Awful build quality and terrible customer support from HP

[Bankrupt]

I bought a Pavilion 14-ce2000na laptop last year - It is still under warranty.

Since I purchased the unit it has not travelled. It has only been used in one desktop location and only closed when not in use. In May I noticed that the bezel was starting to lift away from the screen in the bottom left hand corner and this progressively got worse to the point that it made it difficult to open the unit without holding the bezel against the screen. I contacted HP Support UK explaining that this issue had arisen in normal use. They then arranged for the unit to be shipped into their service center.

After a few days the laptop was returned to me. I expected it to be repaired, but instead there was a hand written note enclosed saying “ Hinge broken which is not covered under warranty “. There was also a letter enclosed saying that the issue was caused by accidental damage or misuse of the product.

Contrary to what is stated on the letter that was enclosed with the returned unit the issue was definitely not caused by any accidental damage or misuse of the product. The laptop was not dropped or abused in any way shape or form. It is simply a failure of the structural components that due to poor design and/or poor build quality were not able to withstand normal and gentle for use less than a year...... According to the HP warranty I am entitled to repair of the unit, but so far HP are failing to honour their warranty but HP are trying to avoid their obligations under the warranty. Has anyone else experienced this terrible HP customer support ? As things stand I will never purchase anything made by HP in the future.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

No, my experience of HP is of them being very generous and helpful. In the process of trying to repair my well out of Warranty Compaq, I managed to damage a socket on the motherboard, for the keyboard. I enquired about just sourcing a replacement socket in the US HP forum, to try to replace the faulty one and someone from HP sent me a couple of scrap laptops from the US, FOC.

Maybe try logging into the HP US forum and explaining the problem and answer you have had from HP UK?

 

[Bankrupt]

No, my experience of HP is of them being very generous and helpful. In the process of trying to repair my well out of Warranty Compaq, I managed to damage a socket on the motherboard, for the keyboard. I enquired about just sourcing a replacement socket in the US HP forum, to try to replace the faulty one and someone from HP sent me a couple of scrap laptops from the US, FOC.

Maybe try logging into the HP US forum and explaining the problem and answer you have had from HP UK?

Thanks for the suggestion - I will try that if I don't get a better response from UK HP Customer Relations who are meant to contact me soon. I have been appalled by the response from UK HP Customer Support so far. I spent about £800 on the laptop and did nut misuse it in any way. So far HP are just trying to fob me off telling me that the issue is not covered by the warranty (I have checked and it is) and, (in smaller print) that the unit must have been accidentally damaged or misused. Searching online I can see that many other people have had issues very similar to mine and I also see many complaints regarding HP UK trying to avoid honouring their warranties. This is not what I expected from HP but it appears to be the reality.

 

[Old Salt]

Did you pay using a credit card? It may be worth contacting the card company.

 

[Bankrupt]

Did you pay using a credit card? It may be worth contacting the card company.

Thanks for the idea. I did pay by credit card so I can investigate if they can help me in any way, but the liability is really with HP to honour their warranty. I will consider taking legal action unless HP stop their current approach of trying to fob me off by saying the issue is not covered by the warranty on one hand (it is) and also claiming that it was caused by accidental damage or misuse (absolutely not). They are being completely unreasonable so far - Just determined to reject my perfectly legitimate warranty claim.....

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Consider raising it on HP's facebook page.

 

[Alec_t]

Did you buy direct from HP or from a third party (e.g. shop)? Might be worth claiming off the vendor, under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (which is independent of the HP warranty).

 

[Bankrupt]

Consider raising it on HP's facebook page.

Thanks for the idea. I already raised it on HP UK's Users Forum and I've had someone from HP reply saying that they would help. I will see if that results in some positive action, if not I'll raise it on HP's facebook page as you suggest. I have always been fair with suppliers: I once had a problem with a TomTom satnav that was well out of warranty. I sent it to TomTom fully expecting and happy to pay for the repair but they did it for free - I therefore bought a set of new maps from them on the basis that "fair is fair". HP are not being fair with me so far - To try to dishonour a warranty claim saying that the issue is due to "accidental damage or misuse" when that is definately not the case is just that - Dishonourable.

