There’s something deeply wrong with HP these days. It seems that instead of just fixing your laptop’s overheating issue, they’d rather accuse Amazon.com of selling fake HP laptops and deny your warranty. Reader Floria says that even though she got a letter from Amazon stating that there’s no possible way they sold her a fake or refurbished laptop, and then escalated her complaint to a “senior case manager” who approved the repair, HP still hasn’t fixed her computer. Is anyone in charge over there?
Floria’s letter is pretty long, so we’ll quickly summarize it for you:
- Floria, a systems administrator, bought an HP laptop on June 25, 2007, from Amazon.com. The laptop has overheating issues so she sent it to HP to be repaired under the 1 year warranty.
- HP denied warranty coverage because “”HP only covers Software, and since we need to replace your motherboard which is hardware, we’re not covering it,” and tried to charge her $746.86.
- She checked her warranty, saw that it covered “hardware” and called back. She was again told that HP doesn’t cover hardware. She pressed for more information and was told that her motherboard didn’t have a serial number, so her laptop must be refurbished or “fake” and therefore not under warranty.
- She calls Amazon.com and they write her an letter confirming that they did not sell her a fake laptop.
- She calls HP and is told that HP warranties only cover software. She tries to escalate her complaint and met with much resistance. Finally she gets a “senior case manager” on the phone. He approves repair on her laptop.
- HP then contacts Floria to tell her that her motherboard doesn’t have a serial number and they are voiding her warranty. She tells them a senior case manager approved the repair. They have no idea what she is talking about.
On June 25, 2007, I received my first HP Pavilion tx1220us tablet pc bought at $1400 sold by Amazon.com, when this product was just released to the market for a week. It was brand new, HP factory sealed. I checked the serial number on the back of the laptop, and it matched the box and in the bios configuration. I was able to register with HP, and activate the 1 year warranty which will be ending on June 26, 2008.
We rejoin Floria on the day her laptop is supposed to come back from repair for an overheating issue:
On April 29, 2008, it’s the expected delivery day of my laptop. I checked the online status and found out they decided to charge me $746.86 because my laptop is malfunctioning and “Out of Warranty”. I called the number immediately at 11:30pm. They said someone tried to call me and left me a message on my voicemail yesterday. I said I gave you my cell phone number, and I never received such call or message. I asked why I was being charged because my laptop is still under warranty. The lady said “HP only covers Software, and since we need to replace your motherboard which is hardware, we’re not covering it.” I was shocked. I told her this is not what the warranty terms are when I purchased my laptop. I asked if she can send me the piece of information. She transferred me to another department which was closed at that time.
So, I quickly gathered all my Amazon.com receipts, product description, even the HP warranty information on the hp.com website. It clearly shows that 1 year parts and labor, 30 days for software. And when entering my serial number, it shows my warranty is going to expire in June 26, 2008.
I called again and thinking this would be a quick fix, but I almost got a heart attack. I told the representative that I called previously and the lady said only software is covered, which is incorrect. The guy said, HP only covers software warranty. I said, no it is not because I have my warranty information to prove it. So, he said, “the motherboard is a component of the computer that HP is not covering it.” I asked “why is my motherboard not covered when it’s a part of the computer?” He said “It’s because we do not cover hardware” I almost fell out of the chair and asked “Could you please tell me why the motherboard is not covered? What’s wrong with it?” He pulled out the technician’s note and said “First of all, your motherboard does not have a serial number, and that’s why we are not covering it.”
I said, “My laptop came with a serial number matching the box and warranty information, what are you talking about?” He said “the motherboard serial number is different than the laptop serial number.” I said “so, how would I know why the motherboard does not have a serial number?” He said “Maybe your seller just swapped the motherboard or sold you a refurbished one?” I said “There is no way that my laptop is not a brand new. It’s HP Sealed and sold by Amazon.com. Are you telling me the HP seal is a fake one too?” He said “Probably.” I asked, “With my laptop serial number, does my laptop match every specification on your HP database?” He said “Yes.” I said, “That’s what HP built and sold to me. As a customer/consumer, who will take their laptop apart and check if there’s a serial number on the motherboard before they buy?” He argued, “But HP will not ship anything without a serial number.” I do not want to argue with this nonsense, and asked to speak to his supervisor. He refused and said “my supervisor cannot help you because this will not change the fact that your motherboard does not have a serial number.” I said, I want to talk to them anyway because this is just not right. He asked me to call Amazon.com and see why they swapped my motherboard. I said, I will call but I still need to speak to your supervisor. He said, call back the next morning to talk to a case manager.
