Small Claims Court against HP

Hi there. I am a 19 year old college student who sued and won against Hewlett Packard in the small claims court of California.

Here's the news article: http://cbs5.com/consumer/hp.laptop.lawsuit.2.1285895.html?detectflash=false

Here are the steps I took:
First of all, make sure you have proof that you tried everything within reason to either have HP fix your computer or refund your purchase.

Second, look up your local laws. In California, you can sue someone for up to twice your purchase price for lemons under the Lemon Law. Calculate how much they owe you for the computer & for all parts/time you spent trying to fix it.

Next, go to your local Small Claims Court and file suit against Hewlett Packard. This is their US Headquarters business address: 3000 Hanover St. Palo Alto, CA 94304-1185.

You'll then have to serve them the papers the court gives you. Serving is the process of telling HP when and where they will have to appear in court. You will either have to have a professional server do this or someone who is unrelated to the case. YOU MAY NOT SERVE SOMEONE YOURSELF. I believe it can also be done by mail if you live far away from an HP office.

After you get an HP representative to sign the papers, you must return the papers to the court to finalize the court date.

Lastly, prepare your case and go to court on your court day. Preparation includes knowing what you are going to say and having proof ready to show the judge that HP had not been able to refund or replace the laptop and that their refusal has costed you valuable time and productivity.

Note: Most likely, if you follow these steps, HP will not send someone to represent them in court (depending on where you live). They sent someone for me because I live a few cities away from their Headquarters. If they do not send anyone, you win by default.

Note: HP will likely contact you after they receive word that you are suing them, offering a full refund. I would advise against taking the refund as they are likely offering it because they know they will lose in court, especially if you are suing for double your purchase price like I did.

MOST IMPORTANT STEP: After you win, tell everyone you know not to buy HP and tell everyone on the internet who is having similar problems how you got your resolution. Large corporations cannot be allowed to walk all over the consumers who trusted them.

 

Thats very encouraging at least for HP users like me who have got shoddy service from HP even though I had been buying their products for the last 8 years. Notebook has been serviced four times and am currently on my 3rd motherboard. Every fortnight I would receive a mail from them saying that it has been escalated and somebody would contact me soon. What happens is completely disgusting. I get telephone calls asking my notebook to be deposited again in the nearest service center. I work in a bank and it is unthinkable to part with my notebook as I have experienced they take a minimum of 10 days to even diagnose the actual problem here in India.

 

I strongly feel that more people should take this route. It's scary to think how many times companies like HP would get away with this. Because each and everyone of us has walked away from similar circumstances knowing you were right, but admitting it wasn't worth your time.

I had a similar issue with a Canadian Tire service center, who split the base pan on my Audi. They blatantly refused any responsibility. After several odd conversations with even stranger individuals working for Canadian Tire. I went about seeking some help from a lawyer friend of mine. It took one letter from his office, and everything was taken care of.

Vertical2010 great job on your part for standing your ground and documenting every detail you could. Large corporations like that bank on consumers/customers never taking it the next level, so glad to see you stuck to your guns and got the service you deserved.

 

Vertical2010, congratulations.

I would like to say a few words from a sociological point of view.

While it may seem virtually impossible for an individual to impact on a such large organizations, reality actually shows we can. And I'm not talking about economical outcomes only but, more importantly, it's all about of settling a consumer behavior record over time. These records, if more often, will inevitably end up modeling our way of thinking and doing business like any social fact does. I can't stress this enough: We can, as society, educate corporations with our behaviors. It's all a matter of not doing what they want us to do in order to make their profitable existance easier. I think this is exactly what Vertical2010 was trying to achieve. He was not after a huge amount of money after all. All he wanted to do is establish a record and educate HP on how business should be done in the right way.

Congratulations again, and for a more fair way of doing business in actual capitalism.

 

Thanks for the nice comments and AWESOME job deffshore. I wondered whether I should have gone after HP for triple damages (allowed in MA for unfair consumer practices) but figured that might make it harder to win. Now i kinda think i should have. And I recommend it to others if they sue. Find out what your state allows for the unfair and deceptive practices HP continues and go after them. Obviously, they have not changed their ways.

 

Your instincts are probably right, and you probably would have been awarded triple damages --- but at least you won!!! Just so you know (perhaps for next time), in a lawsuit, whatever damages you were seeking should not have made any difference as to whether you were going to win your case or not. Generally speaking, there are two separate aspects to a case: the first is: 'proving the case' and the second is: 'the recovery' that you get. In other words, you either have a provable, recoverable case or you don't. The question of what specific damages you are seeking, doesn't even come up unless and until a judge deems that you have proven your case. At that point the judge starts dealing with the damages portion of the case, not before.

