Hewlett-Packard took over three months to fix reader Mark’s ailing laptop, which they then shipped to the wrong address. HP charged Mark several hundred dollars for the repairs in July, and gave an expected delivery date of August 5. In early September, Mark was told that the laptop would definitely ship by September 24. On October 10, Mark learned – after sending an email to the CEO and leaving ten messages – that his laptop could not be repaired, and that he would instead receive a new Compaq Presario by October 23. The laptop finally shipped on October 25 to Lavergne, Tennessee. Mark lives in Iowa.
When I was heading off to college two years ago, my parents bought me a brand new laptop from HP (summer of 2005). In July of this year (about a year after the warranty has expired), the hinges of the laptop’s lid started to crack open (despite that I’ve never dropped it and take very good care of it), the touchpad stopped working (the left button would act as the right one, and the right one wouldn’t work period), and the wireless built into the laptop had stopped working over the course of the previous year (it somehow began to degrade in its signal quality). So I talk with my dad (as the laptop was purchased in his name), and we talk about whether I should buy a new laptop or try for repairs. On the 23rd of July we got online to HP’s website and chatted with a representative, informing us that the price for repairing the laptop would be a few hundred dollars (less than half the price of your average college-student laptop). The rep in the online chat was very helpful and set up an overnight delivery for the repairs, and my dad paid (thanks Dad) for the repairs through a checking card. The next day (July 24) a laptop box is delivered to our house, and is mailed out the next day. We soon receive an email (July 26) with a link to a Status Webpage, which stated that HP had received my laptop and would thusly begin repairs. The webpage also stated that the Expected Delivery Date was August 5th.
When August 8th rolled around and my laptop had not returned, we checked the Status page, and the date had been changed to August 21st. After August 21st, the Status page would continually update the Expected Delivery Date by two weeks at a time, and by the time the third date change had appeared, we got on the phone to call HP. Within an hour (after a couple of dead-ends with holding for a living person), we were able to talk to someone who informed us that my original laptop could not be repaired (apparently they couldn’t find any way to repair the hinges of the lid), so they were going to simply custom build me a brand new laptop that would have more RAM and a larger Hard Drive as well as each of the previous features of my previous laptop, which was ordered with a double-size battery and a syned media remote (according to the rep on the phone), but an exact model of the laptop was not specified. The representative also stated that the laptop would definitely be delivered by the most recent date on the Status Webpage (September 24). September 24 rolls around… and… guess what? The date changed again.
Needless to say, we’re each a little frustrated. Over the following three weeks I sent three emails to Mike Hurd, the CEO of HP (or, at least what HP’s website claimed was his email), and my dad had left HP at least 10 voice messages on their machine. As you can guess, zero responses. Eventually it got the point that my dad said, “If they don’t give us any replies by Wednesday, we’re just gonna call the attorney general.” As luck would have it, someone from HP called my dad back on that Wednesday (October 10) to say that the new laptop would be a Compaq Presario, and it would be delivered by October 23 (the most recent Expected Delivery Date). October 23 came, but no laptop. My dad then decided to wait one more week (just for a little leniency time in case of the delivery being late… in relation to October 23). However, the EDD had once more changed to November 7th.
Of course, the reason we noticed the repetitious changing of Delivery Dates was from the Status Webpage. Yesterday, I checked the page, and lo and behold, there was something new! It said that the Scheduled Ship Date (which previous had always said “not applicable”) now said October 25, meaning the new laptop had been sent out. There was even a link to a Tracking Webpage! And today, the laptop arrived to its destination! Lavergne, Tennessee! Except, we live in Iowa. HP (or FedEx, or both) put the wrong address on the package, even though the Status Webpage has a completely different address than the Tracking Webpage.
So, in a short summary: HP received my dad’s payment, got my laptop, decided not to repair it, took three months to build a new laptop, and mailed it to someone in a completely different state (her name, her address, her city, and her state aren’t even close to resembling ours). And they didn’t even tell us, except for our incessant prodding.
Thanks HP!
HP should provide compensation for their untimely service. Call their corporate headquarters, ask for CEO Mark Hurd’s office, and ask HP to refund their repair fees, and to find your now-missing laptop.
