Hewlett-Packard Company Consumer Reviews - Page 3

I bought a Pavilion dv 9502 two years ago with a 2 extended warranty. Within 6 months 1 failed with a bad keyboard and the second with a bad hard drive. Both issues were resolved at the place of purchase, no questions asked. Then last month I started having problems with slow start-up, screen going blank, programs starting and stopping seemingly on their own. I called the Extended Warranty help line and after several diagnoses, was told that I would have to get a recovery disc from HP and send the computer off to be repaired.

I called HP to order the disc and was told that for these problems even though my HP warranty was expired, they could help me on a 1 time basis at no charge. At that point a HP tech took over the computer and preformed several functions which seemed to help but not completely correct all issues. But within 2 days the problems returned. I called the extended warranty company and made shipping arrangements then called HP to order the recovery disc. HP offered a for a 1 time fee to run the recovery over the phone when the disc arrived which I accepted.

While I waited for the disc, an unsolicited e-mail arrived from HP on 5 steps to improve performance. I ran these and it seemed to make things worse. When the disc arrived I called HP and was instructed on how to run the program and once it started it would take 6 to 8 hours and to call back at that time. 20 minutes later the computer shut down completely leaving a message on a black screen saying BootMngr Missing I called HP and they said this was another problem and now I would have to pay for service.

I called the Extended warranty company and told them I was sending them the computer but while speaking to them was informed that my computer was under recall for these problems. I called HP and after sometime was told that indeed this was the case. I then called a case manager and said I was not going to pay the service fee and he credited my account and made shipping arrangements.

When I got the computer back some of my programs Spysweeper. Microsoft Office etc. would not load up. The message was that they were incompatible. I called HP and was told that again I would have to pay a fee just to ask why after 2 years this now was the case. After some rather heated discussion, I finally got to a supervisor who did try to help. I got Office installed but had to go to Webroot support that were more than happy to asset.

That was two days ago and this morning went to use Word and got a message that the installation been improperly installed and to repair reinstall the program. And now at start-up a large yellow band appears Seems that issues might be returning. After numerous hours on the phone with HP TechSupport And no less than seven promises of call backs, none ever came, dose this type of atrocious customer service ring a bell with anyone ?

Recently I just purchased a new Lenovo Ideapad S10 laptop and I needed a carrying case to carry it around. After doing some research I determined that the HP 2133 MiniMate Always-On Case made by InfoCase would fit my needs, as my computer is the same size as the one the case is designed for. Since InfoCase did not have an online order system, I went to the HP website and found the product (item number A696646, part number FM-2133) for $55.79, and the accessory pouch (item A531788, part number AA-P) for $6.76.

On Monday, January 26, I added these items to my cart and clicked the checkout link. Immediately I got an error generated by my web browser that the website's security certificate was invalid. Knowing the potential risks involved when something like this happens, I chose to wait on it. On the afternoon of Tuesday, January 27, I tried again and the same thing occurred. This time I called HP's number, and pressed 1 for home user sales. The first representative immediately put me on hold and then the line was disconnected from their end.

I called back, and I told the second representative that I wanted those products. He put me on hold to retrieve the item information. When he came back, I was surprised when he told me he could not find the item in the system. Then I checked, and then I could not find it either. We kept trying to find the item for about 30 minutes before I realized that my cart was in the Small and Medium Business part of the website. The representative recommended that I call the Business Sales department. I did so to find that they were closed.

On Wednesday, January 28, I called the Business Sales department. I told the third representative that I was a home user and that I wanted the products and that the representative from the home user department could not find the items in his system. I was put on hold and the line was disconnected, again from their end. I called back, and I told the forth representative the same thing. He put me on hold. After 5 minutes he came back and told me that yes, they sold the product, but it would take 3-4 weeks because they would have to special order it. I thanked him and then hung up, feeling that this is an unreasonable time period to receive an item.

