Oh Brother - Brother Tech Support

Or as I should really say: not support.

 

I know I am not your top of the line hardware dude, but even I have been known to change a toner cartridge in a laser printer. After all, it is not a fax machine so even I should be able to handle it. But this weekend it was proven that I am even less competent at hardware than I thought. It started Friday evening when I was printing out a recipe off the web. Simple enough, but the printer is screaming at me to feed it toner. Sunday I stop out at OfficeMax and pick up a cartridge.

 

I get home and open up the printer and try to pull the old toner assembly out of the printer and it is stuck. Stuck hard. So I call Brother's tech support number and get a message: hours of support are from 6am to 9pm PST, except holidays. April 30th is not a holiday, but the recorded message tells me to call back during working hours despite it being in the alleged support time frame. Idiots. Tell me you are also closed on the weekend.

 

So I called back today and was routed fairly quickly to a support professional. It was a good experience to start as the wait time was less than a minute. All I had to do is provide them my phone number and they told me my printer model and asked how they can help. I explain my situation on how I am out of toner and replacing it for the first time and how it is jammed. The guy asked me to pull hard. I did not want to break the drum assembly so I pulled as hard as I could before I thought I would break something. He asked me to check to see if there was a foreign object in the assembly and I looked (again) to confirm nothing was in the way. He was kind enough to tell me I was the first person he heard of who could not pull the toner out of the printer. As if I don't have enough esteem problems with hardware. He figures it will be better for me to embarrass myself in front of a human and gives me the phone number of a local tech.

 

I talked to the local tech and he asks me: do you see this white plastic connector on the left side of the door? Sure. Is it connected to a piece of black plastic? No. I connect it and bingo I hear the sound of a release and sure enough the toner slides right out. Simple as pie. This is the first thing they should of asked me. The local tech guy notes he would have made $50 if I had brought it in. I offer to do so, but he declines. First class help from someone knowledgeable.

 

Have I mentioned how much I hate hardware?

 

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