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Archived This topic has been archived. Information and links in this thread may no longer be available or relevant. If you have a question create a new topic by clicking here and select the appropriate board.
HP Recommended

I consider myself a lucky man.  I’ve had the great opportunity to dedicate nearly my entire career (more than 25 years and counting!) to working for one of the greatest technology companies in the world.  HP is a part of my life – my friends and family all know I am proud to be a member of this team, and of my particular passion for helping customers.

 

So, when in 2006, a video surfaced of a U.S. soldier in Iraq taking his frustrations with an HP support policy out on his printer – you can imagine how that resonated with me and within HP.  This video seems to be reaching a new audience as many of my colleagues have had it forwarded to them by family members, friends and co-workers in recent weeks.

 

I was compelled to write this post because many do not realize that when HP received this “message to HP tech support” we quickly reached out to this soldier and resolved his issue.  And for years now, HP has provided free phone support for all active duty overseas U.S. military personnel, even if the product is out of warranty.  

 

soldier.png

I continue to be extremely proud of the company I work for and was particularly proud of our response to this customer’s feedback.  

 

 

I worked for HP.
36 REPLIES 36
HP Recommended

I've seen this YouTube video several times, as it has made the rounds several times on the internet.  It's hurtful and mean-spirited, and above all it is a bad reflection on the US Military and its fine members who put their life on the line each day for our freedom.  Yet when I watch that video, I was amazed that it was an officer (he appears to be a Captain, no less)  featured in that disparaging-to-HP video.  I've often wondered if this soldier's superior officers reprimanded or punished him for irresponsible conduct, and misuse of government property.  I'm sure this man thought he was clever and funny in using an automatic weapon to "shoot-up" a piece of electronic equipment; but quite frankly, what he did was inexcusable, probably because he was impatient and he didn't get the correct answer from HP on the first try.

 

--ARHPG

HP Recommended

Kudos to HP for the excellent response to this soldier's problem!

 

Re the response above.I agree that the Captain's actions were a bit testy, but until I am in his position I can not pass judgement.He is responsible for the lives of many soldiers under his command and probably depends on the AIO for faxes,orders,etc.
I would guess there is not much time or patience for hours on phone support in his line of work.

 

**Click Accept as Solution on a Reply that solves your issue**
***Click the "YES" button if you think this response was helpful.***

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I am writing on behalf of my nephew who is in Bagdad, Iraq on his second deployment. He has a dv2660se laptop that on his return from a brief leave, arrived back in Iraq to find the screen is not working. He shipped the laptop to us back here in the states in the hopes that we could get the screen fixed and ship it back to him as quickly as possible. I contacted HP and was told it would cost over $400 to repair the screen. Since I am fairly tech savvy, I asked if I could purchase just the screen & perform the labor myself. They wanted $265 for just the screen alone. I was able to find several on other online parts sites for about $75. My nephew cannot afford that ridiculous price that HP is charging. His laptop is his lifeline to family and keeps him focused and able to deal with what he endures over there. This laptop has made several trips back & forth from the states to Iraq. He packed it with bubble wrap and inside a padded laptop case. Why it didn't survive this particular trip I don't know. I think its sad that a company like HP would even consider charging our deployed soldiers that amount of money for a part or simple repair. I plan on sharing this information with all of my friends & family & on Facebook.

HP Recommended

     "what he did was inexcusable, probably because he was impatient and he didn't get the correct answer from HP on the first try."

 

so, for the record, how many times should one expect to have to call HP tech support before receiving the correct answer?

HP Recommended

I used to work for an IT dept.  We would get HP printers by the skid all the time.  There were a few instances, where these printers did not work out of the box.  We would, of course, call HP.  HP's response was that they had this printer as "out of warranty".  We would have to provide the receipt for the printer (which there was no specific receipt, as it came as part of a bulk order.)  It seems they want the process to be a headache.

 

HP has this genius way of a hard date single year warranty from the manufacturer date., without any idea that the printer may have been on a shelf for a year in a warehouse.

 

I've had the same problem with my personal HP printers.  They break.  All the time.  I barely used mine.  I never even got through the original ink cartridges before the printer started acting up occasionally.  In a way that I knew would get worse (and was not a power cycling issue).  It eventually got to the point where is epically ate the paper and was permanently jammed and made its way to the trash and me left with the mindset never to buy an HP printer again.  (My roomate went through 2 as well - and bought an EPSON for the 3rd).

 

 You call HP (some guy in India) and they refuse to talk to you other than say "cycle the power on your printer" because the warranty has "expired".  (again, from manufacturer date).  So, in this case it was a gift, and I had to pester the gifter to get a receipt.  If the problem is intermittent (paper “jamming” [the paper wasn’t jamming, the printer thought the paper was jamming]) the customer service agent assumes he has fixed the issue by power cycling.

 

This soldier is right.  HP's customer service is deplorable.

 

HP Recommended

"reprimanded or punished him for irresponsible conduct, and misuse of government property." are you kidding me? reprimanded? Why? His video got the job done. That's why he IS an officer. Misuse of Gov't propert? Again - his use of his weapon --- Got.The.Job.Done. Enough said.  So quick to judge. He did what every person frustrated with technology WANTS to do... Hoorah for the man who was Bold enough to execute a shoddy printer. I applaud you. 

HP Recommended

BTW: This post would have far more comments (not just from HP supporters or personnel) if they didn't require a commenter to go through a registration process in order to do so. This tells me the biased comments in here are HP supporters, and not from the general community in the blogosphere.  

HP Recommended

"BTW: This post would have far more comments (not just from HP supporters or personnel) if they didn't require a commenter to go through a registration process in order to do so. This tells me the biased comments in here are HP supporters, and not from the general community in the blogosphere. "

 

Of course it bias, its an HP support forum. I just saw this posted today on FB for the fisrt time  ( so yeah, its still getting around! ) and thought it was great! I wanted to see HP's response and did a web search...this site was the first one on the results. Im sure HP knows no one believes the "how they solved his problem right away" and that he is just an "attention seeking soldier" ( I can think of many ways a soldier would / could get attention in a video other than shooting a cheap computer product )...big corp's word versus a soldier? uhhhh.....we all know who's gonna win on that one. HP just got it shoved up their motherboard with this one is all that happened. My question is why anyone in the armed forces would even use HP??? HP is known as a "cheap" computer system / company. Great for the teenager who cant yet afford a decent system. The failure of an HP product came as no surprise to me. 

HP Recommended

 


macorey1000 wrote:  My question is why anyone in the armed forces would even use HP??? HP is known as a "cheap" computer system / company. Great for the teenager who cant yet afford a decent system. The failure of an HP product came as no surprise to me. 

HP is one of the top technology companies in the world.  HP is also sells more computers than anything other OEM manufacturer.  There are other companies I know of as cheaper than HPQ - Acer, Emachines, etc... 

Just a few facts for you to chew on.

 

 

As for the military comment - I'm all for supporting our troops and most of my friends are/were in the military.  That being said, they often use it as an excuse for a lot of things.  Would you go to a car lot and shoot up a car because the oil is leaking? 

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