HP CM Help - I feel so helpless!

[oates151]

Hi everybody.



I am going to try and make this very long story short. Few months ago, about 2 weeks after I got my PC in December the Hard Drive started making noise. Called support - got in touch with a case manager - boom-bada-bing - new hard drive was sent out I was all good to go.



Two months later, I start experiencing issues with the hard drive again. It would randomly turn off and all my apps would freeze up. I called HP support, after a while I got in touch with a case manager back in early March and this is where the process got long hard.


HP case manager (Michelle S) is nearly impossible to get in touch with. After a week of trying to get in touch, I finally reach her. We opt to have the desktop sent in to be looked at. I agree to do so, I understand that is a step they must take.



A week later after getting the packaging, sending in the desktop, and receiving it back, HP sends it back. System has been reset to factory conditions and reformatted. They claim that they replaced the HDD and that was the problem, but I don't think so. The hard drive still rumbling in the case and the hard drive still does this "turning-off" thing that forces me to manually restart the system. Michelle says that since it is quite new, she can replace it. She asked to call her back in a week.



Week later, I try to call her. No luck for about two weeks which makes it three weeks since I had talked with her about the replacement.



Eventually I get an agent who tells me that Michelle put in the order but that she missed a step or something. Next day, the guy tells me its on order with an expected build date of 4/24. At no point did anyone go over the specs with me before sending out the order. Today I received the PC. It was an HP Elite PC with similar (all equal or better) internal specs meaning hard drive/processor/video and audio card/ etc... BUT I ordered the HP ULTIMATE Desktop. Reason being, I didn't want one of those crappy mini-tower PCs that had no expandability options. The d4996t is the only desktop from HP I have found to be a standard ATX size with 7 USB's and plenty of PCI/PCIexpress slots.



I call today to find out whats up. First I get a lady who tells me "We sent you a PC with at least the same "specs", does it work?" I say yes if you are asking about the hard drive, processor, sound card.. etc.. I eventually hang up frustrated feeling really let down by HP, I MEAN REALLY LET DOWN.



I call again and get a nice lady. She finally gets Michelle on the line. Michelle says basically the same thing, doesn't seem to understand that these two systems are DIFFERENT. She keeps saying "We sent you out same specs, we're done". So then I just ask to send back this Elite desktop replacement they sent me. She says if I do that, HP cuts the warrenty of the Ultimate Desktop PC that I originally ordered, which basically puts my $350 down the drain and leaves me with a broken PC. After going at it a bit more, she says "Well i'll do some research and see what I can do - for the time being you'll have to keep the two PCs". I know that's just a put off to get me off the phone, but my mouth was so dry and my veins were pumping so much that i just had to get out of that call and sit and think.



Here I am now ranting, what the heck do I do? Im sure everyone outthere understands why I am not satisfied with this replacement. It's a cheap plastic consumer line mini-tower. I do video/audio production work - I need the extra PCI slots and optical drive ports + I feel much more confortable with a tower noting having all the components so close together. How can I get this turned around? I feel so cheated and confused right now! I mean I am now puzzled if I have to actually fight specs with "My original has 7 USB ports, this new one only has 6". I know that under the specs they list how many PCI and PCI express ports the tower has. The elite has about half of what the Ultimate has, so I fight that? Should I keep attempting to get in touch with this case manager? I have a feeling she's going to just ignore the call now and try and force me just to send back my Ultimate or something. What do you guys think I should do, I feel so helpless.



Thank you so much everyone!

[Decker]

Get back to them - it's not the same spec that you bought origionally, the PSU will no doubt be higher powered to start with in the origional to support the extra slots/ports, the motherboard is not the same spec and the enclosure is not the same spec.

I rest my case your honour :D

[oates151]

Decker - Thank you so much! That is exactly what I must do - your specifics are greatly going to help me pledge my case.

Thank you so much!

[Decker]

No probs :)

(you've got rep turned off :wink2: :lol:)

[oates151]

Got in touch with someone in executive dept. of HP - unfortunately they seem to not have much more power than the case manager line operators do. She told me she would escalate the case or something for review to get a new case manager, but she says it may or may not happen since the case managers "own" the case or something. I'm not totally sure where to go from here. I filed with the BBB and my state attorney, but this lady on the phone was mumbling under her breath as if agreeing with case management. All they seem to look at are the customizable specs and don't even consider the actually base specs which are obviously very important.

