What are all these crazy complaints all of a sudden about HP quality and service???

There are now like 3 topics about people who are getting screwed by HP.

Having there computer break within days of recieving it.

Having it sent in for repairs and coming back even more damaged.

Is this some kind of joke? Is HP really this terrible? Should I return this machine and go with a different company?!?

I just bought a DV5T

 

nah, just the shear number of laptops that gets sold it is not uncommon to find 1-3% faults as acceptable in the production criteria.

Unfortunately the people who are unhappy with their laptops or are unsatisfied with the customer service they received are bound to be more public and vocal about it than those who were happy.

Do not worry there is nothing fundamentally wrong with your machine. Be happy and if you got any problems we and HP are here to help you.

MadEngineer

 

Well it is posts like....

"Hey I had to return this 10 + times"

or

"Hey they told me my waranty was expired and it hasn't been a year yet!"

Or

"Hey I sent it in, they damaged it, and blamed it on me!"

This stuff is a bit ridiculous. My system came to me damaged. a busted fan that makes terrible noises.

 

well, i think with the new "dv" series, i have heard many complaints about build quality,b ut I have had HPs in the past and have never had a problem with customer service. Honestly, these people are from India (nothing mean to them) but they don't speak and aren't trained for rude americans. if you reason with them, you shouldn't have anything to worry about.

 

The old series (6000s) had been around for a long time and people got used to it. The new series (the single digits ones) have been launched mid of this year and getting to know its flaws and strengths.

As mentioned by FD is that some people are just not appreciative and patient. They require everything to work their way and as at speed they want. They are not able to communicate well enough to get their systems fixed.

I do not disagree that you could be in a soup that the rep who fixed your computer did not do it the right way and you problem may have stayed the same or worse inflated. Thats the way consumer model works. If each and every laptop was to be tested and ran for 100 hrs before giving ok...you would be paying 2-3 times that amount. Business laptops are generally more expensive for this purpose that they undergo a higher number of tests and R&D.

In short - relax and enjoy your laptop.

 

If you're not satisfied, return it please. There's alot of threads about the hp because it's the most popular notebook.

 

HP actually have north american reps during american working hours.

 

Hearing these horror stories just make someone worry. I want my laptop to last a few years, not a couple months.

 

Computers break, especially notebooks. If certain brands have failed you and they have poor support, do not support them in the future. If a company gets that negligent and arrogant about their customers, they will die. EoS.

 

Is HP like this? this is my worry.

 

that is indeed an old topic, and the answer is NO.

you will only hear from the people that have problems with their laptop. those who are happy with their laptops don´t bother to post their " success" stories.
but of course those people that did have a proplem with HP are willing to post their " horrible" experiences here.......

i have had an experience with HP support here in Germany and it all went well.i posted my unbiased experience with HP :
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=289108

i have been treated nice and have nothing to complain about...

 

hp service has been excellent , at least in my experience . no complaints , i was so pleased withe the service i bought 4 more hp laptops , all business class notebooks , that might be the difference in service- build

 

DV5T is not a business model =/

 

Will you quit bumping your threads every 5 minutes...good god. Half of all the HP threads I see are started by you.

 

This is a big investment for me. I can't afford to waste 900 bucks man =/

 

Send your unit back. There is a chance, however small, that you will end up in customer service nightmare.

 

I'm just curious why he still owns an HP... considering the amount of problems and issues he's having, I would've expected him to give HP the middle finger and go buy something else...

...but he keeps the machine and still keeps on *****ing about it...

 

He's been out of the computer loop for a while and things have changed radically since from his POV. So it seems he's having trouble adapting and learning the ropes.

 

There is nothing wrong with his laptop. He is looking for and creating problems for his laptop. It's like Münchausen syndrome - an incessant need to create attention for one's self.

 

I predict his going to complain about the lit "HP" logo on the cover and make a new thread about it... watch

 

HP logo doesn't bother me. It turns off when you go into sleep.

And nothing is wrong with my computer right now, except the broken fan. gotta send it back for them to fix it.

My worry is that 6 months from now it will be another problem.

