Another lesson in How Not To Run a Business, this time courtesy of HP. Last November I purchase an HP laptop for my daughter’s birthday. A couple of days ago, she opened it up to a screen full of horizontal lines and what looked like a jagged marker scribble diagonally through the middle. We tried to call HP support, but after two hours on hold we gave up. The next morning I called Best Buy and asked if the Geek Squad handled HP warranty repairs. They said they did.

When we brought it in, they told us that HP classifies any screen problems as “accidental damage”, and will not warranty it. Back home, we called HP again, finally reaching a “customer service” rep who repeated the policy about not warrantying screens, admitted it was certainly possible for the screen to become damaged through no fault of the user, and pleading lack of authority passed the case on to a “case manager”, who would call back “within three business days”. This is after being told that my daughter is leaving for college in 14 (calendar) days. Oh, yeah, and the replacement of one part in a laptop that cost $460 (including tax) would be over $400!

Finally heard from the “case manager” at about 6 pm on the third business day, and all she offers is 25% off, which somehow still comes to over $400!

Obviously it does not make sense to do the repair. We continue to try to escalate the case and see if we can find someone at HP who actually comprehends what “warranty” means. If not, I guess I will be stuck with the bill for a replacement laptop, which will NOT be an HP!

Further update: I just called the “case manager” department and asked to speak to a supervisor. I was told by one person that their supervisor didn’t take phone calls. When pressed for a name to attach to said supervisor, I was hung up on. When I called back, a different person told me that they didn’t report to anyone, just some vague notion of “corporate”. Looks like Mark Hurd was the role model for integrity at HP.

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