HP Disapoints Me

I have a HP laptop. One of the keyboard keys broke off. You'd think they could simply send me a key that I could snap in to replace the broken one. Nope. I had to send the whole computer back to HP so they could replace the whole keyboard. And not only that, they told me that they were going to reformat my hard drive and reinstall their version of Windows! What the hell? They said they do that for every computer they service. Do other customers put up with that? I told them I was going to remove the hard drive before I sent them the computer. They balked. I got PO'd. They finally relented. I had to get a special waiver for them to slap on a new keyboard without reformatting my drive. Strange...

I had to call their tech support several times for this simple problem. Getting someone to answer the phone there was damn near impossible. I won't ever buy a HP laptop again. I've always bought my desktop PCs from locally owned and operated independent mom-and-pop shop types of places who sell customized computers. Getting service or questions answered from those guys is a piece of cake.

Hewlett Packard used to be a company that prided itself on quality products. Since the founders lost contral of the company, and the name was shortened to just "HP", the quality has been in a nosedive. I watched it draining away as engineers left the company rather than move to Singapore with their jobs. Today the only thing I'd buy from them is a printer, though they are damn expensive to feed (since ink cartridge size was purposfully shrunk while the price stayed the same).

Return the non-functioning laptop to the retail location you purchased it for a refund, as it appears you are unable to resolve this issue yourself or have HP service correct it.

HP used to be the best test instrument manufacturer on the planet, seconded by Tektronix
Then they invented the THINK JET portable printer to go along with their HP110 laptop
computer. Inventers of the inkjet technology
it is now a standard for most printers. Then came the Laserjet and it started down hill.
Thank goodness they didn't abandon the laboratory
instrument market and continued the advances of
the digital age with their new products. But
I think their down fall was when Compaq got
involved and it has been downhill since. They used to make alot of integrated terminals with
built in printers, but that's old stuff now. Good luck with their help desks, I think they are farmed out to overseas and have no real
idea of whats really going on in the computer
market place.

Even HP's printers aren't what they used to be. I recently purchased an OfficeJet 7310 (all-in-one) that was a pain to setup and nothing but trouble. One of my problems was finally cured by a patch they released to the software, but I still have problems with little things like getting it to select the right paper source when printing from different workstations. My previous All-in-one was an 1170Cse I purchased maybe 8 years ago. It's still running fine. My wife's using it, and I'm sorry I upgraded, even though the print speed is so much faster with the new one. Back in the 80's I used to work for a company that developed income tax software, and we had an original HP LaserJet that we must have printed millions of test tax returns on over the years. We printed so many that we had to change toner cartridges just about twice a day. But that's all it ever needed -- it never went down while I was there. Gone are the days.

read some of the bad reviews at this site.
wish more people would write reviews.
they have a '10' out of 10 for past six months because the one person who reviewd since april was happy. their overall rating is 4.14, about half of what a good company is, starting at 7 and up. they are on par with scam sites (and dell). Sadly all the majors seem to have sacrificed service to cut costs.

http://www.resellerratings.com/seller1397.html

By a toshiba, you might be unlucky with them as well thgough. Unless there are a lot of published problems with this model, it sounds like you got a lemon. Happens with all manufactured goods. Also they see you as a one off sale with a very limited potential to damage them. If you were a business with potential to order in hundreds or recommend to hundreds, you wouldn't be getting this sort of crap.

We had similar problems with the 2nd (& last) desktop PC we bought from HP and with what passes for tech support. We only had to have the keyboard and motherboard & chipset replaced the 1st year. Even after, the machine would crash about every 5-6 weeks. We also had problems with their scanner, which was originally designed for Win98; it never did work consistently with XP, even with "patches" to the drivers. Oh, and my flat-panel HP f50 monitor, which I kept, doesn't work with SuSe Linux 9.x. Bottom line: Avoid HP/Compaq as you did Packard-Bell (remember them?).
I strongly recommend Sony, partly because on our Vaio laptop, the power socket is not fused to the motherboard, but is wired to it (Yes, it was dropped once). We have had VERY few problems with our Sony laptop and with the desktop we built.

I have not had that experience with HP. Although, I have not had to deal with their Laptops and Printers. I have almost exclusively used HP\Compaq server and Laser Jet Printers. Their support has always been superior. (Although their server support is in India.)

The best desktop support I recieved was for IBM. They donated a laptop to a non-profit I was working with and still supported it. I do not know how that will translate now that the chinese have taken it over.

Of course, now that I have said this I will start having crappy support from HP.

