I think part reason HP had trouble solving this case is the fact that most skilled people have decent ethics, and refuse to work for Vito Corleone [ink edition].
Nobody skilled is going to voluntarily do consumer-level tech support where 99% of support tickets involve the user being an absolute idiot (and you're not even allowed to swear at them).
You do tech support out of necessity when you don't have any other options, and you look to get out as fast as possible.
My guess is that the issue for support is that it's very much an edge-case, and not something most in support would encounter. The feature is most likely only available do to refurb or transfer inventory across regions.
That being said, the reason it works so poorly might be because there's a lack of continuity within HPs printer line up. For obvious reason I haven't used an HP products in years, but even going back, there seemed to be little lineage within their InkJet printers. The fact that a tools was still available is amazing.
You do tech support out of necessity when you don't have any other options, and you look to get out as fast as possible.