HORRIBLE Repair Serice!!!!!!!!

Guess it has something to do with the way the repair shop is getting paid.
HP is contracting out repairs to repair centers. Them folks are probably paid more if they replace parts (takes more time). But in general, they probably just wipeout the HDD and re-install an image. They like to say the issue is "software"...

 

just for future reference, has anyone had experience with an ADP (accidental damage claim)? like if the pc was destroyed beyond repair? just curious in case it were to happen to mine in the future. i'm covered for about 14 more mos.

 

mine wasn't exactly destroyed beyond repair, but the glass in front of the screen was broken (tx2500). they replaced the entire screen unit/housing, even though the LCD and casing were fine. guess that was easier for them. i would assume they'd replace whatever you needed without trouble, i told them my computer was dropped and they were fine with it.

also, i just sent in a dv9000 with a broken hinge, it was $150 but i'm not paying for it so that's fine (someone else's laptop, they wanted to see if i could fix it). the guy tried saying it would be $400 to fix it originally, ha. since the bezel around the lcd and the corner on the back of the screen (the plastic) were both cracked, i decided it'd just be easier to send it to hp and have them replace everything. they have it right now, so we'll see how this goes.

 

Americans are all about their civil rights and stuff, but also believe in liberal economy with few legal restraints. So basicly, they have a lot of laws protecting them, but apparantly not against the negative aspects of capitalism.

 

if they dont get the repairs right this time i'll probably just run over my laptop with my car and send it in. wouldnt mind a brand new unit

 

LOL!

 

i just watched someone on youtube do that with a dell studio i'm sure the crunching noises made some people sick. but apparently the warranty covers anything.

 

Negative aspects of capitalism? What about the negative aspects of excessive government regulation and taxation? You know, things like the VAT, which we don't have. I can buy excellent extended warranties for much less than the VAT EU citizens pay on most items (as in 20% +).

 

Might not be too long before we have a VAT or national sales tax.

 

I suppose this is the most appropriate thread for my dilemma. I purchased a custom made hp pavilion dv8t laptop before Thanksgiving 2009. I spent over $1800 on the model (after a coupon). It arrived December 8th and within one day it failed. The copy of Windows 7 wasn't genuine, it had the bass/treble display issue that many of them have, and gave me at least 5 or more blue screens of death. I tried a system recovery with the DVDs I ordered with the laptop which failed as well. It then would only restart itself in a loop never booting windows (it wouldn't even boot in safe mode). I called the customer service line which had me run some tests and then told me to call back. I called back and this time the rep asked if I was military, which I am a member of the Army National Guard and he referred to a rep who dealt with military. She was polite and told me it was hardware issue and needed to be repaired. I even paid another $16 to expedite the whole issue. They had the laptop at the California repair facility on December 11th. I was given a return date of December 18th, not bad at all. On the 18th I get a call telling me it's been pushed to January 4th. I called them back after this and asked if there was anyway to get repaired before Christmas was rudely told no. So I waited until January 4th, and sure enough it's been now delayed to January 19th. This is unacceptable for me, aside from being in the Guard I am a Computer Information Systems major in college and I need this laptop to do work. I called them after the delay to the 19th and spoke with who I believe was a case manager (I couldn't understand him very well) and he told me he would send a message to the repair facility stating this laptop must be fixed and on its way to me by January 7th. It's still slated for the 19th after checking it today. My bottom line up front ...for a laptop to be over 1800 dollars and not last a day, then take over a month to repair, they could have just built me a new one in this time. What really bothers me is that I know by the time this is resolved I will be well beyond any hope of a refund. If anyone has any suggestions or advice I appreciate your input. I have been stuck using an old hp pavilion 505w desktop which far too outdated to accomplish what I need.

 

ColonelDriscoll: Where did you purchase the laptop? I would definitely return it and swap it out for another one if you can. That was a mistake i made - not swapping out a new one at the first sign of trouble.