After that I called InfoCase, the product's manufacturer. I left a message on the machine of somebody in their sales department. On the morning of Thursday, January 29, I got a call back from the InfoCase sales department. The man I spoke to was very friendly and helpful and understood my situation very well. He gave me a phone number and a long extension for somebody who would be able to sell me the item. Unknowingly I did not expect what happened next - when I called the number, it was HP. I dialed the extension and left a message for this person, Representative 5.

After waiting all day with no response, I finally placed the order through the website, with security certificate warnings often along the registration process. I finally got to the checkout screen and checked the shipping rates. The shipping calculator indicated $5.00 for UPS 2 day shipping and I selected that. The final checkout screen indicated $62.55 for both products, plus $5.00 for shipping and $4.38 for taxes for a total of $71.93. I selected to put it on a credit card, and I submitted the order.

Immediately I got a confirmation email. On the morning of Friday, January 30th, I got a return call from Representative 5. We discussed what happened, and we confirmed that the order was placed and everything was all set for shipping in a few days.

For the entire next week, nothing had changed with the order. On the evening of Thursday, February 5th, I called HP's Business Sales department to check the status of the order. After being put on hold, the sixth representative informed me that both items was backordered (despite being told the week before that everything was all set). She said that she would remove the shipping cost for the inconvenience and call me the next morning, Friday, February 6th. This would take the order total down to $66.93.

On Friday, February 6th, nobody called. Then I tried to call and they were closed for the weekend. On Monday, February 9th, I checked my credit card statement, and I discovered that on February 6th that a hold was placed on the card for $72.29 - not the original total of $71.93, or the price with the removed shipping charge of $66.93.

I called HP and Representative 7 told me that Representative 6 didn't call back yet because she did not receive any information from the warehouse and at the moment there was no estimate when I would get my product. She said that she would change the hold to the correct amount of $66.93 immediately (this didn't happen) and that Representative 6 would call me back when she had more information. I called the salesperson at InfoCase again. He told me that the main issue is that HP is only placing one order for the product from InfoCase each day, thus only one product is shipped out each day.

So apparently, InfoCase has plenty in stock and HP is intentionally creating this backlog! The InfoCase salesperson decided to make an exception and let me place an order directly with him and I cancelled the order with HP. I got a confirmation of the cancellation. On Tuesday, February 10th, I got shipping confirmation from InfoCase. On today, February 12th the pending charge from HP for $72.29 was finally removed. The product from InfoCase arrived today, as promised, and it fits the laptop perfectly.

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS -- The past month I have been on and off the phone with HP customer service due to problems with my notebook pavilion. I've only had the computer for three months and I has already crashed on my twice. The first time I was able to recover my PC, but the second time was much more complicated.

One morning I booted up my notebook and it said "no hard drive found". I call HP and they said that they would agree to send me a new hard drive to fix the problem. I told them I would also need the recovery CDs to reload the operating system onto my computer. They sent the hard rive to my college address, where I was living, and the recovery CDs to Chicago, my hometown. I called them complaining and they agreed to send additional CDs to me, which took another three days. After receiving the CDs, the computer still would not run, as I consistently got an error saying the recovery process could not be fixed.

I called HP and said I want my computer fixed, and they said I didn't have the pick up and return service on my insurance plan. I argued with them and eventually had to pull out my insurance certificate that proved I did, which took almost an hour, and they finally agreed to have the laptop repaired. They told me it would only take 3-5 days, and that I should be getting it back no longer than a week (which is also stated in my insurance plan when I bought the thing initially).

This is where things really started to go downhill. 3-5 days turned into 6, where I then called HP and they said I wouldn't be getting it back until the 5th of October (I sent in the notebook September 26th). I said that's ridiculous but there wasn't much I could do. Come the 8th, there was no notebook, and the tracking number I had said that FedEx hasn't even picked it up from the HP repair station yet. I called them and they assured me it was on the way, despite contrasting evidence that it hasn't been shipped. They told me to call on the 9th if it didn't show up.

I called the day after and spoke on the phone for about 3 hours straight, to 6-7 different people. I was told four separate stories:

1. The product hasn't been received into the repair shop yet and that repairs should start soon.
2. The repairs have started but they needed to order additional pieces to finish repairs.
3. Repairs have started and are on their way and should be done very soon.
4. Repairs are finished and the notebook will be sent out very soon.

