Don’t Buy HP! A rant…

I could rant for days, but I’ll leave most of it in this one post (which is likely to be longer).

About a year ago, my three daughters and I got my wife a new HP laptop for Mother’s Day. We needed another computer. I had second thoughts about buying HP based on a bad experience in 1992. But, it seemed like time to give the company another chance; it had been 18 years. Turns out… that was a mistake, and one that I will *never* make again.

A couple of months after we bought the machine, we noticed that the USB port on the left side of the machine wasn’t working; we hadn’t really used it much, if at all. My wife only uses two USB devices and they’re plugged in on the right side. I told my wife we’d make sure to get it fixed before the one year warranty was up, but it wasn’t a high priority because there were 2-3 other USB ports on the machine.

About six months into having the computer, I noticed the video playback was off. It stuttered and skipped. When checking it, that stuttered playback occurred when playing streaming video from the internet OR playing a DVD OR playing a video from the local hard drive. My assessment? Video card problem; motherboard problem (if other issues began to show); or perhaps other system issue (RAM etc). I decided that we would absolutely send it in for repair as soon as I found the time to back up the data (not easy to find the time when working 60 hours per week).

In the last two months, there’s been an increasing number of issues that have occurred: occasional blue screens of death; random shutdowns; and limited range of tilt on the display without the display going completely white. Basically, the system has gradually collapsed; likely a bad system to begin with. It happens.

So I send it in to HP for warranty work. What’d they do? They looked at the machine, assessed it, and determined that “accidental, user caused damage” had occurred to the USB port (yes, the one that never really worked) and its connection to the motherboard. Because of that “accidental, user damage” to the motherboard, they are not permitted to replace the motherboard which is likely necessary to fix the remaining problems. As far as I can tell, they never assessed the remaining issues. They decided the motherboard must be replaced at my expense ($450ish; the laptop originally only cost, retail $550). I declined, of course, because (a) I don’t have that amount of money to spare at the moment, and (b) I haven’t done anything to mistreat or cause damage to the machine so don’t feel compelled to pay for a bad motherboard; this is HP’s responsibility. When I declined, they shipped the computer back to me in worse condition than when it left (it was still somewhat functional when it left; now? it’s in a boot-crash loop).

In the process, the HP warranty service personnel were incredibly rude, disrespectful and insulting. The so called “manager” I spoke to – the third individual overall – even suggested that I had done other damage to the laptop as well that was causing the problems with the video card etc. When I said, “Do I understand correctly that you are suggesting I am or could be deliberately trying to deceive HP? That I’m dishonestly trying to cover up or not mention a problem I caused with the USB port in an effort to get my machine fixed under warranty when I shouldn’t? That my explanation of how the machine has been treated and the problems we’ve experienced are not true?” His answer was something along the lines of, “I’m not suggesting you’re lying or being dishonest, but as far as we know you could have caused the remaining problems with the motherboard.” So, yes, the HP service center essentially told me I’m a dishonest customer, lying and deceiving them into fixing a laptop that I broke – I’m trying to cheat them out of a motherboard.

Next step? I contact @hpsupport via Twitter which turns out to be their escalation center; their corporate HQ support service professionals. Jeff C. was INCREDIBLY polite and respectful; he listened attentively while I respectfully ranted and explained my story and what I was asking. In short, I understand the letter of the warranty agreement, and I understand that accidental damage is not covered. However, this machine was not mistreated in any manner. And, if I could opt to have all of the problems fixed except the USB port, I would accept that, but because the rest of the problems required replacing the motherboard that wasn’t an option.

So, what was I asking? I asked that someone at HP consider the issue. To consider the damaged USB port vs. ALL of the other problems. To realize the number of issues suggesting there’s a general system failure not caused by “accidental, user caused damage.” I understand the the letter of the warranty agreement; I just don’t care. I asked very politely (again, Jeff C. did good work at a difficult job) that they honor the warranty because I have done nothing to justify or warrant them not honoring it; I explicitly would like for them to make a choice in favor of customer support rather than blindly abiding to policy at a customer’s expense (a $450 on a $550 laptop after less than a year).

When I contacted @hpsupport Jeff C. tried. He “offered” to split the cost of repair with me. $230ish each. I still don’t have the money and still don’t feel compelled at the moment to give them more money. They also offered that if I pay the full cost of replacing the motherboard that they’d give me an extra year warranty that covered accidental damage. (Ironic I though. They refuse to honor the current warranty and try to pacify me into spending $450ish with another warranty?)

One thing I didn’t discuss, was they can’t prove that I did the damage either, but that doesn’t matter; their warranty indicates that if there’s any damage which is determined to have only possibly been caused by the user, they can’t do anything to fix that problem – even if that prevents them from fixing other issues with the computer. I didn’t discuss with Jeff C. that if they can assert that I did the damage, why can I not assert they did the damage. They claimed I’m being dishonest; how about the possibility that their service provider is being dishonest in an effort to improve their performance by keeping costs low? My personal feeling is that the HP service provider found a way to invalidate the warranty and is taking advantage of that situation – and me.

I believe I purchased an HP computer that had bad hardware in it from the beginning, and additional hardware that went bad within the first 6-8 months of use. When I asked, begged, cajoled HP – hoping they’d step up and stand behind a customer, their equipment and their warranty – they flat refused. And that was a corporate HQ decision to prefer warranty paperwork over a customer.

My recommendation? DO NOT BUY HP equipment, at any level or for any reason. I don’t know what the better alternative is at the moment, but I’ll find one. I won’t repeat the mistake of purchasing HP again. I’m sure there are companies that would love my business and would honor a warranty.