HP and Compaq Support

Nowadays, companies have several types of support for their products. Support is intended to make the customer feel good about what they bought, it is intended to let the customer know that the company is there for them. Computer companies have them, even cosmetic companies have them- like Cover Girl. The HP customer support is one that I am very familiar with because I tend to buy HP printers and just recently bought an HP computer.

Why do I buy HP computers? I don't know- because everyone else does?!?!? I haven't done any statistical analysis on which printers can print the most pages in a minute. All I know is that in my mind, a good printer is synonymous with HP.
But. let me tell you a true little story I had with HP and HP support:

It was a fine March day in 2006. I was sitting in my home, eating some candy and drinking a Slurpee, and printing some documents. Then all of a sudden my printer just stopped working. Out of nowhere. I don't have a degree in Technology, but my technological skills are quite advanced, so I looked at the printer, analyzed it and realized that absolutely nothing was wrong with it. Ok, I tried printing again. Nothing. How could this printer, which stood by me so faithfully in grad school, be betraying me now?!?!?! How baby, how (at that point, I had a bound with my HP printer). So I decided to go online and query the type of printer I had. Guess what world? When I queried my HP printer I found HUNDREDS of complaints concerning this printer.