Am I the only one who was confused about the title of this post? It sounds like HP had promised to send him a Virus-Filled computer.

But only because The Consumerist covered the story. Had it not been for The Consumerist, Aaron would still be screwed. Makes you wonder how many others got screwed by HP that weren't lucky enough to get the necessary publicity to correct the problem...

@Michael:

There are good people inside, but they're shielded from end-users by a front-line of incompetence. A kind of customer-service Oreo with moldy cookie outsides. Not that this helps the average consumer, and I've helped more than my share of them cry through support calls to get their equipment back or working again.

Is it really so difficult these days to make a product you can support without going broke?

In my cube days, we took the approach of charging back support costs to the engineering and marketing groups responsible. Sure, it was all funny money, but it was enough to be felt and to motivate. I can picture my contemporaries doing "mystery shopper" calls & getting close & personal with call center management.

Has everyone just given up and let beancounters and apathy run/ruin their companies?

@Michael Worth:
My thoughts exactly

You're welcome, I think...I contacted my contact at HP, and your comment sounds much like what they said, including the case number lookup.

If not, then good: we still have some good people left inside HP, despite the Fiorini Disaster.

@legwork: I hear you and agree with you. On this comment : "Has everyone just given up and let beancounters and apathy run/ruin their companies? "

The answer is YES, however I would throw GREED in the mix somewhere as well.

I'll take the one with the viruses on it. Seriously, installing Linux wipes them all off.

Why would you even want *one* HP laptop. It comes infected with Windows.

GuinevereRucker: If I absolutely had to have a Windows-based computer, I think I'd get a Lenovo...but until that urge arises (and I make a purchase before logic smacks me in the face) I'll stick with my mac.

Good for OP, lets have some thumbs up for me.

I have a wee bit of a problem with HP right now. Arranged with first tier CS #1 to have a display (W2408h if you must ask) to be replaced when a courier drops a new one off. Waited a few days, called and CS rep #2 tells me that the courier will pick up my current display and deliver a new one late NEXT month. Hung up on her and called again.

CS rep #3 tells me that since a display is in question, it is their EU policy to make a "hot swap" when it comes to displays. Courier brings a new one, customer checks it out, approves it and everybody is happy.

But I'm a walking prick so I called HP CS fourth time. Laid out terms as follows. 1) I will not tolerate having my main computer being out of use for more than a few hours, 2) courier will wait while I inspect the new display (zero defects allowed, inc subpixels), 3) must come with the better TFT element (LPL_LM240WU3 is the bad one, dont have that another written down near me atm). Yes, the call was recorded and yes the CS #4 did agree to my terms.

I dont hold my breath, neither should you.

Now comes the problem description. See [www.nbl.fi] and weep. Not-so-good camera exaggerated the effect but it is bad. Very dark colors in bluish area turn magenta in it. Same goes for other edges but in much smaller areas.

HP, in this case, you have only one chance. And I do love the consumer protection laws in Finland. Company coughs up no matter how much it costs to make things good. Customer has to pay nada. Zilch. Zero bucks. Nothing.

I would be curious to know if HP contracted this work out or are they using actual HP employees paid by the hour to do repairs ?

It shouldn't matter being that HP is still ultimately responsible . Just wondering .

Aaron, you _are_ welcome; it was 'my contact' that got you going on this.

This was something out of the ordinary, and it required extraordinary action, and I'm glad that we were able to get it mobilized for you.

after a terrible dell laptop with problems beginning at month 4, i bought a HP. 1 yr in, and its still brand new. i got an HP after smashing an ex's HP laptop against a brick wall with all my might for about 5 minutes straight, and that F*cker still worked. (cheating via email, hence laptop smash)

@Michael Worth: I don't know about that. I had a problem with a warranty repair of 2 of my HP laptops, and an EECB had it cleared up within 12 hours. I sent the story to tips@consumerist, but they either didn't receive it or opted not to publish it.

Either way, I got two laptops repaired under my extended warranty that a lower rep had decided they weren't going to cover, so I ended a happy camper.

