Read this before buying HP product.

Hi,
I just wanted to share my experience while buying and using HP Pavillion Laptop.
I ordered HP2500T Pavillion Laptop, 2.0 Ghz Intel Duo Processor, 160 GB 7200 RPM HD, 2GB memory, 15.4” screen, fingerprint reader, Windows Vista Home Premium (no, they wouldn’t install XP) .
The laptop came in about 2 weeks straight from China (surprise). Everything seemed in order. I later took advantage of their free skin offer and ordered a skin for it.
Few days into using the laptop it gave me a blue screen and crashed. OK, I thought. Just random crash…it happens right? Few days later it crashed again. Alright, this cannot be serious. Crashed again and again and again…this kept happening every 2-4 days. Sometimes I was doing absolutely nothing and was even away from the laptop when it crashed. I installed all the Vista updates, found all the most recent drives for every piece of hardware but the laptop kept crashing. I had installed couple of pieced of software right away (MS Money, Novell Groupwise), so I thought to myself: “It must be the software you installed idiot”. So I un-installed it….to no avail.
About a month later I finally decided to call HP tech. support. The guy listened patiently, asked few dumb questions, didn’t really know what to do except suggesting running a hard drive and memory tests. Alright, the results are in and everything seems in order, so he suggests watching it. I watch it crash every 2-4 days for another month (got into good habit of backing up my work every 5 min just in case meanwhile) and call HP again. Same thing happened, only this time it took lot longer because he had to pull my previous case and apparently this is one of the biggest challenges for HP support folks. He suggests to run another HD and memory tests not paying any attention to me telling him that I had already ran these tests. No problem, who knows may be the test wasn’t too honest the first time. So it takes another hour or so for the HD test to complete and no cigar this time. HD is clean, so is the memory as the memory test revealed.
After another dozen of crashes I call them again …. I’m starting to get just a little bit annoyed by this whole crashing business. The guy tells me to un-install the software I had installed and to watch it. I tell him I did that already and it kept crashing so I installed it again since I didn’t believe it made any difference. He insists, I listen. The software is gone, but the laptop still crashes. Cannot say I was too shocked by the result.
About 4 months after I got the laptop, another tech. support genius tells me that there’s only 1 step left which is uninstall Windows. I resist, he insist and HP wins again. I un-inslall Windows. Nope, didn’t do the trick.
Every time I called HP, I would always tell them that perhaps there’s more than 2 pieces of hardware in my laptop but all they wanted to do is run memory and HD tests. I also offer the dump codes and dump files that are generated by the OS when the computer crashes. They don’t know what to do with those, but neither do I since I had accumulated a nice collection of those.
Finally, about 6 months into my ordeal they ask me to ship the laptop to them for repair. They even provided me with the empty box and paid for shipping both ways. I resist since I’m a computer programmer and use the laptop to do my job quiet often. I ask them if there’s any faster alternative. They say that I can take it to one of their authorized repair centers but they cannot guarantee I won’t be charged for the repair (what???) or the time it would take to repair it. So I ask them if they guarantee the time if I send it to them. “Yes, it would take 7-10 business days and I would personally look into expediting this process” says a very nice lady (at this point I’m done talking to their folks from India and call directly their laptop case managers line in the US). “Alright”, me thinks, “How bad can it be?”. I ship it out couple of weeks later (was working on a project, so couldn’t stay without the laptop at that time). Few days later I check the status on their WEB site and it says they’re waiting for some part. “Aha, so it was YOUR hardware and not the software or the HD or memory” I think to myself thinking I got them beat. 10 business days are gone, and the status doesn’t change, so I call them up.
After being on hold for 30 min, I speak to an Indian girl who has no clue whatsoever about what’s going on and what she’s talking about. She keeps asking me the same questions (like what is your address) over and over again. I finally get pissed and ask to talk to her supervisor. She doesn’t want to. I ask her why. She tells me that since the estimated time I should receive my laptop back hasn’t passed (no, it really has not since it was THAT day I should’ve received the laptop according to their WEB site), I have really no reason to complain. I ask her if there’s any chance I can receive the laptop today. She says “No, sir”. So I ask her what is going to change tomorrow. I can feel she’s lost so I win that battle and she transfers me to her supervisor (also an Indian dude) who proceeds to tell me that HP cannot replace my laptop because apparently I have a warranty and not guarantee. Why would he talk about replacement you ask? Because he told me that this series had (get ready) faulty motherboards and now they don’t have enough motherboards so they’re on backorder. This is when I asked him to replace the damn thing. He tells me HP does not replace their product to which I call him a liar because I know for a fact they do. He tells me it’s not their policy and I reply that I don’t care about their policies any longer. I need my laptop fixed and shipped back to me ASAP or I need a new one. When enough is enough?
He tells me this matter is out of his jurisdiction and asks me to call their laptop case managers line which I was going to do anyway. I talk to another nice lady who says she never heard about faulty motherboards in this series (of course she didn’t) and agrees to replace my laptop right away. “WOW” I think, “This was the easiest call I’ve had to make to HP so far”. She asks me for the laptop specs and I tell her to look it up under my account because it was late and I had been on the phone for 90 min to that point. She says she cannot do that. Go figure how that’s even possible. So I tell her the specs I remember off the top of my head and she says I’d get the brand new laptop within 10 business days. “This cannot be happening”, I think, “There must be some kind of mistake. I can leave all the horror behind in just 10 business days? Too good to be true”.
Was I ever right? I receive the laptop in about 10 business days (give or take a day). Upon inspection, I notice it’s not DV2500T, it’s DV6700. Ok, what do I care, right? I turn it on, check out the hard drive and it’s 5400 RPM instead of 7200 (the size was OK). I look at the battery and it’s a standard one instead of 12 cell I ordered originally. I call the lady I spoke to before again and she says “No problem, I’ll ship everything to you overnight”. Nothing comes tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. I start getting nervous and call again. The lady is not there, but someone else has problems finding the order (what a mess they have, I tell ya). Finally he pulls it up and tells me the battery is scheduled to be delivered only tomorrow and the HD in about 5 days. I can live without the battery but I need the HD since I don’t want to install any software to only re-install it few days later. Next day I ask to speak to a supervisor of their laptop case managers. The guy was very nice as expected and tells me the HD is also on back order and he cannot even guarantee it would be delivered to me in 5 days as promised. I’m starting to boil, so he quickly finds a solution: How about you go out and buy any HD yourself and HP will reimburse me for it? I don’t know what to say, but a 2 hours trip to a nearby Best Buy is probably better than waiting for undefined amount of days. So I’m off to Best Buy….they don’t have HD my specifications (160 GB, 7200 RPM). I’m pissed. I start browsing the WEB, found a very decent one on Newegg.com and order it. Faxed the receipt to the guy and he promised to get me the check in about 5 business days. Meanwhile, I received the battery.
I’ll keep you posted about the status of the refund check. But folks, please think hard before dealing with HP. Their biggest problem is that nothing is linked to anything. You customer ID is not linked to your orders or any history. Even when it’s linked it can only be viewed by certain people and not the others. It’s such a mess that I really wonder how they’re even able to stay in business. Like I mentioned before, I’m a computer programmer myself and it just pains me to see this kind of mess. I’m not exaggerating when I’m telling you that I must’ve spent close to 24 hours with them on the phone altogether. And I don’t even want to bring up the skin I had on my original laptop. I rather buy another one than deal with them again.
Anyway, thanks for reading
Tony.

