The ordeal is over

I haven't had much time to write about this due to my ever-increasing workload, but I think my HP ordeal is over. I had finally received my replacement laptop after 4.5 months.

So what good came from this? HP sent me a superior laptop compared to my dv2415nr. They sent me a dv4t equipped with a Pentium Core 2 Duo, 2GB of RAM, 250GB HDD, blah blah blah. Still Windows Vista, but the improved specs seem to handle it pretty well. I just need to send in my old one now.

The bad? Well...

1) Had to send my laptop to the repair center four times.
2) Out of the four times, my laptop was repaired to its original condition ZERO times
3) Out of the four times, I've had half my RAM taken away and then had my dual-core Turion replaced with a single-core.
4) Regular tech/customer support stinks.
5) Executive case manager support stinks (Although after I contacted the BBB, a higher executive case manager called me and the case moved smoothly after that)

To be fair, if you stick around long enough, someone high-level enough will eventually call you and your case will eventually be closed. I guess my suggestions would be to have patience, escalate the case along in a reasonable matter, and try to keep temper in check. I appreciate how HP eventually solved my problem, but this whole thing has left a sour taste in my mouth. I cringe when I see ads and articles about HP now. Will I buy HP again? Maybe, but not for a long, long time.

So to sum it up: Thanks HP for replacing my broken laptop, but you still stink.

Final saga?

Well, I got my laptop back on Tuesday. I brought it home, opened the box, and read the tech notes. It appeared they replaced the motherboard with the processor and then restored the OS. Crap. That meant I had to do a full Carbonite recovery plus any software reinstalls. Fine, whatever. I'll deal with it since it appears they fixed my laptop. I pay the annual Carbonite fee for this purpose anyway (worth every penny by the way).

So anyway, last night I'm on my machine and chatting with my cousin. Re-reading the notes, it appears the processor they put in is different than what my system came with. Instead of a Turion 64 X2 TL-56, I got a Turion 64 MK-38. I'm thinking, "Wow, maybe they upgraded me." So I did a quick search, and lo and behold it turns out it's a slower chip. The MK-38 is a single-core chip at 2.2 GHz. The TL-56 I had was rated 1.8 GHz, but being dual-core, it's faster than the MK-38. So imagine that. HP fixed my laptop, but still left me worse off. It's like taking your V6 car into the shop and coming out with a V4. What a disappointment.

Well, today I called my executive case manager. He asked if I got my laptop. I told him I did, but explained the processor situation. He checked his notes and the original specs of my machine and agreed that I have a slower chip now. He told me that he promised me a replacement if this repair went wrong, so he put in an order to send me a brand-new laptop that is comparable or better. He explained that it'll get to me in 14 days and that I would need to send the current one back. Fine with me. This case manager seems very nice anyway, so I made the arrangements, and now it's a waiting game. So pretty soon, this whole fiasco may well be over. I can't wait.

Even though this seems to be ending on a happy note, I can't help but feel like I have a sour taste in a my mouth from all this. Would I recommend HP? Take a guess.

Case escalated!

I didn't have time to write about this before, but my HP laptop case has been escalated. Whether through BBB's efforts or not, an Executive Case Manager called me personally and left a voicemail. When I called him back, he told me he was taking over the case from Steven, my previous case manager. He reviewed the case and told me that with the amount of repairs my laptop has gone through he has no problems with replacing the machine. He saw that I had a fourth repair schedule and that the box was already shipped out, so he told me to send it to the repair center one more time. He gave me all his contact info and told me to call him once I receive the laptop back. He wants to know how it went good or bad.

So this is good news. It's been four months, but I'm glad something is happening. I mean, I don't really care if they fix it or not. I want a workable machine. So if they fix it, I want an extended warranty. If they don't, then I'll accept the replacement. Once this HP fiasco is finalized, I'll review my computer situation and go from there. I just can't wait for all this to be over.

I cracked

So the BBB thing is supposedly in progress. But my cousin makes a very valid point. I don't think a large corporation like HP will really care what BBB says about them. A bad report would be like a speck of dust compared to the volume of business they do. So I gave in and called my case manager last night.

