So you also are having issues with HP? I purchased a desktop on 7/6/06 to be exact from a national retailer. About 4 days short of the anniversary of the purchase I experience a problem, so I called HP to ask about it. It was then I was informed that the HP warranty for this machine was out because…..THE WARRANTY STARTED FROM THE DATE OF MANUFACTURE, AND NOT FROM THE DATE OF PURCHASE. Now isn’t that nice?!?! No one ANYWHERE mentioned that to me. So if a unit sits in the warehouse a year before it is sold, it is then NOT WARRANTED BY HP????? WTF?????????????/

Your story was well written. Thanks. My resolve from your story will be to never purchase another HP product no matter what. I will also encourage everyone who asks me about their future purchases to stay away from HP. As you said, legal action is futile but if enough people boycott companies that treat their customers with disdain they WILL get the message eventually.

Service is certainly something one should consider when choosing a vendor for computer equipment, but I have to say that my experiences with HP have been distinctly different from yours.

I’m a sysadmin in a university environment. We have about 20 HP servers and 80 HP desktop PCs in place in our department, and I have never had anything but fast and courteous service from HP when requesting replacement parts. Of course, I am getting parts from them which I install myself, not sending equipment in for repair. We have service contracts for the servers, but for the desktop PCs we just call whatever # they have on their web site, so I don’t think we’re getting different service than you would get. On a side note, the more expensive the product the more likely you are to get a US-based service rep.

Clearly there are both good and bad parts of any large company, and if you dig deep enough you’ll find stories like yours in reference to every large computer manufacturer. Your experience may have been an aberration, or maybe HP’s laptop support really is horrible.

Personally I wouldn’t dump them as a supplier after one bad experience; whoever you go to next may be worse.

Just a fine example of the kind of service I’ve seen in the past with Dell, Acer and HP. We’ve since concluded that as a local (not national or international) business, we can do far better by supporting a local or regional computer source that tends to be a lot more attentive to their customers.

As long as the laptop runs a version of XP, all will be well. Running a distro as well does not void the warranty.

Not to brag, but I am glad I own a Dell. That story sounds like a nightmare. I can’t stand calling the tech suppport for companies like HP or Dell, as they are located in other countries and it is nearly impossible to communicate with them.

Hi Tom. I am a salesman for Gateway computers direct department in South Dakota. If you ever want a single point of contact with (what I believe) to be a responsible and customer friendly company - feel free to contact me. We also have a feature rich line of touch screen tablet/convertible notebooks a blogman like yourself might enjoy. Sorry to hear about your trying times through what we call “the phone jungle”, I do basic PC work on the side and get to make calls on my personal customers behalf!
All the best
Tyler “Flip” DeLashmutt
Flip.delashmutt@gateway.com
800-846-2042 ext 25686

At the university where I work, both Dell and HP are “preferred vendors.” My department, however, buys machines locally (PC Club). It’s usually a couple hundred bucks cheaper than a comparable Dell or HP, and the hardware is of better quality. I’ve found that this is the norm for local PC vendors.

Just a consumer,

I am neither Chinese or American, so I can safely say that I am neutral and a consumer of both. However I am visiting the US currently and have a product of china within my possession. Well, I have a US product made in China. This is the point of my article, moreover it the corporate decisions effecting global trade, and governments smear campaigns that clash in current corporate America, from my perspective a smear campaign that is contradictory:

I am, as I stated, in the US. At this moment most US news channels are running a campaign ‘Made in China’, in short, exposing the potential danger of products from China, including various cases that have led to deaths. On the flip side, the US TV channels are blitzed with adverts of tort and mass litigators, all asking if ‘You’ have been affected with product ‘x’ the irony of this subject matter is products are US, and if you follow the trail through the media, i.e. Internet, the damages are far greater, the deaths in mass numbers, and the future potential deaths, massive. Who do I trust, Is this a cold-media-war?

Back to my scenario, I am visiting the US, and I have a ‘Made in China product’, but this is in fact a HP, all American, and its not working, In fact, from the day I bought the Laptop. It’s been in for repair, (Outsourced repair center), I used the call center, a scrip conversation that became evasive (outsourced India), I sent the Laptop in for repair, I even had a case manager, (Outsourced from Canada). I’m not being difficult, but I have had a product for a period of 12 months, and a major US company, HP, to be precise, that still does not function as it should, and now all my communication is ignored.

HP has the power to sell a product that they know is not in working order, in fact the majority of Laptop manufactures do the same, we the consumers are the fault finding % they use to amend bios problems, bugs, design faults. I know! I worked for an OEM laptop manufacture, and I went blue in the face pointing out problems that needed addressed before launching a product. But in this world, if you’re not out on the market, you miss the gravy boat, its all about market presence, innovation, with a calculated % of returns in relation to the sales price ‘bare-bone’ and sales quota to cover cost.