I have seen this shutting down problem on a number of HP laptop's recently. The one thing they all have in common is a 3.0 Ghz P4 Processor. The Proceeor is designed to power off the machine just prior to overheating. The Heatsink on the laptop has very tight fins and clogs with dust very easily. Once this happens your PC will be shutting down after about 5-10 minutes of use. A can of compressed air should resolve the problem. As for the drivers...they should all be available on HP's website.

I disagree. I use their web site to submit problems and always submit a parts only request. Additionally I provide a detailed description of what I did to troubleshoot and their techs virtually never ask me to do more. I usually have the parts in by the next morning. Our company has about 13000 employees so I have to submit a problem 1 or 2x a week and I have no complaints.

I used to work for one of the other big computer manufacturers. I know they are all getting tighter about repairs/replacements to save money, but the policy where I worked (2 1/2 years ago) was after 3 attempted hardware repairs, replace the system. And that was a system under warranty. With a brand new system with problems out-of-the-box, the customer was given the option of a new computer as soon as the problem was discovered. So, after all this, I think they should replace the machine for you.

. and go WinBook or Sager.

if they don't/can't fix it after it being sent in a few times, it is time for them to replace the system.

Shutting down, is going to usually be a HEAT issue. Tell me it doesn't have a P4 in it?

Give them this chance and remember getting frustrated and upset with the manager will NOT help you get this resolved and will only HURT your chances of getting this resolved. (I know, easier said than done sometimes.)

Good luck.
[b]
Another thing to check. Did you parents pay for this with a CREDIT CARD? If so, then the Credit cards warrenty purchases and you could look at that as an avenue for getting a NEW system.

...several years ago. Man, it was a nightmare. I am a PC Tech, too. The system was still under warranty and the power supply crapped out, five weeks before the warranty was done. Guess what? CTX let this thing drag out for five weeks. I kept calling and asking for a ps. Just the ps, no tech. Took them five weeks, but they eventually relented and sent me the thing under the warranty.

I would at this point.

We have been exclusively using HP/Compaq desktops, laptops, printers and servers for over 6 years. Each time we call for service, which is not often, they dispatch a tech to our location. 90% of the time we can tell them exactly what is wrong and what part to send, but we always have "their" tech install it onsite. Laptops are no different. I would guess my experience is the difference between business and consumer customer service.

In this case, after the second attempt, I would have had the system replaced or taken it back to the store where it was purchased from.

My office in Singapore use HP PCs. We have no problem with their service so far. But I ever have bad experiences with Acer. Never will I buy Acer again. My comment is, every brand have its problem with its service one way or other. It's not the organisation the brand belongs that provide bad customer service but it can be just the local service or the staff that handle custormers' problem unprofessionally. I can only hope Good Luck to our friends when they buy any brand of pc.

tghauw

If I may suggest;
First Rule, Pad and Pen ready, when you call someone always ask the name of the person and what department. Write evrything Down.
Always keep a list of Names, conversation, conclusion etc
In this case, I would call them back and let them know that the next call will be from my Lawyer.
You bought a product "Although a gift, it was still bought" , from them assuming it was in good working condition and that of a reputable Firm. You have been let down in both areas. Then when You asked for help, through the channels indicated by them and followed their rules as to due process and procedure, you were left hanging.
On the first Part, "Why" did he solder the Motherboard" Is this something necessary?
Why the reseating. If this thing was that much "off kilter", you shouldn't have been able to close it up, yes?
As for the rest of the saga, I would definitely white it all down and if need be, see a lawyer. I haven't run into an HP yet whereas I used the supplied Disks. Usually they are missing, or too scratched or there is very little left and so I usually start all over again using my own devices and acquiring the drivers myself. Once this is all done, I fine tune it and install all the add ons myself. Nothing that I put in there is from the original firm or from HP Directly.
You usually end up going through a driver search and then Driverguide and a ton of plans to replace what should have been kept with the PC in the first place.
But the one thing I know for a fact, I have never received any kind of "Good Service" from any of these firms. They sell you the PC and then want to forget all about you, so take the same attitude.
First I wasn't kidding about the lawyer, second, if you need help, go anywhere but there. Obviously, there is no point. It's been my observation that a lot of these Firms have the "Microsoft OEM" attitude and this is very hard to deal with.
As far as I can see you have two choices, fix it yourself, i.e replace the cooling fan etc.
Or Go after them for your time and trouble.
Either way, it's not going to be easy, so good luck.
Regards
Aaron

You can try the new system, but you need to go to upper management and not a case worker. Ask for upper management. Prior to doing that I would also ask the tech a few questions:

- What is the serial number that you have for my system and model type. Verify against yours.

