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Does Hewlett-Packard (HP) Customer Service Always Suck?

Or was it just me, tonight?

My five month old machine which died 13 days ago and was supposed to be shipped back to me today, is now scheduled to ship back to me on 12/28/2007. Yes, it's true. An estimate of 7-10 days for the repair has now turned into 4 weeks.

Thank you for lying to me HP customer support!

I called to see what the story was and instead of getting some relief (or even some good information,) I was passed between 4 script reading, off-shored zombies- none of whom could deviate one iota from the predetermined, completely useless, HP customer service pathway.

And then I was disconnected.

To say I'm frustrated is a grand understatement. I'm going to call back tomorrow or Sunday and am going to immediately ask to speak to a supervisor- if just to get someone savvy enough to understand that a frustrated customer needs a little more than the standard question/response pattern they train these guys on. I understand that these things happen- parts can be tough to get, whatever (although I'm still pissed it will take a month.) What I want is someone to actually work at trying to make me a happy customer. The poor folks* I talked to tonight just weren't doing that. I felt like I was talking to a series of buck-passing robots.

At this point? My first HP laptop purchase will be my last. We'll see how things go from here on in. Right now, I miss my old Dell and will tell anyone that asks that Hewlett-Packard (HP) computers are to be avoided.

Can they come back from the brink?

*I honestly feel bad for them. Dealing with angry customers all day can't be fun.

What Other People Are Saying

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70 Responses to “Does Hewlett-Packard (HP) Customer Service Always Suck?”

  1. Alan Says:

    A friend of mine pointed me to your blog entry. Got to agree with you 100%. HP SUCKS. While I think they have a marginal edge on features in some of their products, the software and support is the worst ever.

    Not only do you deal with outsourced support, bad connections and barely English speaking people, everything they tell you is scripted and they are looking up their answers in the HP knowledge base (Like I didn't already do that).

    HP left me with broken software and a scanner that won't scan. My printer is just a few months old (a HP L7680). Basically, they guy said they would escalate the service request and that someone would call back in a few days. That was over a week ago.

    In addition, HP software has to be the worst out there. Just look at the crap that is installed when you install a printer scanner and how long it takes to install their software. There must be at least 8 applications with cryptic names just to make a scanner work. In addition, their software is so bad, the uninstall doesn't uninstall properly, and you have do download a seperate DOS based uninstaller to completely clear it out (which I think still doesn't work).

    I also have a similar problem with a HP Design Jet 500 printer. Just absolutely crappy software. Try to configure the printer to remember your paper size and format – forgit it. It never remember states, or gets buggy or crash. And I have tried this now on 3 seperate operating systems.

    I'm with you though. THIS IS MY LAST HP.

  2. Calvin Nguyen Says:

    Gotta agree with all of you 100%. HP doesn't even let you change memory. GOD, they said you could, but they lied.
    Turns out that they are scared of talking to you in Customer Service. Srsly.

  3. Dani Says:

    Received your laptop? I'm going through more or less the same thing with my laptop. I'll start my story from the very beginning.

    After getting paid out for working nights over Christmas, I decide to use that money to buy a laptop. So I head over to Best Buy, purchase it, and head home. Turn it on and the display doesn't work, period. Call tech support, talk to an awesome technician, and we determine I can a) go back and exchange it or b) have it sent in. I chose a, he apologized, told him it wasn't his fault and he was stunned. He was so happy I wasn't blaming him.

    Fast forward to the middle of October. Laptop working fine, and then the wireless card just stops working. After chatting on a crappy PC with HP techs and on the phone once, it is determined that it needs to be sent in for repair. So, I get the box from UPS 2 days later and send it off. Check the ticket, and it tells me the expected return date is the 6th of November.

    November 12th rolls around, ticket hasn't been update and I'm still waiting for my laptop. I give HP a call, after about 30 minutes on hold, I get through and some kid tells me there's a parts shortage and that he's putting in a request for the ticket to be updated. Nice kid, thanked him and waited for the ticket to be updated.

    November 19th rolls around and nothing. I'm starting to get pretty peeved by this time so I call, spend about an hour on hold being bounced around from person to person to see what's going on. I asked for a manager and some girl wanted to know if it was anything I could help her with, I told her I just wanted to get to the bottom of this and compliment some of the agents. So after she takes some information from me, I finally talk to a manager. He apologized for the lack of communication and said that he was going to have a case manager look after it and I'd be getting a call from them shortly.

    Well, after some telephone tag (kinda, the only way to contact this guy is thru email) we talked on November 30th. They're gonna send me a new laptop, and that it would take 7-10 business days starting on the 5th. Well, I'm pretty patient and I understand that in December, it's more than likely gonna take a while (especially with UPS). Hadn't seen or heard anything so I called last night (27th) and asked if there was a tracking number or anything they could give me. The guy I talked to said no, and that I'd have to email them…so I did once last night (forgot my phone number) and once this morning (with my phone number). He called back 10 minutes later and told me that his superior that was dealing with the case is on holidays until January 2nd!! So he has no idea if it's been shipped, or if it's in transit and won't know until the 2nd, and is trying to find someone who is taking care of it in the mean time. The guy is very nice, but COME ON!!! This is getting ridiculous.

    I'm now patiently awaiting a call on January 2nd to tell me that a) it's been shipped or b) it's going to be shipped. HORRIBLE!

  4. lynne Says:

    Not you. It is them. They put there customers through the worst possible experience. No Excuse for conducting business this way.

  5. Peter Says:

    "Sucks" does not begin to describe HP service. HP's sale of warranties with the barriers it maintains to deter as many people as possible from actually using the service is probably indictable for mail and wire fraud, at a minimum.

  6. Tom Says:

    My HP Pavillion dies at 9 months of age Nov. 22nd. Hard Drive failed, called HP Customer Service. No answers after 3 hours and couldn't understand I had already run a smart test. Kept trying to get me to do a system restore. Couldn't pass me to 2nd tier support- they were too busy with other customers ( what does that say?). HP promised to call back next day, 3 days later I call them- they want to go through process again of system restores. After 2 hours they swear to send a replacemnet hd, about a week to arrive and the software 3 days after that! Then they try to sell me an extended warranty.
    New hd arrives ( I had to give a credit card to HP before they would ship it), install hd and it doesn't work. Call HP again and after several hours they advise me to mail it to the factory repair center. Another 2 weeks wasted waiting for it to return. Computer gets here on Jan. 11th set it up, it doesn't work. Apparently the factory tech never finished the setup process. Gave me three different reasons the computer failed, motherboard, corrupted o/s and my graphics card had corrupted the o/s. Also my graphics card was taped to the outside of the tower. HP said it was repaired but guess not. Called HP, 2 hours of misery and attitude and I'm shipping the comp back again. HP promises it will be fixed and I was just "unlucky". No apologies at all. No concern and no english speakers. Never again will I buy any product from HP. 2 months and still going.

  7. Tom Says:

    Update- recv'd the comp back from HP today. Open the box (sealed with one thin piece of tape) and check the repair tag. States they replaced the hard drive (number 3 ), reloaded the OS and replaced the processor fan. Ticket again says repaired.
    Set up the computer, turn it on and guess what? Boots to windows and then a big, fat "system preparation tool 2.0″ box pops up. This is the same reason I had just shipped it back to the factory repair center. Once again call HP customer care, they give me the same instructions that caused it to crash last time- I tell them 5 times, HP tech insists. I click the reseal button in SYS PREP, computer goes haywire. Tech is completely silent, starts suggesting I run a system restore. 3 hours on the phone later, they suggest I send computer to the Factory Repair Center. I decline and state its time for a replacement or refund under the HP warranty provisions. Another hour goes by and they PROMISE a Case Manager will phone me within 48 hours to arrange a replacement. 48? Well maybe 24 depending on how busy they are with other customer complaints. The tech promises to expedite my case, it took them 6 days to expedite the shipping box here for this latest failed "repair" attempt.
    To make a bad situation almost laughable, the HP tech suggested I could replace my computer with a better model for only 4-500 dollars more from me on top of the price of the pc HP is replacing. What a company, buy more junk from us at a higher price. Lets see how long it takes me to hear from a case manager and if they'll actually replace this paperweight.

  8. Bryce Says:

    I'll start off by saying I'm a college student. And now a days everything at school is done online and through the computer. Well I bought an HP DV4000 during the start of my freshman year 2005. Well, not even a month later half the lcd screen was dark…but still usable. I waited it out till my winter vacation then had it sent out…I went through a hell of a time to get them to send me a box to get this thing out. Well, I get my computer back a week later and guess what, the first day of having it back it works fine then all the sudden the screen goes completely dead…great job HP, not to mention all the sudden I'm missing two rubber feet.

