My intense hatred for HP
Beep, beep, beepity-beep, beeeeeeeeeeeep, beep, beep, beeeeeeeeeeeep....
This is the sound my 1 year old HP Pavillion laptop made one night while it was sitting on my desk. I get up and poke it...and it keeps beeping at me. I figure the battery just crapped out. No, no, no...it's dead.
Call #1 - I call HP tech support and find out that I am calling exactly 7 days out of warranty. Okay so I ask the tech support rep what my options are since my computer isn't working, and I would really like it to be working. I'm told, from what I can understand...you see HP evidently wants to save some cash and has outsourced their tech support, ... that the rep will check with the warranty department to see what can be done for me. Okay so I'm not happy since my one year old PC is now a paperweight, but at least the company is going to try to work with me. I'm told I'd get a call back the next day. Two days later with no return phone call, I decide I better call back to follow up.
Call #2 - I call from work trying to clear the issue up to leave my night free to watch my Sox play in the World Series. The rep I get on the line this time tells me that they cannot do anything for me, I'm out of warranty and that HP doesn't give any grace period on warranties. Okay, I'm not happy but at least I understand...okay so what can I do now? Extended warranty $119.99 is what they offer to me. If I buy this extended warranty it would cover phone support and parts and labor for 1 extended year and it would include the issue I am having, which evidently is a video/monitor connector error - which evidently means my video card is crap and luckily the genius's at HP have soldered it to the motherboard so the entire thing needs to be replaced = $400 in parts. So I tell the guy on the phone I'll need to clear this with my Wife before I drop the $120 and I'll call back when I get home.
Call #3 - Wifey does the math and $120 is less than $400 so she says to go for the extended warranty. I call back and request to purchase the warranty. Did I mention each time I call I have to review the ENTIRE FREAKING STORY to each representative? Yeah fun. So I purchase the warranty, I specifically tell the fella on the phone what my specific issue is...I get transferred to the tech support rep who will be assisting me in setting up the pick up time for my computer for repairs. The tech support rep then tells me that the warranty I was just sold is for....phone support only. Wait...what? PHONE SUPPORT ONLY...I've spoken to 3 different people and told each one EXACTLY what my problem is (physical failure of an internal part) and then I'm sold a PHONE SUPPORT ONLY warrant? WTF???!!!!! Okay so I go OFF on the poor tech support guy, I finally calm down and ask what can be done at this point. I'm told nothing can be done, I can pay an extra $20 to add the free labor part of the warrant but there is no coverage for "free parts" and again the part in question is $400. Okay forget it I want to cancel the phone support warrant. I'm told that the rep can't do it, and his supervisor can't process the cancellation it has to come from a "Case Manager" and the rep is sending a request to have one contact me the next day.
The Next Day - Exactly how many of you are surprised to hear I didn't receive a call?
The Next, next Day / Call #4 - I call back, tell the first rep I don't want to go over my story 2 times, so I want to speak to a Case Manager right away. I'm told I have to explain the issue so they can forward me to the correct Case Manager department. I give the 2 minute version of getting screwed over so far and I'm told to hold while they transfer me. I get connected a few moments later...to another tech support agent. I'm told that there are no Case Managers available on the weekend so there is nothing that can be done for me that day. I'm told that I will get a call back on Monday. I tell the rep I don't believe him, I tell him I was supposed to get called back 2 times already and it didn't happen. The rep starts to apologize for my "inconvenience" I tell him to stop, his apology is only getting me MORE upset.
15 Minutes after Call #4 to HP - I walk into my local Apple Store. I'm approached by a nice, smart, English speaking person who walks me through the process of purchasing my new laptop. I LOVE my Macbook. I've used it for 3 days now and don't know how I used my PC for the past 7 years. My first computer was an iMac and I've been missing the Mac OS since getting my father-in-law's PC years ago. Thank you Apple for making me LOVE my computer again and not just treat it like another piece of equipment I use daily...like a blender or microwave or something.
Monday - still no call from HP. I've already called my credit card company and the HP warranty charge is "pending" as soon as it goes through Mastercard will be investigating HP for fraudulently selling me a warranty that doesn't fit my needs. I'm going to call HP as soon as my strep throat subsides. They are also going to get an email, and a registered letter detailing my experiences with their tech support and their POS computer. I will also be including my receipt for my Macbook and in the end I'll include a thank you card. Had my PC not crapped out I would have likely remained in the PC doldrums and not be pushed to seek out a better way to work with my computer.
In the end HP could have saved a customer, a 31 year old male who will likely buy 20+ computers in my lifetime...buy offering to fix a $400 part that broke 3 days out of warranty. Instead they infuriated me so much that I would rather pay $1600 for a new non-HP laptop than pay $400 to fix my old HP. What does that tell you about my experience?
Please feel free to leave a comment if you have had a similar HP experience and we can commiserate together.