Over the last decades Outsourcing has been a financial incentive, and the headache factor of customer services is detached from the workplace. Bravo, but what about the consumer?

Now I have been stung yet again, and guess what, by an outsourced company, this is a letter I wrote, and I have been ignored, yet again:

Rebate by mail

Please validate my rebate:

On point of sale, including pre-sale discussions with the Verizon rep, the issue of a mail in rebate was the hard sell formula. Under this “Offer” I made the decision to purchase not one, but, two phones. Not at any time, pre/point or after sale did the sales rep mention I had to retain the box or for that matter mention that the bar-code must be cut from the box and submitted in order to obtain the rebate. Let me point out that the rep has scanned the bar code on the box as part of his/her process, this information is recorded and obtainable. I paid via credit card, proof of purchase, and I have a receipt, second proof of purchase, I have a contract, proof of ownership.

I discarded the boxes on the day of purchase, and when I had spare time, I would read my documentation and submit my rebate. Now the dilemma I face is, what course of action must I undertake to obtain my rebate?

In all honesty, at the point of sale, or an indication on the sales offer tag that states Mail-rebate, the customer should be clearly informed, including the staff should be properly trained to inform a client of this stipulation. In my discussion with a Parago agent 2979, it is not the role of Parago to train or inform sales reps. In fact, I the customer was just plain stupid.

Being a new customer, I request an exception in my case on the grounds I have stipulated. The points I raised can be verified by two witnesses, one my partner and the second a friend who were present during the process. Also, one can quite simply do a little research on the internet and find scores of customers with the same or similar issues.

I phoned the outsourced Mail-In rebate company Parago that processes the Mail-in-rebate for Verizon and spoke with an agent (Mary) worker number 2979. I explained my situation, and she informed me that my application would be ‘invalid’. I explained that this ‘clause’ is ‘after point of sale and after a financial transaction’ (Fraud, plain and simple, so I thought). I was then informed that this was my fault, I should have read the documentation, I explained that this is impossible before point of sale! Including that all the information they required was obtainable regardless.

In the first instance of our conversation she asked for my phone number and name, when I requested her details, she stated that this was not permissible, and she did this with anger, “How could I be so impertinent” I explained that she had my details and I had the right to have her details, she began to evade the question, but I demanded her name, in the end she said Mary and provided a worker number.

At the close of the conversation from the information I had extracted: I do have all the relevant information for a rebate, but not in this one form of an outside packaging and Parago can validate this information if needed, however Parago say this clause of the original bar code from a outside packaging after the point of sale to invalidate rebates that are used to lure a customer into a purchase is a legal requirement as proof of purchase.

What I’ve read on the FatWallet and Anandtech forums to name a few, I think they’re simply invalidating every submission that isn’t followed up on. If it’s going through Parago, odds are very good it will fraudulently be invalidated or use a process that will cause invalid rebates even if all the required information can be validated.

My personal experience with Parago and it’s numerous DBA’s is that substantial % of my rebates submitted for processing are erroneously rejected. When I complain, and point out that I have copies showing the rebate was valid and complete, the rebates are typically processed. Even for rebates that are not rejected processing typically has take 3 months or more. This leads me to conclude that Parago fraudulently rejects valid rebates for the purpose of: a) keeping the customer’s money longer, and, more importantly, b) keeping the customer’s money permanently when the customer is too busy to appeal, fails to keep copies, forgets about the rebate, or for other reasons does not follow up. Both these practices increase profits in a way that emulates Enron. In this case I had made the transaction, and only then is it apparent that one must submit a bar code that is situated on an outside box, a box that is expected to be discarded, one wonders if this was the original intent, a cunning marketing ploy? Full disclosure after sale is fraud, or is it no-disclosure pre-sale is fraud?

I am tired of over-paying State Sales & Use Tax (SUTAuthority) based on the retail price before the rebate. I am tired of working for an hour to properly document and ’snail-mail with Certificate of Mailing’ the necessary paperwork for a rebate that returns me less than minimum wage for my time.

I am the consumer, and now I am an unpaid worker for my own purchase. I am treated as if I am trying to fraud or be difficult!

Please repair my Laptop
Please, just let me process my rebate.

Regards,

A consumer

haha who buys a laptop from HP!? The only thing they’re good for are laser printers and their blade servers, but their hard drives suck. =) That’s why we pay hundreds of dollars of product from them annually so we get a tech on-site within a few hours with new parts whenever we want.

