An Open Letter to Hewlett Packard

July 17th, 2008 | by blank89 |

Hewlett Packard has long been a shining example (despite the controversy about pretexting in 2006) of how to run a technology company. Many people are reading this on a Hewlett Packard computer, sitting next to a Hewlett Packard printer and resting their hands on a Hewlett Packard keyboard. But does the technology giant still set a good example for other technology companies?

Duhh, call me again tomorrow.

A year ago (minus 13 days) I bought an HP laptop on Newegg. The smiling people on the HP website assured me that I would be getting award winning customer support. I was sure I wouldn’t be needing it, I almost always fix my computers myself. Nothing could go wrong enough that I would need to even bother calling tech support.

Three months later (and with a battery that lasted all of 10 minutes), I found myself on hold, calling tech support. I talked to 8 people, all of whom asked for my name and contact information and then without even asking about my problem asked me to hold. Finally, after an hour on the phone, I was directed to the tech support office. I was told I would need to download a battery diagnostic tool. Sounds reasonable, doesn’t it? Wrong! I booted into Vista (they didn’t have a Linux version, but I didn’t really expect them to) only to find that the diagnostic tool didn’t work under Vista. I’m not about to repartition my hard drive to run Xp, for some stupid diagnostic software, when there was a similar piece of software that did work with Vista.

“We’re going to have to do other diagnostic.” The customer service rep. told me in broken English. I had already timed the full discharge, but just to humor him I did it again: seven minutes. He told me to call back tomorrow. At this point, they should have offered to replace the battery (I had been on the phone almost two hors), but I was to tired to deal with it.

After another hour on the phone the next day, I was told that I would have to speak to a supervisor, and that they would call me back before the end of the business day. The next day came and went, and I still didn’t receive a phone call. I called back and asked to be transferred to a supervisor, explained my situation, and was told that it wasn’t possible. They would schedule another call from a supervisor. After yet another phone call, I finally found someone willing to solve my problem.

16 Days Before The End of my Warranty

My computer crashed. I restarted it, black screen. I must have sounded angry on the phone because I was quickly transferred to tech support. They asked for my address 5 different times. I had them spell it out for me all of those times. They still got it completely wrong. Below is an image of the problem description sheet I sent back to the repair center. Below that is a copy.

I probably won't get a response, but hopefully I'll get my laptop.

“The computer seemed to be running a bit hot beforehand [before it refused to turn on]. Operating system crashes became more common starting about a week ago. I restarted the computer on Sunday after it locked up and the display would not turn on. My best guess is that the heat damaged the video card.

I am positive this is a hardware problem, and I need the data on the hard drive for work so I removed it. There is no reason the hard drive would be required to fix these problems.

This laptop has been extremely unreliable. Of the 50-some computers I have built, I have never problems like the ones I’ve had with this laptop. This would not be so bad if I could get your customer service representatives to understand the problem and offer a reasonable solution.

Despite the fact that they asked for my address five times, they still got it wrong. The correct address is: [my address].

If you mail it to the wrong address I will expect a new one. I understand this has nothing to do with you personally. If someone in your company feels inclined to respond, I would appreciate it.

- Eric”

I bought this laptop because of Hp’s award winning “customer service”. I probably won’t buy another. I’m emailing a similar letter to someone higher up in the chain of command, and I’ll be waiting for the resonse.