Why you should never by an HP laptop!

Here is a little story about the worst customer service I have ever received:

I bought a HP dv2500 in July of 2007. Everything was fine for three months when my AC adapter suddenly started making a loud hissing sound. I called HP to report the problem and they said they would ship out an replacement as soon as possible. Here is a review of what happened after that:

September 22, 2007 - Received confirmation that replacement would be sent out.

October 9, 2007 - Received first of three emails saying the part was on back order, each one pushing back the estimated delivery date 2 weeks. Ended up going to Best Buy and purchasing a Targus adapter.

December 29, 2007 - Checked my order status again to find it had been canceled. Why? No one I talked to at HP knew why. I then called customer support and spent 84 minutes talking with them, was transferred back and forth between the same two departments 4 different times, and finally was told a new adapter would be sent out to me.

January 4, 2008 - New AC adapter finally received.

When the AC adapter finally arrived I remember thinking I hope I never have another problem with my computer. Unfortunately, for me on February 28th my computer completely died. I called up customer service again, spent two hours trying to troubleshoot the problem after which they told me I'd need to send the computer back to them. Here's what's happened since:

March 2, 2008 - Shipped computer back to HP; Expected return date was March 10th. I figured I could live without my laptop for a week so I was fairly happy.

March 10, 2008 - Still hadn't received my laptop. Go online to check my status and find that the expected return date had slipped to March 24th. Call customer service and ask that my case get elevated. I'm transferred to HP Case Management where I leave a message.

March 15, 2008 - Still no return call. Call HP Case Management again. Forced to leave another message

March 24, 2008 - Get call from HP Case Management. They tell me they are still waiting for the part. Expected delivery date is bumped to April 10th. I ask at what point they will send me a replacement and the answer I get from the case manager is "Never. If you read the terms of your warranty you'd know that" I ask to speak to his supervisor because he is so rude and he says he doesn't have a supervisor.

April 4, 2008- Call HP Case Management again and ask for an update. Same case manager tells me "All you can do is wait. I can't help you." I hang up and write this post.

I don't know if my experience is indicative of the typical customer service at HP but I encourage everyone to think twice before buying an HP product, especially a laptop.

 

Why you should never buy a(n):

Gateway
Sony
Acer
Toshiba
Dell
Alienware

Why customer support sucks: $$$

 

Lithus your wit is stinging!

 

Greenie, sorry about your experience. You'll find a few stories like yours around here. Some with somewhat happy endings. Nevertheless, it's shameful that a company can take your property like that and leave you in limbo.

Since HP pays for shipping to and from, perhaps they should consider the option of a loaner program. They ship you a loner - you ship yours back in the box the loaner came in. But of course there's pitfalls a plenty with that idea.

 

Quite frankly greenie34, just because you had that experience doesn't mean everyone else is, and should stop buying HP.

 

Under no circumstances should you stand for the way you were treated. Go around the jerk who has been giving you a hard time. Work your way up the ladder, speak with someone else and keep going until you get a fair shake. The pinhead who was rude to you is worm. Step on him.
You can also get in touch with the BBB and file a complaint. Don't put up with it!

 

1 more reason:
I've owned a HP NC4200 for about 3 years. Everything is ok.
My laptop is still very useful. No problem happened in that time.

But now the problem is that I wanna find a new cap of pointstick to replace my worn-out one.
HP is providing it with a collection of 20 caps at the price of $ 60.
I don't need 20 ones, I need only 3 or 4.
It sucks.

I can easily order 3 new caps for my Thinkpad T61 with $ 6.
Why can't I do similarly with my HP NC4200???

For this reason, in the future maybe I will not buy a HP laptop anymore.

 

That is the thing though isn't it? Dell parts are far more plentiful on the web. Even on ebay.

Or you could look at it as a money making opportunity. Buy it, keep 3 and sell the rest on Ebay for $10 each. You can't be the only one looking for those caps.

 

Does Dell part fit my HP?

Btw, your idea is good I'll consider doing that way

 

Greenie, definitely be persistent. Read the post by Case.Managers.Suck and check out the sweet deal he was given!

 

Greenie34

I'm just starting my fight with them..I have had it..

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=236658

btw no call from HP today..tomorrow I call the lady back in HP headquarters..

after this no more HP for me

 

See this is why you buy laptops from Asus. Since they are their own manufacturer, they tend to have better quality control, and by far some of the best customer service in the industry. My laptop had a few dead pixels in the screen, and a bad battery. I called, got a case number, it was picked up from my door step the next day, and sent in, repaired within a week and returned to my door step, at no charge to me! Beautfiul process.

The lesson I have learned, is never purchase products from companies that use ODM's because quality control is crap and therefore products are crap. Case in point, laptop companies such as Dell, Toshiba, Acer, HP, Sony etc. all have a majority of their laptops manufactured by Quanta. So quality compared to an Asus, or a Lenovo is subpar...

 

I'm keeping my fingers crossed but so far I can't complain about HP's service. My dv6736nr had several errors in the event viewer and one was a deal breaker, it pointed to the processor.

Exchanged it at Best Buy for the same thing, and it was exactly the same. Same errors!

After I got it elevated the case manager sent me the Recovery DVDs to try. Same errors.

Called him back and he had a dv6700 custom built to match mine, wanted to see if it would have the same errors. It did so I sent it back!

He said he would have to check to see what to do next.

After a few days I forced the SP1 download and installed it. This fixed the errors. I have a new error but M$ says to ignore it.

