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HP Customer Careless and No Award Winning Service
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I have owned a number of HP products over the years, dating back to my first laser printer in 1993. That product was finally donated to a local charity organization in perfect working order with never a problem in all the years I owned it. Consequently, I have purchased other laser printers, both color and monochrome, recommended to business associates, family and friends products made by HP. However, in July of this year, all that changed and I no longer will praise Hewlett Packard, but find every opportunity to make sure these individuals steer clear of your company. It is not the products which are under fire, but your service or lack thereof, which I have now named Customer Careless, rather than Customer Care.
As I stated previously, I've purchased a number of computer related products, four notebook computers with three running in my classroom for I am a teacher at a low-income school in California. My final HP purchase took place on August 16, 2008 with a DV5 computer that offered all the amenities which I was looking for: ports for hooking up different devices, a blue-ray player, and a sleek design. The computer was everything I was seeking and more. It worked flawlessly until around February of 2009. I began to experience a system hang in which after the HP logo, the system would not boot. I had to power it off and on a number of times until it did start up. Thinking the operating system was corrupted, I waited until my spring break in March then did a full system recovery with the hope of correcting the problem. It did not, but I made a decision to wait until summer vacation to contact HP for I did not want to be without the computer during the critical state testing period.
On June 16, I contacted, through chat, a HP representative who made the decision to have the computer sent to the repair center. I wrote a lengthy explanation of the computer's problem and placed this information in the shipping box and delivered it to FedEx myself. The computer was not at the center for twenty-four hours when I received notice it was being shipped back to me. Upon it's arrival, the initial problem was not corrected, yet all the documentation stated they were able to duplicate the error. I booted the computer and immediately it hanged. They center simply reinstalled the system and did nothing to fix the problem.
I called the Customer Careless center and was told a case manager would be in contact with me. Later that day, Shannon from the Careless center called and I explained the problem. She assured me that HP would make this right and encouraged me to allow them to fix the problem. Furthermore, she stated she also had a computer which displayed the identical symptoms as my own, but she was willing to "live with it." I suspect she implied that I should just get over it and accept that my device was working below average. I was not willing to settle for this solution. Shannon suggested I use the recovery program and restore my computer to factory condition which I did THREE DIFFERENT WAYS. When this did not fix the problem I contacted Shannon again and agreed to have the computer shipped again to HP. As I trusted Shannon who said she had a technician who would track down the problem and guarantee me that the problem would be fixed, I again wrote a explanation and placed it in the FedEx box and shipped it back to the service center. Less than twenty-four hours went by and the system was shipped back to me.
Upon its return, I took it out of the box and booted the computer. It hang. I contacted Shannon who stated, "I don't know what to do for you." I replied, "I want to speak with a supervisor." She said, "I don't have one." She suggested I contact Best Buy since that is where I purchased the system and I was unhappy with how HP had handled the situation. I requested to speak with a supervisor, but again was rebuffed. I ended the phone call, wrote a letter to the corporate office and contacted Customer Careless again and asked to speak with anyone other than Shannon. I was given the to Elric, an Executive Customer Careless case manager. He arranged for a technician named Harper and myself to speak about the problem. After two hours on the phone, running diagnostic software, Harper concluded that I needed a motherboard replacement and possibly memory replacement. Elric stated he would "watch over" the system to ensure that Harper’s instructions would be carried out and again, I wrote a short explanation, packed the computer in the FedEx box, make a trip to the facility (twenty miles away) and dropped the system off. All-in-all, I've now spend the better part of four days in trips, reinstalling the operating system, and talking on the phone.
The computer was at the service center less than twenty-four hours and was returned to me. I opened the box...booted the computer...got "blue-screen-of-death." Nothing I did fixed the problem. I contacted Elric who stated that the only solution was to replace the computer. He offered a down-graded model. I asked if it had the same number of ports. He said that there was nothing he could do about that. I asked about the processor capability. He said they were the same, but further investigation they were not. I inquired about the maximum memory capacity, he was clueless as to the specifications of my model. The conversation was going nowhere.
I called the corporate office 800-756-0608 opt7, spoke with Danielle who said she understood my concerns (double-talk for I don't really care) and told me she would contact Elric and would be in contact with me in two days. Never heard from her again.
Elric contacted me via email and offered to refund $176.37 of the $749.99 I spent on the computer. Obtain his emails and notice the tone he uses verses mine. All I wanted what was fair, ethically and morally right. An analogy comes to mind: I bought an orange and you want to replace it with an apple. I didn’t want an apple; I want the orange since that is what I paid for. If I had wanted the apple I would have purchased it.
Needless to say, I have since taken the computer to Best Buy and am awaiting their deposition of the system. Elric states that HP can no longer help me since I made that decision, even though it was an option Shannon told me was available. I have purchased a Sony to replace the notebook being serviced. The right and ethical decision was not made by anyone at HP and you have lost a customer and advocate. Everyone I come in contact with I have told to stay away from your products since your Customer Careless and “Award Winning Customer Service” are useless. Your warranty is no good, your replacement option downgrades and insults the customer, and the money-back option leaves the consumer at the short-end.
I did receive the notebook back from Best Buy on August 19, 2009. I spoke with a supervisor at GeekSquad, imagine being able to talk with someone who takes responsibility for employees. He stated that this issue is related to a faulty CPU and they receive about two to three a week. I tried once more to see if HP would respond to me and forward a copy of this letter to their Integrity and Morals division as well as the Board of Directors. I soon received a call from...Elric who seemed not to know who I was. It’s like some horror movie when the hero escapes being captive and foolishly believes he/she is safe, only to discover they have slipped into the hands of their tormentors, again! I never returned a phone call and will do whatever I can to make sure people are aware of such poor service. |
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| Dated On :- 04-Sep-2009 | By
Roger Ervin
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Tags:-Laptop, Hewlett Packard, Pavillion, DV5, HP, DV5, complaint, poor service, |
