Me on Monday

Well, I've done it again. I've gotten myself into another "situation!" Remember I mentioned that my ink for the new printer finally arrived last Tuesday. On Wednesday--the day I was spending in my scrapbook room--I started by installing the new color ink cartridge. The black was still printing just fine. Unlike my old printer, the cartridges that needed changing would blink. 

So, I printed a few pictures. I wasn't crazy about them--they seemed so light. Still, I proceeded on and completed a couple pages. Then, when I went to print another picture, it was a mess. You could barely tell what it was. 

I decided to call HP tech support. That's when everything went wrong!! 

You don't get a phone number to call and speak to someone, you have to use the "chat bot." I spent about 15 minutes going back and forth with the bot who finally said that they were going to have someone call me. They sent me a pop up window to fill out with my phone number and credit card! What?? I asked what that was for. I was told that there was going to be a $5.00 charge, but it was completely refundable. I didn't quite understand that, but I proceeded. 

When I finished the transaction, the message said that someone would be calling me within 5 minutes. Then I got a "thank you" message for "signing up" for monthly tech support! What the f**k? 

All of a sudden my anxiety level was through the roof! I went to my credit card website and saw a "pending" charge for $70!!! OMGosh! Here we go again! I've manage to let myself be cheated! 

I called my credit card company immediately. I was so nervous, that I accidentally disconnected the call 3 times before it went through.

I explained the situation. Since the charge is just "pending," there's nothing to do right now. I have to watch it. If the pending part drops off and I actually am charged, then I have to call back to "dispute" the charge. In the meantime, I didn't answer the call from the "guy." He called, texted and even emailed me. I ignored all of it so he can't claim he "helped" me.

I decided that even though I thought I was talking to HP--I don't think it was--even if the website looked legit. 

So, the next step was that I called Best Buy--where I bought the printer. I requested the phone number of HP support. It took quite a while of me on hold, but I finally got it.

Before I called, I thought of one of the questions the "bot" asked me: did I change out the black cartridge too? I hadn't because, it was still printing documents, so I thought there was still black ink.

I decided that since I have free ink for the next 6 months I was going to go ahead and change it. I did and voila'--the pictures started printing correctly. Now I'm not saying that I love the quality of the printing. Ultimately, I might just take the darn thing back. I print all of my own pictures now, so I do want good quality.

All right, that's it. Actually, I should have an answer before this posts as to whether I had to file a dispute or not. We'll see.

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Yep, the charge was finally taken off yesterday! Okay, I'm two for two in getting my money back. I don't think I'll be purchasing anything off the Internet anytime soon!  

Now I just have to figure out how to get better prints.