I need to knwo my investment is solid. The reason I am sticking with HP at the moment is I got this system for 900 bucks. Almost 400 bucks less then a similar system from Sager. I just need to trust it is a quality machine. So far I keep hearing how they break ALL the time.

 

Note that these horror stories all deal with HP's consumer grade laptops. Frankly, consumer grade laptops from any manufacturer aren't designed to last for much more than a year even under light use.

If you need/want something that will last for a few years, you need to be looking at business laptops instead of worrying about customer service. Business laptops will last for years without needing service, which renders concerns over fraudulent customer service practices largely moot.

When it comes to quality, you never get more than you pay for.

 

Did you really just say that consumer laptops don't last for much more than a year?

The statistics are a 40% chance of needing repair in 4 years, so well over 60% disagrees with you.

 

I said they weren't designed to last for much more than a year. Most will last longer than that, but it's really a role of the dice if any individual unit will make it too far beyond the warranty period.

 

That doesn't make any sense. I could say the same thing for any product, for example, "Cars are only made to last a little more than a year, it's a roll of the dice if they last any longer". Furthermore, I could also say the same thing for any period of time - "Laptops are only made to last a little more than one day, it's a roll of the dice if any individual unit will make it too far beyond that".

What you're saying is a universal truth: products will fail...sometime. Well, duh.

 

I think what he's trying to say is that if things are to fail, it should fail within the warranty period... if it doesn't, then it should work through the rest of its life...

but as with most products... there really is no way to predict its failure... hence why there are warranties in place...

 

Lasting for a year is not good enough. I need this laptop to atleast last a few years. and light use? I plan to use it daily...

My alienware lasted 4 years. Why would this laptop only last a year?

This really is starting to scare me.

 

See what I said about Mauchausen syndome - he completely ignores the hard data - that any given laptop has a 40% chance of requiring repair within 4 years - and focuses on the offhand remark that laptops "aren't designed to last for more than a year".

If I've learned anything in my years with computers, it's that the expected lifespan of a computer is directly proportional with the knowledge level and experience of the user. From that knowledge, I would highly recommend you invest in a warranty or some sort of insurance policy.

 

I absolutely agree with that statement 100%. I have a mother-in-law who has more computer problems in a day than most people have in a year, and it's because she knows absolutely nothing about how to properly use or maintain a computer. She'll click on any link that pops up in front of her, including phishing links in emails, and she deletes things at random which completely cripple programs, ultimately causing severe issues. And then she has the audacity to blame her problems on A. Microsoft (Windows), B. Hardware, or C. the manufacturer, even though the problems are really mostly self-inflicted.

Anyways, regarding Xythil's paranoia - I don't think there is necessarily one brand that is any more dependable than another, because they are all essentially made with the same parts and therefore they are all just as prone to failure. What does separate one company or brand from another is their service, and how they take care you when a part does fail. I have used HP laptops for the past 5 years, and any time I've had a problem I have sent in my system and had it back within 3-5 days. And just recently I even found out that there is an authorized service center just 5 miles from my house, so I can just drop it off there to save a few days of shipping. I have been nothing short of thrilled with the customer service that I have received from HP in the past 5 years.

 

This has to be the most ridiculous post I have ever seen on this site. The laptop I'm typing on right now is ~3 years old and it's still running strong, and I haven't had a single problem with it in that time. I had my last laptop for 2.5 years, and the only reason I got rid of that one was to replace it with a newer dual-core laptop. So maybe I should hit Vegas and roll some dice at the roulette table since I've been so lucky?

Most people I know get at least 2-3 years out of their laptops, and the only reason most people get a new one is to upgrade to newer technology, not because the old one dies.

I do agree with you on this statement. The overall build quality of business laptops are generally much better than consumer models, but the hardware inside is usually the same so they are just as prone to hardware failure. They just make them more physically durable because business laptops are used to travel around with a lot more and they are handled by employees who most likely mistreat them since they aren't technically "their" laptops. They also know that businesses don't upgrade their laptops quite as often as consumers do, so they need to make them to take more years of abuse than consumer models. I was really impressed with the one HP business model that I did have which had a magnesium alloy case that was virtually indestructible. But I actually had more hardware problems with that one than I have with any of my consumer HP laptops.

