Call the law offices of sheister sheister and sheister. They'll fight for YOU.

I'm surprised they didn't call the OP a liar... the pants were on fire.

I have a Presario V2000 and had the brick begin sparking at about the one and a half year point. I figured since it was out of the one year warranty to just set it aside and pick up a new one. Even the replacement after I purchased it was scaldingly hot.

@Darrone: I prefer Cheatum, Howe, and Dewey.

OMG. She hurt herself (personal injury) and they're NOT jumping to give her something? Wow. Never thought I'd see that.

HP, you're the most incompetent company in the world. EVERY FREAKING COMPANY KNOWS THIS. I hope the OP sues them and wins.

This looks like a job for Pantsman!

[tn3-1.deviantart.com]

@Cocoa Vanilla: FYI, I had a certain Apple product get real hot on me, and smell like burning wires. I called Apple and they basically jumped. It took about 10 seconds to get someone on the phone asking me all about it (were you injured, was there a fire, was the fire dept. called, blah blah blah). And they resolved it pretty quickly.

@tgrwillki:

Thanks for that, I needed a laugh this morning.

@OMG!StopItWithNASA!_GitEmSteveDave: It's actually Dewey, Cheatem & Howe. Reads better that way. :)

Personally, I keep Sue, Grabbitt and Runne on retainer.

Wow, this could get them into some hot water.

Send another batch of emails and make a couple more phone calls. Tell them you're going to call a personal injury attorney if they don't resolve this within 48 hours. If they ignore you, follow through.

I'm not a big "sue 'em" guy, but these idiots are just begging for it.

Any chance you can sue them in DC? Maybe you'll get the Mr. Fancypants judge who sued the dry cleaner for $65 million.

If that's the value he puts on pants, you're set!

Horror stories of HP abound. Things like this are exactly why I went with the Acer Aspire netbook instead of the flimsy p.o.s. HP one.

I've dealt with Rutiger in the past, and at least in my case, he was very helpful and got the problem taken care of quickly. I'd bug him again.

The story does not quite make out. I assume this is a laptop.

So first "It was so bad that the sparks burned a hole in my pants, and caused a welt on my leg." I have used laptop for over 10 years and I don't remember the last time I had the adapter sitting on my leg.

Then, "had I not been at home to unplug the adapter ..." Isn't this redundent?

Besides, first sign of sparking at the AC adapter, she should have unplugged it from the wall. And yet, she continued to use it and also put it on her leg. Who would put a sparking AC adapter on their leg?

Does she even have a doctor's report that the burn was caused by the AC adapter? If I were to go after HP for this, I would definitely get a medical report documenting this, especially the burn was so bad that "this quite possibly could have burned down my home and injured/killed my pets/family, etc".

@haoshufu: Are you just not caffeinated this morning?

SPARKS FLY, YOU DOLT. IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE ON HER LEG.

@Cocoa Vanilla: I had the same issue with Apple but they overnighted a new adapter and just asked me to throw away the old one. Nothing happened either, just the end of the adapter was coming apart and I thought I saw a little bit of smoke. The CS was very through and asked me a bunch of questions about me. (Example: "Are you injured?")

Immediately advised me to not use it anymore and I received the new one the next day. I also want to add Apple repair has never taken more than three days with my laptop. Highly satisfied with their CS.

@haoshufu: She didn't say that she had the adapter sitting on her leg. Although it would have to have been very close to her leg or the sparks would need to be quite lively. I also find the spark burning her pants and causing an injury a little suspect as well, though. It actually couldn't have been a spark, but an actual piece of burning debris.

At any rate, if all she is looking for is a replacement adapter, I don't think that is unreasonable at all.

@haoshufu: The OP said the adaptor "randomly started sparking (where it connects to the laptop)" - I assume that where it connects to the laptop is probably close to the lap area when the laptop is on the lap. This is also where we store legs and, consequently, pants.

You can't just ignore the words inside parentheses. (You moron.)

You also say that you "assume this is a laptop" - no assumption is necessary as that data was clearly presented in the post.

I guess I just have to boil it down to: You can't just ignore words. They are the part of the article that contains the most information.

I hope she sent her adapter by means requiring a receipt or she may SOL if they say they never got it.

This is unbelievably f*cked up. Shame on HP!

I will never buy one of their products again.

I had one of their laser printers, and what a clunky, noisy piece of junk that was!

The Brother laser printer I have now just blows the HP away...

Laptop power adapters break a lot, and it's mainly because people wrap the cords too tightly. I see it all the time. Leave a little slack at the join between the cord and the body of the adapter (don't pull it tight), and be sure not to bend the cable where it enters the DC plug itself. From what the OP describes, I would not be surprised if the adapter shorted at the point where the DC cable enters the plug, and when that happens, it's usually because that join has been repeatedly bent to the point of breaking the insulation. I'm not a big fan of blame the OP here, but this type of damage is something I see repeatedly in my experience fixing laptops of all brands.

@Murph1908: That judge was basically told to take a hike by DC when his contract came up for renewal, so she wouldn't win ;-)

@Black-Cat:

Yep, I'd never buy a HP laptop after reading the stories on this site.

Our neighbor's house caught fire last night. I wonder if they own an HP laptop.