I gave Steven the updates of my four-beep situation, and he setup another repair order. He did tell me it might be longer this time because the repair center is in Houston and they still don't have power or water yet. I've waited three months; what's another week? I'm holding Steven to what he said too when I first spoke with him. He told me that they will keep repairing my laptop till it's done. So I'm going to keep calling him until it's resolved. I need this HP situation resolved. I won't stand down.

I cancelled my Acer Aspire One preorder too. I don't want to buy another machine until this HP thing is resolved. And I'm not sure if the Aspire One is where I want to go. So, it's more waiting. We'll see what happens October 8 too. That's the deadline BBB gave for HP to resolve the complaint. I kinda doubt anything will happen.

Contacted the BBB

So I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. I haven't heard back from my case manager Steven. Emails to the PR guy only result in replies stating that he will contact HP and see what happens. Repairs to HP don't amount to anything. Meanwhile, I'm left sitting without a reliable workable laptop for nearly three months! This is just ridiculous.

I find it unbelievable that:

1) HP cannot fix my laptop after three trips to their repair center
2) My laptop came back from its second repair without half the RAM
3) My laptop came back from its third repair with a loose RAM chip in the memory compartment (I would compare this to a surgeon leaving forceps in your body)
4) HP sends a cardboard box each time I send my laptop back even though I told them I have the old boxes. So environmental impact for sending a laptop back that HP can't repair: three large cardboard boxes, six pieces of foam, three large plastic bags, three smaller boxes to hold accessories, and labels. And keep in mind that HP has no problem paying to ship my laptop to and from SIX TIMES overnight via FedEx, pay technical support gosh-knows-how-much per hour to not-repair my laptop, pay phone support to pickup my calls and not help me out, but won't refund or replace my laptop.
5) HP support is HORRENDOUS. They never call when they are supposed to. They read from a script. They don't really understand the torment you are going through. THEY. JUST. DON'T. CARE.
6) Through all this and many more with others (Google "HP Sucks"), HP is still the #1 computer manufacturer/seller. Amazing. CEO Mark Hurd must be doing something right for the shareholders. I suppose if I were to buy stock, why not buy HP? They have horrible customer support/service and still remains #1!!! They're at $48.41 a share today, up $3.08 from yesterday!

I hope the BBB does something. I'll try to call Steven again too, but I feel he's just going to make me send the laptop to them, have their repair center "fix" it, send it back, and then I'll open it to find that it's not been fixed. What a wonderful cycle to look forward to.

Will he call?

So after my call last night, I tried what the HP rep told me to do. I opened up the memory bay and moved the 1GB RAM stick to the second slot. Closed bay, reinstalled battery and hit power. The laptop lighted up and I heard my optical drive initialize, then the drive initialized again, and again...and again... I forced the laptop to power off (hold power button). This time I took the 1GB RAM out and put the two 512's in, one in each slot. Hit power. Same thing. Infinite loop. Took the 512's out and put the 1GB in the first slot. It booted up fine (as I expected since I hadn't turned it on from the night before). After a while of surfing, it froze up again. Forced power off and rebooted. Four long beeps again (the HP rep explained this meant a memory issue). This is the fourth time.

The question now is, will my HP case manager call me today. He supposedly received a message and an email from the other guy that "helped" me out. The other question is, what if the "solution" did work? Is HP satisfied that they solved my problem by moving my RAM to the non-defective slot? What does this say about their level of customer service? It seems to me that all HP cares about is making machines that barely last their 1-year warranty while making as much money as possible. Their customer and technical support sucks. Their "repairs" barely make it past their 90-day warranty, which I still find ridiculous. I know you can't extend the full warranty that much, but HP can't even guarantee their own repair for 1-year? Can't they just extend the warranty on the area they repaired?

I'm not the only one that doesn't like HP. Go ahead, Google "HP sucks". You'll get results about issues from way back up till today. So it's not a fluke. I'm surprised they're on the top of the list for top US computer manufacturer's.