    So I had to go on and have it sent back out again…only problem is I didn't have my computer for school. I ended up using an old laptop my uncle had that was lying around for the time being. I get the computer back finally, and no problems since.

    Well heres what I'm dealing with now. New years eve, I'm using my laptop in my room when I realize my battery is getting low, so I plug it in…It never shows any sign that it's been plugged in…check the cord to make sure everything alright, nothings wrong. The computer shuts down after the battery has been drained. I call them up immediately and go through their troubleshooting thing. And suprise suprise, nothing helps…I already knew it had to of been the dc port because I tried my extra powersupply that stays at school and it didn't do anything.

    Well, during the next two week we had to call them 6 times, they didn't once call back after promising to do so and they juggled use around to one person to another like we were oranges. Well the biggest problem is they had no record of my 3year extended warranty that I paid close to $400 for. I had a receipt and two other paperworks with serial and product numbers on the actual extended service paperwork that I received with the computer. After giving them the numbers they still could find it and kept refusing to send out a box to get this thing out to service.(Hmmm..funny they can't find any records of it and we purchased the computer through hpshopping online, and another funny thing is the service people didn't even know what the hpshopping was..????) We finally talked one of these idiots into transfering us to a case manager, he couldn't find any info on my warranty either, (We received an email the day before from HP with all our info on the warranty and numbers???WTF) but after a day we call him back and he still can't find any info, but just asked us to fax them the warranty paperwork we have and he'll send us a box.

    Well I get the box in and Immediately early on the Jan 11 sent the box out to an authorized fedex shipper. He told me it would be there next day before 3pm…sure enough when I checked the tracking number they had it before 3pm.

    Now I waited patiently…I was told it would be shipped out on Jan24…ok not bad, I can deal my first week back to classes without it since they really don't start anything till the second week. Well, we check back with them Thursday the 24 to see if it was shipped…their answer is "We don't have any info on what's going on with your computer, we'll check with someone that does"…(we sit on hold)…"The person we need to check with is busy on the phone, we'll call you back within an hour when we find something out" Well guess what, this Award Winning Customer Service never calls me back…another suprise.

    Well, I get an email today from HP stating that it's not going to be shipped out till 2/17…Are you Kidding me??? Your telling me it's going to take a month to fix a dc port that I could have done myself if it wasn't for terminating my warranty I paid for if I even tried. Especially after fighting with them for two weeks just to get the thing sent out. We even stated to the case manager that we need this computer asap because I was starting classes again. I have two classes that I literally NEED my computer for, and I have no back up to use this time around. I had to come home and use my parents desktop to type this because I'm literally ready to punch a hole in something. At this point I really don't want to see that computer again, the things a lemon, 3 times it's been in for service. I seriously want a newer replacement or my money back so I can sell it and just go buy a Mac.(Apparently they won't give me a replacement because.."We're doing the best we can") NEVER will I EVER buy an HP product again, and I will be spreading my story like a plaque around my campus and online. To spend almost 2k on a product as a student with really no money and get treated like this is insulting. And I will be calling the case manager again tomorrow and requesting a new product or my money back, and will keep calling him back again and again to get what I want…I always thought there was a term…something like the customers always right, hahaha now with HP.

  9. Angry Says:

    …I thought I was the only one with this issue. I guess I like everyone else has been ripped off. So not to go into deep details, the customer support supervisor/manager seemed understanding the first time i sent in my computer and then then a keys fell off the keyboard within a week and the internal camara not working so I called back. He said "WELL I GUESS WE WILL NOT EVER SATISFY YOUR NEEDS" and offered me a refound in a very rude manner. And he said he didnt believe my computer was having any issues. after I had already asked him for one and he said he coulndt instead have my comp fixed. Isn't that the whole point?? Keeping customers happy?? …Well like all you last HP ever!!! …at least I am getting my money back … (I Hope)

    PS- Stay away from HP laptops, for your own good.

  10. Bryce Says:

    I am also post number 8 if you need a recap of my situation…well just got my computer back on tuesday. Today (Friday) was my first day back from school, so I finally got a chance to see if its working again. Plugged it in and, Great! its turning on. Now I can get on with having a computer again…well I thought too fast. As I had guessed it goes into service it's going to come back with something going wrong with it withing the week. Well I check my cd drive…and in My Computer it doesn't show that I have a cd drive. I load up itunes to check my sound…nothing, try a few different methods for checking my sound and not a sound is heard…only if I plug in headphones. So I go ahead and update all my drivers, everything is completely updated and I restart the computer. Now I can see my cd drive but still no sound. Call the case manager that I was dealing with and as I figured…these jerks replaced my motherboard and never rehooked my speakers back up…now they want me to send it back out!! I honestly can not go without a computer for another 2-3weeks. I will say that this case manager was very helpful with this whole thing and is getting pretty frustrated with the whole situation also. I honestly don't know what to do anymore. I'm contemplating just getting a plug in speaker system but that still means at least $20 dollars out of my pocket that I really didn't need to spend…I guess I'll be stuck without food for a couple of days.

  11. Margaret Chiotti Says:

    I had to send in my Pavilion notebook: dv9420us on the 7th of January.
    Finally got my computer back on the 16th. It booted once, then died. When I called on the 17th, they said they would send me a new upgraded computer. Wow, was I a happy camper. That was short-lived. It's now Febuary 5th. My case manager who was sick for 5 days, and today, he still can't give me any date I'll get my new computer. if it takes any longer, I'll need to purchase another computer…and it won't be HP. Does anyone know if they send a new computer out, do they want the old one back?

  12. rob Says:

    With all these horror stories following from mine, I have to tell you folks I'm even more vigilant about backing up my data now. I actually back it up off-site now, just in case, since I expect this thing to fail once again.

    What's funny is I still get Dell catalogs and while I hated the commercials when they were on, I've started to echo the old "Dell dude" whenever I see one- muttering "should have gotten a dell, dude" to myself, with just a slight hint of bitterness.

  13. shaun Says:

    I am having the same problem. I got a laptop for christmas this year by jan 12th it crashed. I sent it back to hp and I am still waiting to get it back the ddelivery date has been pushed back three times. The case manager know won't return my calls and when I talk to anyone else they all say that he is busy ( who isn't) and I just have to wait. When I ask to speak to their manager, they tell me that he doesnt talk to customer. I will NEVER buy an Hp again

  14. eduardo Says:

    I had a terrible problem with the HP costumer serveice. Fisrt, they changed the date of the delivery for my computer from a 7-9 days wait to a 4 weeks wait. But that was not all the trouble.Just one day before the deadline of the due date, they had the courage to tell me that I was obligated to pay them $320 because they determined ( not 3 weeks ago , but just one day before the due date ) that the computer had been broken "intentionally" by the customer;luckyly i didn't give them my credit card number. I had sent my computer to get a loose screw tied up and the conector of the screen and the keyboard fixed. but they did something terribly wrong , they broke the computer in multiple places like the screen bezel and the keyboard cover. I tried again; I called the hp customer service , where a guy that could barely speak english treated me with disrespect , he told me that if i wanted to get my computer fixed i just had to pay the money and not be cheap!. furious i decided to stop calling for that night.
    3 days after that incident, I was decided to just get my computer back and repair it myself, but the frustration of posibily recieving a diferent computer (maybe a broken one) stopped me from that idea. I called hp and tried to get an explanation , I told them that I am student and needed my computer to study. i spent about 1 hour on hold on the phone, finally they conected me with a case manager (finally a guy with proper english) , that solved my problem. Right now im waiting for my computer because they told me to wait at least one more week (making the waiting time a total of 5 weeks)
    I will never buy anything from HP again , and to all my friends in college I have told the same story with even more details,many have stopped from buying an hp this semester , and that I believe, is a good decision. NEVER BUY HP AGAIN!!!

  15. momnan Says:

    I waited weeks for my broken HP laptop to come back. After many calls, they sent me a new, subpar, laptop replacement. I think it is a refurbished of some kind, personally. HP said I could not get my old one back. I begged for the hard drive with personal data on it. Case manager says he will try to get it. Status continues to show old broken computer not yet shipped. Lo and behold, Fed Ex pulls up with the old one as HP is ringing my phone from India saying that the old computer is not coming back to me! How nuts is that? Now case manager is ringing my phone off the hook and wants me to mail old computer back to them again. Even though they sent it back to me broken! They can bite me…Keeping old and new. I owe them nothing,but a little of the grief they have given me. Hey, HP, how does it feel to want? NEVER buy HP!

