HP: The Final Insult

Updated Saturday 2 May:
HP Palo Alto, and the case manager, called Thursday afternoon. They assured me that they had received my laptop... details downthread...

I've been posting about my lemon DV9000 (with a 3-year Care Pack) ever since I bought it in November 2006.
After its fifth hardware failure, as described in this thread, their very helpful case manager Harold Miller sent a dv7t-2000 as a replacement. It was everything he promised, and I immediately returned the DV9000 as I had promised.
Now, HP's "Quality Support Department" has added such a truly offensive final touch to this interaction that I take back every nice thing I ever said about them.
The timeline:

1. We agreed upon a replacement laptop Tuesday 7 April. I agreed to ship back the old unit, in the new laptop's packaging, ASAP but "within 3 business days" after receiving the replacement unit.
2. HP sent return shipping labels the next day, and I received them Thursday 9 April.
3. I received my dv7t-2000 Friday 17 April. I arrived home after 6 PM and opened the package, so I sent the old laptop back Monday 20 April.
4. Today (24 April), I received another air bill with an extremely rude letter from HP, written and postmarked Tuesday 21 April, chastizing me for not having returned the old laptop:

I really took offense at this. If they had bothered to find out when my laptop shipped from China, or checked the tracking info for the return air bill they sent me on the 8th, they would have had no need to insult and threaten me in such a manner.

So, I scanned their letter to .PDF, captured a screen capture of the delivery info for the return package (shwing they received it the 22nd), and composed a rather strongly worded Email. I copied [email protected], Mark Hurd, and Michael Mendenhall, attached the .PDF, and inserted the screen shot:

Then, after I sent it, the main copy bounced back: the E-mail address TCO Escalations provided in their letter was incorrect! (Consumerist, Mark Hurd & Michael Mendenhall got their copies OK, though). I tried a few misspellings of the address, and finally forwarded it to the case managers and asked them to pass it along to TCO Escalations.

Of course, I expect nothing much to happen as a result... but it feels good to vent.

I am DONE with HP. I will drive this DV7T until the wheels fall off, and replace it with a Dell. None of my customers will ever purchase another HP computer, either!

Thanks for reading!

 

Sorry to hear that. You're more then welcome to vent here next time.

 

i hate HP to

my fiances computer tx -1000 overheats to 112 C while not doing any thing, if you stick it in high performance mode

the power saver mode keeps it at a nice 85c

the cpu stays at 70-80 c .... but dont ever try to encode something

any way they game me a bios to fix it i aid thats not the problem its a shotty design and i think i should have it replaced with a equal value laptop ..... we cannot do that ... well ....prolly gonna file soon

 

they messed up. you got a brand new computer.. i dunno.. fair enough?

 

F HP, AMD, and Nvidia.

I've had TWO HP systems and both F'n died man- each of the 3 companies played a role in their demise.

Oh well.... I did destroy a few case managers along the way so it's all good- I am pretty sure they're going through counseling at this point... lolz.

 

+1 for sublime. Did you just have a tough week or what... 'cause I think that sure...you had a very rough time with your DV9000, the HP replacement letter was very premature and the admin section is FUBAR... but couldn't you just have sent your case manager a note with all shipping info and then let it slide?

Enjoy you brand new DV7 & have a great weekend. You deserve it !!

 

hopefully you at least made sure they gave you an extended warranty for free. then i'd say you're a big winner. i'm thoroughly happy with my dv7t. it's a solid computer, and like you, i didn't exactly pay for mine either.

 

Thanks to all for your support. I was almost afraid to wake up and re-read my tirade... but it's not excessively harsh.

I figure the box arrived the day after they sent the nasty-gram, and they closed the case. This might re-open it, especially if Mark Hurd's admin opens his copy...

I told the absolute truth about influencing the purchasing decisions of more than a thousand people. I get seversl calls & E-mails every month from my customers, asking: "What kind of computer should I buy?" I answer to the best of my ability & experience.
That experience now screams "Stay away from HP!!!"

 

Mostly fair enough. I'm sure not taking them to court over this... I'm merely taking them to task for rudeness.