Even if they fix it, you would have a repaired defective HP laptop, definitely not the same as a new properly functioning one, since HP does such crappy repairs (often farmed out to the lowest bidder, with poor quality control). Yeah, it would still be under warranty, but you don't want to be without it again when it needs repair a 2nd or 3rd time.

If you can't return it, keep after HP to replace it, since it was new. Normally, it takes 3 repairs before they will do that, but it should not with a brand new product. Also, see if your state has any lemon laws that apply to computers. And put your replacement request in writing.

It's really sad to see them treat a member of the National Guard this way. Almost sounds like their military program is set up to take advantage of military members, since they travel overseas a lot and it's difficult for them to keep in touch.

Good luck and keep us updated in this forum. HP does read it by the way.

 

Yeah, you're probably right about that. That scary thought crossed my mind as well. But hope it will be more in the 5% range rather than 20% +..

 

I purchased the laptop directly from the HP website. After some pushing to speak with a case manager I managed to convince them I needed results soon for both college and military reasons and they are allowing me to return the laptop and will be sending me a refund. They sent the broken unit home overnight and I sent it back to their return facility in Memphis today. Supposedly they will be sending me a check with the refund 3-5 days after receiving it. My disappointment isn't about the fact that the laptop failed after a day, computers are sensitive and anything can happen. It is just so sad to see the marathon that one must go through to get assured customer service, military or not. I will not undermine any HP equipment as I'm sure people have had great success with them but I would warn anyone considering the purchase of their laptops to be wary of service and return options should the unthinkable occur. As for myself I will most likely go the route of Dell and Alienware or elsewhere.

 

Thanks for the update. Glad things turned out well for you. I am also not a big basher of HP products, but I am of their service. It is absolutely HORRIBLE, especially for laptops.

My main criticism of their laptop products is related to inadequate cooling, primarily on their "performance" models. They don't seem to want to bear the expense to properly design or assemble them, on models that are otherwise well designed. A laptop with a fan running near 100% most of the time and hitting average load CPU temps of 70C + will probably not last long. HEAT is a laptop killer over time.

Good heat-sink design with quality materials is not cheap, nor is implementing top-notch quality control so they are properly installed, with quality thermal grease. But it is essential to building laptops that last.

Get a clue HP quarterly bean counters - spend a little more in these areas and spend a lot less on tech support. AND get many more repeat customers..

 

Hi vertical2010,

My husband and I are currently trying to start a lawsuit with HP. We have been dealing with them for over a year now. Three months after we purchased two laptops, one of them completely crapped out. We've sent it in for repair twice, it still doesn't work right and they even replaced the hard drive and gave us one with much MUCH less space. And now that we're complaining about the new hard drive they stuck us with, they are saying they have no record of any repair on that computer!!!! *fuming*

We have been playing these silly little games for over a year now. They have refused to replace the computer, and now that the warranty has run out (which I'm sure they were waiting for), we have no choice but to sue.

I was just reading your posts and I was wondering if you would be willing to share your letter that got you a settlement with us as well? You already helped us out tremendously with providing the defendant information you used (we have been unable to track down the "owner" of the company and the exact location to sue). I'd love to finally get justice against this scum-sucking money-stealing sad-excuse-for-a company.

 

Hi California123. Reading your post made me start fuming again. HPs practices are truly deplorable. I will see if I can find the letter - it's been a while, but CA might have different procedures, etc. I filed under MA unfair business practices statute, which allows for triple damages if you win, although i didn't ask for that (mistake on my part). That statute required a 30 day notice letter, just stating what the problem was, what you expect them to do to fix it, and notifying them that you intend to sue if they don't. I'm sure CA laws are similar. HP didn't bother responding to that letter. They just waited for the notice from the court that they were being sued, and then contacted me by phone pretty close to the court date.

If you haven't read it yet, also see my other post with more details about my lawsuit: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=260892

Please feel free to contact me privately. I'd be glad to help.

 

Good News! Well, kinda sad at the same time.

