HP Makes Money, Leaves Customers in the Dust

So apparently, HP's profit rose to $2 billion. Too bad they scrimped on customer service along the way. My situation with my laptop hasn't improved much. After waiting 12 days for my stick of 512MB RAM to come, I called my case manager last night. He looked up my case and told me to send in my laptop; he will let the repair team know to put in the RAM there.

I'm up to my neck with this HP crap. So I told Steven that I want to forget the repair and want HP to refund my money. He tells me that the repair is the only option at the moment and that buying back the laptop is not on the table. I explain that I have been out of a computer for two months. I ask him to consider what it would feel to have his computer out of commission for two months. He tells me blankly that HP is not responsible for lost time, data, etc. He reminds me that the repair is the only option right now. I ask him what would happen if they do manage to repair my laptop, but it fails again. He tells me that there will be a 90-day warranty on the repair. That's how confident they are in their repair. Ninety days.

While sitting on the phone fuming. I decided I should follow the standard protocol for now. Then when I escalate the issue to a third party (*cough* BBB *cough*), I can say that I've tried all I could with HP's support system. I really am not confident in their repair center, but I tell Steven that I will send in the laptop and see what happens. My system booted for a bit early this week, but last night it stopped again. Sometimes it boots again with the how discharging static buildup crap.

So what's the lesson, class? Buy Dell. Buy IBM. Heck, convert and buy Mac. But don't, DON'T buy HP/Compaq.