Last year I bought an HP Pavilion DV5000t through the HP online configurator. It had an 80gb SATA HDD (all the HDD options were SATA).
After about 3 weeks it arrived, from being freshly assembled in China.
All was well for 2 days and then the SATA HDD went bad. I called the support in India and they were real nice and I went through the usual of trying to understand them etc., and was told that a new HDD would be overnighted to me.
It arrived in a couple of days and it was an IDE HDD? I went through the
support thing again and they said to return it and they would ship the right one this time. A week later another IDE HDD arrive so back to the phone a little angry at this point. The support put me through to the warehouse that parts are shipped from and I explained the situation and they were apologetic and PROMISED they would ship the right HDD this time.
A week later ANOTHER IDE HDD showed up.
I was getting furious by now and called back and they kept passing me up the dog food chain and I told them finally that I just wanted my money back and they could shove this laptop where the sun don’t shine. They then said that they would assign a case number and a case manager would call me the next day.
Sure enough a woman called from northern Cal. and we went through the scenario of history.
Finally we got to what the HP HDD # was and she said she would call me back the next day. She called and said there is a problem, and that the ONLY HDD that HP has listed for my laptop is an IDE HDD, there is no option of a SATA drive listed. I told here to go to the ordering site. She did and said OOOPS, I was right, geeezzzz.
She put me through to the HP store and I had to start all over again and reconfigure a new laptop to be built as an exchange since the SATA HDD # doesn’t show up anywhere in thier parts inventory!!!
To end this diatribe, it took over 3 months to get a working laptop from HP and then I had to de-crappify the system.

My heart jumped when I saw this post! Not surprising, I have a similar story, and have been wondering what I should do or can do, if anything. My Compaq Presario is just over 2 years old, has had a power supply and 4 monitor replacements. I upgraded the memory and graphics myself. Anyway, last year I bought 2 extended warranties, one for my PSC and the other for my computer. I actually called the Extended Care Center to register them and was told they would be good for 2 years, meaning I was covered until 2008-right? Lo and behold, this March I got a postcard saying my warranties were up, but I could purchase something for my PSC. I promptly called HP, and went through a myriad of people, each of whom I had to re-explain my dilemma. I was told the system failed to update, the warranty was meant from the original date of purchase (that would amke no sense to purchase 2 years because it is already covered for the first), and then finally that it would be investigated and I would get a call and an email back. I have been waiting for over 3 months and praying nothing happens.

I have had three instances where I have had to use my HP warranty, original and extended to repair both a desk units two laptops. In all cases the send, postpaid, a box for me to send the unit, and paid freight in both directions. In all three cases the units were fixed properly and in all three cases, I have my repaired unit back within 7 calendar days of when I shipped it. I am sold on HP, even though some of their phone tech support staff are blooming idiots.

Hi,

I stopped dealing with HP in about 2003 because of a very similar experience. I have never gone back to even look at their systems and probably never will.

I have a real bad taste in my mouth with HP tech support and products.

I’m not at all sure that Dell tech support is significantly better than HP because I have never had a real need to use them since I started buying from Dell. Which I guess is at least an indication of the quality of the product sold.

Carl

I have no comment about your difficulty with HP other than to say it’s scary, and I hope my own two HP laptops don’t have a similar experience.

What ticks me off is the common ‘American’ attitude expressed by your second paragraph: “I got the typical Indian or Pakistani agent, who was barely able to speak English.’

In my part of the country (California) one frequently hears the same type of complaint about having to deal with the vast Latino population.

The more I hear these complaints, the more I wonder - Why is it YOU aren’t concerned about making YOURSELF better understood by others in similar circumstances? That person you was ‘barely able to speak English’ certainly does better than most of us who insist upon using ONLY ONE language.

I commiserate with your PC service problems, but not with your failure to treat different people as persons. You should be looking up to them for their demonstrated superior capabilities - they’re BI-LINGUAL!

A few times I had very bad experiences with the HP customer support and it took me a lot of time and effort to get things fixed. I decided not to buy any HP products anymore and have only an old, very very good printer from HP left, a deskjet 815c and hope it will continue to work. If not, I will not ever buy an HP again, not for the products, which are quite good, but because of the bad service.

I had a problem with an HP printer. After 30 days of service it refused to pick up paper from the tray. Did all the suggested steps on the HP web site. Finally work through online support which required re-doing all I had done under supervision of a distracted tech. After an hour or so of this the tech agrees the unit should be replaced under warranty. All info is collected but after 2 weeks there was no follow up from HP. After calling this time, and being routed to numerous places some one finally had the good sense to authorize shipment of a replacement but for a while I really though I was stuck with this piece of junk.

Wow! I never expected so many responses! Thanks to all!