  16. Denis Says:

    I bought my Pavilion dv5000 (serial number CND62916VY) in the fall of 2006. The monitor failed approximately six months later. When I queried the warranty, HP phone reps in other countries argued with me over whether there was a valid warranty because they insisted the period was over. It wasn't, of course, as proven by the bill of sale.

    After dozens of long and difficult attempts to resolve the matter by telephone and by internet, I eventually received HP's admission that there was indeed a valid warranty. I received a shipping box and sent the notebook for repair. They said it would take a week. In fact it took roughly TWO MONTHS to return the item to me.

    When I powered up the "repaired" notebook, it would not boot. Again, many, many telephone calls to people whose language was mostly indiscernible, shouting matches, more denials that there was a valid warranty, and numerous other pitfalls stood in the way of progress. Most of the time, the HP voice-answering technology failed and I would lose connection before reaching a real human. It took two days to actually speak with someone, and it was most discouraging. Finally in November someone in another foreign country promised to send me an XP repair disk, since there had never been one in the original packaging.

    I waited and waited for this. Several more months, in fact. I went on vacation two weeks ago, and the disk arrived while I was away. Upon my return yesterday I tried that disk, but of course the error message was the same as I'd described to a "knowledgeable" technie months and months ago, that no hard disk could be found.

    Today I removed the hard disk cover and found that when the technicians reassembled the notebook last year, they did not fully plug in the drive. Moreover, the two screws that hold the cover on were clearly keeping the drive from making any contact at all. I'd been without the use of the notebook for over seven months. Suddenly I have a working notebook.

    As I reflect on the days I've spent of my precious time trying to get HP to provide service, I'm sadly reminded that there are HP executives who believe an equivalent amount of time spent on their jobs is worth tens of thousands of dollars. This is simply not a company whose products I will ever buy again. At Christmas I purposely bought competing brands because of the losses I've suffered on this one. I've also advised as many people as possible about the level of service they'd likely receive if they fall for HP's advertising. It's clear that Hewlett Packard does everything in its power to NOT provide service out of a will to save money and then overshadow this dark fact with ads that assert their service is actually good.

    When I tried to do the feedback survey they emailed me, it had already expired — very convenient and very predictable.

  17. rob Says:

    Man, I'm not sure if I feel better or worse to know I've got so much company with the horrors of HP Customer Service. I guess there's some comfort in knowing I'm not alone, but I hate hearing these stories. I get frustrated just reading some of these anecdotes…

  18. Dan Says:

    I'm certainly sad to see I have all this company with me. I will never purchase another HP product ever. I have sent my 6 month old laptop for repairs three times and now it is not working again. I hope the Lemon Law applies to this!

  19. Jack Says:

    HP sucks the BIG ONE! Bunch of jokers and dumbshits as knowledgable as a bunch of rocks about their own products. NO MO'

  20. Jessica Says:

    I bought a DV2416US in September in January it died I called tech support they said the mother board is defective on my model of computer and that it needs to be sent in for repair i send it in. 1 month later my labtop still isnt done I ask to speak to a superior they give me a case manger says he will call me back in 24-48 hours over 1 week later my ship back date keeps being later he never calls me I call and they tell me they will give me another case manager i talk to a very nice guy he says he will replace my labtop if it doesnt come back soon. Then the original case manger calls me back says I can only deal with him he cant replace my labtop and pretty much theres nothing he can do i ask to speak to his boss he doesnt have a boss and I am only allowed to talk to him and no one else they send me my labtop back Feubary 19th then 2 weeks later it breaks again i have to reformat the thing twice in one day then when i turn it on it does absolutley nothing. I have to send it in to repair again. Then I call to get another case manager and talk to the district office they give me a new case manger whose very nice but when I call her back a 2nd time I am told I must speak to my first case manager from now on and not her. The first case manager says that if my labtop broke again I wasnt supposed to ship it in he was going to replace it for me or give me part of my money back he never told me that so he said he was going to call the service center and return my call to see what was broken on the labtop this time. NO CALL BACK as of yet it is March 11th my labtop has been broke pretty much for 2 months out of the 6 that I had it i paid 950 dollars for that stupid thing with the warranty and I have nothing to show for it NEVER BUY HP

  21. Greg Says:

    Wow, this is De' ja' vue! I purchased HP Pavilion Media Center TV PC (M8150N)in September of 2007 and have had more issues with it then I ever had with my Dell XPS B733r desktop.
    The HP Customer Care Support lacks putting it mildly. I am going on day 52 trying to get resolution from a non working HD DVD. This is after more then a dozen phone calls, a dozen emails. By the way, I refused to call HP Customer Care Support by phone, I maintain a email thread for documentation of my dealings with HP. As many of you have stated, never again will I buy anything with the HP brand on it.

  22. Dennis Says:

    Anyone have the Presidents email for HP? Time to start going to the top with our complaints. Also, please place your complaint with your local Better Business Bureru, hopefully that will help our situations as well.

  23. A. Sue Fowler Says:

    Please pay attention to this message regarding the mythical and non-existing HP Customer Service.

    I have spent 14 months dealing with HP over a fraudulent "repair" and programming my system NOT to reboot. This was a sales effort to charge me an additional (the "unrepair was $236.) $250 to upgrade my 10-month old system.

    Here are some suggestions:

    Contact the Attorney General's Office of your State. cc everything to HP.

    My case ended up in the LEGAL Department, which is a good thing.

    Keep this name and numbers: Use them:

    Ms. Ginger Borge
    HP Executive Customer Relations, Legal
    3000 Hanover Street
    M/S 1247
    Palo Alto, CA 94304

    Phone: 650-857-2694
    Fax: 650-852-8330

    Keep all HP paper work, such as it is. Have your tower checked by a computer pro in your area. Keep your receipts, along with written diagnosis on that receipt.

    After fourteen (14) months, I got a check (which I cashed before it disintegrated "Mission Impossible" fashion) for the "repair" amount plus $100.

    If necessary, write hard copy Certified Mail to Ms. Borge, cc-ing your State Attorney General, and your attorney. Make phone calls unceasingly until your problem is solved. If you consistently run into Ms. Borge's answering machine, call BEFORE 8 AM PST. A human operator will get sick of hearing your voice and will see that your call is returned.

    You must be persistent. This crusade has caused me 30 blood pressure points; however, I am tired of dealing with firms that outsource American jobs, and provide an unending stream of "Rodney Patels", endless phone transfers, dumping off, and take no responsibility for product quality. The more we sit here and take, the more of this BS we will continue to deal with. I am 68 years old and mad as hell.

    So go to it and be successful.

  24. A. Sue Fowler Says:

    Dennis:

    Forget the Better Business Bureau. This is just another local scam. Ever try to get a comment posted by these folks? Who do you think pays to keep this place in business. You guessed it: local businesses.

  25. Jen Says:

    I have the emails. I sent a carpet bomb this morning to all the top level executives and because of Easter or Good Friday I got a few automated emails in reply….with phone numbers.

    My story is like all of the others here but far to long to type and it will just piss me off again. Please go to my blog for the whole story. Good luck to you all!

  26. Jen Says:

    http://redheadranting.blogspot.com/

  27. Rita Lenhart@aol.com Says:

    Ten months ago, I bought an HP L7580 All-In-One DeskPro Printer. The roller for the sheet feed died and I can't Fax multiple sheets. It sounds like a gerbil inside! I can fax one sheet at a time from the glass but not multiple sheets, as the thing has to be re-addressed after each sheet! I lifted the top lid and two pieces of plastic fell out. No clue what they did or where they came from. And, being 76 y/o I haven't been tossing it around to break anything!

    Today I found out that the "WARRANTY" on my machine really was only good for 21 days after purchase! Although the Product Warranty in the manual said it was good for 1 Yr! You need a Law degree to figure THAT one!

    I talked to several non-English speaking persons in India, a non-English speaking person in the Philippines, and back to yet other non-English speaking persons in India. This took 4 hours of being given the same CUSTOMER SUPPORT NUMBER each time! Never anyone in the US. None would even entertain the thought that this could be repaired. It makes my head spin to try to figure out all the garbage I was fed. I couldn't even get a RMA (Return Material Authorization) label. After reading about all the problems with Shipping to them and the long delays. Maybe I lucked out!