We've all been through it, so you understand how many dozens of hours I spent on my end of these repairs. Each time they fixed the DV9000, even for the bad hinge, they replaced the hard drive. When it came back, I had to reinstall XP Pro or Vista Ultimate (I'm on a Server 2003 domain), all my apps, configure everything, and import the user profiles.

I'm praying the dv7 is more reliable... but my experience led me, the day it came in, to replace its hard drive before I did much of anything. HP's factory-labeled 320GB drive sits in a protective packing box, waiting for the day it gets installed for a trip to the repair depot. The dv7 is running on one of the other SATA drives I collected whilst struggling with the DV9000.

 

I agree with the person who said that the letter was a bit premature. In fact I have little doubt it's system generated as is the case with most big companies. I would just call the case manager and explain you got the letter and you are sending back the defective unit. They should give you some type of confirmation number and you should be good to go.

Recently I contacted HP via email regarding the dust trapped in their Infinity screens. I received a total of 10-15 (lost count) system generated replies before someone from their customer service dept actually read the NBR link I provided and actually responded.

I wouldn't get so bothered about the letter. Enjoy your new replacement.

 

I agree. Having been in similiar situations, and being aware that we live in 2009, not 1959.....letters of that nature are using automated by date. In other words, when a certain date passes, they send one of those letters.

There was absolutely nothing in that letter that was threatening or out of line. Business is business.

Are you aware of the amount of people that scam companies such as HP, IBM, etc etc. Well, having worked for IBM - I can assure you, it is much higher than you would imagine.

Now, I don't BLAME you for writing your response, but two things: 1) They wont really care, they just want the dead machine back, and 2) It served no purpose really.


Good luck though, hope your new machines works well

 

Want to just give me the dv7? =D

 

How many dv7s you want friend? You are already sitting pretty on two. Planning to open a museum or something

 

They are both broken peices of crap i hate the first dv7's they all sucked. Im using a zd8000 right now. Honestly i think this laptop was better then both of thoes dv7's its alot more peppy and yes the dv7's had better hardware and faster hard drives

 

Yeah, I agree that HP sent the letter prematurely. However, it doesn't ease much of the sting. I lack the vocabulary to describe my true feelings without using language that would offend others and violate the Terms of Service of this forum.

After all I went through with that DV9000, I took it as a slap in the face, and I decided to slap back. The letter didn't say "if you already sent it, please disregard;" it demanded that I help them find the damned thing. Since they demanded an answer, I gave them one.

HP won't care, and Mark Hurd's people obviously don't care.

One thing is true, though: none of my customers will ever be advised to buy HP. There are about a hundred thousand people in my service area. One or two percent of HP's potential customers in this area are gone.

 

IMO, if you want to limit the situation to the letter exchange, then yes, it was a bit over the top. But in the context of the entire chain of events, then I can completely understand it. Like the saying goes, the straw that broke the camels back....

I know how it feels- my DV2315NR f'n melted. Then after 2-3 months of running around in loops and repair delays after repair delays, they sent me a DV2500 which made me happy. Then my hard drive died. Then my AC adapter died. Then my bloody GPU died. So ya. I got pissed. And I boned. Take out the numerous failures beforehand, and I probably wouldn't have done anything, but when you feel like you've been reamed numerous times, eventually, all it takes is a poke...

Oh well. Thing is, you hear these sort of stories from most if not all vendors.... just part of the game I guess.

 

Also you cant blame things on HP. When my hard drive fails i blame it on samsung because they made it. When my screen has a virtical line i blame it on LG they made the screen. If my graphics card burns out ill blame Nvidia. But if my laptops overheating ill blame HP for their use of the awful thermal transfer material. For the graphics card they use a peice of foil. For the chipset they use a thermal pad to fill in a gap because the heatsink dosent reach the core top. And for the cpu that thermal " Paste " is just useless it dosent cover the top very well and is very hard and flaky. All problems aside other manufactures have problems too i know dell uses crappy thermal transfer material too. I go with HP because i like their designs and their prices.

 

Well, they picked the components- not me.

Furthermore, most of my issues were heat related, which is squarely on HP's shoulders. My hard drive was running way too hot in the bloody DV2500 and eventually it crapped out, irregardless of all the measures I took to try and keep it cool.

