Hewlett Packard ,HP Sold me faulty laptop, took it in for repairs two months ago, haven't seen it since! Internet

I purchased a HP laptop on 1st May 2009 for 600 (around $1100) which I think was a large enough sum of money to merit a certain level of quality. Evidently not, as within a month the casing had started to chip (and the laptop had not moved off my desk, so I can barely comprehend how this even happened) and in November 2009, the hard drive crashed.
The laptop was firstly taken for repairs by Currys, the store which I had purchased the laptop from. They returned it after two weeks having replaced the HDD unit, but had not installed an OS, so HP took it saying that they would repair the casing as well.
I was already concerned that such a high level of damage had occurred so soon after purchasing the laptop, and do not trust that the laptop will last beyond the 12 month warranty.
The real trouble started however when my laptop, which had been collected by HP on December 3rd, was not returned on December 11th as promised. Starting on December 17thI began to phone their customer helpline, which may have been one of the monst worrying and stressful experiences of my life.
Asking where my laptop was, when it would be returned, and expressing my annoyance that I was left without the product for so long (surely having purahces it, I should have the right not to be without it for over a month?) they refused to give any answers whatsoever. I was put on hold for long periods of time, hung up on mid conversation (and no, I wasn't getting angry!), told on more occasions than I have digits that they would phone me back and did not.
HPs customer service is truly like a guide on how not to treat customers- they are appallingly rude. It is frustrating enough being on the phone to foreign call centres, where it often feels as though information is being lsot in translation. Add to that appallingly rude answers and assistants genuinely refusing to divulge any information is atrocious.
It is now December 30th, I have no idea where my laptop is and when (or, it's beginning to feel, if) it will be returned to me, and I need it for university exams beginning January 5th.
Although I feelt hat it is a great injustice that they should take so long repairing a laptop which I purchased so recently, truly the greatest frustration here is HPs customer service- to be cliched it feels like speaking to a brick wall.