I feel like I should respond to each post individually, but there are so many, I don’t think I can. I hope you all check back and see my response.

There is one more recent twist to this story that I can’t share yet. Something happened on Friday July 27th. I’m sorry, but I have to get the chance to get my boss informed of this latest twist before I can share. I’m on vacation for few days. When we have an answer to our latest question, I’ll let you all know. Sorry.

The only comment I feel like I have to defend myself on is the bi-ligual bash by Mr. Coon. Mr. Coon, I respect your opinion and thanks for sharing your tech comments. I think you’ve mistaken frustration for hatred or disgust. I don’t have anything AGAINST these people. As a matter of fact, I do respect the fact that these people are bi-lingual and have probably worked very hard at mastering the most difficult language on the planet (so I’m told). I am actively involved in helping my church support an Indian church. That’s another story.

I can’t say I’m truly bi-lingual. I majored in French in high school. It’s been so long since I’ve practiced it, that I don’t remember much of it. If it counts for anything- I used to speak another language.

That said, I don’t think it’s too much to ask an American company to employ American speaking people to support American customers. I for one won’t apologize for being born an American. I agree with the thought process that “when in America, speak American”. I know the support people aren’t living in America. I think my point is clear.

It’s too bad that corporate America has to be so concerned with money that they have to outsource jobs to save a few buck. Clearly, support personnel that fluently speak the same language as the customer base would be an advantage. An advantage for everyone, except of course the head hanchos who are more concerned with lining their bank accounts. Did I spell “hanchos” right?

I also realize that Americans are not the only ones buying HP. Again, it is an American company pitching mainly American consumers.

Okay, I guess I’m done. I’m not angry- just felt the need to justify myself.

Thanks all! If possible I will respond to each of you individually. It’s the least I can do.

I also had a problem with HP tech support. My sister in law bought a laptop from a National Chain at a fairly nice discount for the specific purpose of getting her clients taxes done, she is a CPA. The machine was problematic from the get go. After 2 weeks of lock ups she was adamant that it be fixed. She brought it to me and I worked on it and experienced the same issues. So I called support. Finally after 2 different techs running diagnostics I finally got someone to listen to me on what was happening. They decided there was something wrong with the HD connection on the motherboard and we had to ship it to hp for repair. I removed the HD since it had client confidential data on it. HP said it would be returned to me in 3 business days, after all it was tax season and it was my sister in laws livelihood. We called on the day it was supposed to be delivered and found out HP could not find the laptop. We requested a new replacement be shipped immediately. That did not happen and after 3 additional business days we bought a Dell that was delivered 2 days later. When we finally back in touch with a live person/manager we demanded a full refund because they did not deliver on the promises made at the time of the original tech call. It took another 2 days of bantering and complaining to multiple supervisors/managers. But finally we faxed a copy of our receipt to a manager and 4 weeks later we had a check for the full refund. Nice ending but a pain for my Sister in law.

I had similar problem with HP tech support last year when I bought a new dv5000 notebook from them. I had a bizarre problem where the notebook would not connect to the WPA encrypted network. However, if the laptop authenticated while it was connected via an Ethernet port and I then disconnected the Ethernet cable, it would run on the network just fine. HP keep saying it was a network issue, even though there were three other desktops, two laptops, and a PDA that was using the network just fine. After several weeks on the phone with tech support trying everything known to man, they told me there was nothing they could do and refused a refund for the system. Luckily, the generic drivers that shipped with Vista (beta) was able to get me on my network when I upgrade my OS a few months later.

It really is troubling when a company tells you to stop bothering them after you’ve paid them a ton of money for a system that is not working properly.

Let me bring an international flair into this ;o))
I bought an HP desktop in Austria nearly three years ago. It never ran the way it should have and since I had “in home repair” warranty, I phoned the customer service to send somebody over. That dispatcher guy sat in Germany, knew $#!T about Austria but promised to send somebody. Needless to say, the service tech had the wrong address but in the end found me.
He installed a new HD, tested the system and went his way. The next day, the computer wouldn’t boot. Another tech came, installed new RAM, tested the system and went. The next tech installed a new graphics card. On the fourth call to the German dispatcher, I told him that we couldn’t meet this way any longer, my husband was getting jealous because I talked more with HP than with him.
In the end, I talked to somebody up the food chain because I just wanted my money back. In my warranty it stated that after three failures to repair the system, I would be entitled to that. That boiled shirt told me that it was still the first attempt to repair because the service techs hadn’t found the problem yet. I got stubborn, and finally, got the permission to take this heap of tin and solder back to the dealer. Does it surprise anybody that the dealer didn’t know the arrangement and refused to take the computer back? Luckily, I had the name and phone number of the Big Boss and refused to leave until I had my money. No more HP for me… none of it, not even a key chain.

