HP Warranty Experience from Hell

Here's a quick review about my experience with HP's warranty service. I'm not one of those people with a vendetta against HP (although after what they put me through maybe I should have one) and YMMV. Just wanted to put this out here for people considering purchasing an HP laptop so you know what you may be getting into if it breaks. I am in the US.

On the morning of Sat, Feb 19 I turned on my 7 month old Envy 14 laptop and it wouldn't boot. Using HP's diagnostics, I found that the hard drive had failed. Additionally, the internal microphone had stopped working a few months ago.

Considering my laptop was only 7 months old, I decided to have both the hard drive and microphone replaced at the same time so I called HP and received instructions to take it to any Fedex Office for return.

I took my laptop to Fedex Office that morning and it took about 45 minutes at Fedex Office to actually send it back, because when I walked in the store manager pointed at some boxes and barked "$15" even though HP was supposed to pay for that. It took me and the HP rep. on the phone the full 45 minutes to convince the store manager to hit the "next" button on his screen so he'd get a bill-to account to bill the packaging charges to. HP needs to train their partners better.

The Fedex location I took my laptop to had a Saturday Fedex Express pickup so it was shipped out that day on Feb 19. Although not HP's fault, the Fedex truck got in a crash on the way to the airport (according to Fedex) so it was not received by HP until Feb 21.

Upon receipt, the laptop was given an estimated receipt of return date of March 3 (seemed a little long, but within the realm of reasonable).

On March 3 that date was replaced with an ETA of March 17 with no explanation.

From March 3 and March 4 I called HP twice 2 trying to find out what's going on (each time, hoping to get to a rep. that had skills other than simply apologizing and telling me to keep waiting). On my second call on Friday March 4th I got my case escalated to a "Case Manager," Josh, who said the issue was due to a part shortage. I asked him what part was short, and he said it was the hard drive that had been out of stock for the past 2 weeks and would be coming in March 17. I was in disbelief of this, that HP did not have any 500Gb SATA 2.5" hard drives (a pretty common part) and asked him to look into it further. He promised to look into the issue and call me back.

Josh never did call me back and each time I called I was simply told he was unavailable and would call me back soon. So on Tuesday March 7, 16 days after sending my laptop in with no end in site, I raised enough hell on the phone with the person that picked up I finally got this escalated to an "Executive Case Manager" Gilbert.

To Gilbert's credit, he finally listened to my instructions and found what part was short. On Tuesday, March 8 he called me to tell me they had the hard drive all along which they had already replaced. The issue was that the microphone was integrated into my radiance screen which they no longer make. There is no way for them to fix the microphone without replacing the screen.

He gave me these two options:

- Replace my high resolution radiance screen/broken microphone (the reason I bought the computer) with a lower resolution bright view screen/working microphone and ship it back to me once this was completed.

- Send my laptop back to me promptly (I assumed meant that day or the next day as it had already been repaired) with the fixed hard drive, leaving the microphone broken and offering me a $125 credit to the HP store that expires in 2 months so I could buy an external microphone there as compensation for the time and broken part.

I was clear that I was less than happy with either option. The first option was a complete non-starter and for the second option the time and broken microphone was worth a lot more to me than $125 (this may sound silly, but being able to open my screen up while traveling and be on Skype without having to worry about any accessories is worth much more than $125).

However, being desperate to get my laptop back I ended up agreeing to the second option, again under the assumption I'd have my laptop back in hand in 1-2 days.

Then I looked in the HP Store and found that they didn't have any free-standing external microphones, only headsets (who wants to talk on Skype wearing a headset). So I call Gilbert and tell him HP doesn't sell any microphones as he had stated on the phone and ask him if HP can just buy one for me on Amazon or something and send it to me (offer him a couple of links). Gilbert says one second, puts me on hold, then tells me too bad. I then tell him, the only other thing HP sells that I'd have any actual use for is the slice battery - otherwise the $125 is basically useless for me. I let him know the slice battery is $127 is the HP Parts Store and ask him if he can give me the $125 credit to the HP Parts Store instead of the Direct Store instead. He says no. I then tell him the battery is $200 in the direct store, ask him if he can raise the amount to that. He says no. I gave HP what I feel like was ample opportunities to try to make me a satisfied customer in light of all of their screw-ups and the answer seemed always to be NO.

Two days go buy and as of Thursday March 10 I've talked to Gilbert daily. Still no tracking number, no evidence of shipment, no ETA. This is not what I
agreed to when I accepted the $125 HP coupon compensation for prompt return of my still partially broken laptop.