All-in-all, I've spent way too much time on this issue. If Steven doesn't call, I'm going to do what I said last time and involve some consumer advocacy group, most likely the BBB.

Will it never end????

So for the third time since my laptop came back, it froze last night. I wasn't doing anything intensive. Just surfing. I powered it down and tried rebooting. Same four beeps and then nothing. Boy, is HP really getting on my last nerves. So I called HP...again.

I called asking for my case manager Steven. He had left for the day. So I spoke with this dude. I explain my issues which include how HP sent my laptop back with a loose memory chip and how my computer freezes periodically. This guy suggests plugging the 1GB RAM in the other slot to see what happens. He also suggest I try the two 512MB sticks (I told them I received extra RAM). He then told me he will leave a message and email Steven to have him call me back tomorrow.

I guess I'll go home and try the whole other slot thing. As I've said before, I've tried the 512MB in the second slot with the 1GB in the first slot. But I guess mixing the RAM could cause it not to boot. I'll try the 1GB in the second slot. If that doesn't work, I'll try the two 512's. If it works great. If it doesn't, well I guess HP has to do something about this huh? Even if it does work on the other slot, I think I deserve two workable slots in case I want to upgrade right? Seems fair.

We'll see. In the end, whatever HP does to solve this whole fiasco, I'm not keeping this laptop. I'm just waiting for my Acer Aspire One to ship now.

Still crossing my fingers

I've had my HP laptop back for about a week now. I've been using it everyday to make sure the it's not going to do something and die on me again. So far it's acceptable. There were a couple times where the machine froze. Rebooting only resulted in the machine beeping at me 4 times (looked it up; something about system timer or 64K something). But letting it sit for a bit fixes the problem.

HP hasn't contacted me since I got my laptop back. Nor did the PR guy that told me he would contact me too. Some response, huh? I think I'm going to call my case manager anyway. Remember how HP shipped that extra RAM? Well, I plugged one of the 512's into the second memory slot and guess what happens? The system won't boot. I know they made me "whole" again in their eyes by giving me a stick of 1GB RAM, but I think I would like to have two memory slots that work. I mean, unless the RAM they gave me were different types.

I spent some time last night "optimizing" Vista. Took out silly programs from my startup menu. Went into the graphics part and disabled silly effects like fade/slide windows when minimizing and maximizing. That eats up memory that I can't afford to lose. I disabled the Sidebar awhile ago. It was just flashy; I barely used/referred to it. I also found out why my system was slow around 1-2AM sometimes. Turns out Vista Defrag was scheduled to weekly at 1AM on Wednesdays.

I pre-ordered the Acer Aspire One yesterday. I stopped by Microcenter on Monday to check out the 120GB model so I could test the keyboard and make sure I was really okay with the size. It was pretty decent. Screen wasn't too crazy small, and I was able to run Windows Media Player, MS Word, IE, and Mozilla at the same time. It seemed okay. I mean, I won't be doing anything crazy at home with it either, so it should be fine. I just have to wait for it to ship now.

Oh look, a survey!

Guess who I just got a survey from??? HP!!! I am sooooooo gonna have fun with this.

Well, it's back.

I got my laptop back from HP on Wednesday along with another box with a stick of 512MB RAM. I opened the laptop box and pull out my system. I read the sheet attached and again, no description of what actually happened and how it was fixed. I check my AC adapter and my battery. Still here. Then for some reason, I decided to shake my laptop. There was a rattling noise. I opened up the memory compartment and I find two sticks of RAM in there - one in the slot, the other just freely hanging out. If I had booted up my laptop, I could've fried the whole thing. Nice one, HP.

Anyway, I check the loose RAM. It's a stick of 512MB. I pull out the installed stick and see that it's a 1GB stick. Now I'm confused. I now have an installed stick of 1GB RAM, a stick of 512MB RAM that was hanging out in the memory bay uninstalled, and a stick of 512MB RAM that came separately. HP must have some serious organizational and communication issues. I'm also wondering why they installed one stick of 1GB RAM. Is it because the other slot is defective? Why won't they just tell me what was wrong with my laptop?