@William Gu: Yep, they always ask those questions I assume. (They did to me as well.) While they can be annoying I think it's better of them to do that than not to.

@tripnman: I know the proper order, but putting them out of order reminds me of a guy who got caught for fraud b/c he used that firm name when drafting fake checks, and changed the order. He was caught by someone who noticed the name and recognized them:
[www.google.com]

@haoshufu: Wow, you SO lose at reading.

It sparked at the connection between the laptop and the adapter. If her laptop was on her lap, that part would be right next to her legs, touching her pants.

I also don't understand your lack of understanding here:

You say: 'Then, "had I not been at home to unplug the adapter ..." Isn't this redundent?' (sic).

She's saying that if it had been plugged in and this happened while she wasn't home, the sparking was so bad that it very likely would have caused a serious house fire that could have injured people and caused very serious property damage. How is that in any way redundant?

@solmssen: Excellent insight. It sounds like they could address this issue by stiffening those critical areas so that they cannot be bent so drastically.

@tgrwillki: Zing!

This sounds like an issue for the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

@haoshufu: I think the bottom line is if she is trying to get a replacement adapter, it should not be a problem. However, looks like from the get go she was looking for more, maybe some other comps on top of the adapter. In this case, you better get some medical report to show that your burn was in fact created by whatever you claim. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying HP is in the right but if you want to get HP, do everything right cause they have a hugh legal team behind them that can think up some odd ball reasons accusing you of misuse yourself.

@CrowMignon: BTW, making points on other people's comments are great. However, I can't believe editors on this web site allow name calling and personal attack. I might want to keep this as a record so if I start calling names on others, I have proof that this is so silently allowed on this web site.

@valen: Even if HP does issue a recall for the adaptors, it will most likely be a pretend recall.

@haoshufu: It was in parentheses, I was testing to see if you would read it this time.

@valen: I agree... filing a CPSC complaint usually gets the attention of somebody at the company. I know through experience that "e-mailing the CEO" at HP is a total waste of time. You might as well be calling their useless customer service department... if it ain't on the script, you ain't getting help.

After a month of fighting Char Broil on a grill that nearly set my deck on fire, one call to the CPSC, and I had a VP groveling over the phone in a week, and a recall two weeks later.

Get a lawyer! LAwyers love defective product lawsuits.

@theblackdog:
Thanks for ruining my fantasy/humor with actual facts. =)

Summary: WARRRGGHRRBL

She's getting no response because it's a used laptop. I notice how she didn't mention if she bought it from HP or from a third party. And normally, they do get hot, but why was it on her leg?

HP should replace it, but nothing else. If she would have started at the bottom rather than going straight to an EECB and attention grabbing, I predict she would have received better results.

I had the same problem with my Pavilion dv6000's power cord. It would spark but I think it was because my dog got a hold of it not because of any defect. It would spark every time I moved the cord with it plugged in and the sparks hurt. I see the OP's point but I do wonder why she did not buy another power adapter. BTW the first time I saw a spark I vowed to never leave it unattended while it had power and I bought another power cord from eBay new for $20. I think this whole mess could have been avoided.

Ouch! That smarts!

@haoshufu: Name calling is allowed here, so feel free to call CrowMignon an asshole for calling you a moron. Of course if you are older than 15, you could avoid name calling altogether.

Well obviously you can't believe someone whose pants are on fire, that's one of the first things you learn in kindergarten.

@haoshufu: Awww, someone hurt your feelings!

And nowhere does it seem like she was "trying to get more". She wasn't even able to get answers!

You'd think HP would promptly react to such a safety issue and possible PR disaster, right? WRONG. During the first week after the adapter caught on fire, I made dozens of phonecalls to the Executive Customer Service number you provided, but was dismissed and blown off by everyone I spoke to. Reps Angie, Rochelle, and Kathy rudely told me there was nothing they could do, and that I had to sit around and wait for someone in their safety team to contact me.

It seems to me there is always SOMEONE who does not read and/or fully understand what they read, and are gung-ho about blaming the OP. "How could she burn herself?!"

You second-guessed her at every turn, yet were completely off-base on every critism. I think the (you moron) was pretty apt.

She said "gently used" not a "used" laptop. Eg she wasn't slinging it around and doing things that would cause the wires to go all kablooey. Also she said "11 months" not years.

@HiPwr: I indulged myself in that bit of name-calling in response to his attack on the OP. Assholishness in kind, if you will. He insinuated she was making the injury up, he stated that her complaint was unclear, and he implied that she was stupid. If, after reading the article, he really believed any of these things, then perhaps, using the term loosely and in the popular meaning, he IS a moron.

That and I thought the parentheses thing was funny.

hplies.com -- This problem is specifically unique, but so many people are having problems with HP's customer support right now. Hell, my machine caught on fire, and HP wanted to "look at it," and sent it back with the burn marks gone, (but still broken) and said, "Not our fault. Never burnt." Too bad I took before/after pictures. Ugh.

@CrowMignon: It may be finals week gradingbrainout, but I did chuckle.

Assholishness aside. a'course, that's what usually gives me the giggles anyhow.

@Sherwood Vaillancourt: Reading comprehension. It's not just for breakfast any more. She said it's "gently used". That means she has been using it, gently.