Hewlett Packard HP support, Smart Friend Useless waste of Time and Money Nationwide

"Upgraded" my Windows 8.1 HP laptop,my first mistake, DON'T do it. It appeared to work but it was locked after the upgrade so I called HP support and was told aboout a one time $99 charge or $35 base fee and $14.95 per month for a year. I thought this would be a one time problem so I went for the $99 plus tax option. Very nice,rep but seemed lost with Windows 10, could not get it off the lock screen after at least two hours of trying by phone and by taking over my computer. Finally, she decided to reset my computer. telling me I would lose my files and photos if I did not back them up. All of that is on an external hard drive, so she tells me, no problem. Other than a reset, the other option was to return to 8.1. After The $99 charge I was determined to keep Windows 10, or there was no point to this whole thing. The reset took a few hours so she left me and the computer did its thing. After the reset, Windows 10 was operational, wonderful.

I was was working on a WORD document to scan and print and my printer did not work anymore. Call HP Smart Friend again, same rep. She tries to download my printer software from the HP site that has a link to Canon. It does not work. This is the service that advertises support for all software, not only what cam with the computer but any you have added. NOT TRUE. After a couple of hours of trying on a Sunday, she tells me to call Canon on Monday. The wonderful Canon rep, at no charge, had my printer fully functional in less than a half hour. He could not understand how HP could have a problem finding the soiution.

Next, my built in HP camera did not work. Called HP again. Again, they try their software link to Cyberlink, it does not work, I am not surprised. Called Cyberlink, no Windows 10 needs new software. Again, surprise that HP had no idea of this as they put this software on their new computers. Downloaded new software from Cyberlink.

What did I pay $99 for?, easy, wasted time and aggravation. Try a local computer person or better NEVER update an old computer to Windows 10, just buy a new one with it factory installed, I hear they actually function out of the box. Currently in despute with credi card company.