Unable to contact customer support

[rcan1015]

This is mostly a complaint about the complete and total lack of customer service, but it needs a backstory to proceed. My Officejet 6968 printer started behaving poorly a couple weeks ago. The printer head would spend a lot of time wandering around and would take several minutes before it would print a simple Word document. This continued for several days and then started working OK again. Then it kept dropping wifi connection and would not communicate with my Asus Windows 10 computer. Then it refused to scan. I tried running the HP Print and Scan Doctor and it seemed to take a long time to engage. I would wait for several minutes--with no indication that the program was working--then I would try to start it again and it would say 'another instance of this application is running'. Who knew since it doesn't give any feedback. It never found any issues.

After all the normal stuff--unplugging printer, restarting computer and printer, unplugging router, unplugging printer, restarting everything, etc., in all combinations I still could not make things work. So I tried contacting HP via a phone number that I retrieved from 'pissedconsumer.com'. After being on hold for 15 minutes, I spoke with a phone rep that took some information and made sure that my printer was still under warranty. Satisfying that requirement, he said he would send my to a techie. Instead a computer automaton asked for a case number and said if I did not have a case number to go the website and follow the instructions. Then it disconnected the call without any options.

I logged in to the website, followed the poorly constructed instructions. I selected my printer from the list of devices and kept getting prompts to open an account with 'HP Easy Start'. I just wanted to speak, chat or email an agent but I took the bait and set up HP Easy Start. It didn't help either. I went back to trying to 'contact support' and each time (half dozen attempts over several different days) I selected that option, the HP logo (4  squares icon) appears on the webpage and just rotates--for as long as the webpage is open. It doesn't connect with anybody, it doesn't provide any feedback, it just spins endlessly--reminding me of the time I am wasting trying to contact support. I have wasted a lot of time trying to get my printer to work and HP has not devoted a minute to my issue. I have a printer that is still under warranty and no means to contact HP and have them honor their warranty and their commitment. 

[Help8889]

I spent hours trying to get support too.  Will not by another HP Product.