this is a story about my adventures with HP chat support. a little background first though. I have a set of Motorola S9-HD bluetooth headphones and I wanted to pair them up with my Hp Pavillion dv2934ca laptop. seems simple enough, however I quickly discovered that the headphones won’t work with the laptop for some reason or another. I suspected that it may be due to a lack of A2DP support in the bluetooth driver on the laptop.
after considerable time searching the hp website, I couldn’t really find anything that would point to where the issue may be. I decided to try my luck and hit the “chat with an HP online support rep” link. Little did I know, that would be a portal straight to tech support hell.
For your amusement, here is the entire conversation between me and HP
[You are now chatting with Hilary Gomes .]
Hilary Gomes : Welcome to HP Total Care for Notebook support. My name is Hilary Gomes . Please give me a few moments while I review your problem description details.
NOTE: For security reasons, PLEASE DO NOT send credit card information via chat.
Jason Rasch : hello Hilary
Hilary Gomes : Thank you. Hi Jason, how are you doing?
Jason Rasch : pretty good….I have a quick question about the built in bluetooth adaptor on my laptop (pavilion dv2934ca)
Hilary Gomes : It’s glad to hear from you.
Hilary Gomes : Don’t worry as we are here for you. I assure you that I will do my best to help you.
Jason Rasch : I am trying to connect it to my Motorola S9-HD bluetooth headphones. it can see them and connect to them however it will only detect them as a headset not headphones.
Hilary Gomes : I understand your concern and I will put all my efforts to help you and make you happy at the end of the chat.
Jason Rasch : big question is, is my laptop’s built in bluetooth adaptor a2dp capable?
Hilary Gomes : First, I would like to inform you that your notebook have built in bluetooth adapter.
Jason Rasch : obviously I know that it has a built in bluetooth adapter as I mentioned that. Is it a2dp capable?
Hilary Gomes : I mean your notebook has bluetooth capacity. You can connect bluetooth devices.
At this point I seriously begin to suspect that this may not be a real person…
Jason Rasch : are you a script?
Hilary Gomes : I am sorry.
Jason Rasch : are you now?
Hilary Gomes : I am Hilary Gomes an agent assisting you.
Jason Rasch : a2dp does my laptop have it?
Jason Rasch : support it?
Jason Rasch : use it?
Hilary Gomes : Sure, I will inform you.
Hilary Gomes : Could you please tell me what a2dp means?
Now while I don’t expect that everyone knows what a2dp is, I would imagine that HP support would have a KB… or google at the very least. so I gave them the results from Wikipedia
Jason Rasch : Advanced Audio Distribution Profile
Jason Rasch : This profile defines how high quality audio (stereo or mono) can be streamed from one device to another over a Bluetooth connection. For example, music streamed from a mobile phone to a wireless headset or car audio.
A2DP was initially used in conjunction with an intermediate Bluetooth transceiver that connects to a standard audio output jack, encodes the incoming audio to a Bluetooth-friendly format, and sends the signal wirelessly to Bluetooth headphones that decode and play the audio. Bluetooth headphones, especially the more advanced models, often come with a microphone and support for the Headset (HSP), Hands-Free (HFP) and Audio/Video Remote Control (AVRCP) profiles.
A2DP is designed to transfer a uni-directional 2-channel stereo audio stream, like music from an MP3 player, to a headset or car radio.[2] This profile relies on AVDTP and GAVDP. It includes mandatory support for the low complexity SBC codec (not to be confused with Bluetooth’s voice-signal codecs such as CVSDM), and supports optionally: MPEG-1 , MPEG-2, MPEG-4, AAC, and ATRAC, and is extensible to support manufacturer-defined codecs, such as apt-X. Most bluetooth stacks implement the SCMS-T digital rights management (DRM) scheme. In these cases it is possible to connect the A2DP headphones for high quality audio.
Hilary Gomes : Thank you for the information.
Hilary Gomes : Thank you once again.
Hilary Gomes : I have found that information too.