    I've bought HP since 1983 and have no clue how they could have gone so bad. They were terrific when they were based in Connecticut. I guess corporate greed plus giving away the jobs overseas, has got the best of them! They haven't hit bottom yet, so thay haven't figured out that it will cost them twice as much to regain any credibility.

  28. julien Says:

    …damn…
    I ve just sent my HP dv2074ea laptop for repair.. GPU was getting hot 100ºC and CPU was 70ºC just by using skype and webcam… (the cpu fan is still working..)

    The guy told me it would take 4weeks minimum, and up to 8weeks….-…..

    I still hope that they ll give back a working laptop..
    and i hope they wont only change the fan..

    i feel… hopeless..

  29. Eric K. Says:

    I purchased a laptop from hp last year when my motherboard went out I had to send it in for repairs. They have had my laptop in for service for the last 3 months going onto 4 months according to the site their awaiting parts I called HP they connected me to the service tech and he said he was going to get it fixed that day he guaranteed me I would have it by the 03/20/08 well guess what its 2 weeks latter and according to hp their still waiting for parts!! I filed a report with the BBB to see what happens. I own a company that purchases mostly hp laptops, workstations, and servers I have never had any issue before. But if you don’t purchase the unit as a big business you get crap service!! Well lets just say I pulled the contracts from HP and now I’m going with Dell and IBM for my equipment I will never buy a HP ever again.

  30. Sharon Says:

    Well, I don't know why, but (and I know I'm lucky here) I've gotten wonderful service from HP. I've had my laptop for two years, one year was factory warranty and one year was extended coverage. I had the DVD go out and received a new one in 24 hours. Then one of the fans went out and I returned it with a list of all sorts of really picky stuff: cat fur in the keyboard, battery not holding a charge, and some other stuff I don't remember, but they fixed everything, ran a test on everything and replaced a soon to fail 100GB, 7200RPM hard drive and I got it back in less than one week! I've had other s/w related issues and their on-line chat got me what I needed. True, I did forgo Vista in favor of Win Xp Media Center Edition 2005 and it works. I loaded Vista for a couple of months and got it off so fast it would make your head spin! Yes, I KNOW lots of people DO have problems with HP and they are honest in their reports, but I wanted you to know someone, somewhere is getting good service, even if I AM the only one. A lot of the issues I read about are from Vista. Even Bill knows Vista sucks, why else would Win7 be due out next year?

  31. Lizzy Says:

    According to HP as of February there has been a part shortage. And here starts my dilemma.

    I sent in my dv2000 notebook (reluctantly) to HP, under warranty, because I was told that there was problems w/ the motherboard on 2/28/08. I say "reluctantly" since I'm a college student and need a computer essentially for basically all my studies. Personally, I would have just preferred to have paid to have gotten it fixed by Best Buy in person, but they assured me that I'd receive my computer fixed back within 7 days.

    So 7 days come and go and still no computer. So I call back and I'm told that there's a part shortage and that I'll receive it back within a week. Another 2 weeks pass and nothing but a pushed back delivery date has occurred. I call back infuriated and am finally assigned a case manager (after being bounced back and forth for hours). His name is Ronald and he's completely useless. He flat out LIES to my face and tells me that there was a tsunami in India and thats the reason why theres a part shortage! (Can you believe it, there hasn't been a tsunami in India for 3 years). It seems like the case managers have been given a paper of "reasons" why there is a part shortage and they just go down the line and feed it to customers who are dissatisfied. He then tells me that they did however receive motherboard parts that day and that WORST case scenario I would get my computer back within 4-5 days.

    Yet, I'm still not buying it so I call in a lawyer friend and I come to the conclusion that I'm going to take this to small claims court if I don't get a replacement laptop within 24 hours. After only about 1/2 hour since the last time I talked to Ronald (and he fed me that bullshit story) I call back and he REFUSES to take my call. And since all other case managers refuse to do any action if your not assigned to them. I'm completely powerless. But don't worry, I was told that Ronald would call me back shortly.

    So 3 weeks later, it's April 10 and I have not received my laptop and had not even received a phone call from by beloved case manager. Now I'm furious since my expected delivery date has been pushed back to 4/24/08; making it 2 months without my much needed laptop. So I call back talk to Ronald (who never called me back) and I tell him that I demand a replacement or I will take it to small claims court. He happily tells me the fax number I need to make my claim and that he has no authority to give me a replacement. He has a tone of arrogance and indifference that pisses me off more than anything.

    What I can't understand is how HP can have a continual part shortage for such a long time? After reading posts from other people experiencing the same issue it seems like this sort of thing has been occurring for years, with HP taking absolutely no responsibility.

    Has anyone been able to win a suit against HP in small claims court? If anyone could please let me know a process where I could get replacement laptop out of them, please let me know. I feel almost powerless to them, with no hope in getting my laptop back.

    My e-mail is lizzyh12@gmail.com If anyone has any information I could use, PLEASE contact me.

  32. Gerri Says:

    I will never purchase another HP product. I do not recommend their products or service. I had to send back several units to get a printer that worked, or so I thought. They sent a refurbished unit which later turned out to not work. I waited over a month sending units back and forth through the mail. When you call you think their service is great because you get to talk to someone day or night. The problem is they can't make a decision and operate like an assembly line worker. I have had my refurbished unit now the 3rd one that prints only to find out 2 months later that it doesn't scan. I don't normally use that option and my old scanner that I sent to them works fine. Guess what. Now my unit is out of warranty and they expect me to pay. Pay all right I definitely will, but not to fix this HP. I will be buying another brand. I also own an HP computer. It is their loss. Can't seem to find a place to email a complaint to at HP so I am threading on to this site.

  33. David Says:

    I will never buy another HP Product either. I do not recommend buying HP. I spent over $4000.00 dollars on a HP workstation and the on board firewire has blown the firewire port on to of my high-end video cameras and a hard drive. Wh I called HP they of course said they have never heard of that problem before and it couldn't be the HP workstation causing this problem after pleading with them they offered to charge me an additional $39.99 per half hour but said they do not guaranty they can fix it. In the end the tech on HP service tech on the other end of the phone said it is not HP's problem but it might help if I changed out my mother board. Last time I checked the mother board came with the workstation I ordered and is part of the computer there fore is HP's problem. I run a company and if I treated my customers like that I would expect to go out of business and if HP is dependent on my business in the future that is exactly what will happen to them. In short I would like to say HP you suck. I have had problems and nothing but problems with several of HP's products. I will spend the rest of my life bad mouthing your crap workmanship and horrible customer service. I should have bought a DELL or better yet a MAC.

  34. Marty Cain Says:

    I called HP in February after my DVD/CD Rom went bad. They told me the would send out another one. I waited about 45 days. I called back, they then told me that they don't know why it was not sent, but I was 1 day past the warranty and that the only way was to pay for an extended warranty. I then called Best Buy to ask them to help me to fight this, Best Buy then told me that this is not there problem. What has happened to customer service. Everyone in the service industry sucks. I am sick and tired of all the B.S. NO MORE HP PRODUCTS EVER!!!!!!!!!

  35. Marty Cain Says:

    Lets all get together hire an attorney and sue the crap out of them. There has to be some kind of law about this.

  36. They Stink! Says:

    Worst customer service ever.
    http://www.hp-customer-service.com/2008/02/hp-customer-service-is-horrible.html

  37. HPTech Support Says:

    Get ready for this; I'm an actual, honest-to-God, HP tech support technician. I'm not offshore, I have tons of computer experience and education, and hey, did I mention I'm not offshore? Good.

    That being said, I personally would never buy an HP product. Why? HP, flat-out, does not give a rat's ass about you, the customer. My job, although initially advertised as strictly a tech support position, began to morph quickly on the whims of HP. My primary job, sad as it is to say, is to get you, the individual who has already purchased a HP product… to purchase *more* HP products. Me and my fellow US techs can actually be *fired* for poor sales performance.

    What's more, they give us crippled tools, outdated information, on antiquated 4-year plus old stations that can barely handle the scripted programs we're required to use. System crashes, lock-ups, and reboots are a frequent occurance. After the initial hirings, the testing done to hire new "techs" has dropped so low that all you need to be able to do is read… somewhat.

    Now, when people get routed to us, they are almost unviersally happy they got someone that speaks English. News for you, folks. We're tokens. We're a token US branch, so HP can say they do have US-based tech support. The rest of their nsupport is all offshore, from people that barely speak English, have zero technical knowledge (those that do are quickly promoted off the phones), and are paid a pitance. But hey, they follow the company line without question.