The only one I don't really blame them for is the Nvidia issue, however, I do blame them for trying to deny the issue existed in my laptop, which is why they got boned- and which is why I won't be getting an Nvidia GPU again, at least not on my next laptop. When Nvidia gets through a year or so without having a massive recall, I might consider them again.... but I will be getting a 4500MHD that I know will run cool and not die a month after my warranty expires on my DV4T. I don't game so it's the practical decision anyway.

I am going with HP again, for the same reasons as you. But I am not going with Nvidia nor AMD because both have burned me before... we will see how the HD temps are and how it goes. Heck, I am getting a P series processor so I know I am getting the coolest running components available. If my laptop decides to commit suicide again, then I will probably say screw it and opt for a different make.

 

Hard drives, I agree, are a commodity. I never trust one hard drive to do anything. If my drive had failed, I would have accepted a blank one in exchange and reinstalled my stuff without further assistance from HP.

I blame HP for selling tens of thousands of early DV-series laptops, knowing that they contained bad components. I blame them for the three system board failures, the split hinge, and the time their service techs cracked my case while repairing the laptop.
As far as I'm concerned, all five of my laptop's fatal failures were HP's fault.

I also blame them for outsourcing their phone support to the dumbest call center they could find... but I guess that's another thread.

 

Board failures i cant help you with that i have never had a board failure that wasent my fault. The Hinge problem yes thats a defect and is HP's fault but HP went out and gave a service enhancment for that so if your hinge breaks they fix it for free. I have used it once before. One time i was helping my freind out to get his laptop repaired. Anyways they called me and said the screen bezel was cracked. I wasent aware if it wasent or not because it wasent my laptop so i asked my freind and he said it wasent. I talked to a case manager and she requested pictures of the unit and fixed it for free. After it all i found out that the bezel was cracked by my freind. So far i havent had any bad experiences with their coustomer support. Some people like you get screwed a few times while other people like me get luck every single time. HP has given me 3 free computer replacments.

 

oldgraygeek,
Grow up, it was a template letter that they send out after a couple weeks. HP is so large that it is not realistic to assume that one hand knows what the other is doing. They even said in the letter if for some reason you can't make the deadline (e.g. you haven't gotten your replacement) just contact them.
Some people are just too arrogant to be pleased.
my2cents

 

Jelloitsalive12,
Grow up yourself.
If it's a template, they should re-write it extensively... that's no excuse. They sent the letter when they could just as easily checked the FedEx tracking for the return label (like I did). They could also have called or Emailed me to ask if I had sent it. All three of those options would have been way cheaper for HP: they spent 83¢, plus the cost of another prepaid shipping label, rather than checking FedEx? Lame, lame, lame.
In fact, the letter provided a non-working Email address to send the information they demanded. It should never have been sent at all, but if they were going to send it they should have toned it down and spelled their own damn Email correctly... or at least had the courage to supply a phone number.

Sorry you think I'm arrogant, but I'll get over it pretty quickly. I'll keep my opinion of you to myself.

 

^^ lol

When i got one of my replacement laptops HP gave me one of thoes letters saying i need to ship it back. Fact was i didnt ship it back yet though so i finally got to it.

 

Hey oldgraygeek,

This is a late response, but hear me out.

I've had a similar problem in the past and that formal warning is sent via regular first class mail in a big white envelope, not FEDEX.

With the first class mail, that usually takes 3-5 days to ship and receive.

That letter was sent prematurely as others have stated, but you are getting overly upset over a slight error. Your case manager gave you instructions about the 3 days after and you did it. You should have ignored the formal warning letter.

I thought nothing of mine when it was sent to me, because they just send it out to make sure you get your laptop back in. I mean come on, usually companies require a credit card for liability. HP does not, so you should respect their ease of service and urge to help.

Don't take the letter to heart. I know you've had problems with HP, but so have I. They have stood by me and helped me through a lot of problems. Don't say you're done with HP! You aren't entitled to a replacement, they could have just hassled you and requested another repair. Try finding that type of service at DELL (lol).