Jason Rasch : ok, so now that we have agreed what a2dp is….. does my laptop support it?
Hilary Gomes : If I understood your issue you want to know whether your notebook has A2DP bluetooth capable or not. Am I correct?
Ok, Seriously??
Jason Rasch : “Jason Rasch : big question is, is my laptop’s built in bluetooth adaptor a2dp capable?”
Jason Rasch : yes… you would be correct
Hilary Gomes : Thank you for confirming.
Hilary Gomes : I would like to inform you that I am searching on this information.
Hilary Gomes : For your reference here is the link for your notebook product specifications- http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01483594&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us<=en&product=3753495.
Jason Rasch : I already looked at that however it says nothing about a2dp compatability
Hilary Gomes : Alright, I just want to provide that information. That’s why I have provided. I am sorry if I did anything wrong.
Hilary Gomes : Could you please wait for 4-5 minutes while I check for this information.
Hilary Gomes : *?
Jason Rasch : tell you what….. I am going to go grab a coffee…. I will be back in a few minutes. hopefully you will have an answer by then
Hilary Gomes : Alright. Sure. Thank you for the co-operation.
Hilary Gomes : I am sorry for the delay.
Hilary Gomes : I am still searching for the information. Please provide me few more minutes
Jason Rasch : ok
Hilary Gomes : Thank you for the co-operation Jason.
Hilary Gomes : Thank you for online and patience Jason.
Hilary Gomes : I really apologize for the delay.
and now some potentially useful information
Hilary Gomes : I would like to inform you that Windows Vista Operating System does not support A2DP natively.
Jason Rasch : uh huh
Jason Rasch : and?
Hilary Gomes : But third-parties can provide A2DP profile support without entirely replacing Microsoft’s stack. Service Pack 2 adds bluetooth 2.0 capabilities.
add 1 part clarification, to 2 parts me being a dick…
Jason Rasch : as in vista SP2?
Hilary Gomes : I am sorry. I did not get you.
Jason Rasch : you said service pack 2 adds bluetooth 2.0 capabilities…. are you referring to windows vista SP2?
Hilary Gomes : I would like to inform you that Bluetooth 2.0 capabilities come with Service Pack2.
Jason Rasch : Windows Vista Service Pack 2?
Hilary Gomes : Yes, please.
Hilary Gomes : Please install service pack2 on your notebook.
Jason Rasch : while I verify what SP I have on vista… where are you located out of curiosity?
Hilary Gomes : Thank you. I am sorry to inform you that I am not supposed to disclose this information.
Hilary Gomes : Am I clear? Have I answered all your questions?
Jason Rasch : no worries about the location thing
Hilary Gomes : Alright, thank you for understanding.
Jason Rasch : I see my laptop is running SP1, so I will install SP2. if that does not work though do you know if there is anything else that might be able to help?
Hilary Gomes : I would like to inform you that Service Pack2 has to provide you A2DP capacity even though it did not give, please try with SP3 too.
Hilary Gomes : Is there any other technical issue that I can assist you with?
Jason Rasch : I think that is everthing
Jason Rasch : thanks
Hilary Gomes : You are most welcome.
Hilary Gomes : Thank you for giving me an opportunity to serve you. It’s been a pleasure assisting you today.
apparently even when I am being a dick I am a pleasure to work with
Hilary Gomes : You are the nice and pleasant person I have ever met. It was nice and pleasant chatting with you.
and you are the nice and pleasant chat bot I have ever met
Hilary Gomes : Once you close the chat you would get an option to save or exit. At that time you could click on the save option and save the entire chat transcript.
Hilary Gomes : Thank you for contacting HP Total Care Real-Time chat support. If you need further assistance, please contact us again at:
http://www.hp.com/support/chat
Chat support is available 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week.
For information on keeping your HP and Compaq products up and running, please visit our Web site at:
http://www.hp.com/go/totalcare
and there you have it…. my adventure with HP… I will let you know later if upgrading to SP2 does the trick.
lmao… yarr very funny!!