I have been looking for a printer/scanner with a special feature. I want to be able to drop a stack of papers into the autodocument feeder (ADF), have them slurped in, scanned into a PDF and delivered to me either via email or saved directly to a network shared folder.

I finally found one: the HP OfficeJet 8500. I researched it online. I called the HP sales line to verify that it supported my desired features and was fully compatible with Mac OSX Snow Leopard. Sales couldn't answer so they forwarded me to tech support. Tech support verified it would do what I wanted and was fully supported with Snow Leopard.

I purchased the printer and set it up today. The scan to PDF feature does not work. I called HP. Waited 40 minutes on hold. The tech said they don't support that feature. 3 hours of arguing, being hung up on, and continually told that the only support they'll offer is quote: "we can show you where to enter the configuration information, but we can't do anything more than that."

I have always liked HP printers and what really hurts is that as far as I can tell the printer is beautiful. If I had to design a printer to fulfill my needs (apart from that pesky not-working problem) THIS is the printer I would design.

I don't know what a consumer can do. I researched. I'm tech savvy. I tried everything I can do to ensure this would work.. And still I'm fucked.

I'm going to call again in the morning. I'm taking a chance that it was just Friday night tech support who were pissed to be working Friday night. Then I'm going to take the printer back.

But... Do I get a replacement? That feels like I'm letting them win. But I can't find a similar printer.

Maybe you can help me find a competitor?