Pages

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Really HP?

Okay, not to get all "corporations are evil" on everyone, because I don't believe that all corporations are evil. But when one does decide to go bad and it directly affects me and my family (and MORE importantly, my ability to blog)? Ya gotta know I'm gonna open my big mouth and shout from the rooftops so that EVERYONE within hearing range will know that company does NOT stand behind its products nor does it value its loyal customers.

Who am I hatin' on? Hewlitt Packard. And just so ya know...I'm really sad that I am even having to say bad things about HP, becasue I have been a big fan of their products for a long, long time. I've owned 3 printers in the last 13 years. All HP. None of them quit, I just upgraded. I've owned 4 computers in the last 13 years. 2 were HP's. One was so out of date we donated it and the other is my current laptop. So you know, I've been throwin' some love and money at HP for a few years now, thinking we had a pretty good thing goin.' But this week, when I needed HP to step up? HP just dissed me, people. Left me hangin.' Not even a goodbye kiss.

Where did things go wrong? Here's the story: HP sells us a laptop for $900 a little over 2 years ago. It's an awesome laptop. We love it. We use it. It becomes part of the family. After a year and a few days, when it's warranty had expired, the motherboard fries because of a defective video card. I know this because of my extensive internet research and gazillion conversatins with HP Customer Service reps. Eventually they agree to fix it free of charge because it has come to HP's attention that they have purchased defective parts and so they repair my laptop under the recall issue.

YAY! We love HP! They are great! Whoo-hoo! We trust them! They value us as customers! The love fest continued and all was well with the laptop world. Until last week. When the computer died again, a little over a year after the first repair. Same problem. So apparently they installed ANOTHER faulty motherboard when they replaced the first one! And now, of course, they want me to pay for them to replace the 2nd defective part that they installed, knowing it had issues. And of course, HP is getting all snarky because I'm not very happy with the soultion they have offered. Apparently, there are several hundred, if not a few thousand other people like me around the world who are also not happy with HP, for the same reason. Go figure.

So now, because I am broke, angry and computerless and having to use THIS for a substitute until I figure out what to do,

I feel the need to call HP out on their bad behavior. Once they knew this was a problem, HP should have replaced the affected motherboards with a non-ddefective part or they should have completely traded out the laptops for another unaffected model. Instead, they chose to continue to sell these models even after they knew there were issues, and worse, they continued to use defective parts in the recall/repair efforts, knowing that the problem would likely occur again. Sad. And wrong. Bordering on evil.

The timing for us could not have been worse. No money to deal with the issue and we are both in the middle of a massive job search. So many places want online applications and resumes! It's fine, in the end, we found a way around it. Without HP's help. So the love affair is over. HP has lost my business and my confidence in their products or their company. I would rather use my Charlie Brown computer the rest of my life than give them another dime of my money or minute of my time. After this post, I mean. Because I want to make sure everyone knows how HP deals.

So what have I learned? Computer manufacturers are like conceited high school boys - good looking with lots of bells and whistles doesn't always equate to quality. Am I right?

BTW...some big box stores are having huge price cuts on the affected Pavilion laptops for Black Friday. Unless you want to buy another laptop within a year or so, BUYER BEWARE!! I believe they also make Compaq, which means I'll be looking at Toshiba or Dell I guess.

1 Comments:

Banner said...

That is unbelievable!! Kinda reminds you of that car Lonslo drives in Keeping Up Appearances!!! Every once in awhile I can remember my Google sign in password and comment!! Maybe I need a computer with no letters on it and I would accidently type my password!!

Post a Comment