The Consumer Complaints Blog

I ordered a Hewlett-Packard Pavilion dv8 Notebook Computer by phone after shopping their online site. After 3 days the cooling fan went out, the keyboard melted, and other issues affected the computer. I called their customer service line and was sent through several useless steps to try to repair it (they obviously had no idea what they were doing and were reading from a check sheet). I sent the computer in for repair and the day after I got it back a key popped off the keyboard and the internet card stopped working.

After calling customer service and having them try to have me erase the hard drive, I called corporate headquarters in California and was sent to a case manager who told me this model computer has had no problems other than mine. I told him that the internet is full of complaints from other users and he said he knew nothing about that. I asked for a replacement for this lemon and was told that I needed to send it in for repairs and if anything else went wrong they would replace it.

It worked for a while and now the cooling fan went out, the wireless card turns off and on on its own, and a key popped off the keyboard. After once again being frustrated by customer service I asked for the Case Manager line. I was told that they had NO RECORDS of me sending my computer in for repair and would have to prove to them that I had. I found an old email confirming repair from HP and called the case manager back. He said it doesn’t matter that the repairs had been done and it doesn’t matter that I had proof they would not replace the computer.

Now angry with his lying I called corporate headquarters again. I was sent to an Executive Case Manager who miraculously was now able to see all of the repairs that were done and he sent that info in an email to the case managers and had me call them again. After discussing the situation with yet another case manager I was told that they will not stand by the previous case manager’s word and my only option is to get it repaired for the multiple issues once again.

My advice, buy from a company who views their customers as more than gullible sheep. Hewlett Packard lost 44% in profits last quarter for reasons like this. I will do everything in my power to make sure next quarter does the same. This was my 4th HP product that I bought and because their lies it is the last.

Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.

I have a $3000+, 4.5 year old laptop (bought Aug/Sept 2007; XPS M1330-
model#PP25L).
The motherboard has been replaced 3 times, and needs to be replaced again.

When I purchased the unit, I did it over the phone. The sales rep
accidentally gave me a 3 year security system subscription instead of
a 3 year warranty. They issued me a refund for the security system
because rebuilding the unit would have meant delay. I asked for
confirmation about the warranty since I suspected she accidentally
gave me the security system in place of the warranty. She said, ‘yes
yes yes, that’s all there, don’t worry.’ When I got the invoice, I
checked and the 3 year warranty wasn’t there. She wouldn’t give me the
warranty, her supervisor wouldn’t give me the warranty. Customer
service FINALLY did, but I suspect because I was still within my
timeframe to return the whole unit if they didn’t.

Now for more problems. So I had an extended 3 year warranty. My
motherboard failed on the unit. The first motherboard replacement
occurred Aug-11-2008 (almost exactly a year from the date of
purchase). No problems – have the warranty. The next motherboard
replacement was Nov-2009, and I talked to a rep and got a name,
dispatch and case numbers. Still had the warranty, so no problems, but
I was concerned about what happens when my warranty expires – this is
obviously a faulty unit or model, who’s going to deal with it? This
rep told me on this occasion that if my warranty were to expire and
this happened again, that the motherboard would be replaced at no
charge because it was an ongoing issue with my unit. He specified that
other issues wouldn’t be covered, but motherboard issues would because
it was ongoing. So fast forward to now (Feb 2012). My warranty has
expired (as of Aug 2011), and now my motherboard needs to be replaced
again.

I talked to 7 people in two hours, each one trying to usher me to
warranty repairs (where they just tell you how much it’ll be to fix
the unit) against my wishes. One customer service rep blatantly
refused my request to talk to a supervisor, put me on hold for 5
minutes, then transferred me to warranty repairs against my request
anyway. The most helpful technical support rep told me she would be
upset too, but that there was nothing she could do even though a
customer service rep (with all information) had told me otherwise AND
that the issue was ONGOING/the unit was faulty. Not only that,
technical support also told me that there was no one with that
dispatch number, or name, and that the rep I talked to in 2009 gave me
wrong information, and that they would not honour the repair. They
denied the unit was faulty even though the motherboard needed
replacing at only a year old. Then they sent me to warranty repair,
where they told me they’d give me a discount of $400 (from $500), for
me to pay for a new motherboard for my unit. The unit is faulty, and
they gave me wrong information or simply lied, and will not honour
their product or their own customer
service. I told them they were out of their minds if they expected 1.
for me to pay to have my motherboard replaced AGAIN, only for it to
last about a year before needing yet another replacement and 2. for me
to spend another dime on anything Dell after I was guaranteed by THEIR
customer service that THIS EXACT THING would NOT happen to me. My $500
is much better spent on another brand of computer that will not have
this issue, or at the very least have superior customer service from a
brand that stands behind their product (and service, for that matter).

