By 2jk19
I am a university student - I am in the field of education and my program in teachers college requires a laptop for software, lectures, etc.
ANYWAYS being a student, I can’t afford a lot so I did my best to find a good laptop. I ended up going with HP. I bought it brand new from Best Buy for just over $1200. I loved the laptop and it got things done. To date, I have had it for 2 years and 2 months. I purchased extended warranty through best buy (2 years) so at this point, it is no longer covered. What do you know? I start experiencing problems! The wireless internet (WLAN) stopped working - so I cannot use the internet on my laptop wirelessly which defeats its purpose to me as a university student! I tried bringing it to places to get fixed - spent just over $100 and I began getting frustrated. I decided to check the HP website for any suggestions. I see that my laptop model has been recalled for the exact symptom that I was experiencing. When I bought the laptop, I registered it online with HP, SO they have access to my address as well as my email. Did I receive any contact from them letting me know that my laptop has been recalled?? NO! But being such a big company that they are, I assumed that they would honour my request to fix the problem, afterall, it is a RECALL! Well, to my surprise, this was not the case at all. I spoke with 3 people at HP customer service (2 managers and one rep.). Only 1 person was friendly! ANYWAYS, they refused to fix my laptop because it was 2 months over the warranty but my argument was that it was a recall and I was never notified and a recall is a recall! Things on recall need to be fixed or replaced, regardless of when the consumer purchased it. Instead they told me that I would have to pay $399 plus taxes to have it fixed!! WOW! I just spent $1200 just over 2 years ago and now they want over $400 for a problem that they are aware of!! I could buy a new laptop for $400!! They were not helpful at all. I felt so helpless and I could not afford that service fee, especially after I already spent $100 getting it looked at, only to discover it was recalled! AHHH! So I either scrap it and be left without a laptop or pay their ridicious price! I decided to file a complaint with my local BBB (Better Business Bureau) - but HP rebuttled and refused to fix it 
I am not left without a laptop because I cannot afford a new one. My marks are suffering as a result and it makes things really difficult to get done - my program is technology based!! Thanks a lot HP!
**I have had many HP products before (a desktop computer and printers) and never had any problems.
**It is not the products that I am complaining about here - I know lots of well known companies have recalls on products, it is the customer service that is a huge concern for me!
Buyer beware!
jimbo says...
If you bought it with a credit card, check with your card company. Many of them offer additionally warranty coverage that will repair or replace your laptop up to 3 years after it was purchased.
As far as the customer service, sorry to hear about your problems, and you’re not going to want to hear this, but I’m familiar with the issues you described, seen about 20 of them in the shop I work in, and they were not on a RECALL. It was a service advisory, because not a significant enough number of the machines were affected. What they did, HP voluntarily extended the warranty by an extra year as a measure of good will - AT THEIR COST. Unfortunately I’ve seen a handful like yours where the problem occurred anywhere from a month to 6 months after that extension expired. Pure bad luck on the part of the owners, but then it is no different should the backlight burn out, LCD fail, or motherboard fail for any other reason after the warranty expires in the FIRST year. And that I have seen a LARGER number of, from all companies, Dell, HP, Toshiba, and so on.
No I do not work for HP or any affiliated company, but I don’t like to see them maligned after they voluntarily extended the warranties on all these machines when they did not need to in the first place. I do think it would have been even better on their part to extend that warranty to 3 years on those motherboards, but that’s just me.
Lisa says...
I, too, purchased a HP laptop computer and paid an extra $270 for an extra 2 yrs (itwas actually 3 yrs, but it already had a 1 yr warranty). But when I actually needed it in that 3rd year, they said the one I purchased included the first year (???). It didn’t say that in the contract and why would I pay for a year that was already included with the product????? Long story VERY short, they do not have good customer service, and it took over 4 months (of phone calls/emails, etc) just to find out that I wasn’t covered.
Anyways, I will NEVER buy HP ever again, as they do not stand behind their product, warranties, etc. It’s to bad for them because I’ve purchased a new laptop, a new printer, a new external hard drive………and nothing from HP.
jsmart says...
I had a similar experience with HP back when I was in university over a portable printer (laptop sized) that never worked properly. They were to replace it and never did, (million excuses including - a truck carrying it overturned and we need to ship it again WTF…finally charged me to send me a refurbished one WTF?….AND they charged me to call their helpline)It was horrid and expensive when I was one such a tight budget.
This was 10 years ago…..but I am still bitter….now I have the purchasing power at my company and I am proud to say….we do NOT have a SINGLE HP product and never will NEVER purchase one so long as I am employed there. I veto every single request for an HP purchase.