 

[Bankrupt]

Did you buy direct from HP or from a third party (e.g. shop)? Might be worth claiming off the vendor, under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (which is independent of the HP warranty).

Thanks for the suggestion - I'm would be reluctant to go down that route because really the liability t o honour the warranty is with HP, but I will leave all options open. Hopefully I will get some better responses from HP next week - I will post what happens on here.

 

[JBR]

Thanks for the suggestion - I'm would be reluctant to go down that route because really the liability t o honour the warranty is with HP, but I will leave all options open. Hopefully I will get some better responses from HP next week - I will post what happens on here.

Ah, yes.
A good point. I can see the logic of wanting the manufacturer to correct a manufacturing fault, and have tried to do that in the past without success.
However, it is true that if a product goes wrong, the first 'line of attack' is to approach the vendor as, for some reason, legally they must accept responsibility. I found that the best way to do it anyway.

I suppose that, once having accepted responsibility, the vendor can then claim from the manufacturer and, of course, being likely to order in bulk, have a much stronger leverage against the manufacturer. If the manufacturer doesn't play ball, they just stop buying (and selling) their products. Pretty soon, a poor manufacturer would find themselves without any retail outlets!

 

[foxhole]

Your contract is with the vendor who is responsible for returning to hp or refunding.Hp can refuse to deal with you.

 

[Bankrupt]

HP finally repaired my computer - Thanks for all the advice and suggestions received. I was and still am disappointed with the HP Service Center's initial attempts to "fob me off". I am not the kind of person who would make an unjustified warranty claim - but of course, and to be fair to HP, people who would do that do exist ! Actually what made the initial warranty claim rejection worse was that it was done in a very rude way : My computer was sent in for repair under warranty and shipped back to me a few days later without any further communication from HP (If they had contacted me when they had the laptop I could have discussed the issue with them) - Instead it was only when I opened the package (expecting to see my laptop repaired... !) that I found nothing had been done and a handwritten note was inside saying " Broken hinge not covered under warranty " - That really made my blood boil as a user of HP products both personally and professionally for many years.... I even used to write programs in HP Basic for work at one stage. Anyways, all's well that ends well I suppose - I did eventually get to speak to some very helpful people in HP. They arranged to have the problem fixed and they have gone a long way towards restoring my respect for HP as a brand.

 

[JBR]

HP finally repaired my computer - Thanks for all the advice and suggestions received. I was and still am disappointed with the HP Service Center's initial attempts to "fob me off". I am not the kind of person who would make an unjustified warranty claim - but of course, and to be fair to HP, people who would do that do exist ! Actually what made the initial warranty claim rejection worse was that it was done in a very rude way : My computer was sent in for repair under warranty and shipped back to me a few days later without any further communication from HP (If they had contacted me when they had the laptop I could have discussed the issue with them) - Instead it was only when I opened the package (expecting to see my laptop repaired... !) that I found nothing had been done and a handwritten note was inside saying " Broken hinge not covered under warranty " - That really made my blood boil as a user of HP products both personally and professionally for many years.... I even used to write programs in HP Basic for work at one stage. Anyways, all's well that ends well I suppose - I did eventually get to speak to some very helpful people in HP. They arranged to have the problem fixed and they have gone a long way towards restoring my respect for HP as a brand.

Sounds like one 'bad' individual, who has probably now had a good *******ing.

 

[Bankrupt]

Sounds like one 'bad' individual, who has probably now had a good *******ing.

I hope that they were " severely admonished " ! - But apart from the handwritten note I has exactly the same line repeated parrot fashion by the people that I spoke to (on more than one occasion)when I then phoned the UK Service Center. It was only when the matter was escalated to a higher level in HP that I managed to speak to people who would listen to what I was saying instead of just being dismissive when I said that the laptop had not been accidentally damaged or misused in any way.

 

[JohnD]

the matter was escalated to a higher level in HP

bearing in mind of course that it is the "higher levels" who set down the rules and procedures for the customer-facing staff to fob you off.

Sounds like one 'bad' individual, who has probably now had a good *******ing.

Nope. One bad individual does not set the company ethos unless he is right at the top.