At this point I lost it. I hung up the phone to catch my breath, and no sooner did I get a call from HP themselves. A woman told me that my computer was facing "complications" and that I should have a new estimated delivery date BY the 22nd, almost a month after I sent it in.

I called them back and told them "I've had it. I don't want the computer back. Keep it. The last thing I want in my life is an HP product and GOD FORBID it breaks again and I have to go through this sick game all over again." I told them I would be canceling my credit card and getting a refund. And that I do not want the laptop fixed and sent back to me. I called three different times on the 9th to confirm that they had canceled the shipping and repairs, and that they were going to keep the laptop. I was assured each time that the cancellation has gone through and that I should be OK.

Guess what I received in the mail today? (Oct 10th) the original, broken laptop that had not been touched, nor opened. The same tape that I closed it with is still on it. HP never even opened the box, 16 days after they received it.

PHOENIXVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA -- We bought a Compaq Presario V6000Z laptop for our daughter for college a little over 1 year ago. She came home for the summer and used it a little bit each night after work. One night it just wouldn't boot up. The next day she brought it to the local computer store who checked it out and said that there was a problem with the power supply, but that this was a recall item and HP would fix it. So they sent it to HP.

After a while, we get notified by HP as they claimed to have fixed the power supply problem but found that the monitor didn't work and there were burn marks on the cable to the monitor. Neither of these things was a problem before we brought it to the store and the store will back us on this. So I called HP to talk about it.

I get technical support and after going through the endless computer prompts, talk to someone, but was told that this was a customer service issue. So I get transferred to customer service but web customer service who obviously tells me it isn't their problem. So they transfer me to someone else in customer service who informs me that it isn't their issue, but belongs in technical support. Despite my informing them that technical support already told me it wasn't their problem, they transfer me anyway. However, I got a busy signal during the transfer and then dropped.

So I call again, and after going through the endless computer prompts got someone else in tech support. I explained the phone chain thus far, and told him that before he transfers me to someone who will transfer me to someone else, and so on, that he should just transfer me to the final person who will actually help. He wants to transfer me to someone else in customer service. I blew up at this point and called him and HP a bunch of idiots and he called me an idiot, but transferred me to a nice lady in customer service. As I expected, after listening to my story, she transferred me to technical support.

This time, the person took responsibility and said he would review our case. We talked about it and I explained that since the problem with the monitor and cable didn't happen before we brought it to the store. He explained that the monitor was ruined by something leaking from the power supply, the bad part that they worked on for the recall issue. I asked him if it didn't seem obvious that they caused the problem when working on the power supply. He gave me a case number and told me someone would call back the next day.

The next day, someone calls my wife and accuses us of trying to rip HP off. She again explained that the store would back us about the monitor and cable being good before they sent it to HP, but he didn't want to hear it. They finally sent it back to the store with the bad monitor and cable. We still haven't picked it up yet, but it is now basically useless as a laptop. We probably could hook up a desktop monitor to it, but this is where we stand. I have never bought a HP computer before, always Dell (and I have bought many for myself and other kids of mine). My wife bought this HP because it was on sale. I will never by anything from HP again.

Their products are defective and their customer service and technical support are mostly inept. Worst of all they treat us with contempt. I work for a large computer company and will spread the word about HP so hopefully, no one else makes this mistake. Thank you Dell for never doing this to me. Thank you Kodak, who when I reported a camera problem, sent me a new camera (an upgrade, batteries, and multiple rolls of film for my troubles). Thank you Dell who, when I had a problem with a monitor, 1 day before the warranty ran out, gave me no hassle, and said a new one was on its way.

I had to call tech support 4/8 due to repair issue still not fixed after sending in my laptop. Was advised that case manager would call in 48 hrs. I received no call so on 4/11 I called back and was transferred to my case mgr. I advised her that I still have issues with my laptop and she said "What do you want me to do?" I advised her to fix the problem in which you failed to do the past 2 times. She said she is not replacing my notebook with a new one. I advised I never asked for that. She told me that is what is noted on my account.