- I am courious, was a diagnostic run against the system. HP systems come with a diag. tool. What did the log state after a full diag was run.

- Check if the BIOS number at boot. Verify that there isn't a new BIOS level with Tech Support or online. If there is a newer release, prior to the return of the system, fuel for the talk with management.

- Let them know you work for a major hospital and have influencing power of system purchases and that if this incedent representative of future support I can expect from HP than I need to re-evaluate what company will be the future system provider.

Personally, HP I believe to be a better system than Dell. I have watched Dells product quality take a dive over the last two years. Support isn't much better.

Hi:

I had a similar problem with a Dell Latitude. The motherboard was replaced and the problem was resolved.

I'd tell HP to send a new replacement.

Good luck.

My hard drive failed a short disk test. Got HP on line and they told me my hard drive was failing and needed to be replaced right away. I was sent a new hard drive overnight and given 2 weeks to replace and send old HD back to them all postage paid. New drive works great. HP may not be great but have sure done OK by me.

You have been too patient. Return the unit for one that works. It is not worth the trouble to repair since your parents paid for a working unit. If they won't replace the unit free of charge call you local consumer affairs.

Request a BRAND NEW machine ... until you get one that works. Ask for the Case Manager's supervisor's contact info at the same time and give a firm date for compliance. HP is generally pretty good at sending replacements. Be patient (I know, I know) and firm. You've done well so far, becoming merely annoyed instead of utterly flaming.

A client of mine has an HP Printer, which started having paper feed problems.
He sent it to a local autorised HP dealer to be repaired. This dealer said gear so and so is Kaput, you need a new one. Put the onus on client to source this gear. (Maybe he knew something)
Client rang HP Australia customer service and was told that he would have to ring HP service international ( in Bangalore). After many weeks and phone calls the part was identified and shipped.

I had a problem with my Compaq laptop getting blue screens. The guy on the phone spoke poor english and tried telling me that the reason I couldn't reformat was because my cd was bad. I had to argue with him for an hour before I finally got them to send fedex to pick it up the next day. According to them I will get it back this week and let you know the outcome.

By the way lately I've noticed alot of companies outsourcing Microsoft, HP, Dell. Even our company is doing it. It makes it really difficult to get things done with the language barrier.

why dont you try to look up the drivers yourself instead of releying on someone to send you a disk?I have reinstalled many laptops with an oem disk and never had trouble just DOWNLOAD the drivers from the web site.

A little bit of information for you all out there, you think that when you call HP and get a case manager you would be speaking to an HP employee..... LOL guess again. The case manager you get is none other then another outsourced employee from a company suth as STREAM and Sutherland. Infact almost any person you talk to from HP, such as HP SHOPPING, Techs, Case Manager and Repair centers, all are not HP employee's. HP really does not care, just look at the machines you buy.

I have been having a tough time with the case managers. They never call back even though they promise to call literally in a couple of minutes. It's always us calling them back and even then it has been almost impossible to get to the case manager assigned to our case. 99% of the times some other case manager picks up, tries to reach out to the primary case manager , doesn't get a response , comes back to us and tell us that they can take a message and do absolutely do nothing beyond that. The case cannot be transferred to any manager other than the one we were assigned to in the beginning. Worst even, we can't even get to talk to higher authorities for escalations . This is the first time I've heard that we do not have any options for escalations. usually there's always a manager that we can talk to, with their e-mail address made available to us but not in this case. We're pretty much stuck with the case manager we are assigned to!!

Our problem is with a laptop we bought in Dec 2007 from HP's website. That laptop died within 10 days of it's purchase so we called HP technical support for assistance. In the meantime we also asked for instructions on returning the laptop for a refund . Technical support asked us to try out various things , none of which were helpful in repairing the laptop and finally directs us to contact HP Shopping for a refund . When we call HP Shopping we are told that it's beyond 21 days of purchasing the laptop so a refund is not possible and we are asked to contact a case manager . It's been a nightmare since then! the case manager never calls back. We kept calling all the time to ask for updates and even on those rare ocassions when we do get connected , we only got curt responses. All in all , this has been a sordid affair!

Just take the money and get done with it . I'm having a tough time with my 2 months old laptop which broke down barely 10 days after it's purchase!

I recently left hp. if anyone wants to know anything about case management befor they have to talk to one, just ask. Now processes change there all the time but so some small details may be diffrent.