jah wobble, you will likely get a lot more help here troubleshooting openoffice than ms word, so why not actually describe the problem and see what other people have to say? just a thought. "same problem" doesn't really cut it, considering the software is 100% different from your original query.
to be honest, what this suggests to me is that it is NOT a "word problem" and that HP (whom you are probably paying for their support) are bullshitting you with a "not my problem" response to cover up their shitty hardware issues.