Believe me, I would never ask for a new laptop because I see how much of a hassle it is just to get mine repaired. This was obviously a language barrier with your tech support in India. I called back in today to report another issue and my call in the case manager group was answered by Rebecca. She said "have you spoken with you case Mgr about this?" I said yes but had another issue this weekend. She said I did not ask for any explanation that I need to answer yes or no. I was blown away by this and she said anything she asks needs to be answered by yes or no, as she does not need an explanation.

I asked her for her name and she says "I gave that to you at the beginning of the call." I advised I did not write it down and she said she is not giving it again. She continued on with telling me about the issue and I was trying to ask questions but she refused to stop speaking. I asked again for her name and she said again, "I gave it to you at the beginning of the call". She then says I am trying to be professional on the call, and I asked if she was professional then why was she refusing to give me her name again? She says normally she laughs and enjoys her calls but I must have had a bad morning. After asking 6 times for her name, she finally gave it to me.

I was NEVER rude to this person, but the way she treated me was the worst customer service I have ever experienced with any company. I asked for a supervisor and she said they didn't have supervisors that she was the only one I could speak with. She then asked if there was a phone # my case mgr could reach me and I gave my work # and advised only available until noon.

She said "is there another # after that?" I said I have a cell phone but do not want to give it because I have already wasted many minutes dealing with HP. She said "you told me you have another # to reach but now you don't want to give me the number then why did you even say you had another phone number to reach you." I do not know what the problem is here. I was pleasant and nice on the phone simply trying to get my issue fixed for the 3rd time and to be treated like this has just made the problem explode. Do you think this was OK for her to provide this type of customer support to me?

Purchased in April 2007 (1 year ago) in Europe. Problem-description: The black ink cartridge ran out of ink very prematurely. I printed 2 small photos and 85 pages and it ran out in less than a week of purchasing the printer. If I had known it would use this much ink, I would have bought another printer. I would like a couple of new cartridges. Thank you. By the way, I tried to register through your software and had trouble. It would not connect to your server. I will try again now though.

Since my initial HP purchase in December 2004, I've endured so many problems, it is difficult to remember them all in detail. My zd8000 is a replacement for the zd7000, an exchange we made in February 2005 because the 7000 ceased to provide a wireless Internet connect.

Since that time, our extended warranty has been the only thing that has kept our computer going this long. We've sent the computer in 3 different times for overheating. In all three cases, the computer would stay on for 15 minutes to 1 hour, then get hot on the outside and shut down. It couldn't be turned on again until I allowed it to cool for several minutes.

Each time, HP claimed we don't have a warranty anymore though our warranty doesn't expire until March 2008. And each time, we've had to argue with several different reps, and repeat our information several different times, before they finally acknowledged our warranty and agreed to service the product. This has usually taken more than one phone call over a period of 1-2 weeks.

The first two times, they had FedEx pick up the computer for us, but the third time, we had to take the box down to FedEx ourselves. I don't feel I should have had to do this as it is not my fault that the machine overheated, but rather, the fault of their crappy hardware.

Every time this has happened, HP has had to replace my motherboard and hard drive and wipe my computer. They've also replaced two fans. This has meant that on 3 occasions, I've had to reinstall/re-register all of my software, which has cost me about a week's worth of time in personal labor and phone calls. Often, I've lost the registrations for my software because the information was saved in the computer itself. I of course couldn't back it up before sending the HP in for service because the thing kept overheating and wouldn't stay on long enough for me to do so.

I also had to have a battery replaced because it stopped charging. They initially tried to make us pay $80.00 for that and say that our warranty didn't cover the battery. We told them, "No way," because once that battery was replaced, something else would probably go wrong. And we were right... that happened just before the third overheating crash.

This was a Christmas gift from my husband that has instead turned into a movie sequel: "The Nightmare AFTER Christmas." Our phone calls have extended as high up the ladder as HP corporate headquarters, where we've BEGGED them to just let us send them this crappy machine back in exchange for a refund. They refused.

