HP Envy Broken Hinges Absurd Amount of Money for replacement parts to fix design flaw

[Adam32]

Hello,

From what I can find the hinges on the HP Envy are a defective design, both my upper and lower case are broken from this defective design. It is very disheartening as I purchased an HP on the recommendation of a friend in the IT Business of praised their support and products. I looked up the parts on the HP website and it will cost $175.16 for both the upper and lower sections. I think that it is insane to charge that much money for the parts, a piece of plastic and aluminum, its price gouging and I would need the parts if the hinge was not of a inferior engineering. It seems wrong. Has anybody come up with a better solution that is realistic, the computer is a couple years old but I never expected a hinge to make me have to buy a new one. I made sure to get the best I could afford, it has the nice i5 processor and lots of ram and should be quick and relavant for at least another two to three years, if I have to buy a new computer because of a hinge I would never buy another HP again. Does anybody have an idea how to solve the broken hinge problem without getting taken advantage of and paying $175 for two parts that should cost maybe 60-80 bucks? Any help is appreciated,

Thank you  

[rick-s]

@Adam32

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 personal information (serial numbers and case details).

If you are unfamiliar with how the Forum's private message capability works, you can learn about that here.

Thank you for visiting the HP Support Forum.

[Adam32]

Thank you, I don't know what to do and I am disgusted with the whole situation

[Adam32]

Here is a link to some information, hopefully this will provide others an idea regarding the scope of the issue:

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/Defective-Hinges-on-HP-Laptops...

[Adam32]

Some more information:

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Video-Display-and-Touch/Replacement-Hinges-Question/td-p/6531...

[Adam32]

I completed a temporary fix, hopefully this will help others who are experiencing the same thing. I need my computer every day and could not wait weeks to get up and running again. I am not sure how long it will last but it will buy me some time to make a proper educated decision on how to proceed. The left hinge can be secured using a M3 x 6mm machine thread screw, 3 to 4 washers depending on how you position them, and a nyloc nut. On both sides I put the knurled brass threaded inserts back in the fractured / missing plastic holders and epoxied them back into place. I found this fix on another thread of a user repairing their broken Envy hinges. I then loosened the tension on the hinges by backing off the nyloc nut, you can get to the hinges by opening their covers carefully prying each half apart. I then lubricated them with Kroil, you could use any lube as long as you can make sure that you do not get it everywhere, less is more as you want it only on the hinge, not the electronics.

[Adam32]

Here are some pictures to illustrate the repair:

Bottom cover, plastic broken so the screw has nothing to catch on and hold the pieces together

Left Side: with the screw / washers / nyloc nut / epoxy

Right Side: All knurled brass inserts ripped out, plastic is mostly missing that used to hold them

Right Side: After epoxy repair performed

Hinge: Loosen the nyloc nut to relieve pre-tension so the fix does not break as quickly (or hopefully ever)

[Adam32]

Well, I was contacted via phone by a HP representative today, his name was David. He was very polite and cordial, but could not help me, hopefully if anybody else is going through this they will know what to expect. When you get contacted you will be told that hinges breaking the case halves are "normal wear and tear".  I was offered a coupon towards a new computer or accessory but it could not be used on parts and parts are what I need. I was offered a discount on the repair but I believe that after $175.16 worth of top and bottom cases and $62.15 worth of hinges if they say they need to be replaced too  that my bill would probably be higher than if I just ordered the parts at full price and did it myself.  My computer has between 2-4 years of life left in my judgement and replacement is just not in the budget, I just want mine to work like it should. I am posting this to help others in the same situation, I do not believe that the cases breaking from opening and closing are acceptable and I do believe that it is a design flaw based on my research, if you are in the same situation consider my "bush fix" as it may hold up long enough to finish out the usable life of the computer or to find a replacement that will not have hinge issues. 

[Adam32]

I really do not think that my failure is unique or unprecedented. All of the information that I find leads me to believe it is quite widespread.

Here is some information  for those with HP Envy Laptops:

https://disqus.com/home/discussion/classaction/hp_laptops_broken_hinge_lawsuit_classactionorg/

[iomare]

Hi,

The fix looks good.

Regards,

David