I begin to realize that at this point my Executive Case Manager, Gilbert, is relatively useless as he can only make empty requests to the service center, and twittle his thumbs waiting for a response but has no power to actually make it happen.

On the night of Thursday, March 10 I was so fed up with this I sent a polite email to about 8 HP executives ([email protected]) as well as through the "email the CEO" form on the website explaining the situation and asking for help in getting a resolution.

I received one personal reply a few hours later from one of their executives (to his credit) saying he forwarded it on to someone to get it resolved as well as a "batch" reply from the CEO email saying I'd be getting a call. I got two calls on Friday Feb 11 from HP's Executive Customer Service saying they would forward the issue to an HP manager above Gilbert and get this done.

Finally on Monday March 14 when I called Gilbert I received a tracking number showing the laptop was shipped out. As a nice gesture he did offer to extend my warranty from 1 year to 2 years and add ADH ("a $249 value"). I explained to him that I had already purchased a 3 year extended warranty through a third party (squaretrade) and that was essentially value-less to me and said I would be very happy if he could just refund the $249 to my card or add the to my HP Direct Store coupon. He said that was not possible and this was the ONLY thing he could do. I said okay, you may as well, can't hurt to have a double warranty I guess. Again, I was trying to give him the opportunity to turn me into a happy customer (Jerry McGuire, "help me, help you" anyone?)

On Tuesday March 15 I received the laptop and am reloading everything now. Everything was in good order, although it did seem pretty sloppy that they got smudges/fingerprints all over my screen, whenever I startup it automatically goes to HP's "Instant On" thing instead of Windows (I'll change it back sometime soon), and they named the computer "Owner" after re-imaging instead of scripting the install and letting it go through a "first boot, welcome to windows" type thing.

In summary:

Weeks without computer: 3.5
Items repaired: hard drive
Items not repaired: microphone
Compensation value to me for delay/items not repaired: $62.50 (coupon code, because of what I can/can't use it for, worth about half of it's face value to me) + $0.00 (warranty is useless, I already have something longer)

For a bit of a comparison on my old laptop, an ASUS, I sent it in for warranty because the plastic bevel around the screen was cracked, hinge was breaking, and touchpad failing. Sent it back on a Saturday, they fixed it on Monday, and I had it back in hand on Wednesday.

Comparing my HP experience and ASUS experience, unless something significant changes, I love the Envy product, but with this type of warranty service it's highly unlikely my next laptop will be an HP.

 

What is the purpose of this thread?

 

Just an FYI on the so called "enhanced support" HP offers for ENVY users and, when push comes to shove, how to actually get problems solved.

If anyone needs the phone numbers for HP's case manager hotline and HP's executive customer support, once regular support has been exhausted, please PM me.

People post product reviews, but service can be just as important. This a service review.

 

Wait a sec. HP is supposed to mail you a PREPAID box to return your notebook in and then go can drop that box off to fedex or mailboxes inc.

 

I am sorry to hear your story. I kinda wish before you made that decision you would have read lovelaptops' Envy 14 Radiance nightmare.... He too got the Executive Case Manager, but at least he was offered a nice Elitebook laptop valued at over $3,000 or something like that.

I feel that when such a problem arises or the HP rep gives you asks you to choose between to offers (both not sounding good) you might want to ask them if you can think about it and call them back. Promptly go to NBR forums, and post, post, post away!!!! You know that people here are awesome and respond to your questions helping you the best they can. Again, this is for anyone else such a thing happens.....

I do hope things will work out for ya though. I know when in doubt NBR. Oh, aaron12345 welcome to the forums.

KJ

 

Yeah, he just got a raw deal, but again, I feel his posting is a good story for others to reap some knowledge of what might occur....I feel coming to NBR helps...to get feedback from other users...finding deals, and knowing how to deal with reps... NBR! Got to love it.

KJ

 

Well, it looks like in your case the quality of their warranty service is indeed underwhelming. You however need to separate the issues caused by improper case management and communications chaos on HP's side and the problems caused by the shortage of Radiance display (which all of your problems stemmed from, IMO), which HP could do nothing about. I obviously don't intend to excuse them - they clearly did some outrageous mistakes.

