OT: An Interesting Dilemma

[Atrocities]

My Dilemma is a unique one that I feel compelled to share with you all. I swear that what I am about to tell you is the absolute truth.

Back in November 2002 my mother gave me a new Hewlett Packard HP Pavilion 521n because she could not get it to run. She had bought it new in June of the Last year, and was unable to get it work and could not get HP support to help her. I told her I would take it home, register it and contact HP support for her.

Well I did just that, I took it home, hooked it up, and ran the windows update program. I also used the on-line virus-checking program that came with it and killed a nasty little virus and its many friends. Evidently this computer had been exposed to the Internet long enough to pick up a really nasty email virus.

After the windows up dates were completed and the virus killed the computer ran fine. My mother did not want it returned for fear that her houseguest would again infect the PC with a new virus. So I kept it.

In late January my friend was using the HP and it died. No warning, it just simple gave out. Later it was discovered that the Mother Board went out. HP technical support was contacted and a new PC was shipped. In order to keep the warranty valid we had to pay $80.00 bucks to an HP certified repair place to swap out the HD’s.

This second PC was also a HP Pavilion 521n and it seemed to run fine for about three weeks before crashing. At this point I contacted HP support again and discovered one inescapable truth about HP Tech Support, they cannot speak English. After nearly an hour and a half on hold I am finally connected to someone and that person could barely speak English well enough to say hello. This idiot for lack of a better word had me, after I told him that I could not loose my data, as it was very important, do an OS reset. Do you know what that does? Well in case you do not, allow me to explain it to you. It re-installs the OS from a Backup on the HD and wipes all your data. The idiot HP tech support guy assured me that this would not wipe my data, yet guess what, it did. I was not at all happy. Then I discovered that this new PC that HP sent me was in fact an inferior PC to the one I had sent them. The old PC was an AMD 1.4 GHz with a 60 gig HD and this new one was an AMD 700 with a 20 gig HD. Oh ya, I was real pleased about this. The crash problem continued so HP sent me a new computer.

The new computer out of the box as an Atholon 1.0 with a 30 gig HD. I called them up and really raised hell over it. Finally after several hours I am connected to someone who is willing to help me and a new PC is sent out.

I get the new PC and sure enough it is semi close to the one that I had sent them, it was a 1.4 Atholon with a 50 gig HD. Not exactly what I sent them, but close enough to make me happy. So I spend the day doing the updates and setting it up before taking it home and hooking up my Printer. Guess what, the printer port is no good. So what do I do, I call HP technical support once again. And this is when it gets really ugly.

I give them the serial number of the computer and it is registered to someone else who had sent it in for having a, guess what, bad printer port.

I blew it. I demanded to speak to someone who could speak English and was in a position of authority. They assured me that someone would call me back and help me. That was Wednesday of Last week. I have yet to be called back.

So here I am, with a broken used HP Pavilion and no way to get them HP to respond. Any suggestions?

I am going to file a complaint with the states AG office. Perhaps they can get some results.

[geoschmo]

Buy a $15 dollar card with a printer port and never call HP again. If something else on the PC breaks take it out to a field and go "Office Space" on it.

Geoschmo

[DavidG]

and rejoice in the knowledge that no one reading this will ever buy an HP computer.

[Chauron]

Heres my advice. Strip it, strip the HP down for parts. The processor should be good, as well as the HD and disk drives, you could save the memory but I would just buy a new stick. Then go to http://www.pricewatch.com and order the parts you don't have (Case, MB that will fit an AMD processor, Socket A if you didn't know, etc etc) and build your own comp... screw the Tech support ppl, they're mostly idiots.

The only Tech support that I know of that is any good is Gateway. If your monitor fails all you have to do is call them, they'll check to see if its still on warranty and if it is they'll send you another one, NO QUESTIONS ASKED. Dell would have you go through all this diagnostic crap even if you know exactly whats wrong and tell them....

So screw the tech support and build your own machine, its cheaper than buying an entire machine from HP or Gateway and you won't have to deal with those annoying TS morons.

I built my own comp a couple of months ago.

Gigabyte 7VAXP MB
Athalon XP 1700+ Proc
256mb of DDR RAM
40 GB Western Digital HD (Best brand )
GeForce 4 MX 440 64mb vid card
Sound BLaster Live 5.1 PCI
US Robotices 56k Performance Pro Modem

All that cost me about $460 and I got it all of Pricewatch.com

[Atrocities]

Originally posted by geoschmo:
Buy a $15 dollar card with a printer port and never call HP again. If something else on the PC breaks take it out to a field and go "Office Space" on it.

Geoschmo

That is an excellent idea, and thank you for offering it.

