HP 15C LE Error 9, does it exist?
#1

I was reading the reviews for the HP 15C LE on the HP Home & Home Office site, and came across another negative review, due in part to another misinformed tech support person:

"Try the self diagnostic. Error 9 every time. Called technical support. Was told this was normal for this new calculator. Nice job whoever wrote the new manual."

Although the revised Owner's Handbook (Edition 2.4, Sep 2011) has corrected the self-test information on page 261, it still lists "Error 9, Service" on page 207 with the description "Self-test discovered circuitry problem, or wrong key pressed during key test."

Clearly, this is no longer valid, yet it still appears in the manual and tech support is still oblivious to the whole situation. This is the second instance of a bad review that is the result of incompetent tech support. Frankly, tech support should be instructed to read the following text when asked any technical question regarding the HP 15C LE:

"I am a clueless minimum wage cretin who can't give you any useful information on this product. What did you expect from a company that hired a former eB** head as its CEO?"

#2

Quote:
"[...] What did you expect from a company that hired a former eB** head as its CEO?"

And further: "...but information on this issue is up for auction on www.hpay.com and due in just a couple of hours. Bid now before it's too late!"
#3

That assessment of tech support and the personal attacks on the people there is really, bizarrely, out-of-line.

Are you expecting that tech support people individually research the internet to find information that is not even on HP web sites, then evaluate the accuracy of those second- and third-party reports, then create a personal database for customer response? And then, do that for every HP product, current and past, for which inquiries might be received? That won't happen on any planet I know!

What has been reported as tech support failure is simply the complete failure of the HP organization behind their tech support to provide the information and tools that any tech support person requires about any product to perform the job. This includes failure of effective and timely communication of customer-discovered faults by the management associated with particular products.

I doubt any of us could do better than the people at HP tech support when the corporate organization ignores its responsibilities. It's a defect of HP management, not of the poor fellow who answers the phone.

#4

Thank you, Mike!

#5

Quote:
Are you expecting that tech support people individually research the internet to find information that is not even on HP web sites

The updated manual is on the HP website. So, yes, I do expect a tech support person to know this.

#6

Quote:
It's a defect of HP management, not of the poor fellow who answers the phone.

Correct. Its HP management that hires the "clueless minimum wage cretin who can't give you any useful information on this product", then does not give the poor schmuck the info he/she needs to properly help the customer.

Edited: 6 Oct 2011, 12:27 p.m.

#7

Quote:
"I am a clueless minimum wage cretin who can't give you any useful information on this product.

what the____.

#8

Even the latest 15C-LE manual (available only electronically here) still has problems with respect to self-test issues, and has corrected none of the several other errata that have been noted here. Manual reading may be of little corrective value when customers call about inconsistent machine performance based on bad information from the manual, when the tech support rep will likely be referring to that same or similar erroneous manual as well.

Once again, that's not the fault of the tech support rep.




Edited: 6 Oct 2011, 2:29 p.m.

#9

Besides the user manual, there is an error in the HP 15C LE specifications indicating that the calculator has 12 Digit Display.

When I spoke with HP Customer and HP Technical services, they insisted that it is correct and 12 digits despite even the photo shows 10. It feels like HP Customer Service Reps don't have much degree of freedom to make any decisions or communicate bi-directional between the customer and HP. Their responses indicate that they have to stick with the script. This is one way to ensure consistent customer service for a large company, therefore either it is consistently correct or incorrect, not much room for creative response.

#10

The error might stem from the 12C Platinum which in fact has 12 digits despite the display shows just 10.



Possibly Related Threads…
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  [HP Prime] "Error while checking exact value with approximate value, returning both!" Chris Pem10 13 4,949 12-06-2013, 05:12 AM
Last Post: parisse
  MS advert shows spreadsheet with obvious error BruceH 3 2,148 11-14-2013, 09:50 AM
Last Post: Bill (Smithville, NJ)
  HP Prime: Rounding error in determinant Stephan Matthys 3 1,607 10-25-2013, 09:29 PM
Last Post: Walter B
  HP Prime Error: Summation Upper Bound > 1000 HP Pioneer 2 1,351 10-25-2013, 11:32 AM
Last Post: steindid
  Prime Error or Mine? toml_12953 12 3,532 10-22-2013, 10:35 AM
Last Post: toml_12953
  Explaination on How to Reset Caculator in Users guie: error Harold A Climer 5 2,518 10-15-2013, 02:11 AM
Last Post: cyrille de Brébisson
  Repair of HP-34C - Error 0 and Error 9 Jeff Kearns 3 1,648 10-11-2013, 12:29 PM
Last Post: Randy
  OT - A lucky find - Busicom Handy-LE LE-120A Cristian Arezzini 2 1,783 09-26-2013, 04:43 AM
Last Post: Cristian Arezzini
  Low power warning for HP-15C LE and batteries Nick_S 1 1,382 09-16-2013, 09:34 AM
Last Post: Hans Brueggemann
  Do You Think a Listing Error Was Made? Jim Johnson 13 3,781 09-04-2013, 09:23 AM
Last Post: Eddie W. Shore

Forum Jump: