Preview Review

Next Review

Hewlett-Packard Company Consumer Reviews

Most Popular | Newest | More Options >
More filter options:
HP Cashback Offer Is a Trick to Entice You to Buy
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

LONDON, UK -- Finding myself needing a new printer in February 2015 I looked at a number of makes and models, amongst which I liked most a Hewlett-Packard one but it was a bit over my budget. However, I found mention of a £40 Cashback offer if I bought direct from HP, although there was conflicting information online as to when the offer ended. Some pages said 31 January, some said 30 April.

At this point the complexities of dealing with HP should have warned me off them. If you look for information on their web pages you find yourself going round and round in circles, likewise if you try to find out how to contact them. Eventually I found a suitable phone number whose operative confirmed the offer had been extended to 30 April, and I was given another number to call for re-confirmation.

I ordered the HP printer as it was now more affordable to me. Delivery was prompt, and I heeded the advice to register it, doing this the following day. No invoice was received, I had to email HP to ask for one, and there was no further information about the Cashback, but I felt sure I would be contacted. When this did not happen, I uneasily searched again for information online, where I found nothing concrete, just vague suggestions that one had up to 60 days to claim.

Eventually I started sending emails of inquiry to HP. The replies to these always directed me to different departments until one day I was given the phone number for printer cashback, where a man told me I should have registered for the Cashback. The one I had completed was just to register the product, it seems. This was news to me, but there was little response to my remark that my psychic powers must have deserted me. (I must add here that I have not spoken to anyone on a HP phone number whose first language was English.)

Following his advice, I emailed full details which, I was told, would be presented to the head of department for consideration. By return of email 5 days later, I was informed there were "rules and regulations to the promotion" as detailed in an attached 5-page pdf of T&Cs, and I had not met the terms of contract as I was now outside the registration period. My further email of protest has not been replied to, they appear to have chosen to ignore it. So don't be taken in by any such offer. Take the higher price as being what the goods will cost you, for it is my opinion that they intentionally set out to make it as difficult as possible for you to get any Cashback.

Replies
Customer Service? Could Have Fooled Me
By -

I'm not sure where to even begin this debacle. I purchased a Presario R3000 notebook in September of 2004. Being the smart cookie I am, I purchased the extended/accidental damage 3-Year warranty straight from HP and sent in my registration card. About a year ago, the notebook's battery died and the computer was extremely hot. I dealt with it until a few months ago when the notebook would shut off with no warning.

I finally decided to call HP and get the multitude of problems fixed, thinking it would be a bit of an annoyance, but manageable. Boy was I wrong. My first call, I am told that my "1 year warranty has expired" and they will not be able to help me. After explaining that I bought a 3 year warranty, the nice Indian guy "Mark" (yeah right) tells me I have to fax the receipt, wait 24 hours, and call to confirm that its updated in the computer. So I do. Except that when I call to confirm, I am put on hold, disconnected, and hung up on over 8 times. I try for a total of 2 hours (angry at this point) before giving "live chat support" a shot.

The lady I speak to finds my warranty in a matter of minutes and tells me that when my registration card was entered in the system by a technician, they mistakenly wrote a 5 instead of an S. I understand... these things happen. Still, no fault of my own. The lady says she will enter my registration correctly, and to call back in 5 hours to confirm. I wait 2 days to be sure.

When I call I'm given the exact same scripted nonsense about not having a warranty. I am told to fax the receipt again. I hang up, and call my friend who works as a sales manager for HP, merely to blow off some steam about how horrendous his company is and how I will never buy from HP again. Within 2 hours I receive a call from his manager who seems very concerned about my problems and works with me to send my notebook in for repair. Finally!

I send my notebook in and receive it in a timely manner. I'm thinking the adventure is over, when in fact the worst is yet to come. While they have fixed some problems, my battery still holds no charge. Livid at this point, I do some Googling and find out that the battery pack for my notebook was recalled several months ago for overheating the computer and not holding any charge after a few months (!). I was not aware of this because my registration info was entered incorrectly.

