OT: An Interesting Dilemma

[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)

[Baron Munchausen]

The most reliable brand of HDs at this time seems to be Seagate. I deduced this by cruising the various 'support' forums on the net and noticing who is *****ing about what. Guess what? The brand that almost never appears in the ***** Posts is Seagate. I have the Barracuda IV, two of them actually since a second HD is a much cheaper backup than a tape drive. Not a glitch in 18 months of operation.

Western Digital used to be a very good brand, too, but they've fallen off in the Last few years. Apparently they are trying too hard to shave their margins.

[ May 05, 2003, 22:58: Message edited by: Baron Munchausen ]

[Atrocities]

Well I have some good news for a change. This news should however, be filed under believe it when I see it.

After spending a while considering what to do, my anger got the better of me and I called the HP 18007520900 line and when prompted to say one of the choices I kept saying "Shazabot" and finally the automated system connected me with a live person. I did this because I did not want to pay for a long distance phone call. In this case it was the smart thing to do as I was eventually connected to a pleasent women in Canada. I explained to her the situation and asked what to do. She needed some time to go over the notes in my file and offered to call me back in an hour. Ya right, I have heard that before.

Sure enough in little under a half hour she called me back and offered to trade me a New 725n HP for this latest POS 521n I have. The thing is, the 725n is a far superior machine to the 521n and HP is willing to send it to me at not additional cost because of all the problems I have had in the Last few months.

This is would be great except for two things. I will believe it when it the new PC, and thank you to the nice lady who helped me, and what to do with it after I get it. I will have to invest in a good PCI video card as HP Machines do not have an actual AGP slot so I can not use the machine for gaming. I could give it to my mother, but she would just put it in a closet and leave it there. So I will use it, and enjoy having it.

This goes to show you, that is if I do get the new PC, that most companies would rather work out a complaint than have the bad press. Especially since bad press results in word of mouth sales losses, and those can really add up.

Thanks for all in input guys, I will let you know what happens when it happens. Now to find the specs on the 725n.

[PvK]

I happen to have a PCI-bus GeForce 2 (64 MB MX/400 I am pretty sure) video card which I don't have a computer for any more.

I was using it on my Athlon 1.4GHz machine and it actually did just fine, as long as the game didn't try to use excessive amounts of video bandwidth, which seemed to be rare, up through Last November when I upgraded. It was somewhat unpredictable which games did this.

Examples of games that worked flawlessly:
IL-2 Sturmovik
Combat Mission
Rune/Unreal
Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Myth III

Examples of games that were slow or choppy:
Red Faction (low frame rate)
Grand Theft Auto III (actually ran in slow-motion)

PvK