    If you bought an HP product… I'm sorry. Really, I am. If you get me, or one of my fellow US techs, we will do everything within our power to get the problem fixed. Sometimes a few things outside our power, if we can. But the odds of you getting one of us… ain't good.

  38. Christy Says:

    Yes they always suck!!!

  39. Jane Says:

    Bought a low-end HP printer/scanner after my Canon died. Won't let my computer go into hibernate while it's turned on, so I have to turn it off. Sucks up huge system resources, for what I don't know, while it's turned on but not being used. Then it wants the install disk every time I turn it back on. Don't particularly care for all the crap it comes with either… wants to do weekly updates, link to HP store (who buys anything other than cheap generic ink, anyway? ) "Customer Participation" (whatever that is) that can't be uninstalled without disabling the printer.

    Real piece of garbage, in my opinion, and overloaded with labyrinthine extras I don't want or need. Had a straight-forward HP printer 10 years ago. It worked fine. This will be my last HP product. Too many horror stories on the web now about customer service, and mysterious deaths of products that are only a couple of months out of warranty.

    As for this printer, it cost $81, including tax/enviro fee/shipping, and I consider myself lucky that my HP experience/education came so cheap. I expect a convenient accident will take this thing out of my life during my next move. (If I get the chance, I'll tie it to the bumper of my car, drag it down a country road, and have someone video the whole thing, then post it online.)

  40. Steve High Says:

    I am Steve High a licensed Realtor in Honolulu, HI. I purchased and HP2840 Laserjet for home office and have never been able to use the scan function.

    This morning I got up at 3:00 a.m. on my quest for customer support. The support center for this product is in Niagara Falls. To get to this support center I spoke to India, PI and Puerto Rico. HP has set up these people to be third world country idiots and they have done them a great injustice. No I am not a racist or bigot, my son is half Chinese. So why in the world would HP set-up two human beings that do not speak the same language and call that Customer Service. Then there is the electronic whore who screens every call.

    Two of the employees at Niagara Falls have been exceptionally helpful although my scanner is still not functional. I have offered these employees a vacation rental for one week each at the time of their choosing because I was so grateful that they answered the phone, spoke English, were exceptionally helpful and very empathetic. These calls still got mysteriously dropped.

    I can't begin to express my frustration with foreign countries, electronic answering devices, $1,200 printers a year and a half old that are not fully functional (Vista is a whole different story), $683 print cartridges and drums, being held hostage by American corporate giants, CEO's that make too much money and don't answer to paying customers, endless online websites that say nothing, circular websites, unintuitive websites, condescending support, being treated like a moron by support people.

    I challenge Mark Hurd, to come to Hawaii, get up at 3 in the morning and start the process of what he calls customer servie and product support.

    Held hostage in Honolulu by HP, Vista and corporate giants. They continue to laugh all the way to the bank.

  41. DEN Says:

    THIS IS RIDICULOUS. I JUST SPENT AN HOUR ON THE PHONE WITH "INDIA" BECAUSE MY HARD DRIVE DIED, IT IS UNDER WARRANTY, AND I WANT A NEW ONE! PERIOD. WELL, ACCORDING TO THIS IDIOT WHO DOESN'T EVEN SPEAK ENGLISH, MY COMPUTER IS READING THE HARD DRIVE, BUT HE NEEDS TO SELL ME A RECOVERY DISK.I DON'T WANT A DISK, I WANT A NEW HARD DRIVE.I TRIED TO GET AN ENGLISH SPEAKER ON THE PHONE, BUT TO NO AVAIL. I WILL NEVER BUY FROM THIS COMPANY AGAIN, AS THIS IS EXTREMELY UNPROFESSIONAL, AND I AM EXTREMELY UPSET.I HOPE SMART PEOPLE WILL READ THESE COMMENTS, AND BUY FROM SOMEONE ELSE

  42. R Says:

    I am happy to see these complaints. It shows me that I am not the only one… I can only say that dealing with hp (I won't give them the courtesy of caps) has convinced me that in the future, I need to check for blog entries for any company before I buy anything importance in my life.

  43. Bob Mcdonald Says:

    Here is a copy of my recent experience with HP. I will never buy another HP product. I recomend that others do the same. This is not the great company of the 80s

    Hello Bob:

    Thank you for contacting Hewlett-Packard. We apologize for the problems
    you experienced. In order to assist you further, please call our office
    at 1-800-756-0608 option #7. Our office hours are 8am-5pm Pacific Time,
    Monday through Friday. Any agent answering the phone will be able to
    assist you.

    Thank you,
    Hewlett-Packard Company
    Executive Customer Relations
    3000 Hanover Street
    Palo Alto, CA 94304
    Email: email.ecr@hp.com

    This is a message to HP's CEO, from a valued customer: Bob Mcdonald.

    Customer's Phone: 541-259-3336
    Customer's E-Mail: mcbob@netscape.com
    Feedback Area:
    – Product experience
    – Service or support experience
    Message:
    Mark, I thought I should pass on my experience with my purchase of a HP
    photosmart 945 camera. I purchased this camera for $399 from Costco. I
    used it just over 1 year and it froze with the lense extended. It was
    returned to service and I received a refurbished replacement. That
    camera lasted 2 years and failed the same way as the first one. I
    contacted service and told it was "dead". I asked about repair and was
    told that there was no repair option. I was offered a coupon that would
    allow me to purchase another HP camera for $120. Funny thing was the
    same camera was available retail for $99. Now I'm feeling just a little
    pissed.
    I used to support test equipment at HP Corvallis while working for
    Schlumberger. We were constantly grilled on the MTBF of our driver
    boards in the test systems. HP demanded and expected improving
    performance. We did a good job at meeting those requirments to make the
    customer happy.
    I can not say the same as a customer of HP. I did some web searches on
    Photosmart camera failures. Turns out my problem was happening to a very
    large group of HP camera users.
    I take great care of my electronic equipment and expect it to last until
    outdated. It seems my $399 digital camera was considered to be
    disposable by HP. Sorry, but I don't feel that way. I would love to hear
    what the MTBF on those camera is. Meanwhile do you have any suggestions
    on how to repair my damaged view of HP products?

    Bob Mcdonald

  44. Ahmad Raza Says:

    I have the same experience here in India. I bought my laptop from US with international warranty and it died after 8 days of purchase, Had no idea how come it gone bad as it was running fine till late night and next morning i had no display , moreover its dvd player never worked for me in the first place …(THIS GIVE THE EXAMPLE OF QUALITY CHECK OF HP????) and when i took it to nearby HP service station ..they promised to returned it be back in 4 days and now its coming out to be 15 days and still they do not have the status on it…LOOKS I DID A GRATE MISTAKE TO SWITCH OVER FROM DELL TO HP , AS THIS NEVER HAPPEND WITH DELL.

    FROM NOW ON I TAKE A PLEDGE NOT TO BUY OR RECOMMEND ANY PRODUCT OF HP.…AND I KNOW I CAN HANDLE THAT BETTER AS BEING THE IT MANAGER IN GLOBELLY LOCATED COMPANY.

  45. Gabrielle Says:

    I just learned this through experience. If your HP laptop has problems, keep sending it in. If you send in your laptop at least three times (and every time you send it in for repair, the warranty is extended 90 days from that repair, which is useful if you only have, say, 30 days left), and it still does not work, call up HP and ASK FOR A REPLACEMENT. According to the technical support guy I spoke with, they AREN'T ALLOWED TO offer a replacement, you must verbally ask them on the phone to replace the computer, but they can only agree to this if you have sent it in three times (they call it the three-strike policy). After dealing with a lemon laptop for almost a year, and sending it in three times, I am now awaiting a brand-new, top of the line replacement laptop.

  46. Andrea Says:

    Totally agreed. We had hardware failure within 3 days of purchase and we have been getting the runaround from HP since. We have just now decided to return the compter and cut our losses… just to avoid any further business with HP. I really wish we has just spent a little more on another brand in the first place :-(

  47. Steve Says:

    I also had a very bad experience with HP. they have the worst customer service i have ever seen in my 50 years of living!I had a printer that i could not get a cable for that printer through HP so they talked me into an upgrade exchange for my old printer. i chargeed the 200.00 for the new printer.They sent me the printer with no lable to sent the old one back.I called them numerous times and finaly had a lable emailed to me. I sent the printer back. A month later i had a second charge on my charge card bill for 480.00 After hours and hours of talking to there poor customer service reps, including the superviser, They told me everything was taking care of. Next bill comes in with 480.00 still on it.Again hours of calling and being transfered a dozen times,they say there is nothing they can do, so it cost me 680.00 for a printer that sells everywhere for less than 200.00.I will never in my life, ever by another HP product.