So in short I had a defective RECALLED battery pack, was never told that I may have one even after describing exactly the problems with my computer that the defective battery pack produces, and to top it all off, the battery was never replaced even after I sent it in for repair. I call HP, furious at this point, and am told that "my 1 year warranty has expired and there is nothing I can do to help you". Honestly, it shouldn't matter if my "warranty is up" because HP replaces those batteries free of charge. After telling the CSR that this is totally unacceptable, I am put on hold and hung up on.

My friend is unfortunately on vacation until after the holidays, so it is evident I will be getting nowhere in the meantime with HP. But one thing is for sure, I will NEVER buy from HP again. I'd much rather pay twice as much to deal with a company that is competent and treats its customers with respect.

Replies
Scam
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

SOUTH CAROLINA -- Oh...where do I begin??? Talked with 'Harry' about how my computer was shutting down lately for constant updates. I have HP Windows 10. Well he led me down this long ass process and wanted me to pay to clean up my computer... "There obviously a virus in your computer." Blah blah blah.

Come to find talking with a computer expert (friend of mine - who works for the Pentagon mind you), and he said Windows 10 is changing formats, etc. And "It is a company not your computer." I was petrified I would lose files and that representative made me believe if I didn't spend the money - I would. Really? I do believe the support for HP would know of certain flaws in the system huh? Great job. Scam artist.

Replies
Bought a Defective Desktop, they Don't Want to Exchange Under Warranty
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

TENNESSEE -- It took me months of runaround, them lying to the B.B.B., for them to finally offer a repair telling me a exchange or refund was not an option? Even when their warranty claims they'd do right by their consumers? After getting months of confusion, I needed my computer and lost time of use because of them, finally they replaced the hard drive and memory board claiming it's been repaired!

Now it's starting to do the same as when I first took it out of the shipping box after buying it new, and that was in 8/2014, it's still under warranty, and they refuse to refund me my $445.44. I paid for it because they claimed it was fast. It's moved like a snail since new and gets hot from use of only a few minutes. The product I'm mentioning is a HP desktop computer model # 500-c60. There's a lot of unhappy people on the net that have gotten the same poor quality products and service as I'm experiencing now!.

Replies
Advertisement
HP makes customers do more work
By -

This is my e-mail I'm about to send to the Office of the President. (assuming it ever gets there since they blocked me from actually speaking to his office when I called). It's really a shame that HP has turned into this type of company. This e-mail is intended for the President - Paul Tsaparis.

I have been buying HP products for years now & I'm SHOCKED as to how unorganized HP has become. I'm also shocked as to how much time I've had to waste every single time I call HP & how HP seems to like wasting customers' time by forcing them to provide serial numbers & model numbers each time they call. If it was the first time I could see the logic in this, but it's not, it's EACH TIME & the info is ALREADY in your system linked to my name & phone number. Today I've wasted almost an hour of my time while I could have been working to build my company.

First I called customer service. When I had to jump through hoops again, I asked to speak to a manager. I was told I wouldn't be allowed if I didn't go get my heavy laptop & read off all the numbers again. Then after hanging up I called Case Management & spoke to ** who also refused to let me speak to a manager if I didn't waste my precious time by leaving my office to go all the way upstairs & get all this information that is ALREADY in your system. She gave me the 650-857-1501 number to supposedly speak to you, but of course that number got me nowhere.

Then I spoke to ** who took down my previous case management number & put me on hold. The next thing I know, I get a ** picking up the phone who had no clue what was going on & had no idea who was supposed to be handling me. AGAIN she asked me to repeat EVERYTHING. The pattern here is that HP is totally disorganized & doesn't respect a customer's time. She transfers me to try & get ** back & if memory serves me (who can remember what's going on when they speak to sooo many different people in a span of 20 minutes), ** picked up the phone & then hung up on me.