I boot up the system and it actually works. After a quick stop at System Restore, everything looks normal. I didn't play around with it that much, since it was late and I was tired. My landlord's internet is down anyway, so I didn't have any desire to stare at my desktop. I hibernated the system and now it sits in the corner of my coffee table.

I suppose my thing with HP is over. Who knows? I'll spend some more time with my system over the weekend and see if the issue will pop back up again. I never heard back from that PR guy or HP after my email. The only thing this whole experience has taught me is that HP stinks. My laptop has been supposedly repaired, but it still stinks. I have a feeling that at day 91, it'll stop again and HP won't repair it for me anymore.

The good thing about this whole ordeal is that it's taught me how little I use a computer at home. I find the main things I need a computer for are photo storage, music storage, internet usage, and email. I migrated some of my important functions to solutions online (Google docs for documents, online finance software versus MS Money on my system, etc.). So, my next computer doesn't have to be a powerhouse. I'm thinking a netbook. I like how it's ultra-portable and still offers a lot of what I need. After looking around at some of them, I think the Acer Aspire One is pretty nice (I already eliminated the HP Mini-Note because of this whole HP mess. Learning something HP? Brand loyalty is very important.). I've read up on the Asus EeePC, the MSI Wind, the Dell Inspiron Mini 9, and even the Lenovo one, but the Acer Aspire One seems to give me what I want for a decent price; it even runs XP (no more Vista!). The one I looked at would set me back $399.95 on Amazon, so it could be cheaper elsewhere. I don't know when I would buy one, but at least I kinda have an idea what I want.

We'll see what happens as I use this HP crap a bit more. I hope it lasts a bit longer until I scrounge up some money for the Acer. So cross your fingers. I know I'm crossing mine.

HP, HP, HP...oy

So I've sent my laptop in earlier this week for a repair. As I've said before, this will be the last time I give HP a chance to repair it. Last night I got an email from Derrick, who had commented on my blog before. I suggested he go through HP's normal customer service and asked him to update me. Well, HP gave him a new laptop. A 14.1" dv4t. So yeah, I'm annoyed. So annoyed I emailed the PR guy that emailed me. I want a refund. Let's see what they do.




Hello J.P.,

I obtained your email address from a comment you left on my blog (http://truparad0x.blogspot.com/search/label/hp%20stinks). When I first received your comment, I was surprised at how my blog was able to reach HP's PR firm. At the time, I received a response and thought things would be fine. When I did speak with executive support they pushed me back to a case manager.

The case manager was pretty helpful at first and arranged for a free repair plus the stick of memory that HP had taken from me. After waiting two weeks and still not seeing my RAM, I called the case manager again. This time, I just told him I wasn't pleased with the service nor the two-month time frame without my sole computer (that I do my finances on, my budgeting, my emailing, ...pretty much my life). I asked for a refund and told him I would send the laptop to him. He told me blankly that HP was not responsible for loss of data and time and that a system buyback was not an option at that point. I asked him how he would've felt if he was out of a computer for two months. He repeated coldly that HP was not responsible for loss of data or time. He can only offer a repair.

As you can see, I was pretty frustrated and annoyed. But seeing how he won't give me a refund, I conceded to the repair. I asked him what would happen if after the repair my laptop's issue resurfaced (on my blog, I was able to connect to other HP customers who had issues resurface several months after a repair). He told me the repair was guaranteed for 90 days; after that it would be considered an out-of-warranty laptop. I was surprised at how incapable HP saw their own repair team to guarantee their own repairs for a measly 90-days. Three months? I was out of a laptop for 2/3 that time.

To make matters a little more unbearable for me, one of the people who read my blogs had the same issue with the same model. He thinks HP made a defective product. Anyway, I suggested he contact a case manager before writing to the CEO (even with my bad view of HP, I wanted him to go through the normal chain of customer service before escalating). He just wrote to me to let me know that HP replaced his laptop with a different 14.1" model. But here I am, two and a half months without a workable, dependable machine.