About a week after we filed the small claims suit, we got a call from someone at HP. I forgot her title, but apparently she's someone who "solves these kinds of problems." Of course, she hadn't heard anything about our problems until now.

She offered to settle by having my husband choose a computer or build one from their site and they'd give it to him for free.

So, he built a computer that was worth over $2,000 (because we would need to benefit a lot more in order to willingly have an HP product again).

She replied saying that was too much and it would be cheaper for them just to pay the amount he was suing for (a little over $1,000).

He agreed that they could pay the amount and he would drop the suit.

Everything was done in writing through email (VERY important).

They wanted him to send his computer back, but he refused--saying he's been through enough for HP and he doesn't want to do anything more for them. (It felt kind of nice to finally be in control )

So, we kept the "expensive paperweight," or so my husband calls it, and they sent a check and we received it, cleared it, and bought a new Toshiba two days ago.

Finally! *phew*

And this is just sad because, like everyone is saying here, after a year of dealing with HP, the process was only solved when we filed the suit. I'll say that again--the process was ONLY solved when we filed the suit.

Meaning: Your problem will most likely NOT be solved UNTIL you file a suit.

So, if they've been giving you serious problems for over 3 months, I believe you should file a suit. Let our long term anger fuel your short term anger. Don't let them kick you around for a year like we did.

 

For the peple who got their needs fixed either from HP or through some other indirect method, I congratulate you on getting what you wanted done. The thread is oodles of pages long, but it seems everyone has some strife with HP in this case. Not be be an Apple fanboy (far from one actually), but for us Windows based PC users, our customer service sure does stink compared to Apple, and if these companies want to compete with Apple, this is where Apple has consistently demolished all other companies at. I'm sure you can find some stories in regards to Apple, but compared to the number of stories you find with Windows based PCs, it's a small comparison (understandable due to marketshare, but this really builds a horrible picture around all the companies using Windows). You gotta admit, every company does have their quirks, and HP, being one of the biggest (if not the biggest) consumer computer manufacturers will probably have the most complaints out of all the rest. From working in a pc tech shop for repairs, I gotta say I've seen all the brands come in with problems, and a lot, when it comes to laptops are heat related, it isn't in the design of the company so much, the fundamental designs of laptops being so crammed, every laptop has it's heat problems, but yes design can influence it to go either way, good or bad, but in the long run heat is still there.
Now, my experience with HP? Pretty bad, but not as bad as some have described from my skim of the information presented here. Late through my first year of my laptop, my cd drive broke, as in, wouldn't burn or read CDs (DVDs were fine though, CDs not). It got busted when I had tried to cancel a burn in itunes that wasn't finishing after an hour or so (usually take like 15-30 minutes). So I had to somehow get the computer to release the drive from this, eject button didn't work, restart just halted because it wouldn't stop the drive, so I opted to manually power off, then eject the disc from the drive. After doing that wasn't able to burn CDs or read them anymore. Now I bought my laptop from Costco, they extend the warranty an extra year, so I had plenty of time, but obviously I called then and there (well I did a system recovery because I know they'd tell me to do that first, and in case I had to send it in, I had it ready to send off all pristine, and factory state). So, with their "awesome" concierge service (which uses Google to find solutions apparently), we went through the steps, and contacted HP's 2nd tier support, thus ultimately bypassing the lower tier service callers that would offer no help at all, or so you think. I gotta say, I was friendly, I keep my cool, and thus got super friendly service. I opted to have them send me the part, and I send the defective part back and perform the repair myself (it is an option, you can find it in the warranty terms, but sure if it's all parts or just these easy parts to replace). Got the thing in a day! Was amazing! Till i realized they had sent me the disc drive for the bronze finish of this laptop, which wasn't what I had. Come on HP, service great, all up till you guys had sent me the wrong color, which is like telling me 2+2=100 or something; a very simple, and elementary mistake that should not happen, especially if you want to impress your customers at the service level. Wasn't a biggy to me, it was just annoying, as I had to pop off the chrome bezel from my old drive, and then replace the bronze on the new drive with the chrome. Everything was well after that, I think the drive I got is a lot quieter (still a noisy beast though, haven't really ran into a super quiet laptop drive ever). However, I can't imagine if they sent me the wrong display, or motherboard, I'd be super mad if it were a bigger part of more importance. Yeah, I had a small mishap, I think the "bad" part of it, just shows how negligent HP is with service, that they can't even send the right color part to their customers. I love HP products, all the computers we have in my parents household are HP, a zv5380us going strong, a new Compaq desktop purring quietly with no problems, my current laptop, and an old wireless HP printer. I've had my times with HP's business practices, (gf's printer apparently not compatible with Vista or 7 fully, just tells me HP is lazy to make drivers).
In the end, I feel saying "I'm never buying HP again, and moving on to X brand," doesn't help. In the end you'd probably witness that every company has a bad side to it, and it's the corporations that need to be changed as a whole. They keep churning out new products, and build hype, then totally leave you cold with it not helping, and throwing out a new product forcing you to buy it because your old one doesn't work. I think we as consumers, have to expose these things, and make it aware to everyone that these practices are just wrong. Business is yin-and-yang, good and bad, light and dark, they have their positive sides we all see and hype over, then the bad side like customer service, and horrible products (my old Gateway tablet crapped out on me literally a month after the warranty expired, is that? Lucky, I paid with AMEX which refunded the entire thing, and got a cheaper laptop from HP).
Anyways, though I'd vent a little, and share my experience with the nimrods working at HP. It isn't they're stupid, it's they're just careless, and the higher ups really need to come down on customer service, it's the last thing customers deal with after they get the product, and what really builds the reputation of the company. Maybe Apple is known for their sleek designs, but designs can be imitated, and improved, it's their customer service that so many Apple users get that makes me absolutely jealous of the Apple brand, and not actually the products.