I, on the other hand, am fairly happy with their service - what was an incredibly pleasant surprise for me is that my Envy 14 bought in the US was eligible for a normal free warranty repair where in live, in Poland - and I just had standard 1 year warranty. I am used to American hardware not having any support in Poland. Normally, it doesn't break. That's the price you pay for ~50% cheaper electronics. I was sure it would be the case for Envy 14 as well when I bought it.

What surprised me is they told You to send Your laptop yourself. I had mine taken straight from my hands in my home by a professional courier (UPS). In Poland! Man, that's crazy!

The only thing that I disliked is that total servicing time of my Envy (replacing Radiance screen) was more than 2,5 months. Mostly due to Radiance shortage.

As crazy as it may sound, I don't complain - first, I read lots of stories about Radiance shortage and how people in the US are being offered refunds and are having their Radiance replacement claims dismissed. And not only did they manage to import a new one for me, they also serviced a laptop which wasn't even officialy sold in Poland!

All in all, next time I buy some more valuable electronics stuff in the US I'll be very careful about the warranty - it would absolitely have to include Poland. HP is definitely one of the top names on my list, since I know they handle their Polish customers just right.

 

Hp spent 28 days to repair my previous envy 15.
You arent the only one had poor service from them.

You'd better to buy in home service which I did it on later purchase.

 

Last time my HDD crashed on my HDX9250 I opened a case on their website and got a new HDD within a few days. Could not say I was unhappy.

That is how it is with warranties. Sometimes they work well sometimes not and I would not over-generalize on how HP compares to anyone else as the last time I tried warranty for an Acer (will never have any Acer equipment in my life) they almost broke a RAM socket to convince me that I broke it when rpelacing RAM and told me to pay them 300GBP for replacing the MoBo. When I asked them to return the laptop to me (it was in full working order when I sent it and only some power socket problem was present) they sai I had to pay 40GBP for diagnostics - never happened of course.

The result was that they returned it without doing anything, I fixed the bent RAM socket and sold the laptop within a few days never intending to buy anything from Acer again.

That is how it is.

 

I haven't had a chance to share my experience...but yes, HP's service is horrific.

I have not posted about their repair job on my laptop. But they replaced the CPU and put in a 520M when I originally had a 580M. In addition, the laptop was all scratched up.

I complained and I have yet to receive a call back...it's been about two weeks now...It took them 3-4 weeks to repair my laptop.

 

Honestly for the price Hp sells their premium envy laptops I better expect better warranty service. I mean the non coupon price of my laptop was $1500. For that amount of money I better get excellent service. You can get an overpriced apple for the same price and they have excellent warranty services. So it's not like Hp doesn't have the profit margin to support a good warranty service. They're just incompetent.

 

H3NG - PM me if you want some phone numbers that might help.

 

HP just sent me Customer Service Evaluation. That was cathartic.

 

Hahah, I bet.

KJ

 

Sounds like you are in a delicate situation and you should have researched more on your part before purchasing the laptop.

On most global warranties if you plan on taking the laptop out of the country you must go through a Notification process last I checked. Basically from my understanding this is to revise your information and the laptops own information (serial/model #) into the country you are going to that way it can be recognized by the country's service agency in the aforementioned country.

HP fouled up on the whole diagnostics/repair, and that is unacceptable however the fact you have been without a computer for however long is not their fault. You decided to take it with you to another country and not check for the process to do that.

Other then that you should contact HP about notifying them about taking the laptop to another country and seeing what process needs to be done so you can start having it serviced there in Panama.

 

susan, that is very unfortunate. I do hope you get a new computer soon. It sounds like a lemon. Yeah, you need to get a higher up. If anyone knows a good person at HP...oh, try to PM the user HP Nate, he works for HP and he has contacts!!! If he can't help no one can. Let us know how it works out with HP Nate and HP, best of luck Susan.

KJ

 

BTW, quick web is NOT malware, it's HP's alternative to booting a full Windows OS. You turned it off in the bios, so no biggy. However, quickweb should not stop you from booting windows.

Also, most laptop manufacturers ship with a free/trial version of MS Office. This is not news nor is HP alone in this practice. Dell's ship with trial software as well. Removing it was fine; buying the full version from MS and licensing it was another option.

As for the rest, good luck. Like KJ said, you probably got a lemon for hardware but based on everything you said so far, it doesn't sound like software to me. If a PC won't even post, the OS has nothing to do with that!