The best solution to problems with computers is to have them built by your local neighborhood computer store. My experience over the last ten years has been to buy from my local store where they build the machine to my specs, no garbage trial software etc. witha warranty that meets or exceeds anything that Hp.Dell, etc can offer and at a price that is competitive. Additionally if I have a problem the place wher the machine was built is just down the road and a visit there usually cures any problems. If more of us bought from local dealers I think we would have less headaches.

I had issues out of the box with an HP d145 multifunction device. I failed to get anything but the Pakistani/Indian support. I could not get them to give me a US number nor a US address. I wound up buying the dead-on-arrival print head at my local computer store. I had more warranty issues with the same level of non-support. I finally threw it in the trash. Honestly. I bought a Canon multi-function which has performed flawlessly. I will never even CONSIDER another HP product again, let along buy one. I have the fervor of an evangelist when folks ask for device: ANYTHING BUT HP. HP’s “service” is beyond frustrating. It’s infuriating.

Strange, and quite different from my experience with HP. The one time I dealt with them, they were very supportive. I had purchased an ipaq from ebay, claimed to have been refurbished etc. The SD card slot would not write. I called the support and got the east asian site, but they quickly transferred me to someone else. Now to complicate matters, I couldn’t find the original invoice, and I live in a different country from where it was purchased.I explained what had happened and they stated I needed a copy of then invoice. I then contacted the ebay seller. In the interim, the same HP rep called about every other day to see how I was doing. When I finally did get the invoice, a shipping box was at my door the next morning and in 3 days, had a working replacement. This was for a refurbished unit, with a copy of an invoice and from a different country. I must have been REALLY lucky, considering the stories so far.
One thing I have learned (at least) is that corporations are in the business to make as much money as possible for their shareholders. Customer service costs $.

After my experience with HP, purchased via QVC in the UK. I purchased a HP-Pavilion m7535uk last July(06) in Jan 2007 the HP PC had developed a fault with the USB ports and were droping connections and eventualy burning out various USB peripherals including the HP USB wireless keyboard adapter. On speaking to HP several times at their Indian call centres and also having the same communication problems with them, although they were always very polite! After trouble shooting they agreed that the HP USB adapter was at fault (I had already told them this). They promised to send a replacement HP USB adapter out within the next few day? Ha, Ha!!! all they kept doing was phoneing me asking if I wanted to buy any HP upgrades or printer supplies or other add-ons. It took me several more phone calls to India and a few weeks to get the replacement parts sent out. Now the replacement HP USB keyboard adapter has also burnt out. After going through the same process i.e. via the Indian call centres again I never received another replacement HP USB adapter. It is now August 2007 (eight months on)!

Further to the above, I purchased an ‘N’ series wireless modem/router + USB ‘N’ wireless adapter (January 2007), which promptly caused sound and vision corruption and interference problems with the HP Pavilion m7535uk PC, after many phone calls to HP in India and in excess of 50 emails to HP none of which were able to provide a cure for the sound/vision problems. I went on to try another three ‘N’ series modem/routers/USB adapters of the same make all of which suffered the same problems with sound/vision issues on the HP computer, I eventualy tried a further two different makes of ‘N’ series modem/routers and their respective USB wireless adapters and I even tried a PCI wireless adapter card. All of these continued with the HP computer suffering from the same sound and vision issues. Therefore proving that the faults are within the HP Pavilion m7535uk PC. I updated all the drivers/software and still the problem continued with the soun/vision interference on the HP. Having since tried a NON ‘N’ series wireless modem/router/adapter the problems went away to some extent, but not completely. HP’s answer was to deal with the modem/router manufactures and let them cure the fault as HP were unable to cure the sound/vision issues?

Remember this has been going on since January 2007, it it now August 2007!!!

I have contacted both QVC and HP on many-many occasions by phone, email and letter requesting a full refund as theseproblems showed themselves before the PC was even six months old. Both QVC and HP flatly refused to give mea refund and whilst all this has been going on HP have never even offered to take the PC away for repair or fault investigation.

I have continued to push for a refund all to no avail, eventualy on the 2nd July 2007 HP replaced the PC with an obsolete and out of date PC without any prior arrangement or agreement with me. On this day I imeadiately contacted a senior manager at HP UK to say that I did NOT want a replacement PC, but still wanted a refund and that I was refusing to accept the replacement PC as it was an old and out dated model and no longer available and that the replacement PC should have had Vista Home Premium included with it as there a HP leaflet included with it giving me the entitlement to the Vista update. HP promised to look into the matter and call me back later on that day, he did however promise to send out the Vista update within the next few days. It was decided that I would not test the PC until the HP manager got back to me that day, I STILL WAITING FOR THAT CALL five weeks later. THE PC REMAINS UNUSED AND UNTESTED to this day 3rd August 2007.

