It has been over two years since I last spent several weeks speaking with HP India executives making them aware of the numerous problems with their outdated website that I came across while trying to choose a laptop for my personal use.
After close to an hour of assurances that Ms. Tapoti T. Tipnis of HP India provided me over phone, I buried the hatchet. Now, after 2 years, life has come a full circle and I have been again affected by the outdated, misinforming website of HP India. I had thought that 2 years was a long time for HP India to get their house in order, but it is now evident that their management is still sleeping over this issue.
This time, I tried to purchase genuine ink cartridges for my HP OfficeJet J3680 printer from the online HP Store. The moment I typed the printer model number, the website came up with two cartridges that should have supposedly been compatible with my printer model:
(Click Picture to View Full Size)
However, the site informed me that shipping the ink cartridges to my home could take up to 24 hours. Since my requirement was very urgent and the time was already 7:30 pm, I drove up to the nearest HP reseller in Janak Puri and bought several ink cartridges, including two HP 702 cartridges (highlighted in the picture above).
On coming back home, I realized to my utter horror that the printer in question (OfficeJet J3680) refused to accept the HP 702 ink cartridge, with a clear error message saying that this cartridge model was incompatible with my printer.
The HP reseller was kind enough to refund me the money for one of the HP 702 cartridges that was still unopened, but I lost Rs. 1110 on the other one that was now open and could not be re-sealed.
Just about 15 minutes ago (about 3:55 pm IST on 24th March 2009) I logged this case as a complaint on the HP website and have received the complaint number CCHSAP200651. Now I am waiting to hear back from HP India, keeping my fingers crossed. I hope they refund me the cost of the incompatible ink cartridge.