Finally I called the Houston office where I was told I would not be allowed to be transferred to your office because I'm Canadian, that only case management handles Canadian issues. This is how Canadians are mistreated. One rule for Americans, another for Canadians & you are Canadian no less. When I had a problem with customer service with Sony Canada, Sony US had NO problem speaking to me & getting the problem resolved within the hour.

Back to what happened to me... At least the person I spoke to was kind enough to give me this e-mail address. We'll see if it actually leads to the Executive Offices & I speak to someone OTHER than case management who has failed to help me all because HP refuses to address my needs if I take a stand & refuse to waste unnecessary time by providing the same information that is already in your computer system.

I will be blogging about this entire experience because I feel other people who may consider becoming an HP customer should know that they will have their time wasted because HP has control issues & very disorganized. I'm sure your shareholders would also like to know this information.

Note: just from my quick search online, I can see that I'm not the only one who has had terrible problems with HP. There are TONS of other customers online who have been mistreated by HP.

All this because I called to get a UPS box sent to me so I could once again send back my laptop to get it fixed since now the mouse isn't working. I only purchased this laptop in August of 2009, have used it a total of maybe 10-15 times, & I've had nothing but problems with it since I brought it home.

Replies
Getting through HP support
By -

After reading so many complaints over issues with HP service, I wanted to add some information that people may find helpful when calling HP support. 1. First. HP's US support is outsourced to India. If you call support, you will get someone who likely doesn't speak English. Or at least, not very well. This is the primary cause of frustration - trying to get a message across to someone who doesn't speak the same language.

Canada's support, on the other hand, is in CANADA. Canadians speak English every bit as well as you do. And they have those cute accents as well! When you call through for support, keep saying "agent" to the automated system, then ask to be transferred to Canadian support. Be patient. It may take 4 or 5 transfers. Keep asking for Canadian support. Once you get to Canada, they can assist you in troubleshooting, and can set up many types of repair or parts dispatch. The systems are different, so they can't do everything the US team can, but at least they can explain it in a way that makes sense to both of you.

Keep in mind, though, you should use this as a last resort. If everyone who calls demands someone in Canada, HP will change the system so that it's no longer possible to get there. Don't call and demand Canada to order a set of recovery disks - the people in India can handle that just fine. But if it's complicated troubleshooting you need, it might be worthwhile to try it.

Before you ask, NO, there is no direct number to Canada. You have to call the US line and ask for Canada. No other way around it... unless you can call from a Canadian-registered phone, with a Canadian area code (Skype?).

  1. If you don't like that support is in India, as 99.9% of us don't, don't take it out on your tech. Those in India will get very defensive, and those in Canada or the US (I don't think there actually are any in the US, though) are just plain sick of hearing it. They have no control over it. If you want to fight for change, the tech is the wrong person to voice your opinion to.

Go to this website: http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/execteam/email/hurd/index.html and send a message to the corporate team. They have the power to make the changes. If you tell them you refuse to buy an HP product until they provide support in the US (or Canada, or another English-first-language country), eventually, they'll have to start listening. One or two won't make a difference. Thousands will. It's all about the bottom line. Right now they save immense amounts of money by having support in India. If they start to lose an equal amount of money in lost customers, they'll be forced to reconsider that business decision.

  1. Whatever you do, don't threaten to go buy a Dell because you are fed up with support in India. That is where their support is as well, and your threat will not be taken seriously. If you want to threaten to buy from another company, do some research and find out what company provides support from the US. Dell and HP are about tied in market share (HP just recently pulled ahead of Dell). Dell has 58% of overall consumer complains against them; HP has 5%. So threatening to buy a Dell because you are unsatisfied with HP's support is really just a joke. Read more about that here: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/computers/computer_complaints.html

Telling the agent what kind of support you would get if you called another company also won't help. First, the information you are providing is probably untrue. No one is going to come to your house and do onsite repair for a $50 printer, I don't care who you bought it from. Second, HP doesn't base their support on what others provide. Their support is based on what is economically feasible to provide for the cost of the product that you own.

