorder and won't be in stock for weeks. Then they won't let us cancel the order without escalating the call.

Before that, I'd had a growing bad vibe about their support, but this was unbelievable.

In the early '90's, Dell, Compaq, Packard-Bell, and Gateway had a good thing going. Then Packard-Bell showed the industry how to cut corners and, in doing so, trashed their product, their service, their reputation, and finally their company. Gateway followed suit, but was able to keep from killing the company -- just barely.

In the late '90's, Compaq jumped on the boat and sailed off into the computer world's version of the Bermuda Triangle, where quality mysteriously disappears! I had hoped the HP/Compaq merger would raise Compaq out of the mire but, alas, it only dragged HP down into the "crapola".

Now Dell has begun the descent into purgatory, first with service and support issues and, sadly, now with hardware and quality control issues.

What is a OEM and VAR going to do? In the early '90's, I used to recommend Compaq, Gateway, and HP. In the late 90's I would recommend HP and IBM, or a custom built system. In the early '00's I would recommend IBM, Sony, and Dell or a custom built system. For the record, I would never recommend e-Machines or Toshiba.

Today? Who knows! For PCs, I still go with Dell because from a price/performance ratio, they still have the best bang for the buck. I can't even build a custom system as good as Dell for the price. And, with most of my clients, price matters. For printers, I now choose Epson or Canon over HP and Lexmark, due to quality, pricing, and support issues. Personally, after 10 years, I just - this month - switched from an HP to an Epson printer (all-in-one unit). I got tired of the hassles, expenses, and poor quality all the way around. Sad.

The forecast I make from my view from the quagmire is that within a year I'll simply recommend IBM and Sony laptops with Epson all-in-one printer-scanner-copier-fax devices with FireWire storage devices and USB 2.0 docking stations. No more desktops. No more CRTs. No more PS/2, serial, or parallel connectors. No more vendor tech support.

I recommend to my clients that they take the money they'd spend on an extended warranty and invest it in a "contract-for-hire" system administrator such as myself. Many hardware issues are more likely caused by spyware, malware, viruses, or the user's lack of knowledge on installation or operation. The few issues that are not are better handled by someone such as myself who has been dealing with the vendors for years and knows how to cut through the "red tape" (a euphemism for bull-pucky).

I only see heartache and pain for the end user until the industry wises up and gets consumer electronics on-par with other items such as cars or old fashioned TVs and radios. Our level of technology today allows us to make consumer electronic goods that can truly be "plug-and-play". Do we really need 12 different cables to hook up a DVD or Video recorder to our sound system? Do we really need to plug in the surround sound speaker cable into the correctly marked jacks? NO! We should be able to build a speaker that is marked as "Left-Rear", plug it into any of the dozen jacks on the back of the home theater system amplifier, and let the amplifier recognize the speaker because it identifies itself. We should be able to plug in a USB device into any USB port and not be greeted with a "finding new hardware" message after the first time installation on any other USB port.

So, about 4 weeks ago, my Deskjet 932 printer refused to print color. Figuring the color cart was empty, I popped in a new one. Nope, still no color, at all. The calibration page that prints when new carts are installed had no color on it, self-tests had no color. I figured the new cart I installed might be bad. I cleaned the contacts on the cart and printer as directed by the support site.

So, I got my first experience of HP's outsourced support staff. First I had to give them just about all info about me short of my blood type. I have to repeat information several times, cause he can't understand english. Then they want the serial # of the printer, which I gave him. He said it was out of warranty, I said I know it's 4 years old. I'm calling to get a bad color cartridge replaced. Now he wants the product number from the cartridge, which I give him. Get put on hold numerous times, they finally come back and give me a case # and order #, saying they'll send me a replacement cartridge. This phone call to get a replacement ink cart has now taken close to an hour.

Now it's over a month later, still no replacement cart. Since then I tried a friends color cart in my printer, (and mine in his) and the problem is not the cart, the printer is dead for color use. Although it's 4 years old, it has gotten VERY light use over the years.