Yet another horrible HP Warranty repair experience

I haven't been here for about a year since I bought my laptop a HP 5dvt-1000.

The laptop has been great, however, when I received it last August the ethernet port was bad. An ethernet cable will not "click" into place upon insertion so the PC would lose a connection to a network when the cable moved even the smallest amount since it is not secured. This happens any cable I've tried.

Fast forward to this August '09. I use wireless 99% of the time and had no need for the ethernet port but since warranty was getting to run out I figured I'd get it fixed if I ever wanted to sell it. I send it in and HP looks at it and says a motherboard replacement is required and they will not cover it. They told me it was due to customer related damage. Yet another example of a company using this ploy in getting out of not honoring their warranty.

And it also didn't help that the CSR nor the manager had no power to do anything except read the script. Communication was difficult due to the fact I was talking to support in India.

The laptop is in mint condition. Zero signs of wear whatsoever. I baby my equipment.

If your looking for a new laptop, stay the hell away from HP. This one of the worst experiences I've had with a computer company. I have no recourse unless some kind soul can point me to a HP resource that can help me. Don't walk away, run from these scam artists.

 

Wow, sorry to hear. I just ordered an HDX18t and so far have been happiest with HP over Dell and IBM/Lenovo. Hope I dont have the same issues, I do know the hdx has US support so we will see. Is yours still covered under warranty?

 

If it was broken when you got it you should have done something about it then. Obviously the port has some broken plastic, so if you wait for a year before saying anything, they can only assume that you broke it by jamming in a plug the wrong way.

 

Why'd you wait so long?

 

What the heck does the wait have to do with it? Honestly if it happened 3 months or 12? All I can do is tell others about poor HP service. They can make up their own minds if they want to possibly deal with this. Take it or leave it.

 

Ah so it's my fault. I should be ashamed that I expected HP to fix it as they should. Doesn't matter if it broke in 1 months or 12, the warranty is the same. All I can do is spread the word about HP and hopefully persuade others to spend their hard earned dollars elsewhere. I sincerely hope you never have to go through it.

And btw it's not broken plastic. It requires a total MB replacement. I forgot to add the cost $398. I guess you get what you pay for huh?

 

It has to be broken plastic, and that piece is never separable from the motherboard. It isn't going to break itself, so if you tell them it is broken a year after you purchased the laptop and realized it came broken, they would have to be pretty foolish to believe your story. If you ever buy something with physical damage, you need to let them know right away or else the burden will fall on you to get it fixed because it is reasonable to assume that you caused the damage during your time of ownership.

 

Very sorry to hear that.. if it's still under warranty, I'd call again. There's a possibility that you'll get a kinder rep/manager

 

Did you contact a case manager?

 

Ya, you really should speak with a case manager as they are the only representatives that are allowed to apply logic.

I would get on the phone and demand to speak to a case manager... and then explain the ordeal to them. They should be able to offer a reasonable solution.

G'luk.

Oh and by the way, the time frame debate is useless. If he would have sent it the very same day he bought it, they still would have put the blame on him. It's not about how long he's had it since it's still under warranty. All that matters is that to them, such a problem is caused by the user. It's like the issue with the dust in the Infinity displays. If you call them to get it "fixed," they say it's your fault the dust got in. It doesn't matter if you call them after two days or two months, it's your fault the dust went in. Now, thinking logically, you would think that the time of ownership factors in, but it doesn't. They have a list.... X is caused by the user and Y is a possible manufacturer defect. The time of ownership does not factor into the list. X in this case happens to be a problem with the Ethernet port, and to them this is a user caused problem. If he sent it in even 15 minutes after he bought it, they would just assume he jammed it in incredibly hard and broke it. Hopefully that makes some sense...

 

Wow you really missed the point. I'm not even going to bother trying to rip apart your "genius" logic. I guess its the guilty before innocence theory. I would not go out on a limb to take a guess that you don't run a company or deal with people huh?

Welcome to ignore.

 

To those that indicate that I contact a case manager. I don't know where to start. I asked the CS Rep and her manager and they basically, as they usually do, said the buck stopped there. There was nothing else that could be done.

If anyone can please point me with a phone number, I will be forever in your debt. Thanks much.

 

This is pretty old, I had saved it from when I was pummeling my case manager about a year ago... but it's worth a shot: 1-800-917-4380 ext: 94.

If it doesn't work, just get on with a representative and make it clear to them you are not getting off the line until you speak with a case manager. Eventually, they will get the point and connect you... it's just going to take some time, some pummeling on your part, and the stubbornness of a donkey.

G'luk.