Not sure what to do from here though...

[Decker]

Keep at them, 'nil carborundum illigitimi' as we say in the trade


or in english


(don't let the b'stards grind you down!)

[fnixws]

1/2 the problem is just that, you bought a brand name PC.

In my experience HP are a pain in the --- to deal with, ive had to intervene several times on the behalf of customers when HP refused to cover their warranty or claimed somthing else was wrong.

Decker is right, its not what you paid for, so id be asking for exactly what you ordered.

On the other hand, you now have 2 PCs.
Id get a REAL TEC to have a look at them both, fix them once and for all and sell one off.

Screw HP!

[oates151]

Lol, they'll charge my CC if I sell em off

I called the case manager - here's what she said:

"You have two options that I can do for you. Either keep the new one and send back the old or send back both and we'll give you 75% of what you originally paid for"

Now how do you respond to that, NO! This lady is going to keep on this. The executive people just say talk to the outsourced case managers who "own" the case because they can't do anything. Let me repeat this, THE EXECUTIVES SAY THEY CAN'T DO ANYTHING.

It really isn't what I paid for, they don't get it. Everyone's playing ring around the rosy and passing it off to this b*tch who says they did what they had to do and they're done!

UFFA, I am in such a pickle here. I know the HP exectives that reply to the BBB report will put down something like "Work with the case manager" or some BS. Only thing I can think of is send a rant to the customer service company that HP out-sourced to, Stream.com; but then again, what the heck are they going to say? Same stuff.

I need a drink

[Cam.]

Well, I think, take both PC's and chargeback against HP via your Credit Card company/bank. Then you'll probably get some more attention.

How do I know? Because I did it :D It was the fastest replacement ever sent :p... Good luck anyway :)

[fnixws]

haha excellent idea. Give it a shot.

Where are you from oates? Perhaps i can call them on your behalf and get their asses into gear. Ive done it for my customers before.

[Decker]

I think it has to come to it - have a drink first :D you need it.

Then do the chargeback explaining to the CC company that the supplier has not supplied 'merchantable quality goods' and refuses to 'make good' - keep both PC's, call the case manager and inform her she has 14 days from the call (or make it 7, but you must give reasonable time) to put it right to your satisfaction, make sure you get at least her first name and roll (payroll) number or some positive form of identifying her as the one who's screwed up.

Good luck mate :)

[oates151]

haha excellent idea. Give it a shot.

Where are you from oates? Perhaps i can call them on your behalf and get their asses into gear. Ive done it for my customers before.

Middletown New Jersey :P

I got a voicemail from a Dan S. (gave his last name, but I forgot how to spell it). The guy sounded very professional and sincere, he even marked the voicemail has "Urgent". I'll be giving him a call before 5 since that's when Michelle case manager will be calling me to ask what my decision is. If executive takes care of it, i'll tell her to shove both options up her ---.

-Pat

[oates151]

Just called Dan - explained the issue.

First thing, I can't believe that he actually understood that the two PCs were different footprints. He blew off that 75% refund thing and offered a 100% refund on the desktop and said that would be the best option here. I can't believe the call only took 10 minutes and he not once challenged me. Obviously he has power over that last "executive".

Waiting for Michelle's call. I'm tempted scream at her face, but I think I oughty not waste my energy on her.

Thanks to everyone - i'll tell you this, sending an e-mail to every executive at HP really paid off since the guy said he was forwarded 8 e-mails this morning regarding the issue.

[Decker]

:lol: well done :)

Looks like Dan speaks the truth while the other speaks through the 'alternate' hole!

[oates151]

Got the check today - I think i'll be using this laptop for a while until - most likely i'll just build my own tower this time. I though going with a big company would save me the hastle of having to repair my PC since I really just don't have the time to do that anymore.

Best for me to just put something together myself and get a SquareTrade warrenty just in case it completely fails on me or something.

Thanks for the help everyone - stress is over in this case. If anyone else has a problem with HP, the e-mail bomb I sent out to the executives and board members really what catalyzed the support - e-mail system at HP is setup as: firstname.lastname@hp.com

-Pat

[Decker]

Good show :D

Building your own can be a good alternate, if your happy with diagnosing your own hardware faults and the 'bits' are bought from good companies with replacement policies.

Possibly try and find a local company that you can doorstep if it goes wrong, they tend to be more helpfull if your waiting for them opening shop in the morning :D