Hello. I am sort of new around the Tom's Hardware website, but I would just like to express my feelings towards HP after buying my second laptop from their company.
Grab a drink or two, kind of long....
I purchased my first HP laptop about 3-4 years ago. It was reliable and all around decent for my use at the time. I mainly used that one for college and some gaming (WoW, etc). It did the job and was happy with my first HP laptop purchase. Up until a pen found itself in-between the laptop and screen.. well, you should get the idea of what happened. I shopped around E-Bay for a new screen. Most I was looking at to spend was around $60. It was reasonable but I looked into how old that laptop had become since 2006. It quickly fell behind the average laptop on the market and if I wanted to keep up with today's program demands, so it required me to go out and just buy a new laptop instead of replacing the screen. Financially it's wasn't the smart route, but laptops have become so cheap that it didn't matter to me.
I shopped around the internet for a few days but I couldn't imagine changing brands again since HP made me happy on the first purchase. The HP Pavilion DV7 1245dx caught my eye and looked more into it. I was dumb enough to believe Best Buys rating of 4.7/5 and some of the reviews convinced me that this HP laptop was the way to go for a mid range laptop. It was around $750 back in March, 2009 at Best Buy. I was stoked about getting something fresh and new again to use for the next 3 years or so. I was a happy customer again.
October of 2009 came about and things started to shake up a little bit. I was suddenly involved with power issues on the laptop. Laptop would power off randomly without warning. Contacted some horrible HP customer service but was able to get a box shipped to me for repair. Keep in mind this is all under the manufacturer warranty so things under warranty is replaced for free. After a week and a half I got the laptop back and things are running smoothly again. This little hiccup didn't bother me too much since it was my first laptop problem I encountered.
One week passes and I encounter my second issue with the laptop. Screen goes black randomly. Fans, lights, etc all stay lit but the screen goes black. I have to power the machine off manually and turn it back on. Maybe thinking it's something with the recent power issue that I sent it in for and contacted HP immediately following the issue. I let them know of the issue that when have the screen open and move it, bump it, whatever, the screen goes black. They had me do some ridiculous diagnosis when I know it's not going to solve the issue as I had a strong feeling this was internal. Box shipped, laptop sent out for a second time, but new issue.
Again, another week and a half passes and I get the laptop back. Things looking good, repair status shows everything was duplicated and fixed. My HP experience drops a few notches but nothing serious. As I am re-installing windows 7, screen goes white with light blue horizontal lines. Thinking and hoping it was just a issue with windows 7... I was sure as heck wrong. Screen goes black several times that night. Frustration starts to set. Contact HP, but this time with a case manager. Believe his first name was Edwin. This guy is no help to me as he is saying the repair shop reported "customer induced damage" to the bezel and I will be charged $300. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. He believes this is the cause of my black screen issue. He basically tells me that he can send out another box to be shipped back for a 3rd time but 2nd time with the black screen issue. I tried my heart out to argue with the guy that this "customer induced damage" was not from me but yet he still puts the blame on me. I told him to have the repair shop FIX the black screen issue, and not the cracked bezel.
Laptop sent out. I contacted Edwin again to argue my side. I told him that I never saw a cracked bezel when I sent it out for the power issue so it had to be from the repair shop, he refused and once again no help. I get the laptop back and can you guess what happened? I contacted Edwin immediately following the issue.. AGAIN. He basically sums it up that it sat in the repair shop and nothing was done/looked at and the repair shop sent it back after it sat there for 2 weeks. I was furious, swearing up a storm, and a pissed off customer. I demanded to talk to someone else and I wasn't surprised how fast he was ready to hand my case over to an executive case manager.
I got a hold of Karen, one of their exec. case managers. I explain the whole story over the months of October and November. Keep in mind it's the beginning of December. She was a little more helpful in the situation, but once again she only could send out a box to be looked at for a 3rd time for the black screen issue. You'd think these guys in the repair shop would have a damn clue when they see my laptop for a 3rd time. Once again, box shipped and on its way to HP....... again.
Week passes, receive my laptop from HP. So far, so good. Until 2 hours passed by and my girlfriend says "the screen just went black again...". You gotta be F*ing kidding me. Contact Karen, not happy again. Karen directs me to look into seeing what Best Buy can do for me on site in the store, if anything can be fixed there, HP will cover the costs. I thought why the heck couldn't we do this in the first place? But Best Buy let me down by saying they can't look at it in the store, but they can sent it to THEIR repair shop for free since it's still under manufacturer warranty but will take 4-5 weeks to get it back. I refused that option and contact Karen. I told her that my laptop is defective and I should receive a brand new one. She led me off on that option and convinced me that she will make sure to send it to an exec. tech in the repair shop.
Box sent to me with Next-Day shipping, laptop on its way for a 4th time with the screen issue.
Laptop sent back within 2 days with a brand new screen.. so far no screen issues. Yet, I discovered a cracked bezel by the right hinge this time. I am afraid I am just not going to bother anymore with this horrible HP experience. I feel like I am in hell with this laptop and their customer service. Which isn't really any service at all. I have a new screen but I am afraid I will encounter another black screen issue down the line because of that crack by the hinge.
I was slowly becoming a loyal customer to HP laptops after my second purchase, but after owning it for only 7 months and encountering 2 separate issues in the span of 3 months is enough to look elsewhere. I now know that bypassing an extended warranty/accidental warranty won't be overlooked the next purchase because I am not going through that experience again.
