Defective Hinges on HP Laptops Envy

[Mikeamondo]

I've had my Envy for a couple years.  Already sent it out once to have the hinges replaced under warranty.  Now the fix is failing again.  The hinge mechanism is simply too weak to support the weight of the screen, and over a spectacularly short period of time, it will fail.  It is a sub standard design, which causes the case to separate.

I'm certain that when I call support, the warranty being now over, I will be charged upwards of $200 to send it in and get a new (yet still poorly engineered) hinge.... which will again fail within another year.

HP... time to step up to the plate and take care of these failing hinges without your normal fee.  You created a DEFECTIVE product with a substandard design, rendering an otherwise fantastic laptop useless.  A quick search online reveals that this is a widespread problem. 

Watcha' gonna do, HP?

Thanks!

Mike

[kevin-t]

@Mikeamondo

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.

[Mikeamondo]

I appreciate the quick reply, and I look forward to hearing from someone at HP in an official capacity.  But....  what would also be nice is if HP would address this design flaw head on, and at least acknowlege it's an issue.  My  guess is the folks who contact me will determine that my laptop is 1) out of warranty, 2) having an issue related to 'regular use' and therefore 3) can be sent in for repair for around $200. 

That's my prediction, anyway.  And if I'm correct, it will drive me one step closer to becoming an Apple user.  Especially when every other commercial on the TV is saying "PC Does WHAT?!?" ....  I'm saying "PC costs me $200 a year just to keep my HP hinges functioning."

Thanks!.....  here's hopin' HP steps up.

Mike

[Mikeamondo]

I intend to update this thread as I communicate with HP on the issue of the Faulty / Defective hinge design on some HP laptops including the Envy, which I own.  This will be my first update...

I am happy to say that someone from HP contacted me with a few hours, as promised in the above post.  The initial contact was simply to garner additional info from me about the situation.  I was asked for detailed info on my computer, name, phone number, etc, and a  detailed description of the problem.  Here is my response to the detailed description question:

  Laptop was purchased in April of 2014 and arrived at my house on 4/16/14.  I began using my laptop at home, on my lap, in the evenings, and occasionally at work on a desk, during the day.  It was always in a case and was never dropped or broken.  Prior to the expiration of the one year warranty, I began to notice a sag in the hinges, and a separation of the case.  I'm sure I don't need to go into too much detail here, as a quick search online shows that this is a WIDESPREAD and all to common problem, resulting from a faulty design in the hinge/case.  I sent the laptop in for repair and it was returned fixed under warranty.  NOTE.... you should be able to find the date of that repair by the serial number or my email address.  Now, less than a year later, it is failing again.  The left rear hinge is sagging, and the case is separating on the back corner.  The design if FAULTY.... it does not create a joint strong enough to hold up the weight of the screen.  Right now, there are no less than 6 threads on the FIRST PAGE of your support forums concerning this issue.   I don't expect a laptop to last forever, but I **bleep** sure expect it to last longer than a year, and I would expect a company such as yours to be ready to remedy faulty design problems.

I will continue to update this thread with all information exchanged between HP and Myself.  It's hard to describe how angry all this make me.  I love my laptop and it's ease of use.  To have it fail as a result of a faulty hinge... twice in a year and a half is ridiculous... but much worse is HP's failure.... at least so far..... to take responsibility for the faulty design of the hinge.

Thanks,

Mike

[Mikeamondo]

New Update --  after providing all the requested information, I recevded the following response....

Hello,

Thank you for your reply. I have passed your information along to my HP colleagues. I have ask them to contact you directly to assist with your request for help.

Best regards

 More updates will follow as I work thru the issue with HP.

[Mikeamondo]

12 hours later and no response yet.  I've started posting on other 'broken hinge' threads and I encourange anyone who has this issue to post as well.  Keep the 'broken hinge' threads at the top of the forum list.

Also....   they have a Twitter account...   @HPSupport    I'm not on Twitter, but I'm thinking of adding an account, just so I can send hourly updates to it.  Posting regularly to the Facebook page as well should help.  There have to be thousands of laptop users dealing with this.  MAKE NOISE!