Heads up HP, People remember bad service for a looooong time!
nick says...
HP has one of the worst ratings for quality. They are usually at the bottom in Magazines such as PC World
Robert Jackson says...
Bought an HP for my son three years ago..lasted 1 year.They HP knew the problem existed but refused to refund or replace the laptop. I also buy for my company and we will never again buy HP products.
Cher Barr says...
I had the same problem with my dv series laptop. Have had for about four years now and from the first year onwards, I had the same problems you discuss - unable to connect to the internet, unable to turn the laptop on, only getting DV Player on and Quickplay coming up. Incredibly fustrating as I use it for business as well. Usually I would try and put the battery in or hope that it would just come on which it finally did. I did complain about five months ago when I could not get it to turn on at all - I tried everything and yes, HP Canada told me it was going to cost me over $250 dollars or more and that it would take weeks. I said I had had this problem from the very beginning and they just said there was nothing they could do about it though it does seem that many other people were having this problem as I could see this when I went online to other blogs. I escalated to the complaints department and while they were polite they were absolute stonewallers!!!! and just insisted that there was something wrong with the adaptor or connection and that there was nothing they could do but fix it. I thought that maybe I would try to re-install software but of course it would not turn on. As I looked in the box where I kept everything, I noticed the little remote control with the same symbol for turning on. Guess what the battery was still inside. I pointed the remote control at the laptop over the same symbol and the !?!??!** turned on! I continued to use the remote control to turn on my laptop and then when I put a laptop battery in, the machine stalled again so in a fit of frustration I manually pushed the the turn on- on the laptop and guess what, it turned on. Now I alternate between the two because there is obviously some kind of screw up and HP is not honouring their vows to offer good customer service and equipment. I called the complaints department again and explained what I had done and yes, I did tell them that I will never buy an HP product again and I won’t.
Breanne says...
I experienced the same issue as you did with my HP laptop. Fortunately, I got pushy enough and got it covered under their buck (not without a lot of frustration, angry emails, phone calls, etc). If you cannot afford the repairs, you can always get a USB wireless adapter to help get you through (about $60).
Mary says...
Interesting reading! I am in the market to buy a laptop for my dtr for school. Considering the comments, I will not consider HP. What companies do people recommend for laptops?? I was looking at Dell but I dont know anyone to ask if they are happy with this company.
Brenda says...
Mary go with Dell!! I just bought a laptop two months ago and was having a problem with it. One phone call to Dell and they sent me a box to ship it back to them I was very surprised in just two days I received my laptop back fixed! When you buy their warranty you are covered without the problems you get from other companies. Don’t buy HP my daughter bought one for school lasted her under a month and HP would not help neither would Future Shop $1,000 down the drain. Plus when you order you can pick and chose what you want on your laptop. Alot better than buying one already in the box where you have to go with what they already have on it. I am very happy with Dell and their customer service!
PK says...
I work for one of the HP service center and let me “correct” the misconception of this issue. I assume the problem in question is the DV2000/6000/9000 series which has a known issue due to the faulty nVidia chipset, thus causes the PCI-e slot to fail.
According to the HP confidential document issue to all service center, this is not a “recall”, it is a “warranty enhancement”, and only valid for 2 years from the “date of purchase”.
See this official release: http://tinyurl.com/5nndbl
I understand this can be frustrating, and I believe that HP is already doing their best in rectifying the issues on hand. The warranty enhancement problem for that has been over and done for some time now. Therefore no way in HP will repair your unit free of charge.
HP will however can replace the motherboard of the unit for a flat rate of $499-$599, but with that, you can probably buy a new machine which is faster and better.
Or… you can use an USB Wi-Fi adapter for now, until the chip finally fails and you get a black screen and then you can call it a day.
PK says...
If you are in a market to buy a new laptop, HP/Toshiba/Apple are great brands as I have not encounter any similar issues above.
The faulty nVidia chips also affected brands from Apple, HP, Dell and Toshiba, and all of them offer 2 years warranty on all affected models. Therefore saying HP is bad is really unreasonable because HP is on-par with what the industry is doing.
Even Toyota makes mistakes, but I don’t think it is right to judge the company based on one mistake.
kathy says...
I will NEVER buy HP products again! While my desktop was still under warranty, I had to have it repaired three times. That was bad enough, but then there was customer service, or more appropriately the lack of “customer service”. Just requesting that the unit be repaired was an ordeal itself (it was still under warranty). Since the warranty expired the unit has been repaired two more times. Unfortunately I can’t afford a new computer right now, but when I can, I will certainly be avoiding anything associated with HP!!!!