 

Yeah exactly. Like when we sent in our laptop for repair (needed a new hard drive) and they replaced our 250GB hard drive with a 60GB one and then wouldn't replace it again because "they didn't have any record of repair on our computer."

Yeah. Their negligence is a BIG problem.

 

Way to go, california123. I completely agree that HP's tone changed completely once I filed a lawsuit in small claims court. Then I was dealing with employees who actually wanted to get rid of the problem, or at least not have to pay an outside lawyer more than the problem was worth. The so-called "Customer Service" department was a complete JOKE, just designed to make you go away. It has to be deliberate disorganization, i.e., wear the customer out. NOBODY could be that consistently incompetent..losing repair order records, losing parts, sending wrong parts, changing case managers mid stream for no reason. And it is indicative of a company I no longer want to do business with.

 

My wife had HP 6530B its just working fine till now...no problemo at all

 

Sounds good. Wish I had the same experience with HP. Unfortunately, I did not, and I honestly hope you never have to deal with HP customer support. It is truly horrendous.

 

So true vertical!!! Even after 5 repairs and 3 motherboard replacements, I have been told again and again to proceed for another service which at the same time is disgusting and frustrating.

 

My condolences. That must be some kind of record. One would think even HP would have replaced it after 3 MBs.

 

You guys now have me worried. *Crosses fingers*

 

I know it's off topic somewhat, but I am very interested in how that ATI 5850 works in a laptop. Does it run hot?

 

nvm.... .

 

Yeah it does... I dunno, the computer is great if you want a gaming machine, but I don't like using it on my lap for fear of over heating it.

 

Your sig has me worried haha! If you don't mind me asking how did she die?

 

I tried flashing the BIOS and messed something up.. my fault. hahaha

 

Thanks for the info. That's my problem too. I want a laptop that a. runs cool, b. is ok on battery drain, c. that i don't mind using for all day for regular stuff, and is ALSO decent at gaming. Don't know if i'll find one anytime soon. Maybe i ask for too much??