Furthermore, I've owned computers since 1994, and I have NEVER had problems with any computers like I've had with HP. I'm not a novice user. I'm in fact, quite good with computers. That is why the only time I have problems with other machines is when I have a virus or a power outage. Yet, in addition to the three overheating issues and the one battery issue, I've had more problems with my 8000 than I can remember anymore.

Whenever I've called HP, I've been forced to go through elementary troubleshooting steps that either I've already tried, that have nothing to do with the problem, or that I can't understand because they are from an overseas worker who doesn't clearly speak English. It's not surprising, therefore, that the troubleshooting never works.

At the present time of this post, we've just gotten our HP back from another crash and are having to send it right back in again. This time, the power cord keeps going out, and the computer keeps switching to battery. This is something we also had a problem with before, but that temporarily disappeared and was forgotten during one of the many subsequent computer crashes that followed. My husband called them a week ago and was told that they would send us another box to ship the computer back.

During the most recent crash, we totaled approximately five reps (two of which were supervisors), five claims that our computer is no longer under warranty (a claim that they make pretty much every time we call), six hours of phone time, all of which amounted to two-and-a-half weeks before we got the box for repair. Let's see if we beat that record. Or rather, I'll say let's see if my husband can beat that record. I have washed my hands of this POS totally. I told my husband he can have the thing as well as their offer of extending the warranty for another year in exchange for another $150.00, while I, at present, am shopping for a new computer.

If there is a class action suit for the zd8000 like it was for the zd7000, I definitely want to participate. I could probably claim damages for the mental anguish from the inconvenience I've endured, and the time I've lost dealing with this crashing computer as opposed to writing my next novel or working on my website (I am a published author). But all I want at this point is for HP to just refund my money so I can send this piece of garbage back and get a computer that works.

Thank God I've had enough experience with other computers to know that there are machines out there that perform better than this, that the old theory, "All computers are the same," is a bunch of malarkey. That's why I want a refund, so I can go out and get one of those better machines, and forget the day that I ever heard of HP.

I called on Oct 9th to find out what it would take to have my computer repaired for a problem with a fan I thought. I was told it would cost $298 for the repair and would take 5 days from door to door for the repair. I was informed that FedEx would show up tomorrow October 10th with an empty box. I would drop my notebook into the box and they would take it away. I waited all day for FedEx. They never showed. So I called HP Customer service in India and was informed that there was a problem with the box. I was amazed to find out that HP had a problem getting an empty box to me.

I then looked online and got the number for the HP Corporate Offices. I called the corporate offices about 5 times and was sent the first three times to the corporate customer support only to find that all mailboxes were full. On the 4th and 5th call I made the operator stay on the phone until I got a person. The first time the lady put me on hold and never returned after 15 minutes. These are not toll free numbers. Finally I go a 2nd person at corporate and told the whole story once again. After 10 minutes on the phone listening to my story they told me that they could not help me but they would send it to a case representative and I would have a call back in 24 to 48 hours.

Mind you, this is on how to get an empty box to me. The box finally showed up on the 11th, but the FedEx person set it at my door, knocked and literally ran back to his truck, took of, so I had no time to drop the computer into the box. Well, today is the 18th of October. That call was on the 10th and I have not had any calls back from HP corporate. So I looked online today to find the status of my repair which should have had my computer back to me by October 15th. It now says I will have it by October 23rd. So at this point the 5 days promise is estimated at 14 days. I also looked at the charges again.

My original agreement was 5 day turn around for the repair for $298.00 plus taxes came to $315.88. When I looked at the status today it says I am being charged $698.00. No calls informing me of anything. So I started the phone calls again today to corporate. About 5 phone calls later I got a person. I explained the whole story to her expecting that maybe I could get some help. Well, after 10 minutes of explaining the situation she informed me that she could not help me but she would e-mail my complaint to a case representative and I would have a call back in 24 to 48 hours. You can't even imagine how furious I was. So at this point HP has my computer.

