Hi Harris-
You know, the ironic thing is that I agreed with much of what he had to say. That is, it's not unreasonable for them to ask you to perform certain checks on the equipment before they send someone out. They then send parts based on what they expect to find.
That said, HP's treatment of you was frankly shocking, and in general, their support is too often disorganized, uninformed, and just plain late.
I encourage everyone who is experiencing this kind of support from HP to quickly elevate their demands- ask to speak to the supervisor, and if that is not sufficient, to the next supervisor. I have found that both the field techs and the upper supervisors to be very good- most often, the mid-level tech managers and initial phone support are the problem (IMO)
Bill