So, I hang up and called Amazon.com. Matthew was on the call with me and I told him I bought a laptop from Amazon in June last year, and the laptop is overheating. So I sent it back to HP for repair, however they do not want to honor the warranty due to the product you sold me does not have a serial number on the motherboard. They said it’s either refurbished or fake. At first, he said it was past the 30 days return policy and he did not want to deal with it. I added, “Look, HP is telling me you sold me a laptop that is not brand new. I cannot use my warranty and this is misrepresentation. I know it sounds stupid, but that is what HP did to me and they asked me to contact you.” So, Matthew went researching the case for me and told me they got their stock directly from HP. They sent me an email to indicate they sold me a brand new product and they got directly from HP.
I connected back to my online chat at 1:45am. I told them what happened to me. They checked, my laptop is still under warranty, and they said they will escalate my case to “Concern Department” and guaranteed I will receive a call within 48 hours. It is almost 2:30am when everything is done. I was so mad and could not get to sleep with all these “unbelievable” things happened to me for the last 3 hours.
The next morning, I called and tried and asked to speak with a case manager. They are not letting me unless I re-explain what happened again. So, I finally got a hold with a case manager named Kenneth Cooper. He said he will call me back within 48 hours once he obtained a quote from the Repair Department.
The same night, I called again to HP Total care and asked them a “is motherboard part of the parts warranty.” Without even giving them the case number or my serial number, Parry Viti immediately told me “HP Warranty only covers Software.” It’s the third person telling me HP Warranty only covers SOFTWARE. I said, “That’s not right, you are the third person in the department telling me HP Warranty only covers Software. I need to speak to your supervisor.” She said “My supervisor is not going to help you.” I said “I need to speak to them.” She refused to transfer me when asked for 5 times. At the end, she said “My supervisor is not working at this time, none of them is here right now.”
So, 48 hours had passed, and no one call me from the “Concern Department.” So, I get onto online chat again and gave them my case number and asked “why no one is contacting me?” The technician once again escalated my case to the Concern Department.
I did not get a call from the senior case manager, Kenneth Cooper. So I decided to call him on May 2. Although he gave me his work extension number, my call is screened by another person before he is willing to transfer. He said he will leave Kenneth a message and call me back as soon as possible. 3 hours had passed, and I still haven’t received his call. So, I called again, and finally got him on the phone. He said, I got the technician notes, I checked and I saw your laptop is under warranty, I have sent them a note to fix it.
I asked, why did 3 different HP Customer Rep say HP only covers Software in their warranty?. In addition, when asked to transfer to their supervisor, they all have the power to reject the customer’s request. I asked if I could speak to Customer Satisfaction. He said there is no such department. I asked, what about quality control? He said no. So, I asked “I know HP has a Concern Department, is it possible if you could transfer me to them?” He said “No, we don’t have such department.” I said, “My case was escalated to the Concern Department twice and you are telling me that department did not even exist? I wonder where my case got transferred to.” He laughed. I added, “So who could I talk to with the service that I had received in the past week?” He said “you will be given to a link to a survey once the case is closed.” I asked “Could I talk to someone live about this?” He laughed and said “No, even if you write an email to the CEO, your email will come back to our department.”
I said, “I am very impressed with how poor the HP Customer Service is, and HP does not even have Customer Care/Satisfaction department.” He said “Yeah.” I added “I would make sure this will be my first HP product and definitely will be my last HP product.” He said “Okay.” I added, “I could not recommend any HP products anymore to my users, clients, friends and family.” He answered “Alright, if that’s what you chose to do.” This is how a HP senior case manager is treating their customers who definitely have purchasers influence.