As I told my case manager, even if they do repair my laptop, I'm not confident enough in HP to believe my laptop will continue to work. And apparently after 90 days, I would be sh*t out of luck. That's why I asked for a refund. Why keep repairing it? This is the third repair. Either the repair center can't do their job or the machine is obviously defective.

Anyway, I wrote to you because I feel you might actually care about this and could help me in some way to get my refund. My laptop is currently with HP repair.


Sincerely,




[Dan]

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.

What RAM?

I went home briefly last night to pickup my sister for dinner. As I walked in to say hi to everyone, I looked through my mail. I saw the box for my HP repair shipment, but I didn't see anything else. No sign of my 512 RAM. To be fair, my case manager did say the box might show up first. And I didn't check with anyone at home to see if there was something else that came. So when I go home again, I'll check the house to be sure. That RAM better show up!

The longer this HP case goes, the more I'm finding out how HP's technical support is lacking for a lot of customers. I wrote earlier that Googling "HP Sucks" will give you quite a bit of reading material for bit. There's even a guy that went so far as to "review" sales of HP laptops with "HP Sucks". He must have had a horrible experience. I also got a comment on my previous HP post from a guy that's having a similar issue with his laptop. Apparently, he will be asking for a refund.

Where does my laptop stand? Well, I spoke too soon last time. I thought it was sporadic and booted once in a awhile. But now it doesn't boot at all again. Nothing. I've tried charging the laptop. I've tried HP's "discharging static buildup" method. Doesn't work. So I've already decided that this repair will be the last. If HP can't repair it, I will ask for a new laptop or a refund (with HP's reliability, I think I want the refund). I know the case manager said he will keep repairing it until it's fixed, but economically it's more efficient for HP to just refund me my $700 (they're lucky I bought it on sale). I mean, how much is it to keep sending a laptop back and forth? How much is it to send me the boxes to ship my laptop to them? How much is it to have their repair guys keep looking at it and not repairing my laptop? HP can refund my money, and they don't have to deal with this laptop anymore. Case closed.

But let's just see what happens with this repair. Then again, who's to say how long this repair will last? What if it breaks down later on? Oy. Why can't we buy a laptop and have the faith that it will last until it becomes obsolete? Oh right, you can if you bought a Dell...

HP actually called me

Believe it or not, I got a message from a Hewlett-Packard (her words) representative. She was calling from the Executive support area. I called her back with the order # she gave and she transferred me to a Case Manager. After speaking with him for a bit, he ordered a stick of 512MB RAM and asked if I needed anything else. I told him that I want my laptop looked at again as it decides when it wants to boot. I told him it appeared to not boot when it's plugged in. He arranged that and gave me his contact info. I expressed my concerns about the system being out of warranty, but he assured me that he will keep repairing it until it is fixed for no charge.

So far, this emailing the CEO thing was a good idea. Not to speak ill about off-shoring resources, but it was nice to speak to a representative that sounded like he was in the United States. Customer support is very important to consumers and I hope manufacturers in general understand this and stop off-shoring or outsourcing customer/technical support. As I've said earlier, Googling "HP Sucks" shows you how many people would not buy HP because of horrible customer/technical support.

Speaking of calling technical support, Woot.com was selling an HP Compaq laptop today. Clicking on the comments showed how many people are not pleased with HP/Compaq support. One of the posters even stated that systems shipped to retailers are considered "disposable" and support for these machines are directed to off-shore resources. For HP, you can tell when they have you call 1-800-HP INVENT. The poster goes on to say that the commercial systems have in-state support, as commercial systems are usually for businesses and manufacturers cannot afford to lose any business because support drove them away. I'm not sure if what the poster said is true, but it does make sense. If I were to piss someone off, I rather piss off one lonely guy than a guy or corporation that purchases in bulk. But it would make even more business sense to not piss anyone off at all!

Anyway, let's see where this next step goes. I just want my computer to work like it did when I bought it one short year ago. And yes, it was on sale when I bought it.