Maybe you had a bad day, but you looked at everything the wrong way. You were inadvertently "chastising" HP. That's kind of hypocritical huh?

Anyways, best of luck with your replacement and make sure to emphasize on your endeavor and stress that your previous laptop has caused. I'm sure with a little convincing, they'll throw in a warranty. They gave me a 4 year ADP warranty and they don't even offer it on their website. I even got a nice little letter with a care pack confirmation number.

 

Good for you Oldgraygeek! It seems HP's entire service establishment is designed to aggravate customers, which it does very well. I think I would have asked for another shipping label and sent them 30 lbs of rocks.

 

LOL! That would have been hilarious. You know the one's opening the box would have had a good laugh.

 

They included another label with their letter.
We have two cats.
We use clumping cat litter.

30 pounds of crumbly, smelly rocks coming right up!

 

I would be cautious. I'm sure they keep track of who is assigned which air bill number. If you use it for a purpose other than intended they may charge you. That air bill is worth about 80-200 bucks (next day morning).

Don't take a chance. You'll really hate HP then lol.

 

Way over the top.


Firstly their email is hardly "extremely rude" "nasty" or "truly offensive".

Secondly, they gave you a free laptop. You may have felt you were owed it. Reality check, you weren't owed it. They could have kept repairing your old laptop had they desired. Even after they have done this for you, you threaten them with bad mouthing their company to your customers and online in forums over a frankly stated email? You are being unreasonable to put it mildly.

I don't care how awful your old laptop behaved. They replaced it and now it's been basically a waste of time on their part because you are going to follow through with your threat to steer people away from hp as if they'd never given you a free laptop to begin with. All because of an inconsequential email you've ridiculously blown up as being hideously offensive.

When you were posting about the problems with your old laptop and the promised replacement everything was completely reasonable. I can understand the sheer annoyance of having to deal with hp repair seeing as with my old Compaq I had the system board replaced on one occasion which didn’t fix the problem so next I had to send it in again to have the screen replaced – major hassles and being stuck without a laptop is a supreme nuisance. Doesn’t mean I’m going to blow my top and bad mouth hp, especially not if they had given me an entirely new replacement laptop as in your case.

 

I side with HP. Some people are just unpleaseable no matter what you do.

 

I didn't find HP's letter offensive. All you have to do is to provide them with the information needed via e-mail and that's that. It does look like a form letter and everyone gets it and does not personally target an individual. I had no problem with HP service when my Compaq conked out. They replaced it with a new laptop (HP branded). All my HP branded laptop works without problems.. tx1000z, tx2500z, dv2000 (the wifi doesn't work) and my desktops m8300f and s3120. As far as other makes, my Dell m1530 is going strong. And my lowly Averatec is still chugging along also. Could be just my luck (knock on wood).

 

I agree with the last three posters. I already made my response a few posts back.

I think Mr. Geek is a little ungrateful. As previously mentioned, you are not entitled to a new computer. They could have sent you on a repair frenzy.

 

wow dude, if you find that offensive, what do you think about isp's that some how don't get their DSL modems back (rental modems) and bill you 400 bucks for a 50 dollar modem! and no friggen letter!

I can see how the entire experience would make you feel the way you do, but that letter is not offensive at all.

 

This thread topic reminds me of why I will never, EVER work in customer service.

 

I see I've become a terrible guy now.

Oh, well: that's what happens on the Internet. I'll get over it.

 

STOP DRAWING CONCLUSIONS AND ASSUMPTIONS!

You posted on the forum and we're simply giving our opinion.

We all react differently to various situations. I just think you're looking at it the wrong way. You're being very spiteful even after they concluded in a reasonable manner.

 

I don't see you that way. You had a rough go of it dealing with HP and the fear that something else could go wrong not surprisingly made you acutely tense. Most of those commenting didn't follow your travails in the other thread so they don't have a proper frame of reference.

HP really needs to clean up their act. The idea of having to send one's computer away for repair for weeks and weeks at a time is patently unacceptable. Especially considering how much an essential part computing devices play in the lives of people. I'm not harshing on HP alone as the whole industry needs to shift their paradigm away from this customer service model.