On May 5 at 6:30pm, I finally received my first call ever from the HP Order Status department, he told me “your laptop’s motherboard is missing a serial number, and due to that our warranty does not cover that.” I told them a senior case manager had sent the repair department a note to go ahead and fix it. He said, “Oh really? When did that happen?” I said “Last Friday.”
May 6, I tried calling the senior case manager again but he was not available to take my call. (I am glad about this) I talked to another case manager named Jean who picked up the phone, she is a much nicer person and she pulled out my case. She found out Kenneth did not give proper authorization to the repair department to fix my laptop.
My best guess is HP wants to wait until my laptop warranty expires before they want to fix my laptop. I have been out of my laptop for a month already, and I need it for a trip in mid May. I once recommended a HP laptop to my friend, and she came back and told me “HP sucks!!!” I asked why and said my laptop is fine and that I had no problems so far. I did not knock on wood for that, and I got my turn to experience the service from “Award-Winning HP Total Care support” – and they definitely got the “Worst Customer Service ever Award”. Now, I just have to join her and say HP sucks!
Sincerely,
Floria
Well, Floria, now that you’ve gotten all that off your chest, we’d try writing a concise email to HP’s executive customer relations department. Here’s some contact information for you:
Daniel Bulnes
Executive Customer Relations
Palo Alto, Ca.
650-857-3523
daniel.bulnes@hp.com
Anyone else had HP tell them that their 1 year warranty on a new laptop “only covers software?” That’s a new one for us.
(Photo: wlodi )
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That’s kinda weird. For a while now I’ve only bought corporate product line notebooks. Latitudes, HP nc8430′s and 8510p’s, and so far HP support has been as excellent as Dell.
The shop has 8 8510p’s and 5 nc8430′s and they are mostly running fine. The 8510p’s had firmware issues initially but since a firmware update all issues are resolved.
I had to write to the CEO to get the issue into escalation but then I was getting phone calls from both engineering and esclation promising a firmware fix and they delivered within a couple of weeks. They delivered a firmware fix on Dec 27th or something. Fancy them working Christmas week.
We keep a spare machine around to swap HDD’s when a in service machine dies and that broken one gets sent to depot. 3 year warranties on all. So far only needed to use the spare machine once.
Am I stuck with HP? Probably not, I’ll buy whoever makes the product that I’m looking for at a reasonable price.
Lesson to learn from this? Only buy corporate level products. NEVER EVER buy consumer. Same goes with any device. All my network equipment is from the D-Link business line. My trashcan’s are Rubbermaid BRUTE, and I’ve never been happier.
We just got in an HP latitude – the disc drive is horribly designed. The guy needed a factory restore done, so we did that – but the software HP sends with it didn’t have his drivers?? We had to take the whole computer apart (his was outside of warranty) and replace the disc drive – he lost the disc he put in there. But drives that actually eject and are not internal – most have a reset button. He ended up spending a small fortune all over a CD and poor design.
HP sucks big fat eggs! My brother in law got one after I told him not to. Now when he calls with a problem, I tell him “I don’t know whats wrong”! Sometimes I don’t cause that PC has done some weird stuff, but sometimes I lie. I bought a Dell laptop about 5 years ago and never had a bit of trouble. Of course the 1st thing I did was format the HD and put my own copy of operating system on there.
I have a Compaq R4025ca notebook. While under warranty it broke a key on the keyboard. They sent me a box, I sent it in and they fixed and returned it very quickly.
The laptop is now 29 months old and it is rock solid. I recommend Compaq.
now the BUT…. I did play the india call center game where I was told the return box will be sent, no it wasnt sent I will send it now, no it wasnt sent etc for a couple of weeks. I found a number to a real person in north america who had it fixed for me in about a week.
I worked in IT for 15 years, we never had a HP workstation/server at all. (AND NOW I KNOW WHY!) Occasionally, we have HP printers, but we used other companies for the service contract.
Most of my work places use IBM, sometimes Dell. They both have good service. I heard terrible stories about Gateway. You think Gateway is the worst? Try HP!
Although I don’t have the power to touch our department’s budget, my bosses do! Just like any other tech, coworkers, friends and family do come to me and seek advice when purchasing technology products or when they have computer problems.
