Saturday, February 11, 2012

My Broken Laptop - Hewlett Packard Substandard Service

I hadn't received any kind of contact from HP - at all - since I sent it in excepting an automated email saying that they had received it.
Getting annoyed with it, I went back into that email and found a link to their site to check the status of the repair.

Going to that site and inputting the required information, a screen comes up telling me that the LCD screen is cracked and that it was going to cost $359 to repair it.

$359.00??!!!

I then attempted to call the case manager in their executive department - closed on weekends.  Then tried calling their main 800 number.  Besides the endless prompts - which I have now figured out how to get around - you get routed to either India or the Philippine Islands.  Indian accents, as I have repeatedly stated on this blog, are so thick and heavy it is often times difficult to understand anything they are saying.

I basically got hung up on a couple of times from that side of the world as I asked to speak to someone who actually speak intelligible English.  I guess that doesn't go over too well with them.

I then started connected to the Philippine Islands.  Their accent is readily recognizable.  It has a high-pitched, irritating twang to it.  Perhaps the irritation is with the company itself, I don't know, but they don't really speak English too well, either.  After 4 more attempts with them, I finally got a lady that - about half English speaking I would estimate.

She gets back on the phone after taking my information which I had to repeatedly give to her and tells me the same thing: cracked LCD screen, you have 2 options.  Pay me $359 now, over the phone or we can just send it back to you.  Well I can tell you right now that I ain't paying $359 to have a computer laptop screen fixed, I will find some way to get it done cheaper (which I already have, thank you).

I ask to speak to her supervisor, which is when she starts getting cranky with me.  Note  that I wasn't asking to speak to her supervisor about HER, but about the situation.  Here's my guess, and it's probably right on: anytime you end up speaking with a supervisor in that particular company, it's a ding on the rep that couldn't solve your problem.  Many companies are like this. Instead of getting a supervisor, you are either put back into the general incoming call system with their computer automatic voice system or you are hung up on altogether.

The last few weeks of my experiences with Hewlett Packard have confirmed to me one thing: I will never buy another Hewlett-Packard product again.  There are MANY other manufacturers of laptops out there, HP certainly doesn't have the corner on that market.  As for now, however, I am stuck with this laptop and nothing I can do.

Moving on, I then tried to call the higher level manager in Denver, Colorado (he repeated that to me several times, apparently he likes Denver Colorado).  I got his voice messaging.  I left a message about the high cost of the replacement and what is the point of spending that much money to fix it.

My next search was on Newegg.com.  See what a replacement screen actually costs, or at least something close to the amount.  Around $90.  If I can buy a replacement screen for $90 on Newegg, how much do you think it actually costs the manufacturer who MAKES the screen?  Yeah.  What a ripoff.

I then moved my search to Craigslist. There are always people on there that advertise for fixing computers.  I don't use those services anymore- that's the people fixing desktops of which I no longer need help with fixing.  Hardware or software, I can deal with all of it.  Laptops?  Totally foreign field to me, though, of course, they work no different than a  desktop, they are definitely a different deal as far as how they get all of that crammed into that little case.

Anyway, I found a couple of people advertising on their, one of which has his own shop.  I already called him: Yes, that's the new screen, I will charge you $125.00 total to replace it.  There is a FAR cry of difference between $359 and $125, thank you very much.

I have now filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau concerning this situation, since they promised to fix this computer and yes, I paid to get that promise fulfilled.

We'll see where this goes in the coming days.

As for now, I can't do anything until Monday to contact the case worker and find out why they think replacing an LCD screen is worth almost the entire cost of the computer.  I filed the complaint because they apparently respond to such complaints, as evidenced by what I saw on their BBB profile. However, in the end, I am guessing I will have to have them simply send it back and I will take it to a local person to fix it for a 1/3rd of the cost that they are attempting to charge me for it.  This may be one of the few cases where BenB does not win against the company.  If so, oh well.  I have a pretty good track record of getting things fixed or problems solved - though I am not done with this situation yet.

That's because I found an address for their corporate headquarters and am going to see if there is a local number that will take me to something other than their so-called executive team.  Of course, I did end up talking to a higher level manager after insisting on speaking with someone other then this executive team, so I guess if I just call that number back and am relentless, well, you know the story.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

When a friend cracked a dell lapotop screen, we had MUCH better luck with it. Guy came to the house and replaced it within 48 hours or so.

Yesterday, I was on with Dell for two solid hours, yes, Punjab India. Guy spoke perfect English, and get this...the call was answered by a person within three minutes of my placing the call. He and his supervisor (whom I did not ask for other than at the end to thank them for over two unbroken hours of their best effort) really gave it 110%.

As I have said many times before, it was not always thus!!

fin

BenB said...

Well, I have had some dealings with Dell, but not recently. I still have my old Dell computer - and I do mean old, it's a decade old a this point - it doesn't work flawlessly but it works. It shuts itself off periodically and from the looks of the motherboard, I'm lucky the thing is still working. It's the tenant-use computer. I can't complain about that computer, it's 10 years old or more and still working.

I have never had a person on the line from India that spoke flawless English. I have had some that had okay English, but definitely not flawless. Perhaps some people are more motivated than others in learning the language to the point that people won't complain about it when dealing with them from the U.S. side of the pond.

As for HP, I don't really hold out much hope at this point. I think I will be replacing the LCD screen on my own, not through them. There is no way I am going to pay them that much money for something I can have done on my own for a 1/3rd of the cost. Even less if I decide to try doing it on my own - which I am tempted.

But I am happy for you that you had a good experience with ANYONE in an in-coming call center in India!

BenB said...

......and if you have or your friend have been having so much success with Dell, I will consider that the "next" time I buy a laptop, which, I hope, isn't anytime soon!

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