The few times I had to deal with HP customer service, the experiences were delightful. Colour me lucky. And to my credit, I'm tech savvy enough to diagnose and fix my own problems for the most part.

Yet, my heart goes out to those at the mercy of script techs employed by HP and others.

No worries mate, I get it.

 

I read 2 of those other threads detailing those headaches and totally understood the hassles seeing as I've had headaches myself. However, blackmailing hp with threats of steering customers away and posting this story in forums all because of a frank email is just not on, especially after receiving a new laptop which was intended to make things right.

 

Right then. If you read his first couple of subsequent posts by the OP you'll see that there's still a fair bit of fear of having to go through another horrendous round of repair trips like the first with the new kit. I don't think I would mentally and emotionally survive that sort of process and be all giddy-rah-rah for HP thereafter.

Honestly, if it (5 repair trip hassles) happened to me, I would likely steer people away from HP - directly and indirectly. But to whom to steer towards is the question.

For now, I keep my fingers crossed for people I advise when they say they have to send in their kit to HP repair. I also advise on how to deal with HP customer service in order to receive the best results. Best I can do it seems.

 

Let me try to correct any wrong impressions I may have given.

I'm not blackmailing HP: I didn't ask them for anything. I don't want anything. Today, the hard drive mounting kit I bought for my DV7t showed up; if I was going to blackmail them, I should have started by asking them to give me one of those...
I own a much smaller business than HP, and I know I wouldn't respond well to blackmail. That's the main reason why I didn't even consider trying blackmail.

Also, I'm not threatening to steer customers away: I am steering them away, and they can't change that. I tell my customers the truth, and the truth is that I regret buying the lemon HP laptop that started all this. I have steered at least 50 customers to new computers since the first time my DV9000 took a crap... none of them were steered toward HP. Tomorrow, another customer with a dead PC will ask me what to buy (at about 3:30 PM, depending on traffic). They won't buy an HP either.

I have also helped other customers -- and potential customers -- find satisfaction with their defective DV-series laptops. I have told new callers with dead DV's about HP's service enhancement, without collecting a dime, and they got free repairs. I don't know if this helped or hurt HP, but it helped the folks with dead laptops... that was my goal.

As for posting it in forums, I didn't threaten to do that either: I did it without waiting for their response because their response wouldn't stop me from posting. If they do respond, I'll post that too.

Frankly, I don't expect a response from HP. I sent the Email to vent. The venting was successful: I am enjoying my new DV7t-2000, and the second hard drive I added with their $60 brackets, even as I type this.

One more thing: I understood that this letter (not an Email) from HP was an automatic form letter. I don't really care. The folks who stuffed it into an envelope -- with another partially handwritten FedEx label -- didn't bother to check the tracking info on the previous FedEx label. If they had made even that tiny effort, we wouldn't be discussing this; instead, I'd be telling this forum all about how happy I was with HP's settlement of my ongoing problems... just like I did in this thread.
If you click there, you will notice that I really didn't have too many complaints about their repair service... and I was kind of looking forward to steering customers back to HP.

So, to sum up:
No blackmail. No threats. No kidding.

 

Right, blackmail was a poor choice of words provided you are not expecting HP to appease you with goodies and provided you never mentioned your customers and future forum posting to the case manager who volunteered you the new laptop.

I agree, the word threat doesn't apply so long as you will unwaveringly steer every single one of your inquiring customers away from HP. If you haven’t yet steered all of them away and you may change your mind in future then it is basically a threat that you’ve partially carried out over a mere letter that was hardly "extremely rude" "nasty" or "truly offensive".

This all comes down to the simple fact that you had a rough time with your old laptop. Hp decided to give you a free new laptop. Next you get a standard communication from HP that you don’t like and you get publically agro, likely costing hp future sales.

Shows hp would have been better off repairing your old laptop, letting you turn sour to do what you’re doing now, then at least HP would have saved the price of the free dv7 they sent you.