    P.S. And it all started with them not having the upgrade cable to go from ther'ye printer to a new computer's usb port. I would have been very happy keeping the old printer.

  48. RICK Says:

    HP IS INCREDIBLY INEPT. I am going to buy my son a new laptop….anything but a HP.

  49. John V Says:

    Here's my HP story. Bought wife a DV6020 laptop. The wireless switch in front would not turn blue stayed amber no wireless connectivity. Happened near warranty expiration. Tried BIOS fixes via HP online help. They told me it was out of warranty. When I found the receipt which was a month later the warranty information was good 1 more month than HP reported. I was lied to and should not have given up so early. Read online about similar cases like mine.
    Lo and behold, an enhancement product warranty becomes available. (They are fessing up). I meet the criteria. I fill out the form send in the laptop. Later I get an email asking me to call a service number. I am told that the mother board had to be replaced ,the wirless problem was fixed.
    But here's what kills me. Oh by the way, you have a bad keyboard which was news to me. It was fine before I tell them. But my only recourse was either to take it back with the wireless repair only or (get this) pay $320 for additional keyboard repair which was not part of the warranty enhancement. Unbelievable!!!! They deny any cupability or appeal process. Needless to say, I asked for it back without any keyboard repair. I'm curious to see what functionality the keyboard has. There's more but my blood pressure just can't handle it.
    Bottom line—DON'T BUY HP!!!! SERIOUSLY!!! HONESTLY!!!
    Anyone else out there being scammed like this by HP?

  50. Shawn Says:

    So guess my tale will sound like all the others…bought a state of the art laptop about 8 months ago. The hard drive stops working now and I call HP to get it fixed. They send their cardboard box to me ASAP (which I thought was going to be a sign of something good to come) with a "back to you in 7-10 business days.

    Now on day 5 I call to check status (or moreso to get a mail id so I can track it back home…or so I thought).

    Apparently they're out of hard drives at HP…yes you heard me right – THEY HAVE NO HARD DRIVES – so the one I need is on backorder and should be available IN TWO WEEKS!!!!

    umm…I went to best buy and got a replacement (to see if that was the only issue – which is wasn't) in about 30 minutes but it takes HP 2 weeks to get a SATA hard drive…holy crap!

    Anyway, then they say it'll be about 7-10 business days AFTER THEY GET THAT IN (yet they still haven't found out, even though I told them, that the video card isn't working right…sooo…guess that'll be another few weeks to get that from backorder as well.

    Oh wait, this is the best part – so I tell the lady on the phone, "so you're telling me I'm to be without my laptop for a month b/c you can't get your hands on a harddrive?!?" You ready for her response (I couldn't have made up a better response if I tried):

    "Well sir, we could send it back to you and then you can send it at the end of the month – that way you won't be without it so long".

    ummm…send me my broken laptop…so that I won't be without it too long…scratch scratch.

    Suffice to say, I LOVED my previous HP laptop – then I switched to Toshiba b/c HP did away with the good speakers (my old one actually had like a subwoofer or something)…Toshiba was complete garbage – don't get me started on that one – so I came back to HP…

    And now I'm going to: http://store.apple.com/us

    I can't make bank if I have no computer…thank you HP for taking my $3,000 in 2k7 – I guess I'll use you as my 'backup hardware' if my Apple should ever break…if I ever get the HP back from India that is.

  51. lizzie_rae Says:

    i'm sorry guy's, i used work for HP, the problem is when you call tech support the call is routed to (some asian country which barely speaks passable "british" accented english) i used to work as one of the tech support agents but i'm from canada though.. imagine my surprise when an american customer called the exclusive hotline for canada, we can access the database from the other contact centers, imagine my surprise when i tried to pull up his ticket, there wasn't anything there. there was a record that said that this guy bought this stuff from us, but no tickets, i asked him from the number he called previously, "that place" was the one who received his call. 3 guesses: (1) agent did not enter ticket (it happens, a canadian supervisor who was assigned to "that place" for a year said); (2) since there is no ticket, people who received anything sent back is confused, doesn't know whether to fix or resend and since there agent did not document the call, supervisors run in circles (3) and be careful about sending stuff back, there were several cases where pc/lappy/whatever sent back was "cannibalized" by technician the who's supposed to fix it, they either swap the parts with some old ones they have at home, or with other parts that were taken out of other devices because it doesn't work!!!

  52. lizzie_rae Says:

    hmm, first phrase is supposed to be i'm sorry guys (no apostrophe)

  53. Barry Polk Says:

    I am glad I logged onto this blog, or website, because I was beginning to think I was the only dummy out here who bought a hp pc with windows vista that had problems with one or both of those pieces of crap. I am never sure which one is the problem. Maybe, both systems are equally at fault. Recently, my wife brought home a copy of windows vista magazine, for which she paid five bucks plus sales tax. What a complete waste of money. All it is, is a catalog for buying more junk from msn. It had one article devoted to "busting" the top ten myths about vista. Well, believe or not, after reading that article, my computer starting running 100% better. Yeah, in a pig's eye. I am going to shred the magazine and send it back to where it was published and tell them to stop printing it and then the environment will be better for it. Misery loves company. It doesn't make my computer work any better, but at least I feel better.

    Barry

  54. Linda Says:

    hp sucks save yourself your money seriously its not worth the rude service plus the crap pc you get that work very well when your under manufacture warranty but as soon as that expires expect a piece of shit computer that you have to either end up repairing a million times or sending in some parts! HP are frauds if they had a customer complaint line I would be calling it but I have been transfer put on hold and sent back to the same person I was speaking to previously who treated me like a jack ass and talked to like a complete fool.

    (My story)
    I have the dv pavilion 2000 and it has gave me serious problems from the day I bought it when I had explained to technical support in April 08 that I had been sending it back and forth for repairs and that I am very frustrated due to the fact that I was in school with exams they had transfer me back to technical support to speak to a case manager at that time the case manager had explained that he can see how frustrated I have been due to the fact that the first time it was an accessory problem then it was the motherboard which couldn’t detect the internet then when they sent it back I had a French keyboard when clearly I had an English keyboard prior to that and so the case manager had explained if I have to send this pc in one more time in for repairs he would send me a new computer top of the line he also explained that he had the authority to do so I had told him to write it down for future reference in case a situation would occur like this again as well I had taken the case number down…
    Well guess what my pc broke down once again (not a surprise!) and when I explained my situation and what the previous case manager had explained to me they all spoke too me as if they had no clue how someone could do that or guarantee that I had told them to check there call history since it is recorded! and I just kept getting transfer from one person to the next in total waited and was ignored by hp from 12:00pm until 5:30pm just to hear that I had to send my pc in for repairs yet again and wait probably 2 weeks from now 2 receive my pc back after the 3rd or 4th time of problems.
    The case manager I was speaking 2 could well be the same one who just manipulated me into believing something so that he didn’t have to speak to me again and the problem would be resolved for that time being, what he doesn’t realize is that I take this very seriously and if I have to put it in the paper and report the type of dysfunctional service or the non speaking people that work for hp and cant comprehend a customers needs or concerns I will after all the money I have spent to not be able to use my pc then of course there is a problem. You can red flag my account and think that I am being just another crazy customer but all do respect hp if you put your hard working money towards something that you assume would work and everyone is making you look like a fool and giving you the run around with everything! Then you would be very well in my position.
    Thanks for nothing.

    Very unsatisfied customer you can guarantee I will never buy from hp again and that I will spread the word.