Called the case manager back and told him SP1 fixed it.

 

did you do a bios update?

 

Wow, I bought a HP DV1000 2 years ago. Still running strong, no probems whatsoever and guess what, it was made in China.

Sorry to hear about yoru mess you went thru but Customer Service Sucks form every company you work with. But 4 freaking months wait for a stupid adapter? Shame on you HP!

 

At this point I'd recommend you call your CC company and ask them to reverse the charge (either the full charge, or the cost of the adapter). HP will listen then...they don't listen to anything but money (nor does Dell, or any other company).

 

I hope the support center isnt like that in the UAE

 

Was that HP USA??

I had a looong history of dealing with HP UK home range notebook.
I can't really say much bad about the business as they were quite ok, yet still not did few things 'my way'

But the normal CS have lost my notebook for a month and a half to eventually find it. No one new how, when or what. The repair dept still owes me £50 voucher for loosing it. Need to call them I guess and chase it up
Well, after loosing it it went throu a series of 4 repairs, coming back with the same problem again and again, as well as with some others. After fighting if for... lest add up... FOR 6 MONTHS I was finally been given a refund on that piece of c***! Thanks God!!

This was my gf notebook, and now I am getting her Vostro 1400... will see about that Somehow I am still not convinced about Dell, but the price was really good for the spec especially that she wanted a 14" machine.

So from me: NEVER, EVER BUY A NOT BUSINESS HP MACHINE...
if you buy a business model make sure its reliable or you have business warranty on it. FULL STOP.

 

I'm loving my HP laptop.

About some one here saying Asus for example being their own producer.. No one makes everything for themselves, it's a complex web of contractors and sub contractors etc. like every where else.

The HP laptop is very well built, strong sturdy frame, quiet yet powerful. I'm impressed as I thought the Lenovo's were simply the best.

Simon

 

Dont forget you have a business range, top class workstation model... it is expected to be like that.

 

Before I begin with my experience, I want to state that I really do like HP/Compaq branded laptops and rarely have to deal with Customer Service.

I had a similar experience when trying to RMA a 3 week old hard drive from my laptop that died. I first was told the "Replacement Somethingorother" was busy and he will call you back about 3pm. Exactly 3pm, nothing. I call back, speak with someone and they said that I have to wait until after 3pm(It was now 3:03pm) as an "alarm" will be sent and a manager will call me back. I beg the guy to check and see if the replacement somethingorother was available. Viola, he was. Well 2 hours later with this guy who apparently has recently had an lobotomy, we are still at a standstill. They want to put a hold on my credit card for $330 as collateral to cross ship another drive. Keep in mind the drive is a 120gb Seagate Momentus 5400.3, which can be purchased online for $70. I refuse, so they want me to ship my whole laptop to them for god knows how many weeks. This is not something I want to do, so I just ended up going out and purchasing a 160gb Western Digital Scorpio drive, which, incidentally is MUCH faster than the Seagate. So all in all, it was a crappy CS experience, but this does not single HP out. I have yet to be totally satisfied with ANY brand customer service. I will say this. Dell seems to be the worst.

 

That is a very broad and accusing statement...
I find the build quality of most laptops to be pretty good, including companies that use ODM's. The build quality of my dv9500 and the T61 is quite similar, and the HP doesn't have a single scratch, break, or dent on it.

Regarding your experience with ASUS: Like Lithus said, there are good and bad experiences with every brand, and if you look in a brand specific thread, there will always be more threads about poor service than good service.

 

Ha.. yeah, just google "_______ sucks" and you'll get plenty of hits. The electronics industry is really becoming quite corrupt (much like everything else these days). Unfortunately, it ends up coming down to choosing "the lesser" of the various Evils. For me, That would be HP... They ALL totally blow donkey *****. You just have to figure out which one blows the least donkey *****... For some it's Dell, some it's acer... some its... err... "sager". I've owned 3 HP computers (I desktop, 2 laptops) and they've so far been great.

Also, unless under warranty, I would NEVER send my computer away to anyone. If I really needed it fixed, and it was beyond my means, I would bring it to a local computer tech shop (NOT the big guys like "firedog" or "geek squad"... they are just a bunch of half wit teen-agers). "best" buy and other big box electronic stores are no better than the manufactures. They all just want your money.

MONEY - MONEY - MONEY! Gotta love it...

Good luck.

 

I worked for the Geek Squad. Thanks.

 

lmao half-wit teenager...

All big companys will have customer service nightmares. It will work out fine for some people and it will drive some nuts.

Asus seems to have the best warranty service from what i hear...

 

Nice... than you should know first hand exactly what I'm talking about

 

I would call the Better Business Bureau probably in California and I am sure you will get your problem resolved rather quickly.Toshiba is a better notebook and there support people are based in the United States

 

This is the exact same story for me only change the adapter to a battery. They had my laptop for a month and a half and when I got it back the headphone jack was not working. They only started moving their asses when I called the better business bureau. Then HP told them I refused service because I would'nt send my laptop back to be fixed again. I could not go another month without my lappy. Never again

 

Yesterday I had to drop off a Gateway laptop because they forgot to reinstall my OS after replacing the hard drive. Well I overheard a conversation between the "Lead" Geek squad agent, he had just bought a new HP laptop and had a minor problem. He was saying how he was up all night trying to fix that problem, also he had brought it in so the G-squad could look at it. Well when I heard exactly what prolem he was having I told him how to fix it. I was very suprised.