 

I think you missed my point. As a matter of fact, that is how companies keep from being ripped off by unscrupulous consumers. You've obviously never had to deal with these sorts of things or are just too furious to see the point. I guess HP is running itself into the ground and is unable to deal with customers. You come in here ripping on HP when they arrived at the only logical conclusion. And, no, I'm not blaming you or saying that you're "guilty."

 

After having a long list of problems with HP's tech support and customer/service reps with my first dv5t, I finally had to have it replaced with a new one. During that whole ordeal, I found that I was only able to obtain satisfaction with the US reps, and would call and hang up repeatedly until someone from US picked up the phone. (Usually, by the way, I had the best luck reaching US support late in the day, around 5PM.) After receiving a case number, I always asked to speak to a supervisor, and when dealing with supervisors, I always asked to be elevated up to the next level. (Some were more conciliatory than others!) I found that in general, the US reps were far more knowledgable and sympathetic, and were far more willing to think out of the box. Good luck with your quest. For me, I've got a great replacement dv5t and a 3 year warranty, but when I finally need it (which I hope I never do) I think I'm going to pay for local repair service so I can keep a close eye on them, and stay the h__l away from HP repair service!!!

PS Here are the phone numbers I used, but I can't tell you which is best for reaching a case manager:
Tech Support – 800 633 3600
Sales Dept - (888) 999-4747 888 222 0029 + 1 (866) 377-5970
Consumer Product Support: 800 474 6836 - for returns + exchanges + other issues

 

Ya I was doing the exact same thing yesterday. I kept calling over and over but still got India. Had no luck yet.

But, when I first contacted HP, I used Live Chat which was a nightmare. Every response from the rep took 5-10 min. So 1 hour into the chat the rep asks me "So what do you want us to do?". Wanted to pull my hair out. I called later and luckily got a great rep from the US and got everything done in 5 min. He told me some CS Reps use Babel Fish to translate everything that's why it's so slow. Can you get any more pathetic service than that?

So I'm out of warranty now but I'll try a little more. It's past the frustration point. I've already ordered an expresscard network card already. I'll chalk it up to a horrible experience and never ever give HP business again. I work in the IT consultancy business and deal with a lot of Fortune 500 companies. I'll make sure I will get the word out of this experience to anyone who wishes to listen.

Also, I just found about another new problem. When I check on the status of my order to find out when I'll get my laptop back, it tells me the order doesn't exist now. Let's see if I get it back this year. With the way I've been treated thus far, it wouldn't surprise me if I did.

 

Actaully, we can see you're upset, but, you are partially to blame.
You've waited to nearly the end of your warranty period to place a claim for a physically damaged part.

NO ONE has blamed you for breaking the part. But, you need to accept responsibility for your lack of timeliness and responsibility. You wait a whole year for this type of problem and yet expect HP to JUMP and repair the issue.

As has been pointed out to you, this is standard operating procedure whether the people speak English or Swahili. EVERY time you receive anything in the mail that is broken when you first get it, ALWAYS report it asap. I'll pretty much guarantee if you had contacted HP about this problem within a few days of getting a broken part they would have honored your claim

Think about it, if you had a business serving millions of people how would you react to this? NO, I mean honestly how would you react?
At this point they made an assumption. Should they not do that? Probably, but again, this is standard. You want them to be reasonable, but you aren't being reasonable. If you were then you would have contacted HP when you first saw the problem.

I've purchased 5 laptops from HP over the past year, and I had great experiences with purchase and with 2 repairs on one of the units.
Luckily, on that unit I did buy the extended warranty that also included accidental damage. The reason I bought it for that one is because that laptop went to my niece on her first year in college, and I knew something would happen, and it did.
The experience was quite shocking how easy and quick it went.
Granted this may have happened due to paying for the extended warranty, but they honored their committment to 100%.
Within 24hrs of initiating the claim, HP Fedex'd a shipping box to me.
I packed the laptop and took it to Fedex, and it shipped to the Tennesse repair center within 1-2 days. All shipping back and forth, all at next day to 2 days was paid for by HP according to the warranty contract. The repair was done within a couple of days, and I got the laptop back all within less than a week, NO problems. I was shocked at how well this was handled.
HP has really improved there. And, it was refreshing that the repair center was right here in the US.

The problem was that some of my nieces college friends were playing around and one girl accidently landed an elbow right in the middle of the LCD screen, it broke internally. HP fixed it no problem and no questions asked.
About 4 months later there was a problem with the cable for the LCD screen.
Procedure to repair was the same, and it was just as fast and easy.
So the first time was no fluke.

Granted the extended warranty can be a bit pricey, but if you ask for a discount you can get one. In the case of this laptop the warranty paid for itself within the first year, and this warranty is good for 3yrs total, she's got 2 more on it.