  55. MayYeo Says:

    I am adding another horror story here. I'm kind of "relieved" that I am not alone here.
    I purchased a HP Pavillion notebook around July. It worked fine and all that until one day it started to have this annoying humming noise where the fan is. It was not a normal fan noise, it even gave me headaches and even wearing headphones out loud I could not manage to go over the noise. So I decided to take it to the dealer where I purchased it from, since I paid $300+ on warranty, nontheless. They noticed it was a hardware malfunction and the manager told me it needed to be sent to the HP. I asked how long it would take and he said 2-3 weeks. I've been using a laptop a classmate kindly lent me, which is fine except for the fact that is like 4 years old. So the manager lied. The laptop was sent back 1 month later. I was nearly going insane, I needed my laptop, you know. So I went to the store, and picked up, and was ubber happy again. Tried it at home, everything seemed to work fine. But a couple of hours later, I got angry when I found that the humming noise came back. Wtf. So despite being -15C outside and not having a car didn't stop me to return to the shop and ask wtf happened. I learnt that basically HP could not duplicate the failure this didn't do anything. So I waited on month for… this? So I asked for a refund, I didn't want to do anything with HP ever again, and the guy told me he didn't have the authority to do that, so I had to talk to the manager the next day. So I did. And the manager of the dealer store was not good at all, making my experience even worse. He even wanted me to send it again to the HP! Worse being, the laptop decided not to make the humming noise, so the guy didn't believe me. Yes, because I love making up stories and being laptopless for months. So I told him to wait a couple of hours and the noise would return. And that's the last state of my case. I'm waiting for the manager's call, telling me that heck, I was right. When I get my refund, which I will, I'll purchase another brand. Period.

  56. Greg Galotta Says:

    I have a HP TV, 23 months old Plasma,picture went out,black. They want to send a repairman out for the tune of 629.00. What a joke. I just found a line in their book provides up to 60,000 hours of operation. I will never ever buy another product from them. Think i'll make a utube video destoying it!

  57. Kim P Says:

    1) I purchased an HP Photosmart All In One C6380 printer online on November 29th.
    2) I received it, set it up, and printed *1* 4×6 photo on December 3rd.
    3) I tried to use it today, December 13, and its completely dead, so I contacted HP customer support via chat:

    [An agent will be with you shortly.]
    [You are now chatting with Jasmine .]
    Jasmine : Hello Kim.
    Kim P. : Hi
    Kim P. : my printer no longer works
    Jasmine : Welcome to HP Total care for All-in-one products. My name is
    Jasmine. Please give me a few moments while I review your problem description details.
    Kim P. : Received this @ December 3rd
    Kim P. : Have only printed 1 photo
    Kim P. : will no longer power on
    Jasmine : I understand that the printer is unable to turn ON. Am I correct?
    Kim P. : Serial is XXXXXXXX
    Kim P. : yes
    Kim P. : have tried unplugging power supply
    Jasmine : I believe you are using Photosmart C6380 All-in-One printer.
    Kim P. : have plugged power supply into different outlet
    Kim P. : yes
    Jasmine : How did you connect the printer to the computer?(USB/Etherenet/Wireless)
    Kim P. : wireless
    Jasmine : Let us reinitialize the printer by performing power cycle.
    Jasmine : Follow the steps below to power cycle your all-in-one:
    Jasmine : 3. Plug in the power cable to All-in-One and also to wall outlet.
    Kim P. : ok
    Kim P. : plugged in
    Kim P. : now what?
    Jasmine : Is the unit turned ON?
    Kim P. : No. That's the problem. It does not turn on. Pressing the power button has no effect
    Jasmine : Did you connect printer directly to wlloutlet?
    Kim P. : yes
    Jasmine : Please stay online while I get back to you with the warranty status.
    Kim P. : its 2 weeks old
    Kim P. : (i'm pretty sure its covered)
    Jasmine : I am sorry to inform you that your printer is out of warranty.
    Jasmine : As the printer is out of warranty, the best options that we can provide you now is upgrade the printer with us for an additional fee.

    First HP will send you a upgrade printer and you need to place the defective printer in the same box and you need to return that to HP with in 15 days. The upgrade model printer will carry one year warranty. The upgrade printer comes with new set of cartridges, cables, manuals, CD's etc.,

    Kim P. : You are completely wrong.
    Kim P. : The printer was purchased directly from HP.com, on 11/29/2008
    Kim P. : how is it "out of warranty" when its in my possession less than 2 weeks?
    Kim P. : also, my packing slip states the following
    Kim P. : "Extended Holiday Returns – Purchases made between November 1 – December 24 may be return through January 15, 2009
    Kim P. : if you're not going to replace this with a brand new, functional printer
    Kim P. : I will simply return it for a full refund
    Jasmine : Did you register the printer in http://www.register.hp.com?
    Kim P. : yes
    Jasmine : May I know when did you register the product?
    Kim P. : a few days after receiving it
    Jasmine : Kim, did you purchase the printer within the span of 2weeks?
    Kim P. : it was purchased November 29
    Kim P. : today is december 13
    Kim P. : As I've already stated – it was purchased two weeks ago
    Jasmine : Kim, as you have purchased the printer 2 weeks ago I suggest you to return the printer to the stores.
    Kim P. : I purchased it from hp.com
    Kim P. : i.e. – you
    Kim P. : can you perhaps stop following a script and actually think about my responses?
    Jasmine : Kim, I suggest you to register the product once again with hp, it will updated within 48 hours.
    Jasmine : Later if your product is covered under warranty we will be glad to replace the printer.

    Kim P. : No, I think I’ll just return it as per the packing slip and cancel the sale
    Kim P.: Thanks for confirming that I should stick to Dell.com in the future

  58. Barbara Says:

    I was recently sent a customer service e-mail by HP and they asked me about my last phone call experience with them. It speaks for itself:

    On a scale from 0 to 10 you rated your most recent service experience (phone support) overall as: 0. Why do you say that?

    Because the incompetent foreign bitch (Angela or something was her name) in your low-life thirld-world call center outsourced to India had no fucking idea about how to restore Windows Media Player 11 onto my computer. (This is after another Indian idiot of yours earlier had gone ahead and deleted it from my computer when I gave control over to him.) This bitch was absolutely clueless and instead of saying so, she was just fishing around on the Internet trying to find a free download for my Windows Vista Home Premium system. I kept repeating to her that I had already tried everything she was looking at but she just kept on doing her own thing, not responding at all, her English language skills absolutely horrendous, she needs to fucking learn to speak English first, not to mention the lame-ass thick foreign accent all these Indian or Philippino reps have, they all sound like the gypsies that come to the U.S. from Guyana and get government grants here in upstate New York. In the end she started playing dumb, pretending not to hear me and she kept saying “Are you there? Are you there? Are you there?”, thinking that I didn’t know she was just pretending and trying to buy time. I just hung up on her because she was pissing me off and ruining my day.

    Where do you get these fucking retards, you people??? You have the nerve to brag about providing excellent customer service when you outsource all your call center jobs to these underdeveloped countries taking jobs away from Americans and the end result is a bunch of untrained babbling robots speaking Gibberish. Yeah, I know, you only have to pay them 3 bucks an hour and being a multinational company and the beneficiary of globalism, you don’t have to pay any tax to the governments of these thirld-world countries because the U.S. Federal Government has bribed them for you. HOW FUCKING DARE YOU SAY ANYTHING GOOD ABOUT YOUR LOUSY CUSTOMER SERVICE, ALL YOU COMPLACENT, DELUSIONAL, SELF-PRAISING, LYING FUCKS AT HP CORPORATE???? You should be totally ashamed of yourselves and just go out of business. GO OUT OF BUSINESS!!!

  59. Martin Says:

    Worst service ever never a HP again Dell everytime
    The sevice overseas really hurts the business and the repair times they give you are all lies.
    Please rethink buying HP and consider a Dell with great service and excellent repair turnarounds unless you dont want to see your computer for a month or so.
    VIVA DELL.

  60. Sara Says:

    spent 30+ minutes on the phone with a simple "how-to" printing question. After 254 questions about email, address, phone number, serial number with 2 different guys, I was told they wouldn't give me the answer to my question unless I paid them $35 to update my warranty. Since I'm furious and need to let off steam, I'm going to write a letter and send it to every human on the planet to tell them to buy anything other than HP. Suck it, HP.

  61. Michael Patrick O'Connor Says:

    I sent the following email to HP:

    — Original Message —
    From: "**********@********.net"
    Received: 12/21/08 7:04:54 PM CST
    To: "************@***********.com"
    Subject: Ready to buy product question

    Name: Michael O'Connor
    Phone Number: 601-605-0856
    Order Number:
    Feedback: I purchased a HP computer (order No. CEO1953395) and was wondering if HP offers an optional keyboard for this computer? The keyboard that came with my computer is too narrow for me to use and it also does not tilt up, ie, it lays flat on the desk and is uncomfortable to use. Do you have any suggestions? Thank you.

    —— Please do not remove your unique tracking number! ——
    <>

    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    My question was simple and straightforward: "Does HP offer a larger sized keyboard for men with big hands."