Carol says...
I had a horrible experience with my HP dv9000 series laptop. Same thing, the nVidia caused a problem with etc, etc. Long story short, my machine went bust just AFTER the two year extension. I do believe the problem is more widespread than HP wants to admit…because then they might have to do right by their customers. The most appalling thing that I find with the whole situation is that when I asked to speak to a supervisor regarding my displeasure…I was told that “supervisors don’t talk to customers, I have the authority to make this decision. The best I can do is a repair for $399.00 USD. Your machine failed outside the extension. That is really not our problem, at this point we are doing you a favor.” WHAAAAT! I paid over $1400.00 USD 2 1/2 years ago for a piece of equipment and you are doing me a favor by repairing it for about half the cost of a new computer today. No thanks HP. I have posted this disgusting story on other pages and have told anyone I know considering a new computer or other technology not to get HP. I work for a very large university and am on a committee for new technology purchases. When we were considering replacing our computers, I told this story…and several others chimed in with similar problems. We used another product line. Bad customer service will cost them much, much business…I hope their executives have passports, they may find THEIR positions outsourced one day to a place where real customer service exists!
Sharon Murphy says...
Last summer I bought an HP printer. It worked the evening I installed it and for a few minutes the next morning and that was it. BUT, when it stoped working somehow it took all the Adobe programing in my computer with it. It took a technician five hours to repair my computer. And when HP found out about my problems what did they do - they tried to upsell me to a more expensive printer. Upselling to the extreme that they had me transfered to three different people under the disguise of trying to do something for me. And then to add insult to injury they continued to try to update a machine that hadn’t been there for a few months. I unsubscribed from their emails a number of times, to no success, finally after I reported their emails as spam they finally stopped. What’s your response to that PK? Do you need my tech’s name and number to confirm this, because she came to my house to fix my computer so I certainly know that she was working on it the entire time!!!!!!!
dave says...
WOW READING THESE COMMENTS MAKE ME SOOOOOOOOOOOO ANGRY!! TO HELL WITH HP!! ITS DELL ALL THE WAY, WOOO!
Emily Rose says...
I had the same problem with no internet. My computer is a HP TX2114 model. The internal broadcom card failed. (didn’t show up in the device manager etc.) I too was quoted big bucks to fix it.
I purchased a USB internet card from Costco for 42.00. It is a mini card and barely sticks out of the computer. It picked up the router right away and I was back on the internet in no time. The card is a trendnet mini wireless N speed USB adapter. I will be able to use this adapter on my desktop or other computers if I need to, so if this computer totally crashes I can still use my card other places.Oh and how about this a day or two after I started using the Trendnet card the broadcom card showed back up and started working…go figure….
My kids have had good luck with Acer laptops and I think that that is the brand that I will next buy. They seem to be reasonably priced.
Hope this info is a help to someone out there.
Jay Getty says...
My DV 9000 nvidia went black. I bought a HP G60 ($499 best buy), Nov 2009 just days before 7 with free upgrade to 7; they sent the upgrade but it failed at 99% after hours…I am simple and vista is OK…Now the video card is failing, the movies jump all around; I am under warranty but I guess I am in for the run around.
I remember several years ago my HP desktop needed help…customer service was Larry, Curley, then Mo; My kid needs a laptop and I was going to get a new HP 13.3…I changed my mind…Now I have to start with HP and my G60 …If they fix it quick with no BS I may get their 13.3 but only with 4 year warranty…and only if they fix this.
I am kinda mad about my black screen 9000…$1,250
harry says...
I LOVE HP YOU GUYS ARE LOSERS
Alexandre Guertin says...
Hi,
I totally agree with you. I bought my HP latpop in February and it just stop working. I had to call 4 times customer service, spent 5 hours going through Troubleshooting before they agreed to take my computer back (and spelling out my adress to someone who barely speaks English takes forever). Then they realized that I was calling from Canada but I used the Customer Service number on the Canadian website. They then transferred me to Canada Customer Service but they “dropped” the call instead. Now, I’m on the phone line waiting on the “Canadian” line which I’ll need to get transfer again and I don’t know if I’ll ever get through so they can actually fix my computer. I’m very disappoined with HP right now and their horrible customer service.
apeg says...
My MacBook warranty has expired. What are my service options?
Apple offers two service options for an MacBook that is no longer within warranty.