HP saga continues

Logged into Blogger today and saw a comment from some HP PR agency. They offered to connect me to the appropriate personnel to help with my issue. It's nice to know it's attracting people who seem to care. On the other hand, I still have not heard from a real person from HP regarding my email to the HP CEO.

Last night, while using my laptop, the power ran low. I plugged in the AC adapter and continued. Soon after it froze and wouldn't boot up. I tried it again this morning with the AC adapter unplugged but still no go. I'll let it sit till tonight and see what happens, but I'm not confident at all about it. You know what sucks though? I am out of warranty now. So even though I started with this in late June when I was still in warranty, HP never fixed my problem and won't fix it now without payment for services. How nice. I would think this is still the same issue, but who knows how they do business. But the one-year warranty worked out for them, didn't it?

Wanna know something else that's interesting? Google "HP sucks". Have you ever seen that many forums and comments about HP's technical support? Wow. And they're not good either.

Hey look, a response from the "CEO"

Got a response to my email to the CEO of HP:


On behalf of Hewlett-Packard we apologize for the difficulties you are experiencing.Your message has been forwarded to our Customer Escalation team who will review your case.
If there is more you would like to add, do not hesitate to call the HP Executive office in Palo Alto, California, Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM pacific time by dialing 1-800-756-XXXX, option #X

Sincerely,



CEO Customer Relations



I feel so loved...

Letter to HP CEO, Mark Hurd

I found an "Email the CEO" section on the HP website. Here's my email:


To Mr. Mark Hurd:

I am writing to express my frustrations with the support I have received in regards to my HP Pavilion DV2415NR laptop.

Around June 18, 2008, my laptop ceased to boot up. I located technical support on the HP website and submitted a repair request. Arrangements were made and I shipped my laptop to the HP repair center. There was a delay, but I received my laptop July 14. After taking it out of the box, my laptop still did not function. In fact, it was as if nothing was performed. I tried to read the paper that was included, but all it said was "replaced mlb" followed by gibberish which I assumed HP support would understand.

I located the number for support and called. I spent an hour on the phone explaining my situation to three HP representatives. Each seemed only specialized in one area, so I spend much of the time on hold for someone that could help me. Eventually, another trip to the repair center was arranged and my laptop went out again.

I received my laptop pretty quick this time on July 25. To my surprise, it booted up. However, it was slow. After it finished booting, I clicked on computer properties out of curiosity and noticed I now had 512MB of RAM. I shipped it to HP with 1GB! I reluctantly called HP support again and explained myself to three separate HP representatives again. This time I spent less time on hold. I spent a total of 10 minutes on hold, 2-5 minutes of talking, and 43 minutes of listening to silence while the representative "documented my case". I'm not quite sure how long it takes to type out "customer laptop was shipped to HP with 1GB RAM, but was returned with 512MB RAM", but I think 43 minutes is unreasonably long.

At the end of the call the representative told me a supervisor would call me within 24 hours, even though he told me earlier he would have a hardware representative to ship out the RAM. The call was on July 28, 2008. It is now August 5. I have not received a call, nor have I received my 512MB of RAM. This experience has left me with a slower system, and an overall lack of confidence in HP or my HP laptop.

It is to the point where I will no longer recommend HP to any of my friends and family anymore. I came from Dell systems thinking that HP is good too. I liked what HP did with they laptops and their emphasis on the entertainment experience. I even defended HP when my company IT consultant stated that "HP sucks...except for their printers...and maybe their servers". Now I'm not so sure I would do the same anymore. How can I recommend a company whose systems fail so much in one year? My friends' Dell systems are 3+ years old with no issues! How can I defend a company whose support is horrendous and slow? Each time I call, I reference the case number on the paper that was shipped with my laptop only to be chastised by the staff that it was not a case number. I spend an hour on each call and speak with multiple representatives. Why can't a technical support representative serve more than one area?

All I ask now is to be made whole. I want my 512MB of RAM back. I want another year of product support as I don't trust my laptop to survive another year. That's it. I won't ask for a refund, though my friends have suggested I do. I made a mistake in purchasing an HP, I will live with it. But I won't sit idle if something has been taken from me.

