I need some help...

I have had the past couple of weeks from “computer hell”… a couple of weeks ago I sent my laptop in to HP to have the screen repaired and for some reason they took out my hard drive and replaced it! I had ‘some’ information backed up to an external HD but not all… I lost about 6 ½ years of email and contacts!! I have spoken with the repair center and they have no answer for why they did this, except to say they “test” everything and repair what is “necessary” (according to them). When I explained that I only sent it in to have the flickering screen repaired and that my HD was working fine on a desktop monitor… they still have no explanation for what they did… all I got was a weak apology!!! So… hundreds of contacts and thousands of emails are gone. I ‘did’ get my HD back (after arguing with them) but they did something to it, and I am getting no response when I try to boot the computer with it. So now my battle is finding someone that can possibly recover the data, and getting HP to step up for my OS upgrade ($160), and other various software that was loaded on the original. Of course HP wants documentation (receipts) of any upgraded software… which is Ok but I am having difficulty with the OS upgrade documentation because I did this online about 2 years ago. I am having a hard time finding a bank record of the purchase… so I continue to search and make phone calls. Just in the last few days I already have dozens of hours into trying to rebuild/recreate any original information… I am beyond furious. I am simply amazed at the inept way that HP goes about doing their business... I even went so far as to put my 'repair' request in writing along with my name and a cell phone number on a sheet of paper taped to the lid of the laptop. Yet, no one bothered to make a 2 minute phone call to say "we need to 'replace' your hard drive"... before they blindly took it out and erased it!! A 2 minute phone call could have saved thousands of hours worth of work and correspondence. THE REPLACEMENT OF MY HARD DRIVE WAS NEVER AUTHORIZED!!! This is unacceptable! Now... dealing with my "case manager" Ron, I am having a hard time making sense out of the "concessions" that HP is willing to allow for my extreme inconvenience. My last conversation with him ended in him telling me that he was going to review my case with one of his superiors and get back with me. I continue to wait for some obscure bank records to be mailed to me… which I have no idea whether or not will help in my case. I ‘have’ made some inquiries on attempting to have the data restored and am still in the information gathering phase… I am certain it will cost much more than the $150 (insult) allowance that I have been offered to this point. I just found out from Seagate that data recovery (if possible) starts at around $1,700. When I first purchased this laptop I was excited, although some things on the computer were not performing as advertised, it was an acceptable product and purchase. As I continued to use it (with my ‘upgraded’ OS) I became more comfortable with it, and its personality… as I would with any new system and software. But my experience with this recent “repair” has been nothing short of a nightmare, an insult to my intelligence, and an inconvenience beyond words or description! I received a call from an "executive case review manager" today and was basically told that HP was going to do nothing, and that I should have read the information I received before I shipped it in. This information stated that I should 'back up my system'... so according to HP that alleviates them from any liability. Well understanding that my hard drive has nothing to do with how the screen operates (or doesn't operate) I failed to back up my entire c: drive. So the bottom line is HP is taking no responsibility and offering me nothing... for something that is clearly their fault. I welcome any comments, suggestions, and/or name of someone in a position to make a fair decision, or compensation.
Regards,
Michael

 

I am sorry for your loss man , i want u to know that when i sent my HP for keyboard repair people warned me of HP , so i removed my hard disk before sending my laptop ( I am so glad that i did this ) , anyways for this time try not to use ur hard disk that has ur data , maybe after sometime u ll get money and go for a data restore , also try searching online for restoring proffesionals,
if u can please send me the message that appears to u when using ur old drive maybei could help u ,
did u try hooking the harddrive to another computer using the hard drive USb connector?
pm me with your hotmail email maybe i can give u some ideas

 

Most companies reserve the right to push a factory image onto your hard drive when you send in for other repairs.
This is part of their troubleshooting process to ensure that the problem is not software related.
It's in the fine print, maybe you should have backed up your data or made and image before sending in for warranty. It sucks and is unfortunate, but you can't go on a vendetta against the company over it. Most any company would do this.
And this is coming from me, and I hate HP.

 

Have you done anything to the original hard drive that you got back (or so I read your post)?

If not, you may be able to recover whatever was on there by sticking it into an external USB enclosure and then plugging it into your computer. Provided that the drive was still functioning, it may have been replaced because it was going out of spec, in which case it may still function well enough to let you pull the data you need off the drive.

 

Try Recuva. This is as long as you didn't try to place other data on the drive.

 

Consider that the drive could just as well have died on its own at any time, the package could have been lost or destroyed by the shipper, etc.
Sorry, no backups = gross negligence IMHO.

As for data recovery, find out what they did to the disk. If it was wiped properly, your stuff is gone no matter how much money you throw at it.

 

Thank you to all that responded to my post. I have learned (and am still learning) that a lot of things in life need to be looked at like a game. If you are not good at that game... get better, if it is not 'your' game... don't play, and like some have suggested... stop whining! I will take 'all' of the advice and use what I can. It appears that my first step is to see what is on the drive from an external device via USB connection. So I will do this first... and 'Beige', if I am able to get any printed information to show up on the monitor I will copy it and send you the information. If you have any suggestions from that point feel free to share your thoughts. This probably won't happen till next week sometime. Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend. Happy 4th of July and God Bless America!!!

 

Good luck; have a very happy Fourth of July; and let us know on this thread how things work out with trying to recover your data. Hopefully, if you hit any stumbling blocks, we'll manage to collectively figure out something helpful.

 

Thanks again to all who responded... the drive was wiped clean, they beat me this time. I have learned some valuble lessons and hopefully (on good advice) won't fall victim to an event such as this anytime in the future. Regards, Mj.

 

New "issue"... since your last response I have decided that dealing with HP was an effort in futility! They were no help and pretty much said they were not at fault with anything that they did. So... lesson learned.

I have since started rebuilding my system and have also upgraded to Windows 7 (RC) which is pretty cool so far. I did run into a couple of issues though... you might be able to offer some suggestions.

My desktop monitor will not work through my docking station. Toshiba Dynadock... and I am not getting my reminders in the right hand window of my Outlook 2007. Any thoughts??

Thanks... Mj.

 

Just to Add...

When I have sent my notebook in for a repair in the past they would send me a box with a prepaid label. In the box was a plastic bag, Styrofoam mounts and I believe there were two sheets of paper. One stated how to contact Fedex and the other was for me to document the defective parts for them to fix. It also stated on the sheet that the notebook hard drive would be reimaged. I was also informed over the phone beforehand as well to backup my data.

Maybe you overlooked the sheet unintentionally?