Grab a drink or two, kind of long....
I purchased my first HP laptop about 3-4 years ago. It was reliable and all around decent for my use at the time. I mainly used that one for college and some gaming (WoW, etc). It did the job and was happy with my first HP laptop purchase. Up until a pen found itself in-between the laptop and screen.. well, you should get the idea of what happened. I shopped around E-Bay for a new screen. Most I was looking at to spend was around $60. It was reasonable but I looked into how old that laptop had become since 2006. It quickly fell behind the average laptop on the market and if I wanted to keep up with today's program demands, so it required me to go out and just buy a new laptop instead of replacing the screen. Financially it's wasn't the smart route, but laptops have become so cheap that it didn't matter to me.
I shopped around the internet for a few days but I couldn't imagine changing brands again since HP made me happy on the first purchase. The HP Pavilion DV7 1245dx caught my eye and looked more into it. I was dumb enough to believe Best Buys rating of 4.7/5 and some of the reviews convinced me that this HP laptop was the way to go for a mid range laptop. It was around $750 back in March, 2009 at Best Buy. I was stoked about getting something fresh and new again to use for the next 3 years or so. I was a happy customer again.
October of 2009 came about and things started to shake up a little bit. I was suddenly involved with power issues on the laptop. Laptop would power off randomly without warning. Contacted some horrible HP customer service but was able to get a box shipped to me for repair. Keep in mind this is all under the manufacturer warranty so things under warranty is replaced for free. After a week and a half I got the laptop back and things are running smoothly again. This little hiccup didn't bother me too much since it was my first laptop problem I encountered.
One week passes and I encounter my second issue with the laptop. Screen goes black randomly. Fans, lights, etc all stay lit but the screen goes black. I have to power the machine off manually and turn it back on. Maybe thinking it's something with the recent power issue that I sent it in for and contacted HP immediately following the issue. I let them know of the issue that when have the screen open and move it, bump it, whatever, the screen goes black. They had me do some ridiculous diagnosis when I know it's not going to solve the issue as I had a strong feeling this was internal. Box shipped, laptop sent out for a second time, but new issue.
Again, another week and a half passes and I get the laptop back. Things looking good, repair status shows everything was duplicated and fixed. My HP experience drops a few notches but nothing serious. As I am re-installing windows 7, screen goes white with light blue horizontal lines. Thinking and hoping it was just a issue with windows 7... I was sure as heck wrong. Screen goes black several times that night. Frustration starts to set. Contact HP, but this time with a case manager. Believe his first name was Edwin. This guy is no help to me as he is saying the repair shop reported "customer induced damage" to the bezel and I will be charged $300. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. He believes this is the cause of my black screen issue. He basically tells me that he can send out another box to be shipped back for a 3rd time but 2nd time with the black screen issue. I tried my heart out to argue with the guy that this "customer induced damage" was not from me but yet he still puts the blame on me. I told him to have the repair shop FIX the black screen issue, and not the cracked bezel.
Laptop sent out. I contacted Edwin again to argue my side. I told him that I never saw a cracked bezel when I sent it out for the power issue so it had to be from the repair shop, he refused and once again no help. I get the laptop back and can you guess what happened? I contacted Edwin immediately following the issue.. AGAIN. He basically sums it up that it sat in the repair shop and nothing was done/looked at and the repair shop sent it back after it sat there for 2 weeks. I was furious, swearing up a storm, and a pissed off customer. I demanded to talk to someone else and I wasn't surprised how fast he was ready to hand my case over to an executive case manager.
I got a hold of Karen, one of their exec. case managers. I explain the whole story over the months of October and November. Keep in mind it's the beginning of December. She was a little more helpful in the situation, but once again she only could send out a box to be looked at for a 3rd time for the black screen issue. You'd think these guys in the repair shop would have a damn clue when they see my laptop for a 3rd time. Once again, box shipped and on its way to HP....... again.
Week passes, receive my laptop from HP. So far, so good. Until 2 hours passed by and my girlfriend says "the screen just went black again...". You gotta be F*ing kidding me. Contact Karen, not happy again. Karen directs me to look into seeing what Best Buy can do for me on site in the store, if anything can be fixed there, HP will cover the costs. I thought why the heck couldn't we do this in the first place? But Best Buy let me down by saying they can't look at it in the store, but they can sent it to THEIR repair shop for free since it's still under manufacturer warranty but will take 4-5 weeks to get it back. I refused that option and contact Karen. I told her that my laptop is defective and I should receive a brand new one. She led me off on that option and convinced me that she will make sure to send it to an exec. tech in the repair shop.
Box sent to me with Next-Day shipping, laptop on its way for a 4th time with the screen issue.
Laptop sent back within 2 days with a brand new screen.. so far no screen issues. Yet, I discovered a cracked bezel by the right hinge this time. I am afraid I am just not going to bother anymore with this horrible HP experience. I feel like I am in hell with this laptop and their customer service. Which isn't really any service at all. I have a new screen but I am afraid I will encounter another black screen issue down the line because of that crack by the hinge.
I was slowly becoming a loyal customer to HP laptops after my second purchase, but after owning it for only 7 months and encountering 2 separate issues in the span of 3 months is enough to look elsewhere. I now know that bypassing an extended warranty/accidental warranty won't be overlooked the next purchase because I am not going through that experience again.
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