    Below is the response (or non-response) I received from HP. I get the feeling that I am writing to a brick wall. Here's the response from HP:

    ++++++++++++++++++++

    ________________________________________
    From: HP Home & Home Office Store [mailto:myhpsales@hp.com]
    Sent: Monday, December 22, 2008 6:00 PM
    To: **********@********
    Subject: Re: Ready to buy product question <>

    Dear Michael,

    Regards,

    Cathy
    HP Home and Home Office Store
    E-Mail/Chat Representative
    *Prices, promotions and availability are subject to change. Orders may be subject to applicable sales tax, shipping and handling charges

    ———————————-

    There was no response just "Dear Michael & Regards Cathy" How am I supposed to react to something as dufus sounding as Cathy's response to me? Any help would be most appreciated.

    I will NEVEr, EVER purchase another HP product again.

    Michael P. O'Connor

  62. Mysterious Says:

    I agree with you 100%. I had very bad experiences two days back. Please read here.

    http://nishanaa.blogspot.com/2009/01/hperiences.html

  63. Excessive Says:

    I have had about as good of luck as the rest of you..

    I am going on 4 days 3 phone calls, 2 chat logs and over 6 hours to get a replacement graphics card that I had to diagnose myself by purchasing a replacement out of my own pocket.

    each time I call or log in, they ant find my case number, and cant escalate me to a supervisor because they are busy..

    I finally got someone to say they would send me the card, and a supervisor would be calling me within a half hour to get my CC # for collateral.

    that was two days ago and I still have not received that call..

    So not only could their techs not understand my issue, they couldn't diagnose it, and couldn't call me back.

    I am out the money for a new graphics card that I fixed myself (after being told that it wasn't removeable) if they do not get me a new one in time for me to return this one to best buy…

    I will not be buying another HP

  64. Mari R Says:

    Having worked for HP years ago when "real people" were the rule of thumb for "real customer service" I find what we have today very frustrating to say the least.

    You go through the Robotic question/answer period before you finally get a “live” human. Of course, that someone lives in another country (most likely India) and while they can speak English, it is a second language for them so understand them is difficult at best. Then just as they are looking of the status on your repair, you get disconnected.

    Call back, start the process over again. If what you are looking for is "Order Status,” you are told to check online. If my information was current and available online, I would not be bothered with the Robotic "customer NON-service" system. The second time, I asked if I could get a call back should I get disconnected again. I was told "sorry, no" they are not allowed to do that. So guess what? I was disconnected again and had to start over a 3rd time. What is it that HP no longer understands about GOOD Customer Service and keeping folks happy?

    In our home office, we have used and bought a wide range of HP equipment for years. However, I keep saying NO More! So this could easily be that last time. Unfortunately, my recent purchases included two new desktop computers, external drives, printers, and some other items (notice, multiples of all, so not a small purchase).

    This site is interesting, but I doubt it gets the attention of those who make decisions about the HP Service. If anyone knows exactly what one should do to get the attention of the folks in control, I would truly appreciate feedback.

    Thanks!
    Mari R

  65. Suzie Says:

    I'm not sure if I should be relieved that I am not alone… or completely discouraged.

    I bought a HP Pavilion Slimline s3420f at the end of September 2008 from Bestbuy's Canadian website. A month later, I got my 1st blue screen of death while using Internet Explorer. It was an IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL error… At first I ran the usual system tests, which found nothing. I used Memtest to test my RAM : nothing. So I contacted HP Total Crap… oops Care. Around that time, a new problem arose, with the sound of my computer. After spending hours following their instructions to re-download original drivers, driver updates, performing a full system recovery, etc., I had a bench repair set. The computer came back from repair with the same sound problem (obviously no had bothered actually listening to it, they just ran PC-Doctor to check for hardware problems, which never showed). And a few days later, there was the blue screen of death again…

    A new series of e-mail were exchanged with half the population of India working for HP under faux American names, which led to misunderstanding, repeated information, and growing frutration. I am now supposedly waiting for a second bench repair to take place… It was supposed to be confirmed over 2 weeks ago, I wrote back only to find out I had apparently fallen into some "crack" in their database. They tend to confuse the future bench repair with the one that already took place. ("It says in the system that the PC weas shipped back to you…" Oh dear lord…) Now the 2nd bench repair is supposed to be set "for real"… but I have not heard from them in a week.

    Having a different person answer each of my e-mails surely has not helped. Having them serving me pre-made replies unrelated to my question has been a huge pain. I keep going back to square one, and it is obvious that their supposed database is a joke. They can't even find my information (address, serial number), let alone write down the actual and complete issues I describe… It is obvious that when the computers get to the repair centers, the techs aren't even aware of the detailed problem. With the box that was sent to me was a paper supposedly describing the problem. It was basically written "malfunctioning", and the sound issue was not even there. I wrote it down myself and taped the paper on the box to make sure they would take it into consideration. But they didn't.

    Tomorrow I am faxing a letter to the main office in Mississauga. I am not expecting any progress, but what other options do I have left?

    Hell will freeze over before I buy another HP computer.

  66. John James Says:

    There is a way of doing business in 2009. Go after the money. Look up the compensation of the CEO of HP. Next contact Best Buy and other outlets for HP products. Let them know that they are a partner in this scam and they are liable for damages.
    Our polititians are ready to go after these people finally but you have to let them know.

  67. CS Says:

    When I was in Germany 3 years ago I bought a HP laptop. Dang thing died a week ago. I looked online and my series of laptop was notorious for pre-mature motherboard failure and HP extended the one year warranty out to two years. Since my laptop was almost 3 years old, it wasn’t under warranty anymore but I was still upset that it died. Laptops should last longer than 2 years 11 months before kicking the bucket. I called up HP and they told me it would be $300 plus parts/labor/shipping. I thought since HP knew this line of computers had a known problem, they should have had a recall and fixed it for free. Since I wasn’t getting anywhere with their customer service, I did what everyone that gets wronged should do, write the CEO and complain. Well in this case I sent an email to him since I couldn’t find a home address, telling him of my experience and basically saying a multibillion dollar corporation should fess up to their mistakes and fix my computer for free and that they should spend the 300 dollars and invest in their customer to make them happy so they will have a repeat customer which would be good for the company and also investing in their customers is a good business practice. Without customers they will cease to exist. I also said a lot of other things like if they didn’t fix my computer, I would be sure to let everyone know about their bad business practices, think posting on the internet, telling co-workers, etc., along with Fox News and also that I would be sure to buy computers from now on from their competitors. A couple of days later I get a phone call from the CEO’s office apologizing and that I would be getting my laptop fixed for free. Moral of the story, when you think you got wronged or did get wronged by some company no matter how small or big, make a big stink about it. Companies can’t afford to lose their customers, especially during a recession.

  68. CS Says:

    Latest update. HP sent me a box with packing materials and a a fedex sticker to mail the laptop back to them. However, when I got the box, it was about the size of a Kleenex box and the pre-paid fedex sticker had a weight of 2 pounds printed on it. Now I have to go find my own box and who knows if fedex will accept the prepaid sticker since it has wrong info on it. Dang it HP, why the hassle?

  69. CS Says:

    Final Update: I mailed my Laptop off Friday for repaired. I was told it would be about 2 weeks to get it back. Ended up getting it back in 3 days to including shipping times. One day there, one day for repair and one day back. Very quick turnaround. They replaced the motherboard and everything is working fine. Hopefully this is an updated motherboard so I don't have the same problem later.

  70. the trueman Says:

    Hello, let me explain to you what is HP. Hp is only the Corp office in Palo Alto California and some other offices in Boise, Idaho and Houston, TX. Everything else is a third party company,The service centers, the call centers, etc. When you call HP your call will probably answered in India. They have a very large call centers with CSR people, Techs, supervisors, without mentioning that all HP product is made in China and Malasya.. They were hired by HP to answer calls and take care of the customers. Believe me, they are trying to do their best, but they should work a lot! to improve, I know. The personnel is changing very often and they need to train the new guys.
    These people have no contact with the service centers, (by the way, these are inside US.)but through their system, and if the service center fails, the HP agents must find a story to tell the customer, until they get an answer from the service center.
    There are also the case managers, they will resolve the problem, but you will get one after everything else fails. These case managers are also inside the US, and normally they call you.

    I will recommend to all of you that if you have a problem with any HP product and if you still, can return it to the store, do it. If not, try to fix it on a local dealer. The last option would be HP.

    Do not get confused, if you want a laptop, go with Toshiba, they only make laptops and they know their product. If you want a desktop computer: Build your own unit yourself, it will last longer, with everything you really need on it and you can upgrade it anytime you want without restrictions.

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