Display repair, not our fault - HP G60-235DX

Hello all,

I am really dissappointed and frustrated with HP. We bought this HP notebook model G60-235DX only 2 months ago and have been using it very lightly. 2 weeks ago my wife was closing down the monitor when all of a sudden the picture on the display dissappeared and black and white lines appeared on the screen. A permanent black spot of 1 inch in diameter showed up on the screen as well. There are no external damages to the display, but it looks like it is damaged inside. My wife did not drop the notebook, she did not hit and she did not push the screen - she was just closing down the monitor. We called HP and explained the problem - they sent us a FedEx box and we shipped our notebook to them. 4 days later (which is today) we receive an email saying that there will be a service charge of $420 to fix the problem. Today we also receive a voice message where an HP rep asks us to call them urgently within 24 hours. We call her number, but her mailbox is full. We call the customer service and a lady explains to us that a service rep assessed the notebook and identified a crack on the display. We want to talk to the rep's manager, but she says he is not available. We ask for this rep's name and she says they are not allowed disclose it (never heard of this before with customer service.) We have had notebooks for many years and we know how to deal with them. That was not an accident and we did not cause any physical damage to the notebook - we do not feel any fault at all. We do not want to pay either 420 or 5 dollars for this repair and we are confident that HP must be responsible for it because they sold to us a bad product. We are going to call the manager on Monday to tell her the same story and she insists that HP is not responsible, we are going to ask them to return the notebook back to us and we are going to fight with all means possible as we have never been in such an unfair situation before.
Can somebody please kindly advise what the best steps would be for us to prove that we were not at fault and that HP has to take responsibility? We know about BBB and consider court as well. Please help. Sorry for so many words, but we are very dissappointed and wanted to tell a lot. Thank you veyr much!

 

sue them hp's customer service is really bad these days

 

The problem that you have described (black spot of 1 inch in diameter...on LCD) is typical of a blunt-force trauma. i.e., dropping the notebook, slamming the top down, dropping something on the lid when the notebook is closed, placing something heavy on top of the closed notebook, etc., etc.

Undoubtedly, HP feels that the issue is 'abuse related' because there is, typically, no other way that a problem like that arises. They believe that component failure is not an issue (in this instance) and that the notebook experienced a trauma.

Small claims court is an option if HP has a 'legal presence' (offices, store, etc.) where you reside.
I suppose that the notebook displays properly when connected to an external monitor or a TV. If so then the problem is the LCD, which requires replacing.

Even somebody resting their elbow (and some weight - 10 or 15 pounds) on the top of a closed notebook could cause that problem.

It's a bummer and I feel badly for you. In short, in my opinion, there is no way that a failure like you described can be caused by component failure.
Typically when LCD screens go bad the result is 'lines', half of a display, no display what-so-ever, or some kind of geometric straight lined error.
A round blotch is related to trauma.

 

Being the above person's first post, he has made one heck of an impression.

I agree with the guy above me. Your display was fine for the past two months until you noticed that little blob. If you transport your notebook in a bag, maybe you packed it tightly or another object in that bag placed an enormous amount of pressure on the LCD.

This is definitely an accidental damage not a manufacturer's defect unfortunately. I suggest you either try to plead your case, pay the service fee and buy an ADP warranty (if possible) or buy a new notebook with an ADP warranty.

Filing suit would cost you more time and money and no guarantee of a favorable conclusion.

(If you purchased this notebook from Wal-Mart, they may not refund you, but they may attempt to help you repair the product or exchange it.)

 

Rossinsearch:I know it's not ur fault I'm having the same problem, but I found this great blog with 100's of people with the same problem.One person explains where you can buy the replacement part and do-it-yourself. Check it out,it will help!
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=51&threadid=2292811&FTVAR_STKEYWORDFRM=&STARTPAGE=1&FTVAR_FORUMVIEWTMP=Linear