 

First off, sorry for your experience. I'm assuming the motherboard shortage is due to all the defective boards with nvidia gpu's coming in. But I do find it surprising that there is a shortage. My dv2500t had a motherboard replacement completed and back to me within a few days of shipping. There are some things that perhaps you could've handled better. First off, you should've tried a system recovery immediately after the uninstalling nonsense failed. After you realized that the laptop was crashing, you should've immediately arranged for a return. It seems that you weren't aware of the 21 day no questions asked laptop return policy HP has. (I'm assuming you didn't read the documentation that came with your new notebook... since its listed clearly right there). I find it surprising that HP could not pull your case up with ease. I find that providing the product and serial number is enough for them to pull up my history and I've had no issues with that. In terms of the replacement policy, generally they have a few repair attempts before they start a replacement process. So again, I'm surprised they gave in and replaced your notebook (Looks like you're an excellent negotiator . Lastly, I think you would've had your laptop sooner if you just let them go ahead with the repair and wait for the motherboard shipment. (It took you 10 business days for a new one right?). Also, they request your address because it reconfirms your identity (no need to get angry over that)... I hate to sound like I'm backing HP on some of these issues. Overall, I think you responded appropriately to the issue you had, but perhaps a little more patience on your part may have helped your situation. Expecting an overnight battery delivery, etc... prob won't happen.. especially with a consumer grade laptop... and from hp. So my advice is.. Lower your expectations because I'm pretty sure most of the members on this forum have..