  1. Another good tip for navigating the tech support hurdle (not just HP, any support), is don't call when you're mad. I know what you're thinking. You weren't mad until you called. I agree, it's frustrating. Keep in mind, though, these techs have heard it all. Legal threats, death threats, threats on their job etc.

They have built up a wall against anger, and when you call and take out your frustration on them, they close up. They'll get defensive. Yelling at the tech, no matter how much better it makes you feel, will NOT get your issue resolved! Yes, the tech may be stupid and incompetent. But telling them that will not make them want to help you! Save the frustration for when you get off the phone.

All big companies have a lot of red tape. There are always stupid, pointless hoops to jump through. The techs are there to help you through them. No one said the system was great. But if you are aggressive and angry with the techs, they'll be less likely to give you the information you need. They won't feel like helping you, and you'll get even worse support. This goes for Case Managers as well - maybe even more so!

So the big question here is... what DOES work? When you call, be as genuinely nice as you possibly can. A customer once called HP support. When asked "How can I help you?" He said "I'd like to speak to a representative from HP's award winning 24/7 technical support, please!" and he said it with a smile in his voice.
His issue was minor. It was out of scope. He was out of warranty. He wasn't covered. He got free help anyway. It won't always work, but it's a lot more likely to get you some decent assistance than "Get me a d*mn supervisor!"

  1. READ YOUR WARRANTY. Most of the complaints posted are genuine, but there are many more "unhappy customers" that are simply trying to get more than they are entitled to. HP phone support helps with *problems* with the computer. They are not a basics computer class. Don't call them to ask them how to burn a DVD, they don't help with that. Take a beginner computer class or ask a friend for help, if you don't know what you are doing. When you buy a car, it's expected that you already know how to drive, or will go learn. The car manufacturer won't provide lessons on that - and neither do computer manufacturers.

Don't call with a heightened sense of entitlement. You think you should get a replacement. The warranty says otherwise. In this battle, the warranty wins. If it's a repair warranty, you are going to get a repair. Read it and find out what you are entitled to, and what you are not. That way, you know what to expect, and you know if you are not getting what you are entitled to. If your warranty says one thing and the tech won't provide it, by all means, ask for a supervisor. But HP didn't become #1 in the industry by handing out new computers like candy.

  1. If your computer fails in the first few weeks.... take it back to the STORE! That is what return policies are for! Be proactive - buy from a store with a good return policy. 7 day exchange only, or final sale, can really come back to bite you. At Costco, for example, you can take back your computer for a full refund, no questions asked, for a full 6 MONTHS after the purchase date. Imagine all the hassle that could be avoided by shopping there. No repairs, no shipping, no lengthy waits on hold. Just a full refund or a brand new (usually better) computer.

On the "being proactive" topic - don't buy your system at Wal-Mart! Here's the inside scoop: Walmart dictates the price of the PC to the manufacturer. They are the ONLY retailer with the power to do this. Their price is significantly less than what other companies (Future Shop, Staples, RadioShack etc) pay.

The manufacturers (HP and Compaq included) build PC's just for Walmart. Those computer have similar model numbers to other retail PCs. But don't be fooled - they are not the same. WalMart PC's are built with low quality, budget parts. The parts are often refurbished. They are not the high quality PCs you would expect from HP... they might as well be Acers. You get what you pay for.

That's my 3 cents. Sorry if some of it came across with some animosity, it was not meant that way. These are real suggestions that in my experience, actually work. If someone out there can get better support with any of these suggestions, or avoid getting really BAD support, it was well worth it.

Replies
HP customer support is a sick joke
By -

I purchased a Pavilion notebook in Oct 06. In July 07, it quit. I sent the unit to HP, via Radio Shack, to be repaired under warranty. Because HP lists Radio Shack as an Authorized Service Provider, I assumed this was fine. After more than a month, I called Radio Shack to see where my laptop was, and they called HP, who said they could not repair my notebook and offered me a refurbished Pavilion dv2120. This unit arrived over 7 weeks after I had first turned the original unit in.

