Nightmare ordering new HP8740w, arrives with scratched display and case and flimsy keyboard... what next?

I have had a nightmare of a time ordering a fully-loaded 8740w from HP. I was doing it through online chat with sales reps who screwed up one item after another (including my address and the warranty I ordered). After two weeks of trying to get the order through it was finally placed on November 30th.

After repeated inquiries about when to expect the laptop and trying to get the warranty corrected, I was transferred to customer service who said sales had to take care of the problems and sales said it was customer service.

Finally after days of this, I was transferred to tech support!?! to solve these problems. Well, it was a good idea after all -- because tech support people, even though this was definitely not their area, took ownership of the problem -- eventually got me to a tech support supervisor who promised he would look into this and get it done.]

Finally, I received a call from the sales rep supervisor -- whom I had asked repeatedly of the sales reps to connect me to. She promised to take care of everything -- which so far only one item was taken care of (We also ordered a fully loaded 8750w -- don't get me started with the problems with that order.)

After weeks of waiting word on our 8740w being shipped, we got an email Dec 23 it was coming the 24th.

Well we opened it just now for the first time -- the screen is scratched, a broad smudged scratch right across the center top of the screen and the case it is installed in is smudged, dirty dusty and has several scratch gauges.

The keyboard -- backlit -- is flimsy and bounces when you type on the keys, particularly in the center and top rows -- it is as if it is completely hollow under the key board. Is that normal?

It was clear along the way that something happened and the order was not even put in until Dec 10th and they rushed it -- and rushed with a peice of junk

I kept being told that the unit was being built in China -- honestly -- I think that is terrible -- i've had so many bad experiences with electronics built in China -- and this is just another example.

In the interim -- I emailed the sales rep supervisor -- which won't do any good because she is out until January --- but I requested to speak to someone higher up than her at this point.

I am on hold with tech support --- waiting to speak to someone -- I've now been on hold for 1 hour.

This is not the tech support or quality I've come to expect from HP. One of my previous laptops was an HP Pavilion (the other an ASUS) and my experienc ewith htem was supurb (unlike wiht the ASUS).

It is why I went with HP agian -- plus the Dreamcolor screen is suppose dto be gorgeous - but it just looks washed out to me right now.

I know I am just venting.

I recently purchased a maxed out SONY VAIO Z and complanied in the SONY forum about the way they mishandled sending one accessory -- the privacy filter. That was a pretty trivial complaint because th elaptop itself is incredible and fantastic.

But this is much worse.

Any words of advice? (sympathy wiil do as well -- I am dealing with a lot of stress in my real life and I dont need a $10,000 puruchase of two computers to add to it.)

 

The machines are build in guangzhou and QA'ed in shanghai (source, been there myself)

You should contact them and return that straight away.

it looks like they have sent you something that is to be sent for scrap perhaps.

I wouldn't play with it, just photo the damage, and phone hp at the earliest convenience.

Go with the non backlit keyboard.

I have received and dealt with 20 8740W's Maxxed out. one thing i have always been happy with is the pristine condition they arrive in.

 

You do have my sympathies. Oddly enough, I also placed my order about November 30th (might have been the 29th) and I received mine about 2 weeks later; no problems with mine, though. I do agree with the others that you should probably return this one immediately. A quick question, though, you mention an 8750w... do you mean an 8540w?

Edit - by the way, a Dreamcolor screen should have a Dreamcolor logo sticker (looks kind of like a red/orange-ish sunflower) in the top right corner, so if you don't have that, you might not have a DC. Apart from that, could check the HP MDA (Mobile Display Assistant) and see what it says is available on your machine.

 

Thank you everyone for your comments. Hp was making it difficult to even report the problem. I was told their computers were down after waiting an hour on hold. I explained the problem to the tech who finally answered. He said I should request a replacement, he took my phone # and said some would call back.

2 days later no one has. The Sales rep supervisor is out until Jan 4th.

However, today, I called tech support and asked for a supervisor. After being on hold for 15 minutes, i hung up and called the sales department. The person who answered was instantly sympathetic, place a new order for me immediately -- lowered the price another 7% -- told me it should ship next Monday gave me overnight shipping for free so I should have it Tuesday. He arranged for the returns department to email me a return label for the old one and arranged a new carepak be sent for the new laptop.

In the interim, the manager of the sales supervisor I was dealing with sent me an email. I should mention the original sales people were all through sales chat -- and everyone of them broaches incompetence. This manager -- manages the whole chat sales division. Her response:
"I've been fully informed of the few problems you have had. [The chat sales supervisor} has been working diligently on this. She is out until Jan 4th and you should take up your current problem with her then."

My jaw just about dropped. They seemed to have no problem with making me wait another week to just begin to deal with a bad laptop -- one I tired to put an order in for in mid-November.

So there is a big difference between ordering on line through sales chat at HP and ordering over the phone. One would never order directly on line because you can get more discounts if you talk with a sales rep.
But there are two ways you can do that. Either by phone or by online chat.

All I can say is -- STAY away from the sales chat. I never have seen such incompetence in my life -- it is endemic throughout the system -- and given the way the manage of that division decided to handle the problem -- I am sure she is the cause. an incompetent leader creates an incompetent atmosphere -- no matter how well-intentioned those under the leader are.

Hopefully HP will read this post and look into the problems. It is clearly the head of the division.

 

Ah, I see. I did place my order through a direct call over the phone, got an email acknowledgement of my order later that day directly from the sales rep (with a little PDF brochure for the Slate 500) and an email confirmation of my order the next day. Given your experience, I can heartily endorse and agree that talking with a person over the phone is probably going to give you a much better experience. In fact, as we were talking over the phone, I could kind of tell that she was putting things into her computer as we talked, we went line by line down what sounded like the exact same configurator I was looking at on the HP web site picking options.

In any event, I wish you great luck with your new order, and hope it has none of the problems of your original order, although I have a personal suspicion that it might take a little longer than next Tuesday, if it isn't a pre-configured model.

 

While my salesperson got my order in correctly, he promptly ignored any post sale questions. I wasn't too thrilled with that.