I am 27 years old, and will never so much as buy a mouse from Dell
ever again. Neither will I let family or friends (or anyone else for
that matter) purchase from them without hearing my story first.

Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.

I live in Toronto and contacted the Toronto office of Geeks on the Way and scheduled onsite assistance with an ongoing sound issue on the internet.

I made it clear to the booker and also to the technician (by way of note) that if the issue couldn’t be resolved, we need the computer backed up on an external hard drive (left for him to set up) so I could restore the computer to the factory settings.

When it was clear he couldn’t resolved the sound issue, my husband prompted him to back up the computer. He left saying “It’s almost done and will be backed up in a few minutes.” The problem is he didn’t back up all of the computer including the documents and settings files and didn’t see fit to let us know.

He did, however take it upon himself to delete our antivirus software and load up some new software (for $50) without checking in. When my husband called him on that, he uninstalled it.

This is where it gets really fun. I restored the computer with the help of Dell Technical Support to discover we have sound on the Internet, and that I’ve lost all my emails (but he did back up my contacts). I discover next that we have no antivirus protection on the computer.

After lengthy discussions with the Toronto manager, Lisa, it’s clear that this is all really my fault. My fault for not being there. My fault for leaving a note. My fault for wanting him to wrap it up in an hour. The antivirus removal — it’s sort of their fault. They’ve offered to help me download free software off the computer though — how sweet.

When I suggested I would tell people that they give terrrible service, Lisa said she would not replace the antivirus they deleted.

Some of the worst customer service I’ve ever had.

Thanks for reading this.

Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.

My son and I purchased a Hewlett Packard desktop computer at Costco in Winnipeg, Manitoba in November of 2009 after looking at all of the various models and options at Costco and a few other retailers. We chose this particular model – a Pavillon Desktop – because the box and the packaging material said it would receive wireless transmissions. This was important as our hardwired internet connection is in another part of the house. After 3 days of being unable to determine why we couldn’t get an internet signal finally Costo customer support advised that this model infact didn’t have wireless capacity. The HP “support” person we phoned initally didn’t figure this out, and said probably I needed a stronger signal and thus a better router, which I went out and bought for $100. The second HP “support” person I called on the 3rd day was arrogant, said I “should have looked at the box” and also that there was no wireless card or adapter available for this computer and that I would have to go and buy a receiver. My son went out and bought the wireless receiver for about $120.

I wrote to HP “customer service” in Canada in January documenting this situation and sending copies of all of the bills and got absolutely no answer. Then in February I emailed the CEO of HP and got a call and an email from a customer “support” specialist who had (of course) not taken the time to look into my original complaint and made me re-submit everything. This person also suggested that I should have 1) taken the computer back to Costco (disassembled a desktop, repacked it in the packaging we had since thrown away etc) and 2) should have asked HP for a wireless card when I called instead of buying one (!). Which of course, was exactly the opposite of what arrogant customer “support” person #2 told me in November.

The “specialist” did say they would look into it once I resubmitted all the receipts etc and gave them serial numbers. I did so, got no response until I followed up with another email a week later at which time I was told they would do nothing for me unless I proved I was right by sending them photos of the box (which I’d stupidly thrown out after buying and unpacking their product).

I will never again deal with HP – although I suspect they, like most large retailers do not care.

Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.

I got your email from a Chinese newspaper of Montreal, and I would like to complain about a Dell laptop I bought on March 27th, 2009.
The product SKU is 10118295, brand: INSPIRON, model: 115-2169E, serial number: 2J5Q7H1.

After installing Microsoft office 2007 and other softwares, I was very happy to start the computer. Unfortunately, the computer just couldn’t pass some step, then I had to skip it and continued the operation. Later, I uninstalled some softwares because my friend told me Vista could have conflicts with softwares in Chinese, but the problem still existed.
Around May 1st, three days and one month after I bought the laptop, I went to Futureshop where I bought the laptop, the technician received it and found that the hard disk failed but the manager refused to change the laptop because I had not brought it to Futureshop within 14 days after the purchase. But as an ordinary customer, how could I imagine that the hard disk of a brandnew laptop had already failed?
But finally, I accepted to change the hard disk, which means I paid the price of brandnew laptop to buy a defected one! I cannot imagine how Dell could sell a defected laptop as brandnew to its customers!

Three weeks ago, that’s November, the system suddenly reminded me that a file was missing and the computer could not be started, so I had to bring the laptop to Futureshop again, that was November 29th, 2009. The problem was HDD boot failure, unit failed to load windows.

I bought two years of garantee which will expire March, 2001. I don’t know how many times the hard disk of this laptop will fail again, then how much money I have to spend buying new hard disks? I am really tired of the same problem, especially when I am rushing with my homework.

Is it too late for me to ask Dell to change the laptop directly?
Thanks a lot for your time and attention on my email.

Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.