I don’t care if HP business is going downhill or not. However, I care when my friends and family are stuck with “computer problems” that cannot be fixed, like my case.
HP’s theory is, when you purchase a laptop/computer, you need to take it apart and check if every of the parts has a serial number on it. If not, too bad! Even it is still under warranty, we’re not going to cover it!
HP = Horrible Products supported by Horrible Person!
Several years ago, as my Compaq’s hard-drive was slowly dying, I called tech support. I figured that since my computer was still under warranty, they would talk to me.
Here is what they told me, “I’d like to help you m’am, but we just updated our database, and we haven’t entered your warranty information into our new database.”
Too bad HP kept that stellar Compaq customer service post merger.
Computer warranties cover hardware but not software.
Something’s seriously wrong with this.
@SkokieGuy:
by far the best advice, nicely put
also its VERY possible that a first/second run of a new model of computer (as she stated bought it within a week of its coming out) that some idiot at some HP factory somewhere in the world forgot to put a little sticker on her motherboard as it rolled past him on some assembly line…
It would’ve all been a hell lot easier had HP not screwed up on their part and just fixed the woman’s laptop. I don’t know why major companies like this have to get their panties in a bunch over something as petty as a malfunctioning laptop that is from their own product.
What is really sad here is that I have a Hp laptop that is quite new. After reading all the reviews online when I had issues with it just not wanting to charge it’s battery (poor thing I worked it hard)I called HP. um yeah…in the end I let my son figure it out. My 15 year old son. I thought it was a better gamble than sending it off. I was right.
I tried to tell the techperson that it would not even turn on.
her: can you get go to safe mode?
me: hello? it will not turn on.
her:ok, boot it up and go to safe mode
me: click
hey the lappy was a gift.
Nobody is in charge at HP.
They once told me that damage that THEIR service technitians caused was not covered under my fully upgrade Accidental Damage Warrenty and wouldn’t send me my laptop without me sending them ~$800. Of course I refused, and over 30 days later, I finally got my laptop back.
If they ONLY cover software – what the hell were they doing INSIDE the laptop so they could find out it has no serial number – assuming it doesn’t that is.
@eeebee: You could always give Lenovo a try.
oh HP, this doesn’t surprise me at all.
Back in the late 90′s, my parents bought a HP Pavilion 8600C desktop. That thing sucked so bad. Froze almost constantly when online, HP’s “tech support” told her to try uninstalling the modem, reinstalling Win 98, and did practically nothing else We just lived with it until we found out they put a really badly designed motherboard in it. (I was reading a tech magazine and saw the class action suit box thingy)
When it was time to buy a new PC they went with Dell, and couldn’t be happier. (These were people who bought everything HP-Printers, digital cameras, etc.)
Seems that ten years hasn’t changed anything about HP.
Hilarious!
I purchased a new HP laptop ( last time I will ever purchase anything HP ) 3 years ago. About 4 months after purchase a green line appeared down the middle of the screen. You could see this line during the POST screen. HP’s fix? Change the background color on the screen. Sent back again. HP returned with new screen and all the screws loose underneath the laptop.
Moral of the story. HP sucks.
This has been the case since HP and Compaq merged. As a Network Administrator, I dealt with both separately and the Compaq strategy was to always delay honoring the warranty until it had expired.
The tactics described in the article I dealt with many times when customers would buy Compaq’s and then they would be bad right out of the box.
HP now uses the same tricks that Compaq pioneered.
Comment on HP Denies Your Warranty, Accuses Amazon Of Selling You A “Fake” Laptop I have owned the Pavilion DV9000 17″ notebook for almost a year now. The OEM
install of vista was disgusting! The drivers where a joke at best, the
net-cam didn’t even function correctly! You would use it once, and it would
disconnect the device upon closing the app using it. You would have to
restart in order to get it to function again. After messing with this and
having other instabilities, I formatted the machine, and reinstalled Vista
Home Premium from a vista install disk (not the recovery one). After
install, I went to the HP site, and installed the necessary drivers.
everything worked!