 

I had an external monitor by HP die a little after 1 year. Incidentally, the monitor only has a 1 year warranty. QA & QC run tests on the machines and apply a certain length of warranty. Things more prone to break get a shorter warranty.

 

My HP tablet last year that I bought had a problem with the wireless malfunctioning. I bought it as a Xmas present to myself and I had to ship it back to HP to get it fixed.

They didn't give me a hard time ONLY because I researched and found that other owners had the same problem. the guy was indian and I think they were using VOIP which made it harder because while he was talking, the sound would break up and get chopping...dropped packets?

Anyways, he said the laptop would be fixed within 7 days, I didn't believe him, but he was right, it came back to me less than 7 days and it's been working perfectly so far.

So did I get a faulty laptop? yes...

Did HP take care of me? yes...

Was it uneventful....yeah, pretty much, I didn't expect to spend $1200 for a faulty laptop but at least HP fixed it...

Will I buy an HP again? I'm looking forward to it...I only cross my fingers I don't get a faulty one...

I can't see myself buying any other vendor...

Also, if you lookup Sony, Dell, Acer and other PC maker forums, you will find that all users of all vendors complain about their products, there's just no way around it...

People pay EXTRA for Apple, and the latest new macbooks are full of horror stories...

So it's not so much how much you're paying for it....

 

Well I was looking to maybe spending a couple extra hundred bucks on a Sager for something a bit more durable.

I am just worried that with daily use this DV5T won't last be very long and I will be out 800 bucks.

 

Are you worried about hardware failure (Hard Drive, WiFi, Motherboard, CPU, etc), or are you talking about physical durability such as the scratches on the case, LCD hinges craking, touchpad wearing out, etc?

If you are talking about hardware durability, then an HP will be just as durable as a Sager or a Sony or an ASUS or just about anything. They are ALL just as prone to failure, because as I mentioned above they are mostly all made of the same parts. Almost every manufacturer uses the same CPU's, Video Cards, Wireless Cards, Hard Drives, etc, so there would be no reason that one brand would be more prone to hardware failure than another.

If you are talking about physical durability, then that's where you can really see a difference from one brand to the next. The HP dv4/dv5/dv7 doesn't seem to be very physically durable to me, because everything is made of shiny flimsy plastic which is prone to cracks, scratches, etc. I can't speak for the Sager personally, but from looking at pictures it seems like it would be more physically durable than the HP. That doesn't mean it is less prone to hardware failures, but the case might hold up a little bit better.

 

Well it is sort of both.

I don't want my video card randomly going out when I need it most. Or my back light going out on screen.

I plan to travel almost daily with my system to work. I have a nice padded backpack for it.

I am just looking for peace of mind really. Getting the system delivered to me damaged has a lot to do with this. Then looking at all the horror stories concerning HP hasn't made it better.

Then some guy said they are not really meant for daily use. I will most likely be playing WoW on this thing 4-5 hours 3-4 days a week... so reliability is important to me.

Scratches and stuff are my own doing. I take good care of my stuff.

 

You should get an extended warranty... that'll give you peace of mind...

 

I used to recommend HP as my mainstream computer brand of choice. However, their products have been terrible for me after their warranties expire...

725n Desktop: bout 1.5-2 years after, the power supply fried, taking out the HDD with it
Compaq v2000z: motherboard failure, 6 months after purchase (thankfully, warranty covered)
nx9420: loose hinge (sent in, did not get repaired even though they said they did), lines going down screen (most likely broken video cable, which I discovered after some of my diagnostic experimentation)
tx1000z: suffering from nVidia chipset wireless issue (the same one that Vistabad has). Although covered for other notebooks by the enhanced warranty program, HP refuses to recognize it as defect covered under the program.

Their printers are the only things that have consistently worked for me. Their support leaves much to be desired (it took 4 weeks to "fix" my broken hinge, not to mention the tx1000 fiasco). I'm not computer illiterate, and despite them being uglier, Dells offer more for your money. Period. They're better built and have better options. But I still don't like them either.

