HP wants to charge for repair under warranty

I have a DV9220US that was purchased last August. Didn't take too long for me to see this notebook runs quite hot. So first the CPU fan starts to make a lot of noise, although still blowing the same amount of air. Then a week later the video goes bonkers in Windows, then within a few hours the notebook will not display any video at all. I call HP, and after 2 calls talking to their not so wonderful or English speaking technical support I get this RMA'd. I have a 2 year extended warranty on this as well. So they get it in and I wait, I am then informed there is a delay in the motherboard.

Well today, I checked the status page, and now it says there will be a service charge of $764! I immediately call them to ask this is, and am told this ia due to spill damage. The one thing NOT covered by the warranty, but happens to be the one thing that did NOT do this. I immediately recognized what was happening was simply the machine had overheated and damaged the GPU. My last HP notebook I had the LCD cut off switch die, and ended up having to send it in twice as the first time they sent it back without doing a thing to fix it.

Considering this notebook did not even last 6 months is just plain ridiculous. Then to ask for $764 to replace the motherboard? I might add that I also work as a HP reseller, and only paid $900 for the notebook + 2yr warranty. Well, it looks like HP will be losing me as a customer, and quite possibly a reseller with this customer service. I can only imagine with the bad economy and slowed sales they have instituted a policy to look for any reason, legitimate or not, to push the costs of repairs and service back on to the customer.

 

call them and talk it over, try different people

if its not really spill damage I highly doubt they can "fake it" and whats the point, they are already ruining their terrible rep on customer service

thats ridiculous $794 to fix your laptop

 

Tell them to provide proof (in pictures) of the spill damage (with that same picture clearly identifying this as YOUR notebook and not some stock image they use for this kind of thing), or fix the laptop at no charge. If they will not fix it, tell them to ship it back to you so that you can get a 3rd party to confirm or refute the spill damage.

Then take them to small claims about this.

Might also want to check out the various recalls and product repair announcements, chances are that your notebook is affected by one of these...I've had a few HPs run way too hot for their own good.

 

Just wondering, which of these is the case here:

1: There was spill damage, but it's clear that is not the cause of the overheating
2: There was no spill damage but they are saying there is

 

I would suggest that your best option is to call HP and speak to them about your situation.

I remember getting a replacement router from Netgear with coffee stains on some of the ethernet ports. As these ports weren't working, I called them and explained the situation to them. At first, they claimed that it was my own fault, but after explaining to them that there is no coffee in my house, they soon saw that it would be easier and cheaper for them to replace the broken unit than to argue their case with someone who is willing to dig their heels in for a righteous result.

 

my dad has sent 5 mobile phones back to O2 for repair and they have all claimed water damage, even though he knows they have never been in water or near it. they will do anything to get out of repairing something, you just godda really stand your ground and be prepared for a long wait and a lot of arguing.
at the end when its resolved remember to ask for compensation and your phone calls refunded, since you will run up a bill.

 

I would have to leave the possibility that something at some time could possibly have spilled without my knowledge (i.e. something spilled while I was away from the notebook). But, to the best of my knowledge nothing ever has.

Supposedly an HP rep should be calling me in 24 hours, but after talking with someone today I suspect they are going to hold firm. Right now they are basically stating that everything needs to be replaced; motherboard, CPU, GPU, optical drive, memory, etc.. Everything except for the case and LCD. This makes it sound as if it was soaked in a bath. Right now I see this laptop at Amazon for $800. Why would I even bother to pay $764, when for $36 more I could just get a complete new unit!

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=347497

 

I had the same problem with HP. They said that I have spill on DVD drive, when I know that I did not spill anything. They asked me either to pay 679 or ship the broken laptop. I told them to ship. I again called HP after an hour and asked for picture as a proof of spill. The customer service told me that it is in shipping dock and they can't provide it. When I told him that I just spoke to someone an hour ago and it is not possible for them to ship, he just ended the conversation saying "I'm sorry"...what a rip off....I asked if I can speak to someone else. He again repeated "I'm sorry"...never ever going to buy HP stuff now!