I know how it feels to deal with repairs. My Compaq had a horrible high pitch squeal that I put up with for months before it finally did my head in. I took it in for repair and in the end the motherboard was replaced. Receiving it back I was badly hoping for it to be fixed because the process had taken quite a while (can’t remember how long exactly), but what do you know, same annoying noise. I did a bit of research myself and was convinced for a number of reasons that it was the lcd screen inverter. I took the laptop back again under warranty and basically told the technician that I was certain it was the screen. Thankfully they decided to replace the screen and the incessant high pitch noise was gone. Sweet relief. So anyway, I can relate to an extent.

It can be frustrating but hey, you were gifted a free laptop yet are badmouthing hp over a standard issue letter. Who cares if they didn't micro-manage your case by checking up with fedex or making special provision to time their systems for an oddball case of a customer returning an old laptop in the new laptops packaging.

 

if you think Dell is any better ,well ...... EVERY COMPANY HAS jerks working for them , unfortunatly you ran into them . I have had nothing but great service from HP , of course I buy the business line , not consumer line .

 

I don't think its any particular company. Every company has lemons, even Toyotas which pwns the car industry. Seems like you just got a HP lemon. Dell, Sony, Gateway is no better. Besides, you got a free new laptop when they didn't have to give you anything.

 

It's ironic to tell people to stay away from buying HP and yet uses it's product. Practice what you preach! Any level headed individual would surely question your advise.

 

I have a dv8320 that has a 7600 Go, one of the plagued units with the bad solder on the GPU. I don't care. I'm not rich either if it poofs on me it will take quite some time to replace the unit, but I'll replace it with an HP. I am the IT Manager for two municipalities, and recently removed all of the IBM products in the organization and rolled Proliant servers, xw4600 workstations and 8710 HP-Compaq laptops as replacement units for every single piece of computer hardware in the organization. HP support is wonderful to deal with after having to deal with IBM/Lenovo support for the past 4 years and seriously a breath of fresh air.

Poor experiences with HP notwithstanding (I've had a few myself but I've had more than my share with Dell, IBM/Lenovo over the years) I easily have made up the OP steering clients away by steering clients towards HP products. By and by for the large part every HP customer I've helped create is more than satisfied with their HP purchases, some CTO business products, majority DV series pavilion entertainment notebooks. Knock on wood? I don't know, every manufacturer spits out a lemon every now and then but I wonder, will the dv7 change your mind in the end if you have a solid experience with the h/w?

It appears that the service response leading up to the lemon replacement soured you more than you realize because the fact is that the form letter some poor sod stuffed into an envelope is just a standard business practice, I suspect you may have dealt with a similar experience had it been Dell/IBM whatever other Tier1 vendor you were dealing with. If I don't turn around and RMA that dead keyboard they bill me right away too. I guess I am just surprised at the vitriol exhibited considering the fact you have a new, superior product than what you started out with.

 

As noted at the top of the thread, HP called Thursday 30 April. I got a message from HP Corporate, and then I got a call from the case manager.

The message, and the call, seemed to have three goals:
1) to assure me that they had received my old laptop, and would not be billed for anything;
2) to apologize for the letter;
3) they seemed to be waiting for me to ask for something.

Now, as I noted upthread, I didn't really want anything from HP. I was insulted by the timing & tone of the letter they sent me, and I wanted to let them know it was premature and inappropriate, but I had no ulterior motive.
So, when I spoke with the case manager, I assured him that I was happy with the DV7t. I hoped my complaint hadn't caused him any problems (he assured me it had not), and I thanked him for his help, and I didn't ask for anything else.
We had a pretty good talk. I told him about my little business here, and how my customers ask me what to buy. I told him that, during my two year struggle with the wounded DV9000, I had steered dozens of customers away from HP laptops... while steering them toward HP printers. I told him that HP's making good on the 3-year Care Pack had restored quite a bit of my faith in their products and services, and that I would consider recommending them again because of their concerned response to my complaint.
He's a good guy. He told me to make sure to contact him directly if any hardware problems pop up on the new laptop, and I assured him he'd be the first to know.

So, we'll see how things go. This DV7t hauls the load like a dump truck, doing the job without breaking a sweat. My customers could (and occasionally have) done a lot worse. Gateway and Acer may take HP's place as my "Do Not Buy" recommendation...

 

Happy ending.

 

This thread should be edited and made into a movie. lol