@bobloblawsblog: How can it be brand new if it is a year old? :p

Multiple people from HP reported this issue probably adding to the confusion

@Michael Worth: Not true - people write in all the time about EECB working before Consumerist ever heard their story

I _am_ Aaron; it was my laptop that had this problem. It is really interesting to note that after I had emailed the consumerist back about my resolved issue(this past Monday), Carlos, a HP Customer Relations Manager, had UPS pick the laptop up directly from me, instead of using the RMA prepaid UPS label they originally gave me to send it back in. He said they needed to intercept it so that they could run tests on it to find out more information about the problem (I assume with the viruses.) He said he was in email contact with the people I had EECBed and they instructed him to do that.

It is kind of nice to know that they are taking an active (reactive, not proactive, but still) approach in trying to find out how this happened, and to (I assume) keep it from happening in the future.

Out of topic, that picture looks like frickin' Lavos from Chrono Trigger, man.

But overall, it's good that computer companies can get their shit together so they can prevent a massive SNAFU from happening.

My own experience with HP and their Executive Escalation department has had me swearing off their products ever since. Tried buying a custom-built laptop directly from them, including with the help of a supervisor - THREE times - before they finally admitted they had no intention of ever fulfilling the order.

Unbeknownst to me, HP's incompetent "security algorithms" flagged my order because I wasn't shipping it to the billing address on my credit card (a Post Office Box where UPS can't deliver), though the shipping address was clearly on file with my bank. Rather than these geniuses lift a pinky to contact me to say the order was cancelled and why - HP just let it fall into a black hole where I thought my laptop was being built when in fact it never began.

I lost a few hundred dollars because of this, finally ended up buying a damn Dell (who happily accepted my $1500 and shipped to that address). I complained to HP's "Executive Offices" about the obvious incompetence that is anti-customer and hurts their bottom line, but they said they had no power over their own division to fix the problem. Some "Executives"! Glad I'm not an HP stockholder.

So I've switched to buying and recommending Brother printers (MUCH better quality and support), Dell or Thinkpads for midrange laptops, and Dell for midrange desktops. I was recently the decision-maker on 5-year leases of two large copiers, and chose the Korean model over the HP equivalent simply because of the bad support that HP demonstrated.

If a company like HP is willing to screw a customer so badly BEFORE the sale, then you bet that the aftersale support will fall on deaf ears, too. AFAIC HP can go the way of pets.com and few will shed tears.

@AaronN322: You gotta realize that all HP is doing is damage control on their terrible image, and you are their spokesman.

I had an easily solvable problem with HP a few years ago when these web 2.0 sites weren't so active. Even though I went through the proper channels, up through Executive Escalation as well as the BBB - HP was just happy as all hell to stick it up the ass of a paying customer without fear of any major media repercussions. I got my revenge over the past few years by personally steering away tens of thousands of dollars in business from HP, but they will never know that or care as they felt completely justified in what they did to me.

Now with sites like Consumerist and tools like EECB, bad companies like HP can be called out and a light shone upon their evil treatment. Maybe there will result in more equilibrium in the buyer/seller relationship soon, but I can tell you from personal experience that you are only having your butt kissed by HP because you were able to effectively PUBLICIZE what they did to you. They aren't "great guys" when left to their own ethics.

HP reimaged my hard drive when I sent it in to repair a 'enhanced warranty' (read: crappy hardware we knew about) item, which I fully expected. I created an external backup. But, when returned to me, they had horked around and added another partition, which rendered my system partition too small to recover from my backup. This added hours of work to backup their recovery partion to disc, delete their 'new' partion, and resize my original partition. The also installed a POS video card and fooled with my system RAM. Their online chat support is an offshore joke. Their English is only passable, and they don't understand the word 'escalate'. HP has lost a customer.

@Michael Worth: I completely disagree. I had my own problem once about a year back. I didn't get my satisfaction met even remotely. I sent a complaint off and was very quickly responded to and had some of the best customer service I have known in a long time. That I have seen, HP does try to do right.