I NEED SOMEONES INPUT ON HP TECH SUPPORT

I just contacted HP technical support for the first time. I bought an external monitor for my ZD 7000 notebook and could not get the machine to make the new monitor the primary monitor or clone the two monitors. After agreeing to pay $99.00 for one year of tech support (since my warranty had expired), I spent around 1 hour on the phone with a technician who was unable to resolve the problem. He proceeded to tell me that he would transfer me to a "level 3" technician, but it would cost me an additional $60.00 for 30 minutes. I refused and wanted to speak with someone who could explain why I had to pay more money simply because the problem was beyond the skills of the current technician. Naturally, there was "no supervisor" there at the time. Right. I hung up and called back and was told that the first person I had talked to had sold me the wrong "technical support" package. I then paid the $60.00 for the 30 minutes and the $100.00 was to be refunded. That hasn't happened yet. I spent 19 minutes online with a "level 3" technician, and spent most of that trying to understand what he was saying due to a very heavy accent. He was unable to help. Since I'm active duty Navy, I talked to a Senior Chief Electronics Technician here at work and it was simple. Two options.... Hold the FN key and hit the F4 key. It switched the monitors instantly. Also, in the NVIDIA panel, select "clone" the monitors. Worked great. Now it appears that I'm out $160.00 for help on a problem that was fairly simple to solve. Lesson learned on my part. Is this level of support expertise the norm at HP, and is it normal to pay more money when the first tech doesn't know how to fix it?