 

Aaron or Susan,

Can you advise me on how to go about so I can receive my notebook back asap? I sent in my Envy 14 for MORE THAN A MONTH for repair for a defected Radiance screen, and up till now they've done nothing but wait for the parts to arrive. I have a feeling that they don't even have any more Radiance replacement parts anymore and the service center is just stalling for time. They claimed to have made a backorder on that part, but as we all know the radiance screen manufacturer has closed down. I have escalated my case to a case manager, but he too totally useless. It seems that the only way to get in contact with the service center is through email, and even then the service center hasn't been helpful at all.

This case has been marked as a complaint. But HP is indifferent to it being marked complaint or not. I'm so frustrated and lost right now.

Thank you i really appreciate any inputs.

-GR
__________________

 

I'm In the same boat as you. I sent in mine for a few issues on 3/14 and they claimed that my LCD is cracked now. I took video of my laptop before sending it in so I proof that it wasn't cracked. I honestly think they're lying because apparently the box was fine when they received it. The person I talked to said she's asking for an update from the repair dept which is most likely not going to change anything. She said they might just end up putting in a standard screen at which point I didnt want to yell so I said hmm ok well I'll call back tomorrow. There's no way I'm accepting a standard screen without cash back and not credit. I rather take a refund since I will never buy another Hp product in my life and I will do my best to encourage everyone else to do the same. I think this is a pretty clear cut case for a lawsuit if Hp doesn't make this right. Basically if you have a radiance dont bother sending it in for repair because you will not get it back.

 

Yes to all Envy 14 users with Radiance screens I definitely don't suggest that you send your computer in unless it is of utmost emergency. Even then you definitely won't get it back in time anyways.

If it is indeed true that they no longer have replacement parts for the Radiance screen anymore, the least they can do is to inform me of that. Instead of making me wait for months telling me that the service is still awaiting the arrival of a part. I mean like seriously, I can ship parcels around the world in half that time even with the cheapest UPS shipping.

Before sending my notebook for servicing, I specifically spoke to the service technician to confirm that they had that particular part available. He said yes, and even dared to make claims that they even have parts for computers that were made way back! It is atrocious that they now say they do not have the required parts.

I honestly don't have the time or energy to blow this into a lawsuit, but they're leaving me with very little choice here.. I paid my share of the notebook, but here they are giving me sub-par standards of servicing and even making empty promises.

 

Unfortunately they cover their butts when scenarios like this happen. In the warranty it says they don't have to replace the warrantied part with the exact same part so i'm not sure you could argue that but you can make a big fuss and get a refund or a serious upgrade in everything else. Heck lovelaptops was able to get an 8540. Be persistant. Many people will say no but just keep fighting and then you'll eventually get what you want. Sorry it has to be that way.

 

I'm pretty sure it says it needs to be a comparable part or else they can swap out a defective i7 and put in an i5 and say its fixed. Unfortunately there isn't a comparable part for the radiance in which case they aren't allowed to replace it with anything else they have. It'll be pretty tough for HP to argue that the BV display is a comparable display when they asked $200 more for the radiance. Thanks for the support. I will definitely do everything within my rights to make this right. I just hope that everyone else with radiance's will not have to deal with something like this.

 

i just got a confirmation from my case manager saying that the radiance part will take 6-8weeks to arrive at the service centre. So i've decided to take my laptop back in the mean time. 1 month without a notebook is too much. I cant survive another 2months without it.

 

So they're letting you get your laptop back while they wait for the radiance? The person I talked to said pretty much the same thing. That the part was backordered until end of April. I don't know reliable that is though so best of luck to you with that. Since mine is apparently cracked I can't wait that long without a laptop and I might just get another one hopefully with i580 and ssd. I had an i7 and I was really feeling the 2hr battery life was annoying.

 

yup that was the agreement with the case manager. when the parts arrive at the service centre or the case manager himself will be calling to inform me and i'll send it back again then..

I'm so frustrated with HP. I wouldn't have bought this envy without the radiance (wouldn't mind paying a little more for a MBP). I hope your case turns out well. HP or UPS should compensate you for breaking the screen!

 

Just to add my personal experience; I'm currently dealing with HP regarding a troublesome Envy 15 and although not ideal, dealing with HP is the absolute BEST customer service I have ever had. There are a bunch of things wrong with my envy, a definite lemon, and since they no longer make my model envy 15, they are replacing it with an envy 17 with better specs no question asked.

Good luck with your case! All I can say is treat the people you're dealing with with respect. It's easy to be angry when dealing with customer service, but it isnt their fault and if you treat them poorly they will most likely do the same in return.