Sorry HP, I just can't recommend you to my friends and family anymore. You've lost me as a customer.

 

What about Sager? Here is my situation

Have a DV5T but thinking of returning it. It was an amazing price but it came with a broken fan and I am concerned about HPs longevity.

This is my current system, but I am thinking of returning it , it cost 869$

- HP Pavilion dv5t Entertainment Notebook
- Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1 (32-bit)
- Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo Processor P7350 (2.0GHz)
- 15.4" diagonal WSXGA+ High-Definition HP BrightView Widescreen Display (1680 x 1050)
- Onyx
- 3GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
- 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT
- 160GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
- Webcam Only
- HP Color Matching Keyboard
- Wireless-G Card
- No Modem
- SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
- No TV Tuner w/remote control
- 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery

This is the system I am looking at: You list it as about 1230$ with Idaho tax for me.
Sager NP2096 Custom Laptop (Built on the Compal JHL90)
- 15.4" WSXGA+ "Glare Type" Super Clear Ultra Bright Glossy Screen (1680x1050)
- Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound
- Standard Dead Pixel Policy
- ~Intel® P8400 45nm "Montevina" Core™2 Duo 2.26GHz w/3MB L2 On-die cache - 1066MHz FSB 25 watt ~
- 512MB PCI-Express nVidia GeForce 9600M GT DDR2 DX10
- ~ 4,096MB DDR2 800 (2 SODIMMS) Dual Channel Memory (Requires Vista 64-Bit to recognize Full 4GB)
- ~Combo 8x8x6x4x Dual Layer DVD +/-R/RW 5x DVD-RAM 24x CD-R/RW Drive w/Softwares
- ~ 200GB 7200RPM (Serial-ATA II 300 - 16MB Cache)
- Internal 3-in-1 Card Reader (SD/MMC/MS)
- Internal Bluetooth + EDR
- Built-in Intel® PRO/Wireless 5100 802.11 a/g/n
- - Built in 2.0 Megapixel Camera
- Sound Blaster Compatible 3D Audio - Included
- Carying Case Optional (Select if desired)
- Smart Li-ion Battery (9-Cell)
- ~Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit Installed (64&32-Bit CD Included) w/ Drivers & Utilities CD's
- 1 Year Parts & Labor, Lifetime Sager Toll Free Tech Support

What is important to me is price, durability, the ability to play World of Warcraft , Starcraft 2 , Diablo 3 ect... I went wit HP because of the amazing price they are offering. I have since heard stories that their build quality is questionable and their customer service is terrible. What would be the advantage of the Sager? Is there any deals you could offer me as a graduate student to make the Sager system more affordable? And how does the durability compare between the two companies? I plan on using this system daily for internet/chat/watching streaming video ect... and ever so often for gaming. I want it to last 2-3 years, not fail in the first couple of months or a year. Waht advantages does the Sager have over the HP for such a higher price? I need reliability in my laptop. The system specs for both systems are very close, which is why I went with HP. But I am worried about the reliability of the DV5T/ Any advice you could offer would be appreciated.

 

One of the reasons I originally went with HP vs. Sager (about 3 1/2 years ago) was because I read so many horror stories (at the time) on Sager forums about failing units and poor customer service; now I realize it is (unfortunately) pretty much the same for all brands. No matter what you buy, there is a percentage of units that will get past QC checks and fail quickly; as previously stated, that is why manufacturers provide warranties.

IF, however, a manufacturer creates a product line (like HP's ZD7000 model) that has one or more defects in which almost all units fail within a set period of time (like 3-4 years) for the same reason (e.g. - power pin breakage or GPU failure), I believe the manufacturer should stand behind their product; in my case, HP did (that's how I got my DV9700T) but there are many folks who have a $2000 doorstop because they did not get on the class-action suit against HP in time.

My recommendation, buy an extended warranty regardless of from whom you purchase your laptop, if you intend on keeping it for any length of time. The catch-22 is that a 3 year extended warranty will cost you about 30% of the $800 you spent on the DV, so you need to decide if it is worth it to you or whether you would just rather get another notebook if your DV dies in say 2 years.

 

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