I have been a supporter of Epson for a long time. I have told people (whether readers here agree or not) that if you want a laser printer go with HP and if you want an ink jet go with Epson.

That all changed last night.

For personal use I have an Epson Stylus C62. I have used it for several years. If you don't use it for awhile the nozzles clog, but Epson included some software, the Epson Printer Utility, for doing such things as running a head cleaning, checking ink remaining, etc.

Somehow, I managed to lose this application. I don't know when I deleted it. Okay, I was stupid. I admit it. But it was done. I needed it last night and it was nowhere to be found. My bad.

So I went to Epson's website and spent over an hour trying to find it. All I could find were the drivers which I didn't need as they are built into OS 10.5.x.

So this morning I called customer support. What a fiasco. "I just need to get a copy of this application," I said.
"Oh, are you looking for the driver?"
"No, I need the Epson Printer Utility."
"I can tell you how to tell how much ink you have left."
"I don't need that, I need the Printer Utility so I can clean the heads."
"Are you on the website now? I can tell you where you can download the driver."
"I don't need the driver! I just want the Printer Utility."
"Are you using OS X 4 or 5?
"5"
"Well, the driver for the C62 is built into it"
"I DON'T NEED THE DRIVER! Look, I realize you're probably in India. Is there anyone who speaks English as a first language and can understand me?"
"Actually, I'm in the Philippines. What do you need?"
"I just need the Epson Printer Utility."
"Well, if you download the driver, it will install the driver and the printer utility."
"But I don't need the driver, and the driver on the website says it's for Mac OS X 4.x, not 5."
"Well, that's what you'd need to do."
"Why would I install an older driver?"
"That wouldn't be a good idea, would it?"
"Forget it. I'll just go out and buy a Canon or a Kodak printer. Say goodbye to your ink sales. Have a nice day."

So I hung up and, in a pissy mood, I went to their website and sent in a complaint to their service department. In a few minutes I received a response that my email had been received and I'd get an answer soon. About 45 minutes later I received a boilerplate email about how to choose a freakin' driver.

Fellow printer users, whether or not you like or I like the Epson hardware and software is not my point here. If you think you might ever need customer support STAY AWAY FROM EPSON.

Excuse me, I'll be leaving soon to get a new printer that won't be from Epson.

Grrrrrr.