(Photo: jenn_jenn)
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I am an HP retiree (indirectly) and purchased a “big” desktop from them for a good price in 2005. In the first few months it was back visiting HP twice (it got lonely?)! Pretty bad. I have a Compaq Presario laptop I purchased used in 1996 that is still humming along. I have had ZERO problems I didn’t cause myself (broke the screen off — don’t ask). Service back then was through Radio Shack and was excellent, as was tech support. With the newer HP desktop I found HP tech support that works out of India absolutely useless because the “techs” don’t know HP machines intimately and the customer service skills of those I have spoken with (dozens) were lacking. One guy suggested I send my three day old HP to a service company that wasn’t too expensive!
HP tech support in the US has been excellent. The Desktop is not a machine I would ever recommend to anyone and I couldnot recommend HP because of its lowsy tech support and my belief there is a serious quality issue with their desktops (lots of electrical connection problems!).
Prior to converting to HP I was a BIG supported of Gateway and have owned at least one Gateway machine every day since May of 1992. At one time Gateway, in my opinion, had the best telephone tech support in the business. With time this deteriorated pushing me to HP.
The best machine I ever owned besides the Compaq laptop was a Monorail (sort of a laptop without a case and with a separate mouse and keyboard). Never a day of trouble and it was still being used (through a gifting program) when it was 15 years old!
I was given a HP nc6400 6 months ago from my work and it has been nothing but problems.
The LCD looks like its anti glare coating was sprayed on incorrectly — making the images look like there are hundreds of reflective blotches all over the screen when viewing anything in a light color.
The VGA output is really poor quality. I have to use an external LCD because the LCD of the laptop is so poor, but the poor quality of the VGA output makes doing anything painful.
The mouse buttons squeak when depressed and the touchpad is wildly erratic.
I love the end of my work day because I can go home and fire up my PowerBook. Ah, something that works correctly. So nice.
Since we tend to accentuate the negative, I thought I’d mention the positive experience I had with HP. I had a problem with my Compaq laptop and called customer service since it was still under warranty. The next day, a box showed up with a prepaid overnight FedEx label. I sent it back on a Saturday and had a fully functioning laptop back in my hands by Wednesday.
I sure don’t visit consumerist enough. If I saw this, I might have just ignored the hair and dust particles in my LCD rather than sending it in for in warranty repairs.
= sent it in on 12/11/07 as of today im still dealing with them. Fun way to spend winter break… waiting for phantom phone calls, waiting for the Fedex guy (not his fault), sending it back out, writing happy letters to different parts of HP and including notes to help the techs see what the problem is.
[forum.notebookreview.com]
=| I figure since HP is pissing me off, I might as well try to share haha
I purchased a new Compaq Presario Feb. 2, 2007, and it literally exploded in my office on Mar. 28th. I called customer service and finally understood enough of their language to return it to them for repair. A bottom of the line replacement computer was returned in seven days — two weeks later it exploded. Anyway, by Nov 15th, 2007 it was repaired by them seven times. The last time it was returned they refused to repair it –
said the one year warranty was expired although the replacement was received on April 1st, 2007. Each time it was the power supply. I had electricians and the power company check my wiring for shorts and/or power surges. The fault was notin my office wiring. When the tower was returned two weeks ago it was gutted. Everything was disconnected, the motherboard was damaged and parts were missing.
I’m an author and my living depends on a working system. I’ve lost contracts due to malfunctions and delays.
It seems users should be able to file a class action lawsuit against these people.
I was referred to this site today, I am so glad I found it. Like many others I have been having major problems with HP repair.
Last fall my notebook went in for a new motherboard (it was 8 months old), after 3+ weeks I only got it back after emails etc. to Hurd’s office. Less than 1 month later it started acting up again, HP repair says send it back, so I did.
They have now had the computer 3+ weeks and left me a voicemail today saying it will be at least another 2 before they get to the repair. I did email Hurd and tried to call his office but got routed to customer service instead. Their response was too bad, we can take as long as we want to fix it. How do I get someone to pay attention?
I am a minister and need my computer for church/work. It is the beginning of Lent, one of the busiest times in the church and I am without a computer. This is so frustrating it is beyond words.