Hewlett Packard Canada Defective Notebook and terrible service... for 6 months. Nationwide

Dr. Strange Service or: How I Learned to Start Worrying and Hate Hewlett Packard

Thank you for calling Hewlett Packard Canada. Merci davoir appel Hewlett Packard Canada, pour un service en franais dtes service en franais

Ive listened to this message at least 20 times now. Im tired of it and in a bid to never hear about it again, Ive decided to start this blog and spread the address around so that I have a written record of my experiences with Hewlett Packard Canadas customer service. Its really gotten to the point where telling my story out loud can take almost half an hour from beginning to end, while it is entertaining, Im starting to think that Im forgetting some pieces of it.

It all started in January of 2007. My old reliable Compaq Presario R3000 stopped working and it was out of warranty. Time for a new computer ! Having really enjoyed both my last laptops from Compaq I decided Id buy one from the same brand again. I wanted a mac but just couldnt afford it. I walked into Future Shop on January 30th, 2007 and fell in love with the very pretty HP Pavilion dv2201ca (HP being the owners of Compaq). I went home and immediately my computer crashed with a blue screen. I brought it back and was told it was a hardware problem; they gave me my money back after trying to give me a far weaker computer as replacement as they had no more in stock. I was unimpressed. I went over to The Source by Circuit City in the New Sudbury mall on February 1st, and found the same laptop, for cheaper and with a printer/wordperfect X3 combo. Well I was sold.

I went home and was perfectly happy with my purchase. It was a pretty little thing. It even had a light scribe! Unfortunately it had Vista which sucked up most of the memory, but after turning off most of the options in Vista, it worked alright. Until I decided to go to a LAN party and play some games that week.

We use old games. Medal of Honor, Star Craft, that sort of thing. Nothing a laptop from 2007 should have a problem handling. This laptop just couldnt run Medal of Honor. I didnt understand. I then found out that the NVIDIA video card drivers hadnt been released yet for Vista. That was frustrating. I had to wait a few weeks until the videocard drivers came out so that I was able to play videogames or anything graphics related. I contacted hp.cas online technicians, and they were surprisingly helpful.

Then I decided I wanted to burn a cd. Apparently the burner only burns if it wants to. Two out of three cds I would try to burn would fail. DVDs as well. I contacted HP about this issue and after getting me to go into safe mode I was able to burn a cd, so their solution was reformat, itll fix it. I did, and it didnt. This was now March. I said Well, you know what? I dont really need to burn cds, I need a computer to write papers. Ill wait till the summer to send it in.

About this time my laptop wouldnt stop crashing. I kept getting blue screens. I chatted with the online technical support and found out that my webcam (the one that is integrated in the monitor) was giving me the problems. It was causing my laptop to crash. A webcam that I didnt ever use. Great. I had to wait for the next driver to come out so that I could fix that problem and make it stop crashing. In an ironic twist of events, the webcam stopped working once that was installed. The program meant to make the webcam work, made it useless. In fact it would tell me that my webcam was not plugged in. Kind of funny when you consider that it was INTEGRATED.
In June, I was sitting at Books and Beans with my laptop, packed up my things as they were closing, and headed over to Williams. I pulled out my laptop, and what do you know, it wouldnt turn on! I called HP and was told to take out the ram and try it again. Good thing I know what Im doing when it comes to computers because I cant imagine if this had been my grandmother. Now Mrs. Imbeau, power cycle the laptop then unscrew the panel and release the RAM from its slot. It wouldnt have gone over well. So after having done this, it still didnt work. We scheduled a pick up (wellthey would send me a box, and I would sent it back to them). I went home and decided for the fun of it to see if it would turn on (this was 4 hours later). What do you know, it did! So I called back and postponed the repair.

A week later the same thing happened. I said Ah-ha! Its overheating and needs to cool down before powering up. The fan must be replaced. I called up HP and got it sent in (this was about the first week of July). Two weeks later I received my laptopand it didnt turn on. They said they hadnt found any problems with it. The technicians were obviously geniuses not to find a problem with a laptop that didnt turn on. I called back and scheduled another pick up. It was sent in, and two weeks later, I received my laptop.

Im going to stop for a second and describe this ridiculous process to you. What happens is that you call Hewlett-Packard, argue with the automated voice messaging system until it passes you to technical support. Then you explain your problem (over and over and over and overno one takes notes apparently), and they tell you theyll send you a box within 1-2 business days. Usually that means Purolator drops off a box at your house and you have to put your computer inside and then call Purolator back so they come and pick it up. It takes about a week if you happen to, you know, have a job and are not at home during the daytime.

