HP has the worst customer service ever

[Xarthus]

Hi!

Just as I've decided to blog about my horrible experience with HP so far, I thought I'd do it on here too just in the off chance anyone at HP in charge of social media gives a flying **** and decides to weigh in.  Really - I'd love one of them to.  Anyway, so I've made some posts on this forum already, here they are:

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Lockups-Freezes-Hangs/Don-t-buy-HP-Pavillion-DV7-4038TX-won-t-boot/m-p/...

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Other-Notebook-PC-questions/HP-laptop-refund-policy/m-p/365755

And here are my posts thus far:

I've decided to begin blogging my awful experience with HP. To bring you up to speed:
- Bought a laptop in November 2010 and it died less than three weeks later
- Could not actually contact HP until January 2011 despite MANY attempts
- Followed up with consumer protection, they said to call the retailer

- Spoke to Rick Hart, gave them my laptop and got a loaner from them
- (RH have been AWESOME, but they too are at the mercy of HP)
- 6 weeks on from then, I have been following up with HP almost every day
- HP are only open between 5am - 3pm ...Perth time
- I've spoken with every department I could get hold of
- I've escalated a minimum of 10 calls
- I've been promised a minimum of 10 call backs, though am yet to get even 1
- I'm now dealing with the customer resolutions team (in Sydney?)
- I've decided I do not want the laptop anymore and want a refund
- Today I spoke to a very rude CR rep who refused to escalate my call
- The rep refused to give me the notes on my case
- She offered me an extended warranty (already have it with RH) I refused
- She said 'well you can refuse, but I tried to help' then announced her shift was over and hung up

After that CR call today I:
- Escalated a call with 2 different depts; both promised a call Monday
- Escalated a call with one of their resolution teams for a call on Monday
- Spoke to RH, they are pushing this with their Sydney contact
- I was promised a call from the CR manager on Monday too
- I plan on calling first thing Monday morning

Any bets on what happens?! I reckon I call them before any call me - and I'll be surprised if I get one call back.... the saga continues!!!


Monday morning.
- SURPRISE! No call back... so not really a surprise...
- Called the escalations team (SST) again, so I could get put through to the CRT
- I waited on hold for 15mins on my way into work then was cut off.
- I got through again to a different SST guy, back on hold
- 20mins this time before being cut off
- Another call to SST, got the same guy (Lalit)
- Tried for a direct number or escalation
- No direct number for the CRT, self-managed team (apparently)
- Got an address to write to for direct complaints:
Customer Resolutions Team
...PO 221, Blackburn, Victoria 3130
- He keeps checking his communicator (in office messenger)
- None of the CRT reps he knows are online
- Natalia (from Friday) isn't online
- As far as he is aware, no-one from their team is in...?
- Hours of operation are supposedly 8:30am-5:00pm EST
- They are all an hour late apparently...
- He says all he can do is put me on hold to them
- Have to start work now, will have it in the background in the hope I get through...

[Xarthus]

**UPDATE**

- 27mins on hold... hung up (hold music getting annoying)
- Called the SST team back... Jessica this time!
- Jessica offered to email the whole CRT team to give me a call when they are in
- Back on hold to them... 10mins then Jessica says she can't get through either
- She will just email them all to get them to call me
- She can't give me that mail-all email list... **bleep**...
- Rang off, will try again in an hour
- Waited an hour... called again and got Amanda
- Went through the usuals... she is trying to contact the CRT team
- After some time on hold... I get trhough to Natalia again!
- Apparently Natalia says they are open from 10am-5pm EST
- They have been there for an hour... no call
- I asked to be put through to her manager
- She says she spoke with her manager, and they are not there today
- Wow... so her manager promised me a call when they wouldn't be in?  Wow...
- I said someone must be, she is putting me through to them... back on hold
- Her supervisor Mileena, is unavailable, and will call me back
- How long I ask? 20mins... ok, sure, I doubt it but let's give it a shot
- I leave my number so there can be no mistake and ring off