A bit confused, and being a geek. I took an image of my newly installed
computer, and used the HP recovery system to install the OS again. Nothing
worked, just like before. I went to the website and installed the drivers
from that location. Same thing, nothing worked… It seems that not only are
they playing games with the hardware end of things, but they can’t even bake
an OS right.
Christopher Sabella
I also just recently had my share of problems with HP’s customer support. After multiple attempts to find a representative that wasn’t outsourced, I finally had some luck. It makes me wonder if the outsourced help can only do so much and will do whatever it takes to get the customer off of the phone.
Oh, and btw, Apple has screwed me over even worse. I bought an iBook a few years ago that was assembled with a faulty mother board. Do you think they would repair it with a working board, or possibly replace the laptop all together? Of course not! They had to get rid of all those faulty boards somehow, so why not continue putting them in the laptops to repair them! Thank you Apple for selling me a 1400$ paper weight! All the other computer manufacturers may not be perfect, but Apple is no different…
You gotta be careful with these call centers, they are all lowly paid workers and the seinor managers don’t like to be bothered. I worked in a few when i was younger and when you ask for a supervisor we just give the phone to the person next to us and they say yeah i’m a supervisor and tell you whatever, imean how do you know you’re on the phone. Best resolve is sites like this where you can find info on how to get stuff to corporate, believe me these exec’s do not like to hear consumer complaints.
I am so glad to find this thread so that I know I am not crazy. My daughter’s computer died 2 weeks before the warranty expired. I got online in a chat session with HP and they confirmed the warranty and sent a box. I was very impressed.
The day after we sent it in, I got a standard e-mail from HP with the subject “verification of receipt of computer”. I opened the e-mail and it gave a link to check the status. I checked the status and it stated that they had been trying to reach me (BS) and that the computer was out of warranty ($421.00).
I called them and they started asking me about the serial number tag on the bottom of the computer, like was it “fuzzy” or hard to read when I called the original case in. I said No – why? Then he said that the serial number off the motherboard was torn or “missing”.
I told him that the computer had not been opened up.
He said – okay, I’ve documented all that, call us back tomorrow for an estimated ship date. I asked if they were going to cover it. He said they would have to review the documentation and to call back after 24 hours.
Well, I did and whoever I talked to said they reviewd it and yes, they were going to cover it. “call back tomorrow for an estimated ship date”… So, today I called and “No, we are not going to cover it – who told you that? ”
They stated the tag was missing from the system board. I told them I would have to contact my daughter to see if she wanted to pay for the repairs. They badgered me to “call her right now”. I could not, she was at work.
AFter I hung up, they called her and left her a nasty message. My hubby called cust service and they told him the tag was missing from the bottom of the computer.
He asked to talked to a manager and got put on hold for over 15 mins. Hung up. Called again and was now told the SN was “erased” from the tag on the motherboard.
I finally found this site and was amazed at what I
reading – I hope we can get our situation resolved, but it doesn’t look good
I bought my notebook directly from HP. However, I just sent in my notebook recently under the service enhancement program that applies to my notebook and in the repair status page, it says the service charge is now $746.86. Aside from that price being alot higher than what I paid for that notebook, I can get myself a more modern and better notebook for that price. I have yet to be contacted by HP though.
I am having a similar problem – I bought my mini 311 through Verizon Wireless. I finally fought with them long enough to get out of the broadband service contract that came with the mini – SIX months AFTER the problem started with HP. HP kept tossing me back and forth to Verizon then to HP then Verizon back to HP. It was ludicrious and I wasn’t supposed to be upset in the least! My warranty expires on 14th of Sept. How convenient?
I work tech support for a university – we use only Dells and Apples. HP has horrible customer service that is determined to not recognize warranties. I am STILL trying to get HP to fix the computer and I just – literally just got off the phone with a “case manager” after calling execuative offices (thanks for posting info other people) and she’s shipping me out a box to ship my computer back to them to have it fixed. I confirmed that my hardware AND SOFTWARE would be covered – as I was reading this article as she was putting me on hold. Somehow I think I won’t ever see my Mini 311 again. :,-(
So heed mine and Floria’s experience – BUYER BEWARE – otherwise we should all -consumers and companies alike boycott HP!!!!!