So I received my laptop in late August/early September. The box with the laptop was left beside my door, outside. I was not impressed. A letter inside said they replaced the motherboard. Ah, so that was the problem, I said to myself. I was so happy to have my computer back! That feeling lasted about ten minutes. Almost right away I noticed that it would freeze, it would crash, give me blue screens and generally work terribly. Oh how I was happy. This was apparently a fixed laptop. I wasnt happy but this was the beginning of the school year, what was I to do? Not have a computer? I decided to grin and bare it, Id sent it in over the holidays when I didnt need a computer so badly. I spoke to about a dozen online technicians and downloaded every patch, every update, and every possible software solution they could offer. The BIOS, the videocard, the webcam, the chipseteverything. Nothing fixed the problems. In fact some just seemed to make things worse as the computer started crashing and not turning on. It got to the point where two out of three times the laptop wouldnt turn on.

One day a messaged popped up saying I was a victim of piracy and that my copy of Windows Vista was in fact a pirated version. Funny since it came pre-installed on the laptop. I called HP and asked what was up. They told me I had to contact Microsoft. I clicked on the website that the pop-up was offering me and it sent me to a broken link. Perfect. I called Microsoft and after arguing with a stupid automatic voice response system, arguing with a real person, telling them that I had just called HPand no I would not call them backI had to recite a reaaaaally long code and enter it into my laptop (something like 40 digits). That seemed to have fixed the problem.

The laptop was still malfunctioning most of October. It would only turn on the 5th or 6th time Id try it. Finally in late October, I was in Ottawa for work and the laptop stopped turning on; if it did turn on, it would immediately go to a blue screen. I called up HP when I got back to Sudbury (November 4th, 2007) and I was once again instructed to go dive into my laptop and try to see if the RAM was the problem. To my surprise the laptop worked with one stick of RAM, but not the other. Then it froze. Then I was told my processor was having issues. So it was a combination of problems. I set up a pick up. The woman assured me the box would be sent to me the next day so I stayed home. It didnt arrive. Not even the next day. It arrived the Wednesday when I was at school. Apparently HP decided to use UPS instead of Purolator. This meant I was dealing with Muskoka Delivery that comes but once a day to my region of the Valley. This meant that I would have to drive (or in my case, take the bus) to Garson or stay home all day if Id want to send my laptop to HP.

I was leaving to go to the Sault, so my mother graciously offered to drop it off. At the same time as I had scheduled to get the box picked up, I had asked the person on the phone to transfer me to someone with whom I could leave a complaint. I left three numbers: home, work and cell phone. I was told I would be called within 72 hours. No calls. I called back and they apologized and said someone would call me back. No calls. I called back the following Tuesday and they passed me to a supervisor. He said hed try to flag my case. He passed me back to the technician who said hed call me back on the Thursday to see if a case manager called. No case manager called. The technical support guy called my home on Thursday (at 9:30pm mind you) and then spoke with my mother who told him that I would be out of town the following week so they had to call my cell phone. He called me back himself that night and he said hed try to get them to call me back. I went off to my conference. No calls on my cell. I got back on the 24th and called them and explained my situation. They said I could contact the C.E.O on the http://www.hp.ca/ website. I sent them a polite letter explaining that no one was calling me back. I got an email back saying they would call me back. No one called within 48 hours. I then called them. They told me someone called on the 21st at my work number. I explained to them, again, that they could reach me on my cell phone. They told me someone would call within 48 hours. They didnt. I called back and demanded to be passed to a case manager. They explained that there was no way they could pass me to a case manager because they were in a different facility. They said someone would call back. Finally Suzanne the case manager called me on my cell phone on November 29th.

She apologized for the problems seeing as I had waited since November 4th for a call, and not to mention I still didnt have my computer back. She said, How can we fix this, would you like a new computer? That would be great, I said. She asked me what kind I would like. I said something small. She offered a Pavilion tx1320ca. This is a nice computer. I was quite satisfied. She said I had to fax my receipt to her and shed call me back the next day. Maybe someone out there can find that useful. Possibly someone from Hpbut I digress. Amazingly after I faxed my receipt, she really did call me, although it was at the end of the day when I was ready to leave. She told me everything was set up and Id be receiving my new computer within 5-10 business days.

On December 10th, UPS came to deliver my laptop. I was ever so happy when I signed that page and brought my laptop inside. I opened the box only to find my old laptop and a note that said they had repaired the motherboard, the RAM and the Hard Drive. I immediately called back Hp and told them I was unhappy. They said someone would call back within 48 hours. I turned on my computer only to discover none of the programs worked. The words bad image would pop up anytime I clicked on an icon. I had to reformat. This was a repaired laptop?

I formatted everything and restored the computer to factory settings. Almost immediately the computer began to crash and freeze. The same blue screen from months ago would pop up. Sometimes if I move the laptop it freezes, or crashes. Sometimes it wont turn on. Add to this that Vista was once again telling me that I have been the victim of piracy and that I dont have an official version of Vista (that came with the computer at Circuit City and had been fine for months). I called back and told them that not only had they sent me back my old computer, it was still not working properly. There is no way a freshly repaired laptop with a freshly re-installed Windows should be crashing and freezing: especially when it has been updated with all the most current patches. They said they couldnt contact a case manager directly so someone would have to call me back in 48 hours. I sent another angrier letter to the C.E.O and got a second email assuring me I would get a call back.

