HP Spectre X360 motherboard burned, literally

[gadams65]

You can pull the M.2 SSD card out and either put it in another laptop with an M.2 slot in it or get an M.2 to USB adapter to pull the info off.

https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-M-2-SATA-External-Enclosure/dp/B00T8F298Y

FYI - when I sent my laptop to HP and they sent it back it came back with all the information intact.  It doesn't seem as though this issue toasts the drive.

[Shanbug]

What i find interesting is that Ive been dealing with HP for the past 8 months with this issue. What they are telling me is that they dont have the Motherboard to repair my machine. It failed about 4 months out of warranty under the exact same issue, so they sent me a pre labeled box and I sent it back to them. I also paid for this repair. 

A week or so later they sent me the laptop back and said they didnt have the parts to repair it. They also refunded my repair cost. The case manager offered me a $250 coupon to be used at HP.com, but as you know that does little to rectify the issue if nothing at all.

I suggested they escalate the issue to the escalations team. The case manager from that team basically did nothing but tell me the exact same thing and said the offer has a deadline and I should use it to purchase a new one. This is laughable because $250 would barely cover the warranty cost. I expressed my concern to this person and they basically said there was little they could  do to help at this point, in fact those were his words exactly. I said, "so basically your leaving me with a $1200 paper weight?". 

Now I find this forum and the cases in which HP has in fact repaired the units despite the fact that my unit has been to HP and back again long before the dates posted here.

So HP,  why please tell me do you repair other systems free of charge (and I paid)? Why am I treated like there is no solution possible? Why do you have an escalations team that lacks the authority to make hard decisions or any decision that would lead to keeping me as a customer?

If you read this, please explain to me how you are able to repair other system models 13-4003dx Spectre 360's and not mine? Based on what I'm reading here, it has been done. 

Here is the HP contact I was afforded the pleasure of dealing with:

HP case#[Personal Information Removed]

Case Manager:

Robert

HP AMS TCO Esclations Team

Site code 24

Regards,

[r33]

I want to follow up on my post from a few weeks ago concerning the same issue on the same x360 sold in summer, 2015.  That is, a burned up motherboard.

1. HP contacted me after seeing my post here.  

2. I was put in touch with [edited - private information] in HP who bascially said "tough, you're out of warranty."  

3. I asked to speak to a supervisor [edited - private information].

4. He was very nice, but said essentially the same thing.  "Tough - out of warranty".  

5. I told them both about this online thread in the HP community, showing that many people have had this same issue.  Machines that have the motherboard burn.  And that this is dangerous and a factory problem that should produce a recall.

6. He said it was not seen by HP as a known issue, so nothing was going to be done about it.  "Anyone can put anything on the internet," he said.  (I'm paraphrasing). 

7. I said I didn't think it was fair that, according to the posts in this thread, some machines (even out of warranty) had been fixed for free, but others of us were being told "too bad for you."

8. He finally offered to pay 40% of a repair (I had already taken my machine to a local repair shop).  Then he offered 50% because he felt bad about my situation.  He also offered a $250 coupon if I wanted to purchase a new one thru HP's online site.  But I could only get the 50% discount on repair OR the coupon - not both.

9.  I finally gave up and decided to take the $250 coupon.  I don't want to repair the old machine.  Who knows what else is defective?

10. I may or may not buy a new one.  The thing is that I really liked this laptop.  I thought the design and performance were top notch.  How disappointing that it would fail after 1.7 years.

I urge everyone on this thread who has had this problem to report it to the Consumer Products Safety Commission.  https://www.cpsc.gov/ 

This is a dangerous problem.  Someone is going to get burned and hurt (if they haven't already).  Perhaps if enough of us report it, HP will issue a recall.  Don't throw away your grey paperweight yet!

C'mon HP.  Sheesh.

[jamark0918]

@gadams65 thanks for the info about the m.2 adapter - I bought one and am working with a recovery software to access my data.

I wouldn't be so peeved by this problem if there weren't online threads with multiple people reporting the same problem. As I mentioned in my original post, I plugged the power cord in when the bottom panel was off and I literally watched the burnt part of the motherboard start sparking - very dangerous.

Ultimately I don't think the case managers or their supervisors will be able to do much for any of us. I'm just now beginning the process many of you, and I assume many others not on this board, have already been through, so I haven't yet been contacted by HP. I will say, however, that I do intend to pursue this with all of the resources I have available to me. 22 months (in my case) is far too soon for a problem like this to occur, especially on such a wide spread basis. For anyone that owns one of these laptops for their business, 22 months isn't even long enough for the laptop to fully depreciate.

I owned a bottom of the line Macbook pro before this for 5 years and only got rid of it because my needs had changed from basic word processing to resource intensive use with various different software platforms. I chose this laptop because my family have owned HP laptops, exclusively, for as long as I can remember. Additonally, the hardware specs created a really great product offerring.

I would like to remain a customer of HP but that will all depend on how they resolve this issue. Warranty or not this is clearly a known issue to many owners of the same laptop and the issue occurs at approximately the same time for almost everyone with an affected machine. If they continue to wilfully ignore a safety issue such as this one I foresee greater problems for them ahead. Addressing this safety issue now will cost less than a class action later.

[Chaos34]

I have same issue, smelled burning, turned off and found motherboard burnt, won't turn on and with working power pack (proven) no charging light. Absolute disgrace, hope HP can look into this, will wait a week and then go to the ACCC.

model 13-4014tu product l302pa#abg

[5464]

I ended up on this thread from a search to find out if anyone else had seen this problem, and what I could do about it. Now it seems that the real issue is that HP refuses to acknowledge an obvious manufacturing/part problem.

So, add me to the long line of angry customers with burnt Spectre x360s.

I guess my story will be familiar. I've had the laptop since April 2015 & it's out of warranty. It's been great. Then, a couple days ago I was using it as usual and I heard a "pfft" and smelled smoke. Laptop shut off and now won't turn on.

I took off the bottom panel and saw where a component had burnt out; see photo. Note that it burned the adjoining area of the bottom panel pretty well too.

And what does REPLACE WITH HP SPARE mean? Is it possible there was an assembly step that was missed during manufacture?

So, what do I do now? What magic did the folks use who got a free fix?

Anyone know what it takes to kick off a class action suit? 

[Omar-E]

@5464

  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.

[Omar-E]

@Chaos34

  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.

[Omar-E]

@Shanbug

  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.

[jamark0918]

@Omar-E

What about me?