[Xarthus]

- Got a call from an unknown number 10mins later... noone on the other end
- I spent a minute saying hello and checking every phone setting before they hung up
- If it was HP, there was no re-try... gave it 5 mins
- I got hold of Jonathon (same guy from Friday), he is putting me through to the CRT
- I got a Fernando, I asked to be put through to Mileena
- He spouted the usual 'We are the highest point of escalation... blah blah blah'
- I asked to speak with a manager, he said they don't take calls
- I asked to speak with Mileena, he keeps dodging this.. I became more forceful and direct
- He eventually went and found Mileena... she kept stating it was not possible to get a refund
- She can't tell me where my laptop is or what is happening with it
- She said 'I thought you had the laptop and it had been repaired?'
- This is apparently why one of the reps closed my case... -_-
- She cannot give me my notes, she'd need to check with her manager
- I asked to speak with THEM, she refused saying she is the highest point
- Apparently her boss doesn't take calls...
- Yeah well - that's what Natalia said and look who I'm speaking to now...
- After much yelling and wringing of the hands...
- She simply stated it is not possible given what has happened
- I asked what WAS possible, other than a useless extended warranty.. (already have 3rd party)
- She said 'you mentioned an upgrade?'...
- I agreed to get 3 upgrades free of charge for my laptop
- Put back to Natalia, she said I would need to send an email confirming the request
- Sent the email, she said she would check on my laptop and call me back today... we shall see
- Still not really happy, though I'll let it be IF I get my laptop back with the upgrades SOON

** UPDATE **

- Nearly the end of the day (their time) now, I emailed both Natalia and her manager to get an update
- I got a very short reply some time later saying they tried calling me (no missed calls)
- They said my laptop has been repaired (no other info about it)
- Apparently, it will be ready by 9th Feb... meaning I'll get it then?  What about the parts...?
- I emailed back and then tried calling the 'direct' CRT number...
- It picks up and says 'Please hold while your call is routed' then hangs up... wow...
- I tried calling the SST number...
- 'Welcome to HP, the number you have called is invalid' then gives some other random number??
- Surely these numbers haven't been discontinued...?? I called the general line
- 'Oooooh you'll be lucky... I think they're all gone for the day it's 5:26pm here'
- WONDERFUL.

[Gangles]

I scanned these posts but never read through them slowly as it is fragmented. What I can tell you from experience at least with north american support is every time you call sometimes the callback that is logged gets closed as you are calling in instead. As far as a 'refund' for a replacement this is done strictly with the vendor you purchased the unit from, not HP. HP does not sell products, they just make them and it is the vendors that sell them and deal with any returns or exchanges.

HPshopping.com does sell products but it is a subsidiary of hp, not hp itself.

The best thing I can tell you is call and request a callback, or verify that a callback is in place without it being closed or canceled and just wait. Even if an agent or manager does not call within the estimated call frame because of either volume or issues outside of direct control the system will see that a callback is needed and you will be contacted.

Regards

[Mumbodog]

---

@Gangles wrote:

HPshopping.com does sell products but it is a subsidiary of hp, not hp itself.

Regards

---

That is splitting hairs, HP is a direct seller to the end user, but they also sell to electronics retailers, like Best Buy, Fry's, Wal-Mart etc, who in return sell to the end user.

I have always found it better to buy directly from HP, this way you can see all the options for a particular model and don't have to buy what a retailer thinks is a good fit for you.

[jungledrew64]

Just to add a little bit of gas...

My first HP computer was a Compaq. Had an ok experience, but the battery burned up 1year and 1 day after purchase (almost as if on a timer).

Needed some performance so I upgraded to an HP Envy 15. I hit the radeon 4830HD graphic driver issues (at the time I was doing some OpenCL development and needed the ATI drivers as HP didn't support OpenCL). Battery burned up again 1 year and 1 day after purchase (not exactly, but close enough to the end of the warranty to be suspicious).