I hope other HP consumers have had better experience.

Sincerely,


[Dan]




I even had to shorten it because the form would only allow 3500 characters. I wonder if this would even do anything?

For all posts relating to this wonderful HP experience, go here.

HP and me

After doing some evening grocery shopping (I like going to the supermarket at night, it's quiet), I went home and settled down. I grabbed my oh-so-lovely laptop and powered it on. It didn't boot up; what a surprise. I thought about how HP had left out a stick of RAM, so I started to suspect that the slot was defective. So I opened up my memory bay and removed one of my 1GB sticks. I powered the laptop on, and it booted up. Well, would you look at that. Apparently, my issue is with the slot. I think that's pretty funny since HP "replaced" my motherboard during the first repair. You would think a new motherboard wouldn't have any defective parts. Well, I needed to call HP anyway because of the missing RAM, so I grabbed my phone.

I called the HP number and waited till the automated prompts came on. Ignoring their "helpful" categories, I just said "customer service" repeatedly till the English-speaking computer transferred me to a live person that spoke "English". During the next hour, the various reps (because apparently, the HP people are soooooo specialized, they need to transfer you to different departments for EVERYTHING) apologized for any inconvenience, documented the case, asked me to check the label on my HP RAM chip, documented the case, told me they would order me another chip, documented the case, spoke with their supervisor, documented the case, asked for my info, documented the case, and oh, they documented the case. I think I talked for a total of 2 min, the reps talked for a total of 5, I was on hold for 10, and they documented the case for 43 min. Like I've said before, maybe they type with one finger, or instead of letters, their keyboards have words for keys and the keyboard takes up an entire office. Who the heck knows?

And guess what? At the end of the call, instead of telling me my RAM chip is on its way, the rep told me a supervisor will call me within 24 hours. Why? I don't know. Maybe they think I pretended not to receive my full memory and now I'm trying to cheat them out of $10. Maybe $15 for that stupid 512MB of RAM. I don't know. To top it off, they tell me my warranty is expired now and offered to extend it for two years for $130. I think about the "service" I've had with my two repair orders, and decided not to extend it. I'm tired of having to call in for an hour to get service. I'm tired of reading off a Case Number to them and have them tell me it's not a case number even thought it's printed on their HP notices with "Case Number" next to them. I'm tired of their stupidity and inefficiencies.

I just want the 512MB of RAM that is missing, because it belongs to me and they have no right to take it/leave it out/steal it. I don't care that one of my memory slots is not working. I don't care that my laptop can die at any moment. I don't care that it's only been a year. I want this to end. Then when the laptop is finished, which I'm thinking it will be soon, I'm going to spend my hard-earned cash on a reliable quality computer system. I will no longer recommend HP laptops. I will not recommend Compaq systems. I will no longer defend HP when my IT guy at work disses them (although HP does make nice printers).

Oh, and you bet I'm still going to write HP about my experience.

HP REALLY REALLY STINKS

My laptop returned from its second trip to the repair center on Friday. I didn't have time on Friday open it up and test it, so I did it on Saturday. I opened up the box and popped the battery in. I pressed the power button with no expectations whatsoever. Amazingly, after everything initialized, the screen flicked on and the system continued to boot up. I was pleasantly surprised. As Windows Vista booted up, I noticed it was very sloooow. But I attributed that to the 1GB of RAM; I had reinstalled the factory memory and taken out my 2GB that I purchased in preparation for the repair.

After the bootup and a check that everything was there, I shut down and removed the battery. I opened the memory bay to be greeted by one lone memory stick. Problem? I had two. So I think to myself, they must have taken my two 512MB sticks and popped in a 1GB. I removed the memory and flipped it over so I could read the label: 512MB. Now I'm annoyed. They fixed my laptop, but left out half my memory. What the h*ll? I held my anger as I installed my 2GB of RAM. I pressed power and was greeted by nothing. This obviously added to my anger. I looked at the memory chips and noticed they weren't in all the way, so I adjusted and the system booted up fast and fine. My landlord's internet was down, so I couldn't test the internet connection. I left it on and played some music. I didn't feel like dealing with HP that night.

