HP "service enhancement" nightmare

First post. Below is my situation. Should I send this letter to HP and the BBB
or am i asking too much?


In December 2007 I purchased an HP Pavilion 6119 laptop. My First laptop. A Christmas gift from my wife. Almost immediately we began to have problems. Not being computer savvy I relied on others to help with software issues on more than one occasion. My wife took it in to Best Buy twice for assistance. A few months later I had to return it to HP under warranty for them to replace the keyboard touch pad for the DVD, repair a speaker issue and eliminate a ticking noise emanating from inside the computer.

After that the computer would occasionally just shut off. I lived with this for a while and in December of 2009 called in for repair and was told by HP that the repair could be done for $398. I took no action on this and in January 2009 I was told be a friend that my computer had a recall, something HP calls a "service enhancement for a known problem".

I immediately contacted HP on Jan 29 and was told I was 1 month past the "service enhancement" warranty. If HP had told me in the past about this I would have asked for the "service enhancement" since it was for my specific laptop and my specific problem. HP never mentioned the "service enhancement" to me.

Since I had to discover this on my own, and found out one month too late, HP would not offer any resolution other than to discount the repair to $200. This was after speaking to 3 different people at HP customer service over the better part of an hour. HP was adamant about the fact I was 30 days too late and would not budge to help me with a problem that obviously existed during the "service enhancement" period.

The third person I spoke with was (name, number and extension). When I asked to speak to someone above him he told me there was no one. When I pressed this issue to speak to someone above him he told me the only other people above him were admin people and would not be of any help. He refused to send me above his position.

The reason for the “service enhancement’” was because of this known problem.

I would like to be able to send my computer in for the free “service enhancement RECALL under the problem outlined in this link.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...ocname=c01087277&printable=no&encodeUrl=true&

 

Give this phone number a shot. It really helped me out a lot.

http://consumerist.com/5136967/reach-hewlett+packard-executivce-customer-service

 

thank you. i will call. i just email'd a letter to hp support. if that doesn't go well, i'll go to the bbb.

it was if they were hiding the recall from me while i was in the warranty period. never mentioned it or tried to help.

this is poor service and deceit.

 

2 responses from hp tonight. not done yet.

 

Keep pushing. It's not like you're asking for something unreasonable.

 

i'm amazed at how hard these computer companies can be to work with.

this is the first time i've been in a situation like this with computer hardware.

usually my computer guru contacts can get me taken care of with software issues but this can't be fixed by a computer guru. it really sucks. paid 800 for the computer on sale and it's been a lemon since day one.

 

Sorry for your problem frank.

i have read through some posts in the HP section, and it seems you are bringing up threads older than a year now, just to post the link of your problem.
most of them don´t have anything to do with your problem. please leave those old threads alone and concentrate on your case.

i know it is frustrating that your notebook is not under warranty anymore and you are stuck with these problems. but partly it is your fault also, since you let some time pass until you contacted HP.

But you are right HP would have needed to inform you about the enhanced service program. usually you should get some information via mail when you have registered your laptop at hp. i suppose you have done that after buying it, have you ?

if those calls don´t get you any further you still have the option to use hp´s online portal for customer service and repairs :

http://www11.itrc.hp.com/service/home/home.do

i have had some good experiences with the support via the web interface. you would need to register a user account and you can start a support case.
always had very friendly people calling me back soon after i submitted my case.

 

I hate dealing with these people on the phone.

 

Like I have said before on other posts, its not a good idea to buy notebooks at retail outlets because of the restock fees and with dealing with support. Not sure but you may have been able to return that notebook to best buy in those first weeks of ownership without the restock penalty if there were indeed issues with it. Its when its running good that they generally will ding you.

As a rule, the best way to buy any notebook is to buy online that comes with a 30 day return with no restock fee. Then burn test that baby hard for the first month and if anything fails, return for full refund. Generally speaking, the consumer is wiser to secure " a good one" from the start then to have the manufacturer trying to fix it. Especially if they need to open it up.. that's a real risk. But if your system started to immediately give you problems then that was your calling card to bail out. I understand its too late now, but just remember this experience the next time you purchase a notebook.

 

Be persistent Frank. If you do not very soon get HP to fix your notebook, then make a complaint to your state Attorney General.

 

Do you have a case number or ticket number from the time you called in and the quoted you the price when it should have been still in the service enhancement time frame. If you do you can reference that case number and basically point out how you had the problem when you were still under warranty, but you were giving incorrect information from them which resulted in you not getting it fixed for free under warranty.

If they still refuse tell them that you want your case escalated to a case manager, and ask if they can do a live escalation. Otherwise you may have to wait for the case manager to call you back in like 3-5 Business Days. You can also try emailing the Board.

 

so far so good. they are telling me 'the issue will be resolved'.

 

i Called HP two weeks ago about my dv2310us and they gave me the enhance warranty repair service. This was on the Jan 25 or so about my wireless problem and video output