Got tired of the first gen Envy overheating, so I purchased a second gen Envy 15. This time the battery was bad out of the gate. I didn't have time to call HP for a replacement at that moment, so I continued with the HDD wipe and whatnot. After I had Windows 8 up and running beautifully I called HP about the battery. Appearantly Windows 8 fried the battery and I am stupid.

I am a Software Engineer and I know what was wrong with the battery. Blaming Microsoft is an easy out for HP, but clearly not the problem with their hardware. The representative wanted me to format the HDD back to facotry yada yada yada. I returned the freaking computer after the customer service rep hung up on me.

Long story short.... I am done with HP.

[yodayodayoda]

is there anyone listening to this on HP? is there anyone responsible for this brand because its a matter of time before the cookie crubles. One by one, the customers will leave and this bad news will spread. Just a matter of time

[shootm]

I have read through this thred and I could not agree more. HP has to be one of THE worst companies I have ever dealt with. They are so entrenched in trying to follow company policy, the have forgotten how to satisfy the customer. I won't get into all the details of my experience as it would take an eternity to explain. let's just say I have spent over 12 hours of my precious time trying to get resolve on a used printer. After talking to more than 6 agents, none could help me and tried the exact same troubleshooting. Finally after much protest I was offered a $75 coupon to compensate for my frustrating experince, AFTER I ended buying a new HP printer. Now I have tried to use the coupon and my order came to $74.97. The order desk (who had me on  hold for almost 40min) told me they could not process the order becuase it had to be a min $75. OMG, I said just charge me an extra 3 cents. Nope, there system could not understand that. I classic case of managers that should know better not designing their systems to react to the needs ot the customer and in turn forcing their agents who interface with customers to look like complete idiots.

See ya, HP. I hope you never get my or anyone elses business again and that your stock continues to fizzle. Do NOT invest in this compnay, even though it looks like the stock is going up in 2013 it is a false illusion. The stock lost over 70% between 2010-2012. That in itself should alarm any consumer! 

[oldbrit]

I have to agree.

And, it's not just the lousy support. I bought a new HP Envy m7-j120dx. It's a piece of junk. I've had more problems with it in 6 months than I've had with the 20+ computers I've owned over the years. This is my first HP and the last.

Just as an example, I ordered recovery disks. HP sent the wrong disks. It took three days arguing with them to admit they were the wrong disks and send new ones. Then, they didn't actually send them and it took several chats and phone calls to get them to actully ship the disks.

I've had to reload this computer from scratch at least 5 times since I purchased it. It has sound problems, mouse problems, and many other problems, all of which are software issues.

The recovery disks I finally received were the correct ones, but they got damaged by a child who found them and decided he liked drawing on the shiny surfaces.

I ordered another set when my computer once again crashed and needed a reload. It took over an hour to place the order due to their crazy online system. I paid for 1 day delivery. On the day I was to receive the disks, I realized that HP had not emailed me an acknowledgement or a tracking number. I went to the website they provided and put in my information, but their system couldn't find my order. I also discovered that they had authorized on my credit card, but not run the charge - which indicated to me they hadn't shipped the disks. So, I had to waste another 30 minutes on the phone fighting their draconian telephone system to finally to speak to someone who was able to inform me that the disks had shipped and given me a tracking number. The disks were shipped, but they didn't send me an acknowledgement and the system didn't have a record of the order.

It's amazing how often HP has phoned me to try and make me feel better about their horrid support and their inferior computers. Of course, no one every actually offered to do anything about the problems. They just phone to waste my time.

[harshu195]

Agreed, 2015 still no improvement.
I must say they should just stop doing what they are already.

Spoiler

First and Last.

Even have a blog of it.

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Lockups-Freezes-Hangs/HP-ENVY-15t-k000-CTO-Notebook-PC/m-p/514...