I have no idea when I will see it again. They are charging more than twice the price that was promised by customer service in India. The sad thing is, they did the exact same thing to me about a year and a half ago when I had the exact same problem.

TENNESSEE -- I purchased a HP dv9260nr laptop on June 20th of 2007 from Best Buy. Shame on me for not trying the webcam on this product until 8/02/07. When I tried it for the first time it worked. Then I got out of the Roxio program I was using and continued working with the computer. I tried to get the webcam to work a second time and it would not.

After repeated attempts I gave up and decided to call the Geek Squad at Best Buy for help. I purchased an extend warranty through them. It was around 8 PM, and no one at the Geek Squad would pick up the phone. So I tried the 800 number and again no one there. So I called HP, since the computer comes with a one year warranty with HP.

I talked with a tech who helped me re-install some drivers and the webcam worked. Since it was around 11 PM, I shut the computer down and went to bed. My next time to try the webcam came on 8/05/07. It didn't work. Had to reload the drivers again. Web is working, now I shut down the computer. On 8/07/07 I try to use the webcam and it doesn't work. I reload the drivers and it works. But when I go to use it a second time it doesn't work. So I contact HP again. We go through the process of reloading drivers to make it work but it works only once again. The tech could not figure it out so he said he was putting me up to the next level.

At the next level the tech couldn't fix my problem either. He said he would have to do some research and call me back. After a few hours he called back. He tried to fix the problems but had no success, said he would call back the next day. So now it's 8/08/07, around 8pm and the tech does call back. He said he still didn't have a solution but would call back the next day after more research.

It's the next day and the tech calls saying that there is a known problem with the Ricoh camera in that system. He said that the webcam has to be replaced. I asked him if it's a known problem then how can HP let its vendors sell that system. He didn't have an answer. All he could say was someone would call me tomorrow about having the computer picked up. Well tomorrow is here and gone and no calls from HP. In fact I have no contact with HP till I call them on 8/14/07.

I demand to talk to a supervisor, when I explain it all to him he said that he would connect me to a person who would resolve my problem. He has me on hold for 5 minutes and then said that he will have to put me on hold again. Ten minutes later he said he was sorry and would have to put me on hold again. After waiting 15 more minutes I hang up. So now I drive to the Geek Squad at the Best Buy in Knoxville. I figure since I have a warranty with them I'll let them handle the problem.

When I explain the problem the tech, he asked why I called HP and not them. I answered that folks don't answer the phone at this location. He told me that they would have to send the computer out and it would be 2, maybe 3 weeks. After two and a half weeks, I called the Geek Squad. They told me that HP got my computer on 8/15/07 and were still working on it. I waited another week and called them back, they said that there was no status yet on my system. I wait another week and am told that nobody knows where the system is. I tell them someone better call me back. Nobody does.

Now I call the Geek Squads home office, tell them of my problems. They tell me that HP had my computer at the wrong site and was shipping it to another location for repair. I tell him this is no longer funny, I don't like the run around I'm getting.

On 9/14/07 the Manager of the Geek Squad calls me to say that the computer will cost over 300 dollars to repair. I tell her she better be kidding since I have a warranty on the unit. She said she will call me back. She does and says that she can have me come down to the store and pick out another computer. I asked what was there that was close to what I have. I'm told that a Toshiba was close. I ask what are the chances of getting another identical one. She said she could have one sent overnight to the store. I agree to that. Some overnight. On 9/20/07 she calls to say the computer is here. I drive into Knoxville to get my new computer.

Upon getting it home I start to set it up. When I try the webcam, it works but only once. This new computer, identical in every way to the original has the same webcam problems. The very next morning I drive to Knoxville to return this one for a full refund which I did get. Never again will I buy another HP product. And I told all of my friends not to either. My neighbor changed his mind and bought a Gateway rather than a HP after hearing of my problem. My sister returned the recently purchased Compaq she got for her daughter for a Toshiba. And I hope a lot of you folks change your mind about buying HP. MY HP case number was **.