After about 30 minutes, my system froze. I looked at my laptop as it played the same half second of music over and over again. I forced a shutdown and tried rebooting. Nothing. After a few tries, and remembering how it didn't boot up before because of a loose memory chip, I checked the memory bay and still nothing. I removed my 2GB and replaced the 512MB and waited a bit. It booted up. I am dumbfounded. I have absolutely no idea what kind of sh*tbox HP had shipped back to me. I put my 2GB in and figured I'll test it later. But as of this moment, I am 45+ days without a computer, HP left out/took/stole (whatever it is) 512MB of RAM from me, and I have a f'ing unreliable laptop that apparently decides when it wants to boot up or freeze up. I am down to my last shred of patience.

I will call HP tonight and ask them about 1) my missing memory and 2) the reliability of my sh*tbox. If I don't have a resolution, I will write to any HP executive/customer service manager that needs to know. If still nothing, then we'll see what I should do. At this point, I'm not sure if I want HP to "repair" my laptop. I have no confidence in them in repairing my laptop. I have a feeling that the thing will just keep breaking down until I am out of warranty, then I'm SOL.

I actually want them to refund the cost of the laptop, which I bought on sale. Shoot, they can even refund me the cost of the laptop minus the hard drive if they want; I can keep the hard drive. Then I'm going to take that money, add some more, and buy myself a REAL laptop from Dell or Lenovo. I've never had a problem with Dell, and I shouldn't have went against my better judgment when I was buying a laptop.

I will definitely update this issue here. In fact, it now gets it's own label.

I HATE HP EVEN MORE

So I finally got my laptop back from HP's repair center yesterday. I excitedly opened the box to prepare for any backup recovery I needed to do, but was met with a laptop that had the exact same issue it had before I sent it to them. I look at their info sheet for any information, and all I found was that they had replaced the "mlb". The description of this mlb was even more gibberish I didn't understand.

So I called HP at 10:30PM. I obviously reached a call center. I explain my problem and he transfers me to a technician. I wait 12 minutes before a technician comes on. I explain my issue, and he tells me that they had replaced the motherboard and a system restore/operating system install might be needed. Now, I know that this isn't the issue, but if it had been then why didn't they do the system restore BEFORE SENDING IT BACK TO ME? Anyway. I calmly explain that this isn't the issue and tell him that the computer does not even boot up and that the screen does not turn on. He has me do the same ol' stupid discharge static buildup from my laptop, which I did before I sent my laptop in: IT DOESN'T WORK.

He puts me on hold while he checks his "resources". He comes back and says that since it's normal for them to boot up the computer before sending it back, he can only assume that it got damaged during shipment back to me. Now keep in mind I received my 14.1" laptop wrapped in a bag with four inches of foam on the ends, packed into a box that can hold a small CPU case. The box arrived in pristine condition. But fine, whatever. Maybe it did get jostled around and a part came loose (which if it did, then the repair center just did a sh*tty job). Anyway, this technician tells me I have to ship the laptop back and asks me if I was okay with it. I blankly tell him that I have to be or sit at home with a laptop that doesn't boot up. He has no response to this.

He promptly proceeds to put me on hold for 15 minutes to process this. I don't know why it takes 15 minutes to tell the HP system to send me another box and shipping label. Who knows, maybe he has one finger on each hand and he types with a Klingon keyboard. I don't f'ing know. He finally comes back on and tells me that the box would come in 1-2 days and gives me my new service order number. He then also says that if after I get my laptop back and it still doesn't work, that I should call them and see what they can do then. I have no idea why he has so little faith in his own repair center. Maybe because they never checked it to begin with before sending it back. Did they even replace the motherboard?

So now I'm out of a computer for another gosh-knows-how-long. I've already been system-less for four weeks. I've spent an hour on the phone. What's another 2-3 weeks, right? I HATE HP.