I got it home and realized that the entire set of "quick-play" buttons was inoperable. HP tech support told me to send it back in for repair, which I did. I then called HP at 800-752-0900, to see if I could talk to someone about getting a new unit (not a refurbished), or other reimbursement. The first person I talked to took my info, heard my story, and said she would transfer me to a case manager.

I was connected instead to the lowest level of tech support. I said I was holding for a case manager, and that I needed to be connected to someone else. He connected me to a blank line. I redialed, gave my info again, told the story again, and was reconnected, again, with the lowest level of tech support, who asked me once again for my info, my story, and then did finally manage to bring a case manager on the line, who wanted the serial number for the refurbished computer, which I did not know, having sent it in the day before. Then he informed me that my case number was connected with a computer registered to someone else.

Then he said that because I had sent it in through Radio Shack, I would have to talk to THEM, and that calling HP directly would not do any good unless it was about a repair. I am sure I sounded as dumbfounded and angry as I felt. HP WOULD NOT help me resolve an issue with my in-warranty defective product(s) because I used an Authorized Service Provider to mail them to HP? What? At that point I sent an email to HP CEO.

A few days later, having received no response, I called Radio Shack the lady there told me they were just the facilitators. She called HP and they again, offered me a refurbished replacement which I accepted. A few days later I received an email from HP which gave me some hope that my cased was being reviewed.

Meanwhile, the second replacement laptop arrived at my local Radio Shack. When I went to pick it up, I noticed it was a 17" model. I had specifically requested a 14.1 inch. I had Radio Shack send it back. I then received an email from HP with a number and "passcode" for HP in California. I called them today. As soon as the "customer service" agent heard "Radio Shack" he refused to hear anything else I had to say - he didn't even let me explain the issues. He said that HP had a contract with Radio Shack and could not help me directly, that I would have to go through Radio Shack.

When I told him that Radio Shack said they could not help because it was an HP product, and that I was looking for help from HP - the manufacturer of the product - he said, too bad. HP will not help. I explained that I thought Radio Shack was just sending it to HP for me - he didn't care. "They should have explained it to you", he said. He got quite snippy, actually, interrupting me multiple times, and I was almost in tears. He refused to let me talk to his supervisor.

I asked several times to talk to someone else; he said I was welcome to call back, but I would get the same answer. HP will not help. I will press Radio Shack next, but I have little hope. Due to HP's lack of customer service, I am still without a computer - almost 3 months into this debacle. I will never buy any HP product ever again - buyer beware!

Replies
Extremely poor customer service
By -

FOREST, VIRGINIA -- With my computer still under warranty with the company, I began having problems almost immediately. However, since I use my home computer very little, usually for minor work duties that I don't finish at work, like scheduling employee hours or figuring budget (which doesn't even require an internet connection), I really didn't bother with it until it became really troublesome. When I did finally call customer service it was almost impossible to understand the tech support person on the other end. After struggling with that and after several request to speak with a supervisor, I was finally given a number I could call to reach senior Case managers.

(It appears that they don't like to give this number out until you finally become extremely angry and hateful with the lower management team, which I hated to do but it seemed the only way to get help. ** is the number for those of you unfortunate beings who own one of these computers and are struggling to get help.) The first gentleman I spoke with was very helpful and sent me the software (he thought should have come with the computer) and should fix the problem. When it didn't I phoned him back and to my surprise he no longer worked for the company. OK, I get a new case manager.

She was not as helpful as the first gentleman, but she did however, allow me to send my computer to them for repair at their expense. I came back supposedly fixed... NOPE... not repaired so I tried to call the young lady and guess what... right she no longer worked for them.. again a new case manager... computer was sent back again for a second visit and returned working fine but that only lasted a few days and same problem.

