Hewlett-Packard Incompetent and misleading notebook computer advertising and support Houston Texas

This is an exact copy (with redaction of personal information) of the e-mail exchange (first e-mail is at the bottom, last is at the top):

"Jeff -

"I would not have purchased this machine if I knew it would not support Windows XP. All of the downloads for it specially include XP as an O/S for this model. Even on your own forums, there is more discussion of rolling this machine back to Windows XP than any other topic concerning this family of notebook models.

"I am a software engineer, and Vista will not run most of the tools I need to do my job. Vista is slow (the version supplied is not 64 bit to match the processor) and unreliable.

"I have been told three different things by your support staff:

"1. I have been e-mailed drivers for Windows XP, so SOMEONE thinks it can be done - of course, the drivers don't install in most cases;

"2. I have been told I can have the correct drivers for a fee;

"3. I have been told that XP drivers are in development, and will be sent to me when available.

"Therefore, at least three of four support persons are lying or incompetent. Why did I have to talk to three other support people? Because the e-mail I wrote you at 12/06/2007 19:36:50 EST didn't get answered until Sat, 8 Dec 2007 12:32:41 +0000, despite a promise that e-mails would be answered in one hour.

"This isn't world-class support - this is disgusting. The worst thing about this computer is that it says HP on the front instead of Toshiba (which is a notebook computer that works right out of the box).

"All that having been said, I need the recovery disks. In response to your questions:

"Shipping Information:

"* Name:
(redacted)

"* Organization:

"* Mailing Address (No P.O. Boxes):
(redacted)

"* Apartment/Building/Mailstop:

"* City:
Sugar Land

"* State:
Texas

"* Zip/Postal Code:
77478-(redacted)

"* Phone Number (including area code):
(redacted) (home)
(redacted) (cell)

"* Email:
(redacted)

"Product Information:
* Product Model Number (ex: ze4250, n5441 etc):
dv9620us

"* Product Number (ex: C1234A):
GS719UA#ABA

"* Product Serial Number (ex: US12345678):
CNF7458WM4

"* Product Purchase Date:
9/5/07

"* Operating System(Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium 32 or 64 bit) None of the labels say 64-bit, so I assume it is 32-bit. This is a 64-bit AMD Turion processor, so it should have a matching 64-bit O/S, or it's perfomance will creep because of the crushing overhead of transferring an extra unused 32-bits with every data transfer. If available, I need a 64-bit O/S.

Regards,
Scott (redacted)

PS: I will be sending the entire text of this discussion to the website RipoffReport.com.

Date: Sat, 8 Dec 2007 12:32:41 +0000
From: laptop_support_en@mail.support.hp.com
Subject: Re: HP Pavilion dv9620us Notebook PC e-mail suppor
To: scott***


Dear Scott,
Thank you for contacting HP Total Care.

From your e-mail, I understand that, you have downgraded your HP Pavilion Notebook to Windows XP and you are encountering issues with certain accessories on your notebook. Let me assist you in this regard.

The issue at hand might be due to incompatibility.

As you have mentioned that, you are unable to perform F11 recovey. I would like to share that, due to downgrading of the Notebooks Operating System the recovery partition of your notebook might have been corrupted and being this the reason you are not able to perform F11 recovery on your notebook.

Scott, HP does not recommend installation of XP Operating System on Vista preinstalled notebooks. HP PCs purchased with Windows Vista should not be downgraded to another operating system. I would also like to inform that if you install a retail version of Windows XP, then you may not get the preinstalled applications like Quick Play, CD/DVD burning software etc.Also, as the notebook is specially designed and bundled for Windows Vista Operating System, you may find it difficult to get all the drivers for the devices installed in the notebook which supports Windows XP Operating System.

At this point of time, to isolate the issue at hand, as your notebook is covered under warranty, I would feel happy to send you new recovery kit for your notebook usihng which you can reinstall the Operating System of your notebook.

So, I request you to please get back to me wtih the information requested below so that, I can process your request for the service.

Shipping Information:

* Name:
* Organization:
* Mailing Address (No P.O. Boxes):
* Apartment/Building/Mailstop:
* City:
* State:
* Zip/Postal Code:
* Phone Number (including area code):
* Email:

Product Information:

* Product Model Number (ex: ze4250, n5441 etc):
* Product Number (ex: C1234A):
* Product Serial Number (ex: US12345678):
* Product Purchase Date:
* Operating System(Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium 32 or 64 bit)

The Model, Product and Serial number is located on the bottom of the PC on a white sticker.

Please get back to me with the information requested above and I will be happy to assist you further.

For information on keeping your HP and Compaq products up and running, please visit our Web site
at: hp.com/go/totalcare

Sincerely,
Jeff
HP Total Care

***Do Not Delete Service Ticket Number***
{ticketno:[8005902778]}
***Do Not Delete Service Ticket Number***

Our advice is strictly limited to the question(s) asked and is based on the information provided to us. HP does not assume any responsibility orliability for the advice given and shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, special, incidental or consequential damages in connection with the use of this information. Always back up your data.
For more information, including technical information updates, please visit our Web site at hp.com/support.

-----Original Message-----
From: scottdeaver@HOTMAIL.COM
Date: 12/06/2007 19:36:50 EST
To: HP Support
Cc:
Subject: HP Pavilion dv9620us Notebook PC e-mail support

hp e-mail support

language_code : en
language : English
Country of Residence : United States
product_line : KV
product_oid : 3548479
product_name : HP Pavilion dv9620us Notebook PC
part_number : GS719UA
purchase month : 12
purchase year : 2007
problem area : installation and setup
serial number : cnf7458wm4
operating system : Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64
What type and brand of CD/DVD media do you use? : DVD -R TDK
Was the CD/DVD writer drive built into the computer when you purchased it? : yes
problem description : Installed OS refused to install VC6.0 or Visual Studio 2005 (I am a software engineer). Installed XP. No base drivers available anywhere, half of accessories don't work correctly. Tried to use recovery, F11 key doesn't work on boot. Tried BIOS upgrades, reports not right BIOS for system. Typical HP nightmare. Need to restore original OS with patches to solve compiler problems or get my money back.
troubleshooting : Uhhh...like, maybe you could ship something that works correctly out of the box??? or a restore function that actually works? or a BIOS replacement utility that can correctly assess its enviroment? Those are the kinds of things that would help.

As to this mess, I've been a software engineer for 18 years, never seen a situation like this where absolutely nothing works as advertised. You don't even show recovery disks on the 64-bit Vista support downloads.
setting changes : The unit never functioned properly. Every attempt to install third-party software (Visual Studio 2005, VC 6.0, Roxio 7.5, MS Office 2003, and InstallShield 10.5) failed, and there's no support from HP for installing XP on this machine. And the big joke is that to get on line chat support, you have to be using the failed computer!
first name : Scott
last name : (redacted)
phone : (redacted)
email : (redacted)
form url : http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/email?product=3548479&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&lang=en&cc=us
form country : United States



Scott
Sugar Land, Texas
U.S.A.

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