My laptop motherboard burnt and I can't find international assistance.

[Exploranter]

I bought two HP Pavilion tx1030la Notebook PC in Chile. I lived and worked there.

Then I moved back to Brazil.

1 and 1/2 year later one of them had its motherboard toasted. The second one, less used, already lost the wireless and the screen goes blank very often. It will burn soon.

From day 1, both were extremely hot at the vents, but since both were like this, I figured it should be some design flaw.

I couldn't expect to lose 2 expensive laptops, with touchscreen, voice recognition, handwriting recognition, fingerprint recognition, full multimedia package, TL50 Processor AMD Turion 64X2, 120GB hard disk Enhanced IDE 5400 RPM SATA, 1024 MB RAM 667Mhz DDR2, DVD+-RW with Lightscribe, Windows Vista, Graphics NVidia and so on.

Now I know I am not alone out there. It happened with a whole bunch of other people and it follows the same steps: too hot, screen going blank, problems turning on and then death by heat. And sometimes, in the process, losing the wireless function.

Now I know it wasn't a design flaw. It is an engineering flaw.

But what's boiling for me? Well, besides having lost 2 new laptops... I am in an HP assistance limbo. I've been tossed into oblivion, only because I live in a different country than the country of purchase.

So, because I moved from one country to another, HP is diregarding the problem, as if it did not exist. HP US does not respond. HP Chile does not respond. HP Brazil said, over the phone, that laptops bought abroad won't be serviced in Brazil, but wouldn't put this into writing.  

In my frustrated contact attempts with HP assistance I had just a few simple questions:

1) Is 1 and ½ years the expected life span of an HP Laptop?

2) Is it a flaw in the project that they get so hot? (now I know this problem is big, with many customers around the globe suffering from the same problem.)

3) What can I do to prevent the second one from burning too? (in a vain effort to stretch the life of the second one, I updated the bios and increased the RAM to max specs)

4) What can HP do to help me with my burned laptop? 

So, anyone out there can shed a light into this? I will be grateful. 

[GarenT]

I've got a couple of people looking into this. Now I have the model numbers, I'll hopefully make some more progress.

Thanks

GarenT

[Vaika]

While I hope GarenT can assist you, I did want to mention that the heat issue is not - to my knowledge - a problem with one particular notebook, but more a problem with notebooks in general.  You have all the same stuff that you put in a desktop in a much smaller amount of space, often used on laps and in warm environments for long periods of time.  To keep your other notebook from having heat-related issues, please make sure to ALWAYS use a cooling pad with it, preferably with a gap between the bottom of your notebook and the fans from the cooling pad, with the fans on.

[GarenT]

Hi, What I'm hoping to find some help with is the multi-country issue. You are right about the laptop and heat issues, but I would like to assist with the fact that we are seeing some run-around with moving product from one country to the next and not getting support.

I'll keep you informed.

[Exploranter]

My second HP Laptop died today and I still haven´t heard from HP.

The Chilean Shop where I bought both Laptops also pushed to the side, even stating that he is not aware of any problems with HP Laptops. Everyone already knows about it already.

When will HP act? When it is too late to save the brand?

Look at the answer from the Chilean Shop:

De: <text deleted>

Para: Flávio Melo

Assunto: Re: Servicio HP Notebook #1815216#

Hola,

Lamenteblemente ya no esta en garantia, ya que como sabe la garantia de estos notebooks es de 1 ano, sin embargo, tratare de contestar sus preguntas.

1) 1 year and a half of normal use is the expecetd life of a HP computer?

R: No es normal que falle en tan poco tiempo, sin embargo hay que revisar las condiciones externas en el area de trabajo (Si es usado cuando esta acostado, normalmente se obstruye la salida de ventilacion lo que hace que normalmente los equipos fallen, o bien que lo use en otros lugares que dificulten la normal ventilacion del equipo)

2) Being HP a global company, why doesn't Brazil's HP offer assistance to HP products bought elsewhere? Please take into consideration that I was living in Chile when I bought the computer and now I live in Brazil.

R: Hasta donde tengo entendido, dentro de sudAmerica existe un call center con el que los clientes se pueden comunicar llamando al 800 360 999. Este es un call center atendido desde Mexico)

3) Being the uses of both computers very similar (home use), should I expect to lose the other one soon??

R: Si esta siendo usado en las condiciones de baja ventilacion antes indicadas, es muy provable que si .

4) Is there anything I can do to prevent it??

R: Volviendo a lo mismo, mantener las salidas y entradas de aire despejadas.

5) Have you found any flaws in the project of this specific computer? ?

R:No, nada al respecto.

6) How can you help me with my prematurely burnt laptop?

R: La verdad, no puedo hacer mucho, intente llamando al call center antes mencionado y si ahi  no obtiene respuestas, hay una opcion mediante el mismo call center de comunicarse con atencion de clientes, ellos lo llaman control de calidad o algo asi .

Esperando haber servido de ayuda, le saluda muy atentamente,

Giuliano Villarroel

Jefe de Modulo 51

In short he:

• says the warranty is over
• gives me a phone number that does not work
• tells me I should leave the vents unblocked(!!) (Both laptops were used on the table)
• suggests I used it in bed, thus infering that I am the responsible for the overheating
• tells me he is not aware af any defective laptops

So, I am stranded. And now with no laptop. Lost 2 laptops for the same project flaw. 

Should I give up? 

Message Edited by WendyM on 07-07-2009 03:20 PM

[GPJ]

I have the same problem.  I bought a notebook in the U.S. and live in South Africa.  After going on to the net I found that my notebook qualified for a recall repair.  After phoning HP in South Africa it was confirmed by customer services that I had one free repair due to the recall.  I have taken the notebook to the agents that do the repairs for HP in South Africa and this is where the fun starts.  I have been told by the agents that they have just started with HP repairs and they don’t know the procedure for an internationlrepair and after 2 weeks they have just found out that the need to transfer the stock or notebook from the U.S. market to the African market ???? to do the repairs.  God only knows why as it’s a HP product.  With HP being an international company offering worldwide support I don’t see why there has to be such a mission to get support for their products worldwide.

After 3 calls to the hp customer support desk and talking to 6 different people getting 6 different stories I have given up. I Have bought a new notebook (Lenovo) for now and we will wait and see how long it takes to have the HP sorted out

BTW  Pointing the complaints to your customer support site won’t work as 99% of the people complaining in this forum have already gone through the correct channels.  THEY ARE COMPLAINING HERE BECAUSE THEY GET NO JOY FROM YOUR CUSTOMER SUPPORT.

[JMABRZ]

HP Brasil won't offer any support on your product since it wasn't bought in Brazil. However, if you wish to pay for technical assistance, here in Brazil HP uses a third-party company called MGI Informática. Google it, there you will find information regarding what you could do. They can surely fix your problem.

The usual procedure is to ship your laptop to Suzano, where the factory is located.