 

Vertical,

I want to go the same route to have my laptop exchanged.
Anyway, Thanks for documenting your case and letting people know.

HP CANADA's representative told me so may weird things on the phone!!!

Stuff like: You should have researched/read reviews before buying this laptop!!!
And me to answer: Why, so I would've found out that I shouldn't buy an HP laptop and shouldn't trust your service dept?

 

that was really retarded on the reps part... looks like hp like hiring stupid ppl...

 

Sounds like a good plan exercise. Will be happy to provide any assistance I can, even though I am in the U.S. (Massachusetts, so not too far away) and not familiar with the Canadian justice system.

(see my post to you in "horrible repair service")

 

YUp, seen that.
Thanks for the support.

Now ,the techs swapped my HDD??? (overheating CPU I told them!!!)

And re-installed a fresh copy of the WRONG OS (I need Vista 64 NOT Vista 32).

What are my options!!!! I will call the case manager to complain for sure anyway, but can I DL a copy of Windows LEGALLY (download links available on this site) and use my Vista 64 key to install?

 

People are known to do stupid things under the stress of work. The rep's words don't surprise me one bit. They don't have the training nor should they be asked to provide answers they would have no idea how to answer.

 

True surfasb, but i think part of the problem is that people don't understand what a case manager is. Since you already need to have a case number (after dealing with tech support) before you're assigned a case manager, most people (like me) assume the issue has been "escalated." I am now convinced this is absolutely false. The case managers are the "fixers" or hit-men designed to make you go away. Yes, they are definitely lacking in technical knowledge, but many seem to be fairly well educated and can do a pretty good job making you think it's your fault, that you caused the damage or are somehow using the product improperly, or that there is nothing else that can be done. It is probably a job prerequisite that they be pretty good at talking in circles and or confusing people. And I'll bet they are evaluated based on how many cases they make go away, not how many problems they've solved.

So that's what a case manager does. Don't fall for it.

 

I happen to know there is a guide somewhere.
Anyway you can either borrow a Vista 64bit disc or google for it.
The guide will work on all Vista installation except Enterprise because they activate via VLK.

 

I got to say...really smart, nice description of the situation!
I guess you tapped right into HP's Case Manager's handbook or something. All the blued items have been utilized a lot during my "interactions" with the case manager.


My classic: " Sir, running 5 or 6 browser windows at once is ABUSING the machine, they're not meant for that!" Quote from an HP Canada Case Manager


Weinter: I re-installed Vista 64 bits (HP Recovery disks that I made when I first got the laptop) It works in 64 bits ok now!

 

You should have said then you should have installed a Non-Multitasking operating system like DOS in my computer!

 

That is really funny. I guess we are all serial machine abusers then. Maybe we can get group therapy.

 

This is actually true. They can get Bonuses for RMA's that they can make go away.

Truth is, they don't hire people for technical knowledge. They hire people that follow company policies.

 

And this is why I hate tech support over the phone. There is no written record.

Tech support is an incredibly intensive job that requires a meticulous attention to detail. The phone does not facilitate this at all.

This is why I constantly advise users to use Dell's webchat. A technician can review what you've typed multiple times scrutinizing and exploring possible scenarios. A phone just does not facilitate this kind of support. If you study psychology you've probably also heard of the alarming rate people forget what they just said over an time frame of just a half an hour.

This is why I'm never surprised when people tell me horror stories about trying to receive proper tech support over the phone. IT folks for years and years have been using troubleshooting tools like remote connections and remote admin tools to get things done. Imagine trying to do that crap by instructions over the phone. Just one instance is enough to make me throw the phone through the wall.

Then multiply that over the span of a whole day. You now know the life of a phone tech support personnel. Use the right tool for the job. You don't bother with a handsaw when the job clearly calls for a circular saw.

 

True that! You're talking tech support there. When you get to the "case manager" level, you're on the phone anyway mostly. And the case manager doesn't deal with your computer problem, he's dealing with his problem; Another customer that he has to convince to let it slide...or send his laptop for repair up to 3 times before he get's to the next echelon up the HP food chain...

 

Very true about convincing the customer to let it slide. They really work at it, but according to my case mgr there was not another step in the food chain (he was the end of the road.) I even wrote to executive customer relations but they just forwarded the letter to the case manager. That's why i assumed i had no choice but to sue in small claims court. My state (MA) requires a notification letter prior to filing suit, telling them exactly what the problem is, what you expect them to do about it, and that you will sue if they don't. Once HP received that letter the case manager said he couldn't deal with me any more because I was going the "legal route" - fine with me. HP didn't respond to the letter within 30 days, so i filed suit.