I didn't get this type of warranty for the other 4 laptops as they are used only within the home environment, much less prone to damage.
3 DV5's and 2 DV6's all running great.
Much better quality and experience than with Dell. I work for a university and we have a contract with Dell. We constantly have problems with the products and the repairs, but they keep it due to the pricing, and because someone must be getting free trips and gifts.

BTW, you said it wasn't a big deal for you, as shown by your 1 yr lack of concern, so what's the big deal anyway? If it was that important to you, then we're right back to where we started with you should have done something right then.

 

Have HP jump to repair the issue? Where the hell did you read that? Your reading comprehension is obviously lacking. I never once said I want HP to jump and repair the issue. I just want them to honor the warranty as stated. It doesn't matter one iota if I claim something on the warranty, be it the first day or the last. It's still supposed to be covered. Your saying the warranty is more effective at the beginning then at the end. Have to say that's one of the stupidest things I've ever heard.

The rest was a little too long and rambling for me to even bother to read. Judging by the quality of the beginning content of your post I know I didn't miss much.

 

Your lack of ability to bother with things is what got you in this situation in the first place, and is the reason why your comments are ignorant, because you lack understanding and experience.

Where did I read that? Where did you read that I said, the warranty is more effective at the beginning than at the end? Bud, your anger is related to your idiocy.
LISTEN UP. If you're going to come onto a forum and rant and ask for help then TAKE the advice. My comments are in line with what a lot of other posters here have said, and you railed at them as well, because you simply can not accept that you screwed up.

The warranty is NOT more effective at the beginning. Read and understand first before arguing right away at what's being said. The point here is that you had a BROKEN part when you FIRST got the thing. Why would it have been more effective at the beginning with THIS type of problem? Because the problem in question had to be broken somehow.
SO, by waiting so long HP's assumption is that YOU broke it. Well, the standard warranty does not include damage caused by the owner. AGAIN, NO ONE said you broke it, except for HP. So, under that assessment HP is NOT obligated to fix this problem. If you can show proof that this problem occurred when you first got the laptop then HP would honor their warranty.
Hmmm.....now how could you have shown proof? Oh, I know! By submitting a claim for it as soon as you received the broken part! Get it? No, I didn't think so.

Before you go off half cocked and half baked again, it's not everyone else's reading comprehension that's the problem. That's like a crazy person demanding he's the sane one and everyone else is crazy. You read what you like and misinterpret and misrepresent what you don't. And, it's obvious your attention span needs help too.


Done. It isn't worth going around again with your "reasoning"

 

ttv makes some great points. Give them proof that the part came broken. If I was the laptop company, I'd listen to your complaint and examine your warranty period as well. 1 year warranty, no accidental damage. Some person calls up demanding us to fix a broken part, a year after he received the laptop. Now, if he would have called within a week of receive the laptop stating the part was broken when he received it, they are more than likely to believe you since it happened right away and you want it fixed, however waiting a year to say a part was broken from the factory sounds more like accidental damage than damage from the factory. They are following procedure, and it was really your fault for not reporting it right away.


You can rant all you want, you're not going to get it fixed. And what do you care about getting it fixed if you never use it? Seems like a waste of 1-2 weeks to spend without your laptop to me.

 

Well good news. I tried one more thing to get it repaired. I sent in via an online form a message indicating my displeasure of getting this laptop repaired under warranty. It was sent to the president (well his staff anyway). I received a response via phone a day later, and an member of the "executive" case management team (as he called it).

We spoke and looked at the images of the laptop and agreed with me that it was not customer related damage. He also stated that it doesn't matter one iota when the repair is requested be it the last day or the first day, if it's a warranty repair it applies at anytime. In fact he indicated the techs don't look at the dates for warranty coverage because it is pre-qualified by tech support when it is sent in. The repair depot does one thing, repair and make the determination if it is customer related damage or a defect. That's it. They don't analyze it to see if you waited the last minute or if it's a Thursday or whatever other idiotic analysis that some conveyed here. I'll just say not so helpful people (I'd use stronger language but this is a family forum) that told me I was at fault, you were WRONG.

To those who gave me pointers in what to do and where to go, I give you a huge thanks. If it wasn't for you I wouldn't had direction or even an idea where to go.

So HP is repairing the laptop and I should get the box today to ship it to them. I should get it by Monday or Tuesday next week and he will call me when I receive to make sure everything was satisfactory. He was very apologetic about my experience and would pass on some issues that they have been having with the their third party support (read India) due to the fact the didn't escalate it when they clearly needed to be.

Thanks again to the helpful folks out there!

 

Well we learned one thing from this ordeal:
jsc is kind of a git