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.