Hewlett Packard Support or lack thereof
These are the details of my current experience with having my Hewlett Packard Notebook repaired. I hope you find some parts humorous, although I have not. The following details are posted for your reading enjoyment. If you have similar experiences contact me by emailing me here.
1st Contact
Contact Date: 7/4/03
3:04pm
My notebook began to go haywire. It wouldn't stay turned on. It shut off after about 10 seconds. no boot up. nothing. I called the support number. We went through a few things to see if we could get it working again. No such luck. We made arrangements to have it picked up by FedEx on Monday. So far no sweat except that I have to be without it over the weekend. I am told my laptop should be back within 3 days. The service that HP has me set up with according to their own web site is 48 hour door to door service. You can see a copy of the page here. The day I am writing this is 7/22/03. As you can see, their website still quotes the date of delivery as 7/9/03.
2nd Contact
Contact Date: 7/7/03
FedEx shows up to pick up my notebook. They leave me a tracking number. Thankfully the technician I first spoke with told me to make sure they left me a tracking number.
3rd Contact
Contact Date: 7/8/03
Tracked package through FedEx Website. It got to HP at 7:45 am. The website still marks delivery back to me as 7/9/03. I'm feeling pretty good about the repairs at this time. They got it at 7:45 am so maybe they can work on it and ship it out later that day. Trying to stay positive!
4th Contact
7/9/03
Called to check on the status of notebook repairs. Expecting delivery today. Website showing delivery to be made today. Thinking that delivery might be made today even though website still showing no change since I sent my laptop back. So I called support expecting to get a FedEx tracking number so I could look and see where my notebook was. As I talked to the technician he told me repairs take 3-5 business days to complete. Technician told me that  everything looked ok at this point and repairs should be progressing as expected. Spirits dampening, notebook may not be back today. Still waiting expectantly until after FedEx completed deliveries. No notebook today. No notebook the next day, either--day 4.
5th Contact
7/11/03
Called support again. I do not see where there are any problems. No notebook on this day either. Giving leeway for late delivery of notebook, knowing that this is the 5th business day. Anyway notebook still did not show up. Since HP only operates on business days, I make a note to call on Monday.
6th Contact
7/14/03
Called support...Support told me that there was a motherboard problem with my laptop. Unfortunately, the motherboard was back ordered and scheduled to arrive on the 18th. I tried to get some resolution to the problem. Somebody in customer service called and left a message on my answering machine at home and said he was sorry but he couldn't hurry the part along. Well, he could have installed an upgrade motherboard but didn't seem particularly interested in my satisfaction.
7th Contact
7/16/03
E-Mailed The President of HP. Please find the email here. Again no apparent concern for any inconvenience or satisfaction.
8th Contact
7/17/03
Called to check in. Motherboard scheduled to arrive on the 18th still. Couldn't tell me anything about my laptop. Invited to call back on the 25th if laptop still not delivered. Again no particular concern for my inconvenience or feelings. They are HP. I am a lowly consumer.
9th Contact
7/21/03
Well, interesting stuff. I go to check my laptop repair status on the hp website--I can't find my order. The website where my laptop repair status hasn't changed since the first day it got there shows no record of my service order. I looked at it, however, it gave me some sense of well being to go out there and look at the page every day or so. NOW IT'S NOT THERE! Well I had to call for support which is annoying because of the repeated message apologizing for the delay in answering your call while continuing to make you hold. Of course it's not a toll-free number. However, I finally spoke with a technician which was disconcerting because originally he could not find the order either. He also indicated that something else might be up with my computer. As he was looking up the information, he said "Oh, what's that?". Then he put me on hold for a few minutes. He also asked me for my tracking number returning my laptop to HP and looked it up on FedEx site. When he came back on he gave me the 3-5 days spiel and invited me to call back on the 25th.
10th Contact
7/22/03
Found CSO Status  on HP website again. I am getting very weary of dealing with this. I know that you may say that the following step is unfair at this point, but I am just too weary to deal with this any more. Therefore, I unleashed my Lisa Project (my wife). I know, I know but I'm beginning to wonder if I'll ever see my laptop again. I just did it. It's unleashed now....there's nothing I can do.
11th Contact
(continued on the Lisa Project page)
7/22/03
The Lisa Project has begun. This page could be a lot longer but I have decided to move The Lisa Project Files here.