2730p trackpad stuck, repaired, stuck again, customer support nightmare!

Shortly after buying an HP 2730p, the right mouse button on the trackpad decided it was in a permanently depressed state. I disabled it, reenabled it, rebooted, reinstalled drivers, etc. I contacted HP and went through their troubleshooting steps. They determined the hardware was nonfunctional so it was returned for repair. A month went by and they could not tell me the status of my laptop. After 6 weeks and 30+ phone calls they admitted they couldn't get the parts so they'd have to send me a new one. HP regularly emails and calls me now asking me to return the defective machine which they already have.

My new laptop has arrived and 2 weeks later the button is sticking on this one. I'm afraid if I return it I'll never see it again. What should I do?

 

I'd return it and ask for a refund.

 

Refund is not possible that easily. It involves a lot of escalation. But you can go for another replacement and tell them to prove the functionality of the device and the accept the product. And don't worry, even if HP takes some time, it will return your laptop. HP is committed to its customers.

 

I'm going to try for a refund. There's no way a brand new ruggedized $3,000 laptop should break within 2 weeks twice. And there's no way repair should take 6 weeks. I can't be without my laptop for 6 weeks again, there's just no way.

The even sadder part of this story is that during this time a laptop I use at work stopped powering on. HP attempted to claim it was out of warranty even though I had full documentation showing it was in warranty. Eventually it got escalated and it was finally admitted that it was actually in fact still under warranty.

These two experiences have left me extremely paranoid about dealing with HP. I think I'll replace my 3k laptop with a $400 netbook. Nowhere near as fast, but my $300 MSI Winds seem to hold up a lot better than my $3,000 ruggedized HP PC.

 

It sometimes happens when u buy HP laptops from local stores. They do not send details of purchase to HP. Thus records show the warranty date from the purchase date of laptop by the store. But if u have an invoice of the laptop, u can tell HP to initiate POP (Proof of Purchase) process where we verify with the store who sold u the laptop.

 

Evil - I appreciate you being on the board and giving solutions to our problems. Sometimes, part of the problem is we don't know the right questions to ask support or the best things to tell them when we get them on the phone.