I love my HP printer, but this Pavilion just has be at the end of my rope.

[geoschmo]

Originally posted by Chauron:
So screw the tech support and build your own machine, its cheaper than buying an entire machine from HP or Gateway and you won't have to deal with those annoying TS morons.

This is also good advice. For anyone that doesn't feel up to this though I suggest paying a little bit more and buying a computer from your local computer dealer. Not the big chain stores, or even Gateway, as good as they are. Find a reputable computer seller/servicer that has been in business locally for a few years at least. Every town has a few of these. It's so much easier to get good quality service when you can take the thing in and plop it down on their counter and look the guy in the eye. And smaller operations like that can't afford to piss off their customers, so they tend to try harder. At least the ones that Last do. You might pay a couple hundred dollars more up front, but it will be well worth the agravation you save yourself in the long run.

Geoschmo

[tesco samoa]

AT. I think your at the point were you should get a full refund for your troubles.

And I would take it up with management.

A good friend of mine had a similar problem with Maxtor harddrives... His new one stopped working after 3 months... So he sent it in for repair to Maxtor in the states... 3 weeks later he gets a call from UPS stating that he owes them 30 dollars US for delivery. He says he did not sign or receive anything so he is not paying it. A week later his new drive fails. And on that same day his old drive shows up in the mail. Upon inspection he notices that the Plates have been plyed open with a screw driver. So he calls Maxtor. The guy tells him that his old drive had a dent in it so it is not covered under warrenty and that he will not be getting a replacement. My friend states that a replacement arrived in the mail. The guy tells him that he must send it back and not use the drive as it was shipped out by mistake and that he will have to cover the costs. Then a heated conversation occurs.... And a few phone calls back and forth... Threats of Law enforcement etc... get filtered out until they realise he is in Canada... That his 3 year warrenty was on the old drive and that the new one has a 1 year warrenty... etc... So my friend informed Maxtor guy that the company he works for will no longer be purchasing Maxtor equipment. And we removed Maxtor from the list of companies that we can purchase from. Bwahahahaha...

Yep the customer struck back in a big big way.

A formal letter was sent to the company Last week.

[Atrocities]

Thanks guys. The suggestion on using the good parts to build a new PC is an excellent one. I am in need of a new PC as my power house PC, the one I am on now, is in need of some TLC.

It was the Last PC I built and I built it to State of the Art specs in July 2001.

Maxtor HD are not well received by many. I use Western Digital, and they too seem to have some issues, but thus far WD has always been very helpful.

Again thanks for the great suggestions guys. If HP contacts me I will inquire about a refund for my mother, if not, I will ask them for a Brand New PC, if a no go there, I will demand a new warrenty with a replacement PC. At a minimum, I have filed a complaint with the AG Office and that should light a fire under someones *** at HP.

Thanks guys.

[Loser]

Originally posted by tesco samoa:
And I would take it up with management.

This is a good idea. But if you're going to do this, don't even bother with the phone.

Write a letter. Don't write a letter to HP, write a letter to the president of HP specifically. Do some research (the whole internet..) and address your letter to the top dogs as though you could write them personally, but professionally.

Tell your whole story, but don't be demanding, just point out that you have been through a lot and you are no longer interesting in talking to their tech support.

They will have a special group of customer service types to address this sort of issue. These people will have special authority, they can do 'things' for you. These will be the people who call you, and who will try to make it all better.

Play.

[Gwaihir]

Its no wonder that HP is losing money everywhere except ink. Their ink sales actually support their failing computer division!

HP printers can be nice, but they're just about the most expensive to own. Yes the printers are cheap, because they actually lose money selling them - the ink is pricey, and runs out FAST. I have owned an HP, a Canon, and a Lexmark, and the HP cost far more than the other two. I really like the canon ink system (just ink, no new heads, so the alignment doesn't have to be repeated, plus its cheaper), but the printers are pretty pricey (although they're also good, and the ink savings will rapidly cover the extra up front cost). I like my lexmark X83 because its very convenient to have a printer and a good flatbed scanner (allowing on the fly copying at good res and even in color) in one unit.

Dell will generally get you the best prices on computers, they simply have the best business model for making them. (this is most true for desktops. I am now using my third Dell, and am very happy with it.) It is true that Dell tech support makes you run diagnostics, but they are intelligent people, and if you are nice and demonstrate that you know what you're doing, they let you skip steps (at least they have for me on the two occasions I called them). The components they use are pretty good quality (including burners with RAW+96 capability . . . )
Alienware is best AFAIK for really nice computers. (Dell loses here big time, but if you want a mid-range to good computer, they're your best bet)