If your MacBook requires service only because the battery’s ability to hold an electrical charge has diminished, Apple will repair your MacBook for a service fee. Read more about the Battery Replacement Program.
If you own an MacBook, and it requires service for any other issue, you still have access to all available service options, but you will be responsible for the cost of service, including parts, labor, shipping (if any), and applicable taxes. AppleCare or your local AASP or Apple retail store representative will provide you with an estimate of service costs before receiving your authorization to perform service.
Everyone thinks Apple are the greatest, they are doing the same thing.
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Chandra says...
Hi Guys,
Please dont go with HP Products they messed up really badly i purchased HP Pavilion DV6 Laptop actually i bought this laptop on 2009 december i had a problem with my power adapter i asked them to replace this adapter but they couldnt replaced it and they advised to buy a new one’s i said okay and i am ready to buy it and they finally they ready to process my order and they took my shipping address and my credit card number and they are suppose to send an email of the order details. but they didn’t even send an email and i waited for 24 hours still i didnt get it and i am trying to call them on the next day to the toll free number still the call didnt go through yet. This is the major facts of HP Canada. guys i am requesting you to dont buy this products which is belongs to HP. you will facing a lot problems…
Ken says...
My wife has a MacBook Pro with an nvidia video card that is acting up. Luckily, Apple is fixing the nvidia issue up to four years after purchase! I am not an Apple fan but I must admit that they stand behind their products.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts2377
Henry says...
Not matter which brand model you buy you are bond to have problems with them. I have over 24+ laptops of differnt makes and models. New and used.
All sooner or later they develope problem(s). Now, I’ve never spent over $1,200.00 for a laptop except for a Mac Pro. It still works!
sell your timeshare says...
I’ll immediately grab your rss as I can not find your email subscription hyperlink or e-newsletter service. Do you have any? Please allow me recognise so that I may subscribe. Thanks.
BOND says...
Since 2008 when my DV9000 died I have bought 48 HP laptops.Just my way of getting back at them.I got the run around from HP customer service for more than 2 months and I gave up.
(I buy and use in when needed.Then return it within the 2-4 week return period.)
Autherine says...
“HP Tech Support? What a joke!!! I would NEVER buy another HP product. Waited on phone for 30 mins with no communication as the “Tech Support” analyst refused to pass me to a manager, refused to speak with me, yet was not ‘allowed’ to disconnect the call. Just sat listening to dead-air. HP Tech Support? What a joke!!! Purchased 2 laptops and a printer in 2011 and this is the service you get. This is what you can expect when you purchase an HP Product…Nice” on HP’s timeline.
Ray Willis says...
I sent in computer HP Pavillion Elite to have audio repaired as per their tech online recommendation. Trying to find out the status of when my computer will be fixed…almost impossible as apparently the transit number got out of whack and I could not get any info. Five times I called and never got a callback and I accidentally got a case manager to assist me. Remember everybody is really polite but they dont care.To them you are just another pain in the ass. So I get my Computer back on a Friday and check it out and some parts are missing, Can I speak to a manager ,,no, but maybe in 48 hours. I get back to my case manager and I ask if someone can come out to my residence and fix it.. and she says she has no authority to do that. This computer use puts food on my table. I am a day trader and need it badly and I as yet dont have a backup. Five HP Monitors. One HP printer. My computer is a Pavillion Elite… all HP products and I get treated like this and the employees that pretend to care, dont give a damn.Let me tell you on Fridays its even worse cause all they want to do is get out of there. Well it will be another week before I get my computer back if I am lucky.Two weeks now unable to bring any money in. HP says they are award winning customer care, must be in the states only, because it doesn,t occur in Markham Ontario Canada where I sent the computer for repairs. No more HP products for me!!
Scotty Meardon says...
Has anybody tried the those low cost printer inks for copystar ink jet printers? I was planning on trying this place - http://www.solanoink.com?? Has anyone tried this website before?
kerry says...
I bought a refurbished HP Pavillion 1033 computer from tiger direct,that was a clunker from day,The PC crashes and I get display device error message all the time.I have spent hours and hours trying to go to forums and fix it myself,but nothing works.I have phoned up HP’s call center,with no luck.The call center is in India,its a very bad phone connection,and they are hard to hear and there english is not very good and heavily accented.Instead of trying to get me a replacement or to fix my machine,all they wanted from me was to get an extended warranty.I have til feb 11/13 left on my exising warranty.I will never buy another HP product after this.
Christina says...
I had the worst customer service EVER with HP. Read about it here:
http://chrismcwilliamsphotography.wordpress.com/2013/01/13/customer-service-nightmare/