The Laptop Saga

Last weekend, I made a new category, and went back and republished all my Laptop Saga posts -- all in preparation for this post, which may (or may not) be the last post in the category. Brief summary:

1. my HP laptop died
2. you, my readers, raised money for a new one
3. I threw in what money I had available
4. friend Cindy matched the funds
5. I got a brand new iBook

This all took place over several weeks, during which I tried to establish that the HP laptop was still under warranty, and thus should be repaired at no cost. I could not find my receipt, which will probably appear any day now; but I did have some posts here on when my last laptop died and was replaced, and notes in my journal, which indicated I was probably within days of the warranty expiration.

For about two weeks, I dealt with a young male management person at Costco, who had me convinced that locating this in their records was, for some reason obscure to me, very complicated. Then I happened to call when he was out, and the woman phone- answering person had the information in about three minutes and it was in my mail the next day.

Not that I would draw any gender or managerial vs. worker conclusions from this. Of course not.

So now I had proof-of-purchase, showing that the warranty had two days left when the laptop expired. But it was now several weeks past the death date. But -- I had my posts here to establish when that had occurred; and the hard drive itself would show when it was last used -- once someone could access it.

Welcome to HP support. I am not going to do a blow-by-blow here; living it was tiring enough. But it is difficult to not suspect that it's HP policy to discourage customers from pursuing warranty support by putting us on interminable hold, repeatedly; forcing us to listed to loud obnoxious music for fear of missing the return of an actual human; and hiring techs who do not intelligibly speak our (the customer's) language. A request to speak to your supervisor will result in forty minutes of hold.

It was, finally, anger that carried me through -- I was determined that these tactics would not work. It became a matter of principle. And, also finally, they agreed to repair it -- not, mind you, because it was still under warranty and so they were obligated to do so, but as some kind of exception.

A word on local computer repair shops. The first I went to, because it is conveniently located, insisted that the only way to establish what was wrong (no power to the machine) was to order a new power cord ($130) -- and, if that was not the problem, the cord could not be returned. Now, this gent.... , umm, man -- explained to me three or four times that the first step was to eliminate the cord as the problem, despite my immediately, and repeatedly, expressed understanding of this point.

He refused to respond at all to my question: why could I not return the cord for at least a partial refund if that turned out to not be the problem? Finally I just picked up the laptop and walked out.

Next I went to First Call, also conveniently located. They listen. They pay attention. They do not assume that a middle aged woman is a computer idiot. They try different things. They do diagnosis for free! When HP finally agreed to fix it, First Call boxed up the computer for me (HP insisted on picking it up from my house -- no credit for the shop that had spent at least some time dealing with both me and them, and had already -- and correctly -- diagnosed the problem.)

Sadly, First Call put the power cord in the box by mistake. Predictably, HP did not return it. I called First Call, just to see if they might still have the cord. They did not, and insisted on buying me a new one -- even the computer repair folks would rather put out money than have to deal with HP to arrange a return!

So, the outcome is: I have my laptop back, and it works. And it's a nice machine to use, as a desktop (nine pounds) -- that wide screen is lovely. I have set it up here in the livingroom, and am using it for photo editing.

I do feel some guilty twinges about now having the old laptop, and my new iBook. Cindy says great -- you deserve it! I really hope that those of you who helped make it so, feel the same. My commitment to you is that I will return what I can, when I can, to the Flickr and blogging communities.

Would I buy another HP? No. But -- First Call will get all my business, which, of course, I hope will be infrequent. 

Comments

[Ken]

Good for you, SB!

Tenacity pays off!

(And, being middle aged and wise doesn't hurt a bit.)

Ah poor Sharon,
but great that you managed it,
take care, Anny

[Ken]

Oh, and for peace of mind, make sure you get the extended warrenty -- Apple Care. It can be worth the $$

[SB]

I did get Apple Care -- three years of it. That used up my share of the contribution, right there.