HP Envy Touchsmart 15 Broken Hinge

[MWLNY]

I refuse to go to the lengths you did to get a company to back their product, much easier to switch brands. As i stated once before my daughter has been using a sony laptop for 5 years at school, used every day travels with her and it is still in perfect condition. My HP never leaves home and mostly just sits on a desk and the hinges break (again).

A few years ago I bought a new car, after owning it 1 week a bulge appeared on the side of one tire, i took it to the dealer and neither they or the tire manufacturer would replce the tire. they expected me to pay 250.00 to repolace it when it was clearly a flaw in the product, i had all 4 tires replaced with a different brand and to this day will not purchase a vehicle from that dealer or any vehicle that comes stock with that brand tire. There are too many products and compnaies out there today to waste time arguing with those that wont back their product.

[FasterEddie]

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@MWLNY wrote:

I refuse to go to the lengths you did to get a company to back their product, much easier to switch brands. As i stated once before my daughter has been using a sony laptop for 5 years at school, used every day travels with her and it is still in perfect condition. My HP never leaves home and mostly just sits on a desk and the hinges break (again).

A few years ago I bought a new car, after owning it 1 week a bulge appeared on the side of one tire, i took it to the dealer and neither they or the tire manufacturer would replce the tire. they expected me to pay 250.00 to repolace it when it was clearly a flaw in the product, i had all 4 tires replaced with a different brand and to this day will not purchase a vehicle from that dealer or any vehicle that comes stock with that brand tire. There are too many products and compnaies out there today to waste time arguing with those that wont back their product.

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Hi MWLNY --

I appreciate your points, however, I'd like to point out a few important things as well. 

1. I cannot afford to buy a new laptop, so the repair option was my best choice.
2. I was offered an acceptably discounted repair price by an extremely helpful and polite HP case manager.
3. The HP repair center already had my laptop at their facility when the real customer service problems started.
4. While the repair took longer than originally quoted, I got more than I bargained for: repaired hinges, new fan and entirely new main case, top and bottom.
5. My original HP case manager refunded my repair cost for the trouble I had with the repair center.
6. Finally, it probably took me longer to write my experiences in the two long posts in this forum thread than it took to accomplish the successful resolution with HP.

So while it did involve a little time and frustration, my experience ended up being an overall positive, which is what I expect and usually get when dealing with HP.

My experience with HP customer service reps has generally been very good, provided I ask to talk to a Level 2 support person. Being an experienced computer user (starting with Gopher and BBS through early Mac and Windows to the present day), when I call HP support I have already worked through the suggestions I'm going to get from a Level 1 support tech. That's why I ask for a real troubleshooter rather than someone who is working from scripted solutions.

Regarding the experience I had with the HP repair center in Indiana, I suspect it is a contract facility not owned by HP. I have never, never had an HP support person threaten to hang up on me in all the years I've dealt with HP. This was a very unusual situation. That's the main reason I wanted to talk to my case manager about the repair, and when I did that, I was offered my refund. Patience and politeness in dealing with HP is what gets me results.

[MWLNY]

Every situation is different, i have been told at least 3 times that they will do nothing for me, not even a discounted repair. The HP rep was very polite each time i was told no. I understand not everyone can afford to just replace a product at the drop of a hat and I understand that a company can not just repair or replce every item that breaks, having said that they know this is a widespread issue and have made a business decision not to recall it. At this point it looks like i will be switching to Apple, everyone i have talked to that owns one swear by them. At this point it is a done deal, I will never purchase another HP product, my wife purchases all new computers for her office every couple of years and she will not purchase HP products. They made a decision to throw away thousands of dollars of business over a couple hundred dollar repair of an inferior product.

[Moningo74]

Hi all,

I am in exactly the same position as Alexandria, I purchased the laptop via Costco about 1,5 years ago, I am also a ft grad student and my hinges have become unhinged.

I have taken it to a computer repair who explained it was not worthwhile to purchase and that this is an extremely common issue for this computer. I think it is really disgusting that I have paid a decent amount of money (around $1000,-) for a laptop that is broken so soon with such a common issue.

How can I be contacted by HP to have this resolved, I don't know if I have warranty on the machine still, but I think it would be fair to say that the lifespan of an HP should not be this short.

I am hoping to experience a fair outcome to this, but not sure how to go about it?

Thanks,

Monique

[FasterEddie]

Hi, Moningo74.

I suggest you directly contact the moderator of this form topic, danny-r. He works for HP and can forward your problem on to the appropriate resolution team. Danny=r was kind enough to refer me to a customer service rep at HP named Richard, who was extremely helpful in all ways.

While you are waiting for a response, please start on page 1 of this forum and read through the helpful hints from me and others -- especially mikeamondo -- on how to successfully get your laptop repaired at a reasonable cost.  There are many threads on the HP forums that speak to this problem also. Being a diligent, educated and polite customer will go a long way to reaching a successful conclusion. It may take awhile and will have it's frustrations, but hang in there.

Good luck!

[gypsiewife1234]

We had an Eny do that do. No one would repair it.

[Mikeamondo]

@Moningo74   It's actually surprising to me that no one from HP has posted back to you from your original post.  As FasterEddie suggested, read this thread all the way thru....  long read, I know, but there is power in seeing what others have done.    You can search and read my origina thread on the issue....  sorry, I can't get to the link.....  at the forum home page, search 'mikeamondo' or defective hinges hp laptop, and find the thread with my username..... 

There was some misinformation early....   1.  the hinges they install when repaired are identical to the original, NOT an improvement.  and 2...  it does not appear they are changing any stance and just fixing this issue....

Also... there are several different hinge designs which fail in different ways.... so be aware that while all of us are fighting the same fight, we may have differing problems with our individual laptops.

Finally....  if you can't get a response on the forum, make a post to their Facebook page and ask for help there.  That worked within 24 hours for me.  At least that's when they started the saga....    read as many threads on here as possible before you talk with them if possible.  And......    there is ALWAYS a higher level of tech support to talk to....

Good Luck!

[101pagejimmy]

I have the same issue, my hinge started breaking after a year, the computer is now 2-1/2 years old. THe hinges didn't break but the things the hinges were connected to snapped and now don't do anything. THe computer still works great however when ever i try to close my laptop it breaks the bottom chasis from the key board, the other hinge side finally snapped off as well and now the computer is basically worthless ass far as portable goes.

[Omar-E]

@101pagejimmy

I have brought your issue to the attention of an appropriate team within HP. They will likely request information from you in order to look up your case details or product serial number. Please look for a private message from an identified HP contact. Additionally, keep in mind not to publicly post serial numbers and case details.

If you are unfamiliar with how the Forum's private message capability works, this post has instructions.

[John1997]

I have the exact same problem too