I have tried using my credit card company to try to claim a refund on my behalf, but it would appear that they too have been beaten by the bullying tactics of HP and QVC combinedand they seem to be giving up on the case. Short of court action I do not know what else I can do. HAS ANYBODY GOT ANY SUGGESTIONS? What can I try next?

HP and QVC customer services have been of NO help whatsoever.

I would NEVER buy another Hewlett Packard product ever again and WOULD NOT ADVISE anybody else to do so either. They are arrogent, complacent and offer no customer aftercare.

Give HP a wide birth and do not waste you time or money on HP products. Also do not purchase anything of high value from QVC either as their customer services too, have been pretty abysmal!

HP are nothing but trouble, keep well clear of HP Computers and Printers.

Our engineering group currently charges $35 to replace the power connector on a laptop’s motherboard + the cost of the connector itself: usually $14 from ebay. If you need to ship here to PA, you’ll have to pay for that as well (both ways). We’ve been in the electronics biz since 1978. Why waste your time elsewhere?

The problem with computers is the same problem, we are experiencing with other manufacturers. The consumer is attempting to correct a mistake by a manufacturers on a one to one basis. There are some companies who will take that extra step to correct their mistakes, but there are a larger number of companies, who know, that as individuals, we have little power to get them to correct or rectify their mistakes.

Until the consumers, starts writing their State and National Congressional representatives, complaining about this type of treatment and service from manufacturers, it will continue. We need the support from our elected representatives, to write laws, that will give the consumer, protection from shoddy work and treatment.

I am horrified at these comments. I just purchased a HP Laptop, and it crashed on me. After calling customer service, less that two months into the purchase, I was told to restore my system with the CD that I had made or from the recovery part of the hard drive. Neither one of these worked. Another call later I was told that they would send me a new updated disc. Still waiting for it. But I have already dumped the Vista program from it and put in XP Professional. System seems to work fine without all of the unnecessary HP programs. If the updated disc ever shows up in the mail, I will “return to sender”, as I am better off without it.

It’s called the invisible hand of economics. HP may treat its bigger clent w/ more resolve and service but the high volume of sale to us one time suckers ah customers has a high profit margin and can afford to give you the big food chain run around. The fact that a SATA hdd is sold in one venue but not in inventory tells me they are behind in performing internal audits of how well their system processes are working; or in this case not working.

Appreciate the insight because i was within a month of buying on so now I’ll look at toshiba and others.

Spread the word, you captured it well here. Let others know and let the reader decide, like me. HP may not think it will make any difference but it will.

that’s why Dell is looking at Linux for their laptops. They got a little smart and listened to the consumer however little it may be. HP culture may still be suffering from having that witch for a CEO that spied on her board members. That kind of poisoned culture can have deep hidden impact on their manner of doing business and they do not know they are sick until the patient starts to starve from projected cash flow……..I for one will contribute to that starvation and will buy from another source.

Good article……..

Just goes to show that if you buy from these big dealers because of pricing you will get stung. Stick to your local whitebox maker and get better parts and service albeit at a slightly higher price, but peace of mind.

My HP waited till it was out of warranty to crash. I just took it apart and
drop kicked it into the trash pile.

I then purchased a ‘clone’ unit through a local company which installs
the best peripherals and hardware in their products and have only
great service after the sale.

I had a similar customer service nightmare with HP, complete with phone calls to Gupta in India!!

While trying to downgrade from Vista to XP, my computer hit a snag and I was unable to restore back to Vista. Not a problem, I thought. I can order recovery CD’s from HP! Right?

My first call to HP customer (dis)service last over 40 minutes! (This was after I tried to order the recovery CD’s online, but was unable to do so.) The language barrier made it difficult for me to understand the CSR and for him to understand me. After over 40 minutes of phoenetic spelling and exchanging of information about me and my system, Carl (a.k.a.- Gupta) informs me that his system is down and he is unable to order the recovery CD’s. D’oh! He tells me to call back in one hour and try again. I don’t think so!!

Not a problem. Next day, I can order online.

I choose the next-day shipment option and promise my four-year old that he will be playing on Noggin.com in a day or two.

When I check the status of my order online, I see a ship date almost two weeks out from when I placed the order. That is NOT expedited service.