No one called me back, so I called them back (this was Wednesday) and demanded to be transferred to a case manager or anyone that could help me. A man who could barely speak English (or French for that matter) then put me on hold for half an hour and finally said that he was going to get them to call me back. I said No, I want to speak to someone who can help me. Im absolutely tired of being told I will be called back and never being called back! He then gave me a telephone number for my case manager and said good bye. I called this case manager and after explaining my situation, he apologized and was really helpful and said everything would be straightened out. He then asked for my zip code. I told him I was in Canada. Oh, sorry. Ill have to get them to call you back. The guy who gave you this number screwed up. You called the States. We cant help you. Thats Hewlett Packard Canada.

Shivering with rage I kindly thanked him and hung up the phone. I then called back on Thursday and asked to speak to a manager again. I was told that I could only call during the day (it was 8pm) to speak to a manager. I called on Friday and was put on hold for half an hour. The person then told me that he had had delivered a note saying they had to call me back. I thanked him. I then wrote an excessively angry email to the C.E.O and threatened to plaster my case all over the university and the internet if I didnt get service soon. I left my cell phone number, and only my cell phone number, as my contact number.

On Tuesday I called back. They said that they had called me at home on Monday. I again told them that there were three numbers in my account. One of which was my cell phone, the number they had to call as I was not home during the day. They apologized and said that usually when they take the extra numbers it goes into the notes but theres only one number attached to the account, and thats the one they call: thats information that would have been great two months ago. I asked her to change the number on the account to my cell phone and told her that the phone was constantly on my hip, had a missed call with caller ID and had voicemail. I would know if they called it or not. She told me she would look around for a supervisor and put me on hold. After half an hour she said they were too busy and would call me back tomorrow. No calls.

Today, Friday the 21st of December 2007, I called back. A woman answered and said that she would go look for a supervisor. After half an hour on hold I was told she had found a supervisor but he only spoke English (I had switched over to French HP by this point as I could not understand the English speaking technical support). I said fine, just let me talk to him. Here is what I heard (although paraphrasing a bitI cant remember exactly what was said) :

Paul : Hello Patrick, Im Paul, Im going to pass you to Oscar
Oscar : Hello Patrick, I cannot help you as I am in the United States, you will have to be patient and wait for a call back which I can schedule for you now
Original Support : What! No hes wrong! Paaaaul!
Pat (that's me) : Oscar, I was just on hold for 30 minutes and I was speaking with people in Canada and they were passing me to a case manager, I can hear them!
Oscar : No, I cannot help you; you will have to wait for a call back.
Pat : Oscar you dont understand. I can still hear her; shes saying youre wrong. Just pass me back to them.
Original Support : No youre wrong Oscar, Paul are you there?
Oscar : No, I cannot help you, you are not listening to me, you must wait for a call back.
Pat: Ive waited for two months for a call back, and been on hold for 30 minutes, can you pass me back to Paul? Can you not hear them? Theyre talking to you.
Oscar : No, you will be patient. (705) ***-****, is this the correct number?
Pat : Thats my home #, youre supposed to call my cell, but thats besides the fact, just let me talk to the original person I was talking to.
Oscar : No, you will be patient

*click*

The line was dead. I was flabbergasted. I tried to wrap my head around what had happened. It seemed I had been transferred to a supervisor who passed me to a case manager in the US who couldnt help meall the while she was arguing with him saying that he was wrong. Then in a fit of annoyance this Oscar Rico hung up on me. Id like to point out I was quite polite through this whole affair.

I called back right away and explained what had happened. This new guy Richard, was incredibly polite. I told him the whole story. He told me to write a complaint on the hp website and he gave me his personal number at work where I could reach him if this was not resolved. He apologized again as much as he could and said he would schedule a call back in 24 to 48 hours. I asked him if that meant theyd call on the weekend. He said Oh no, business days. Im guessing the 24th isnt a business day. They will probably be closed. I dont expect a call until the 27th. This is would put me almost exactly a month after I was promised a new computer and almost 2 months since I had sent in my computer for the third time and almost 5 months after the first time I sent it in to be repaired.

The school board (where I am a trustee) was gracious enough to offer me a laptop. Its an old clunker, the internet cuts in and out, the battery doesnt work, I cant install any programs or save any files, but at least its a computer. I still need a laptop so that I can install my software for my interviews for my research.

This is the story of the strangest most absurd and terrible service I have ever received or how I learned to hate Hewlett Packard.
Feel free to leave a comment or a story of your own.

(((link redacted))) (my blog)

Silentpat
Val Caron, Ontario
Canada

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