[Mikeamondo]

24 hours out... no contact from HP as of yet.

Search the word "hinge" on this forum and filter for last 30 days. .... 90 individual posts. .... and only a couple are mine! 

[Mikeamondo]

UPDATE....   I received a call today, approx. 24 hours after initial contact, from a very pleasant woman from the Ecalation team.  It was a very enlightening phone call which resulted in an adequate resolution, though, not neccessarily a good or generous one.

I did, however, garner some info which I'll share here.  First off, I was informed that with the laptop being out of warranty, I would have to pay the repair fee.  Apparently, the price for this repair should be $299, but she first gave me the price of $229.  She also said the dreaded words "normal wear and tear from use", but also said she could 'work with me on the price'.  I said, 'let's talk price first and then I'll go over my side of things.  She gave me a 25% discount, which brought the price down to $179.  I then explained at length my thoughts on HP's hinges, the design of which is faulty, and the fact that the same hinge had just been repaired under warranty just 8 months ago.   I made all the arguments I could, and brought forth all the evidence I could to show that this is a design flaw, and I really didn't think I should be on the hook for 180 just 8 months after they fixed the same part.  I also said I didn't see me spending that money before speaking with someone further up the line. 

She said she was the escalation team and no one else would have any other ability to help.  But....  and here it gets interesting......  here are the highlights

1. She lowered the price to fix the computer to $140 and said that’s the absolute lowest she could do the repair for. I said, and still maintain, they should start here if they can end up here. (Of course, they should fix it for free, seeing as how it’s a design flaw.)
2. She said the hinge they are installing now is different!!! They’ve seen the problem and recently began installing a different part instead of the original. THIS IS HUGE! This is proof they are aware of the problem….. It’s just unfortunate that they won’t let everyone know.
3. She also mentioned that the design / product specialists had said that it’s the weight of the Envy’s screen that causes the failure of the hinge…. More evidence that they know exactly what is going on.

I’ve made this sound like this was a totally negative conversation, and that was not the case. The woman on the phone was enjoyable enough to speak with and did listen to what I had to say. She is just a part of the system and had to hold the line on the money. I also, though inclined to continue the fight, don’t have the time or energy to go further….   Given reassurances that the new part being installed is different (and yes, I know I may be drinking the cool aid here), and having complained my way down by a hundred bucks or so, I threw in the towel.

A couple of lessons here for those of you fighting this battle…..   The fact that the new hinge is different than others, and the fact that they even know the reason for failure as being the weight of the screen, is excellent ammunition for your battle. Don’t accept the first price they throw out on the repair cost….. they can, and will, come down.

A message for HP…. You are failing miserably on this. Once you know there is a design issue, any customer searching for help should find a dedicated page detailing the problem and what you’re doing about it. Instead, you pretend there really is no problem, then force the consumer to fight for every little bit of information, and then fight even more to get the repair done at something close to a reasonable price. And…. That price should be AT COST. You should not be profiting from fixing your own design flaw…. Even if the laptop is out of warranty. THAT is how you should handle this.

[Mikeamondo]

Box arrived today...  24 hours after agreeing to pay to fix my laplop.

One more point....   Be sure to post of their facebook page.  The lady who called me within 24 hours mentioned that she had been sent my name from their "Social Media Team".

[Mikeamondo]

Updating this and continuing the "good fight"...

Box was sent out for repair today.  I'm confident the computer will be repaired and returned, since I ponied up the dough to pay for it.  I am far from satisfied, though, hence my continued efforts to educate those with this hinge problem and to turn people away from buying new HP products.  And this is truly sad, because other than the hinge issue, and HP's dramatic failure on customer service, I truly LOVE my laptop.  

The number of people on this forum and internet in general with this issue is truly evidence that HP knows of the issue, and still, their are regular reports of people being told by HP that the company is unaware of any hinge issue. 

The hinges are obviously a weak point and fail with predicable regularity.  Then, HP fixes them at their full repair cost.  This leads to the amazing situation where HP is PROFITING from fixing their own design flaw.

Continue to make noise...  I'm considering contacting the Consumer Protection folks at the national level... if such a thing really exists.  Worth looking into, though.