I call India again–big mistake! Bill (a.k.a.- Gupta) tries to help me, I think. He asks me for useless information and I inform him that I just want information on my order. Too bad. He insists on gathering useless information from me. Ok, I play along. I finally give him the order number. He replies, “I don’t see your order.” I inform him that I ordered it online and that I want to know why it will take two weeks to get a recovery CD. Bill explains that my mistake was ordering the CD online instead of through customer service. Oh, of course! Who would be so foolish as to order the CD online when they can have the pleasure of conversing with Bill for 40 minutes!!

The conversation goes downhill from that point.

I explain to Bill that it shouldn’t matter where I order the CD (online vs. CSR) and that I want recovery CD’s shipped next day or I will take my computer back to Costco for a full refund. Bill decides he is going to defend HP’s honor and starts getting into it with me. Ok, fine. Click.

After a string of phone calls to nowhere (thank you HP for a confusing maze of options and phone numbers), I finally get connected to someone in the US. Yay!!!

The gentleman is part of a corporate team that handles escalation issues. He promises to ship me recovery CD’s via next day air at no charge. Great. I thank him and think I will have recovery CD’s by Monday morning. WRONG!!!

When I check the order status over the weekend, I see another two week delivery window. D’oh!!

I forget to take the US CSR’s phone number home with me over the weekend, so I call India and ask to be transferred to someone in the US. Ted (a.k.a.- Gupta) puts me on hold when I ask to be transferred. He once again tried to get useless information from me, but I insist that he transfer me to someone in the US. He finally comes back to me and informs me he is transferring me to a manager. Great, I think. Finally a person I can talk to. WRONG! I hear a familiar voice on the other end of the phone, it’s Fred (a.k.a- Gupta). I tell him that I want to speak to someone in the US. He tells me that it is impossible for him to transfer me to someone in the US. I inform him that he obviously cannot assist me, so I do not require anything further from him. *CLICK*

Monday morning comes. I call the US number I have for HP. I speak to someone in English about my problem. I tell him I am taking the computer back for a refund. He says, “I don’t blame you after all you have been through.”

Well, I don’t blame me either.

HP builds a great product. I will miss my 24″ screen and my Duo Core Intel processor. I will not miss, however, the deplorable customer (dis)service that pretends to support their products.

My next computer will be anything but an HP!!! I hope everyone else will consider something other than HP when buying a new desktop or notebook computer.

oh man, have i got a story for you. back in january, i ordered a slimline desktop because the price was right for what memory etc. that i was getting. i thought about shelling out the extra $400 for a macbook, but spending that much money makes me uncomfortable. so when i got it, the speakers did not include their adapter, so i couldn’t use them. all the parts inside the pc were unattached, as well. so i called tech support, and of course i got someone who does not speak english. they talked me through the steps (including hitting my computer to loosen the nonexistent thumb screws), and after 4 hours dealing with the language barrier, i got them to understand that i didn’t receive the speakers i ordered and they agreed to send out some new speakers. i got them 3 days later, and they were a lot nicer than the originals, so i was happy. after a couple weeks though, something funny started happening. the cd/dvd drive took a long time reading cds, made funny whirring noises, and skipped when playing any cd. so after months of tech support (4 to be exact) they agreed to send me a new cd/dvd drive. we got it a week later, but that did not fix the problem. i spent more and more time with tech support on the phone before i gave up and took my machine to compusa. a couple days later, i got a phonecall to come in. they stared at me blankly and said, “we don’t know what’s wrong with it.” so hp had them send it out to be repaired. I got it back 3 weeks later, and the problem persisted. I took it back to compusa and they sent it back a second time. 2 weeks later, i got it back and it still had the same problems. i felt i had put up with this long enough, so i got on the phone with tech support. the “manager” said that they could not give me store credit or a refund because it was older than 4 months old, even though it was under a full year warranty. they hung up on me after i lost my cool. for several days, i got the run around, until finally my case was escalated to a case manager. repeat: CASE MANAGER. that’s who you want to talk to - they are americans. so if you are ever on the phone with tech support, demand a case manager. he was unavailable, however, and i was told that he would get back to me within 24 hours. i waited for his call for a week, and i kept calling back and tech support would not put me through to him. finally, i got a case manager in the same office, and she made him call me immediately. once i expressed my anger with him and the situation, he offered a brand new pc with all the upgrades. honestly, i don’t want to ever deal with hp again, so i said no thanks and they agreed to a full refund. i have his direct number. all i had to do was send over a fax with proof of how much i spent. i’m waiting to hear back on whether or not he got the fax, but no worries. i can call his direct line on monday to make sure. hp should handle all their customers with case managers, don’t you agree? i think we should be able to get in touch with the people handling our problems without arguing with foreigners who don’t understand you. needless to say, i’m going with the macbook. it will save time, money, and a big headache.