 

They did not tell me what was wrong in the motherboard. The guys in laptop case managers office flat out denied there was any problem with those motherboards.
If this is your laptop configuration in your sig, mine was very similar except for the video card and the battery.
What I find the most outrageous is that why HP is not recalling these laptops if they know there's a problem? Are they waiting for the owners to turn them in hoping not everyone will do that?
My laptop was sitting in their repair center in Texas for over 2 weeks before I got really mad and demanded replacement. I sent it out to them on July 6th.
You're right, I was not aware of the 21 days return policy. If I was, I would've probably returned it. I was just hoping it would stop once I installed all the updates.
I have no problem with telling them my address. I do however have a problem with telling my address to the same person 5 times during the same conversation. It shows that he was just buying time asking me questions he had no interest in.
I did ask the laptop case manager why is it so hard to pull all the info + history just based on the serial #(she couldn't pull my system's configuration so she had to believe my word) and she told me it was because some people don't have access to some information. Later her manager told me they were in the process of upgrading their system (god knows they really need to).
You may be right, I was being a little impatient. But what set me off was the guy in India telling me these laptops had motherboard issue and it's known to HP. After all these months of dragging their feet and wasting my valuable time on the phone with them I hear they knew about the problem all along. They couldn't tell me earlier and avoid all the irritation on my part and save their valuable resources? what did they think was going to happen?
I just think HP showed complete disregard to one of their customer. I know for sure that next time I compare products, I will take my past experience with them into serious consideration.

 

Hmm, very interesting, was your laptop shipped to the Houston, Texas repair facility? Because that's the exact center I sent mine to. Mine was there about 2 weeks ago. They clearly had motherboards with nvidia chips available since they fixed mine literally within 2 days. I guess they were too cheap to give you the gfx card upgrade... Anyways, I think the tech was mistaken about the motherboard issue for your laptop. The models with motherboard issues were pre-2500t (the original dv2000 series, ie. pre-alps touchpads). That's why HP has offered enhanced coverage for those models ( http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&docname=c01300427#c01300427_dv20) More recently, the motherboard issues seem to be isolated to laptops with the dedicated defective nvidia 8400 gs gpu's. I'm surprised your integrated gpu equipped notebook failed on you. Looks like you had a lemon all along.

Oh yeah, just to let you know... Don't use HP's phone support. If you have another computer around, use their chat based support. I've found that route to be much more successful. And with chat, everything is on the record, and they can't screw with you (ie: address request 5 times).

 

I has a similiar incident with a DV9500CTO I have.
I got fed up trying to learn or comprehend Indienglish so I too called
the case manager line. That manager was unable to find my order and three-way conferenced in someone from the order dept who was able to see some of my ordered but not the one we needed. The case manager berated that guy so bad I thought she was going to fire him on the spot. She was trying to verify my BD drive for the replacement and 4 times in a row HP sent me HD drives. Pitiful.

If HP wasn't such a sexy looking laptop with nice features at decent prices, I'd buy a D(H)ELL.


No I wouldn't---I hate D(H)ELL's.


I'd get an over priced but reliable Sony while I dream about the day MAC makes a friendly intuitive notebook that runs software I would actually use.

 

Yes, I believe I shipped it to Houston. You may be right about my laptop just being a lemon. I just went by what the guy from HP told me.
And I just realized my laptop originally had blue tooth module and the replacement one doesn't. This just goes to show you how messes up their system is when laptop case manager cannot see the specification on the laptop you bought from them.
I just want to clarify: I don't go bashing anyone's product. In fact, I've done this once or twice before. I just have to be pissed beyond my point of blowing up.