I called again (oh yes she actually still worked there) she tried to explain to me how they have been unable to locate any problem with my computer, and my response was, "well the repair center feedback has indicated that the computer was repaired, the customer problem was duplicated during full diagnostics. How can that be if there was not problem? She proceeded to tell me she did not know why the previously checked that box on the feedback. Huh, that kind of peeked my curiosity a bit. After she became aware that I had indeed taken out a three year extended warranty with best Buy, the place I had purchased it from, she tried to convince me to take it there.

I knew HP had a policy that if they tried to repair it three times and failed, they would replace it, so I declined the suggestion, and reminded her that although my warranty with them was about expired, the problem had been ongoing for months and was yet to be resolved. I sent it back to them again at their expense... well I received it back today and the repair center feedback indicated No Trouble found.

That was funny because it appeared to never have been removed from the bag it was enclosed in for shipping, (you see I suspected that this would happen given the fact that they now knew that I had an extended warranty, and would most likely want to wash their dirty little hands of it), I had folded the bad in a certain way, and to my surprise it was returned to me folded EXACTLY that way. I took it out, and it won't even turn on now... a little odd, so I called one more time and of course they deny, deny, deny.

Customer service stinks with HP. Their computers are of minimal quality and I don' recommend them to anyone. They do not stand by their word, they pass the buck and they just don't care. It truly is pitiful, I am ashamed to have purchased this product and will never buy HP again. Also I have informed everyone I know and work with of this experience. Also my company just purchased 17 computers and not one of them was an HP.. I guess word of mouth does work. Hopefully the people I know will tell the people they know and so on and so on.

Replies
Advertisement
How to Get Service (Revised Dec 2008)
By -

Revised: Dec 5, 2008. I've tried to give readers hints as to how to get good hp service (as shown below) but have now given up. The company can't seem to be able to keep their service consistent so I'm now recommending that you consider purchasing future computer products from other sources. The following is from my original writing, it may or may not work anymore: I retired after 34 years of servicing HP computers. Here are the steps you should take to get service from HP?

STEP 1.) call their help desk and log the call. You will be given a call number and the first name of a technician - save these on a notepad with date and name of technician. There is a 90% chance that this person will be from India. I know this is difficult for some of us to accept but please allow them to attempt to fix your computer; it's not their fault and having techs from India isn't going away anytime soon. If your computer is out of warranty expect to pay a fee for technical help - this is normal.

Allow them to work with you in troubleshooting the problem. Even if you could replace the part HP will not mail it out to you. They will ask you to mail the computer in for repair. If a laptop then they might provide a shipping box for FedX to pick up.

STEP 2.) If you end up making multiple calls to the help desk or have ANY PROBLEM with the person you are speaking with ask for a backline technician; this will be a person from the United States. If you receive your computer back from HP and it still doesn't work or are at the point of total frustration then ask for the President's Email Address and send a short email with only your frustrations - DON'T give all the details of your computer problem.

The President won't read the email but will pass it on to a team of individuals who will call you and discuss your frustrations. Be nice to the person who calls you as it isn't his/her fault that you are so frustrated. In fact, hopefully he/she will be the good guy in all of this. Make sure you give them the impression that you are seriously thinking about never purchasing HP equipment again.

STEP 3.) Don't ask for a replacement computer, let it be HP's idea. This is the quickest way HP can cool down an unhappy customer and I have seen it happen over and over. With all the models of computers that HP sells it is very possible that yours will be outdated and they will send you an upgraded model. I've often times seen where HP sends out a computer that is worth twice as much as the one originally purchased.

STEP 4.) If you don't receive satisfaction from HP after all of this then think about purchasing from another company in the future and don't forget to publicize your experiences using MY3CENTS so the rest of us can benefit from it. Good Luck.

Replies
Top of Page | Next Page >

Hewlett-Packard Company Rating:
Star Half star Empty star Empty star Empty star
1.4 out of 5, based on 9 ratings and
168 reviews & complaints.
Contact Information:
Hewlett-Packard Company
P O Box 10301
Palo Alto, CA 94303-0890
650-857-1501 (ph)
650-813-3254 (fax)
www.hewlett-packard.com
Product/Services | Related Resources
Compare Computer Companies