I am also dealing with the customer service nightmare of HP. Practically the exact same points you have mentioned down to the message box being full. My problem is the fact that my wireless driver has disappeared and can’t be reinstalled for some reason. My laptop is 7 months old. They had my laptop for about a month 7/24-8/21/07. They told me if I was not going to have it by 8/9 they would contact me to let me know what was going on. I never heard from anyone. So on the 11th I call to find out the status, and after having to wait on hold and be transfered around to 3 different people, all of which I had to answer the question is it ok for us to contact you via email or phone to offer you products, I am told I will have my laptop next week. At the end of “next week,” I call again because I have still not recieved my laptop. Again I am transfered around to 3 different people and have to answer the same questions with each of them. I am finally told that they have no record of my call the prior week, and I am not getting my laptop until the 25th, another week. Anyway, I finally got my laptop back this week, and of course it is still not fixed. So I have had to sit on the phone for about 3 hours today trying to solve this, and of course the only solution they can offer is for me to send it back in. What do I do? I have searched and found that I am not the only one having this issue with this laptop. However, they would never acknowledge that. On the hapy side of things, A colleague called me today getting ready to drop $40,000 on knew office pc’s, and wanted to know what I thought about HP. I was so happy to fill him in.

Well, I’m in the process of trying to get my h.p. 6000 series lattop fixed. I bought it to take with me on an extended trip to Alaska. It failed the fourth week into the trip. Took it to Bestbuy where it was purchased but they could only look at it for $129.00 and 5 days which I didn’t have.Called h.p. customer svc and we tore it apart to try to get it to restore without sucess.Couldn’t send it back ’cause I would not be in a place that had an address long enough to send out and recieve back the unit. After carrying the dead unit with me and using Library computers for the comunications I expected my laptop to make for me for the next five weeks I arrived home. When I got home I found messages from someone named Kathy with a suspicious accent wanting to know if my problem had been resolved.I had given them my cell nbr but they called on my home nbr after I explained to Kumar that I was on a trip away from home.
Now at home I call h.p. again and find my case nbr no longer valid but to my surprise are able to recover the info.Have a new case nbr now and am awaiting my box.If I ever get a phone nbr from a rep in the U.S.A. I will post it to try to help any who uses this site with a quicker acess to repair. Recommend all others to post phone nbrs also.
Wonder how J.D.Powers ever decided h.p. had good C/S. Are the rest that bad that this is the best? SCARY!!!

My experience with HP has left me almost speechless. These people are liers and cheaters and no better than commor theives….How do you deal with that kind of business? They do not honor warranties and I will never buy another HP product for as long as I live….and I will let everyone know what they can expect from HP if they have any problem with a product.

Hi There Everybody

Its C P again updating you on my last entry here on 3rd August 2007.

Having waited in excess of FIVE weeks from 2nd July for HP & QVC to contact me, I eventualy decided to test the replacement PC, I set it up, plugged it in and booted up - guess what!!! The replacement PC does NOT work either. It just bleeps and NO BIOS setup page appears, screen remains black (no signal from PC).

I contacted QVC and informed them the replacement PC does NOT work & they were not interested I requested full refund - their reply NO WAY! I reluctantly asked them to arrange a repair - their reply, I am still waiting for it and it is now October 20th.

I contacted my credit card company whom after several letters between myself and them, they decided that they would not help me further.

I then contacted a British PC magazine whom were very interested in the way I have been treated by both QVC and Hewlett Packard. After several emails/phone calls they advised my that my contract is with QVC and that I should persue the matter with them as they were the retailer and continue to involve my credit card company as they were the credit card company I purchased my PC with from QVC. They also advised me to contact QVC and again request that they arrange a repair this was on the 19th September which I did (again) on the 19th September - their reply - I am still waiting for QVC to contact me, it is now the 20th October. In the mean time my story was published in the PC magazine who have also been in contact with QVC on my behalf, so far all to no avail.

In the mean time out of the blue my credit card company wrote to me and said that they have written to QVC (despite them telling a few weeks ago that they could not help me further). Since then we have had the postal strike in the UK and things have taken a while to get back to normal. On 16th October I get another letter from my credit card company to say that they have written to QVC and had NOT had any responce from QVC and have passed the buck again onto me saying that as they got NO responce from QVC that they would no longer be able to help me again? I have written back to my credit card company (yesterday) stating that I am not happy with their decision not to help and that I feel they should persue the matter on my behalf as they are legaly abliged to do so under the consumer credit act 1974. I await with interest the outcome?

I have updated the PC magazine and have told them and my credit card company that as this has been going on for ELEVEN months now. A repair is NOT an option?

I will up