Chris's Blog » HP http://blogger-off.com Random bits from Japan. Fri, 17 Feb 2012 04:12:14 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 HP Online Support still sucks. http://blogger-off.com/2009/04/hp-online-support-still-sucks/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=hp-online-support-still-sucks http://blogger-off.com/2009/04/hp-online-support-still-sucks/#comments Mon, 20 Apr 2009 00:10:55 +0000 Chris http://blogger-off.com/?p=343 Why do I even bother?

Here is the average HP support request converstation (Don’t mind the spelling & numbers have been changed):

Me : Presario f500 boot issue.
[An agent will be with you shortly.]
[You are now chatting with Praveen .]
Praveen : Hello, Welcome to Hp total care for notebooks.
My name is Tom. Please give me a minute while I quickly review the description.
Me : ok
Praveen : Hello, How are you doing today?
Praveen : In order to assist you in a better way, May know the product and serial number of the Notebook which is facing this issue?
Me : I would like to know if you have a service center in Japan. I bought the laptop in England and I am having a boot issue. This is covered by HP and reapir will be free, but I live in Japan. #
Me : Serial number is 888888888
Praveen : •I apologize for this inconvenience, however do not worry I am personally going to take care of the issue.
Praveen : Thank you for providing serial number.
Praveen : Would you please provide me product number?
Me : 888888888
Praveen : Thank you for providing product number.
Praveen : In order to isolate the exact issue, and provide you the trouble shooting steps, I need to ask you some questions related to your computer. Shall I proceed?
Me : yes
Praveen : Thank you
Praveen : May I know since how long have been facing this issue?
Me : Two months
Praveen : I apologize for this situation. I’ll try my best to get it straightened.
Praveen : Did this issue occur before?
Me : Not before two months ago
Praveen : May I know the operating system?
Me : Vista. That has nothing to do with the computer not starting!
Praveen : Don’t worry, I’ll try my best to fix this issue today.
Praveen : May I know if you have performed any troubleshooting steps to resolve the issue before contacting us?
Me : yes
Me : new hard drive
Me : new memory
Me : removed the cdrom drive
Me : removed battery
Me : issue still exists
Me : I would like to know if you have a service center in Japan that will be able to reapir this laptop for free
Praveen : I’ll do everything I possibly can to fix the issue.
Praveen : If I understand the issue correctly, we have problem with boot, Am I correct?
Me : yes…
Praveen : Please give me 2 minutes while I research on this issue and help you in a better way.
Praveen : we will pull up your records to check the warranty details.
Praveen : Please give me 2 minutes while I research on this issue and help you in a better way.
Praveen : Thank you for being online.
Praveen : I have checked the records and would see that the notebook is out of warranty.
Me : I know its out of warranty! The link I gave you is cover for this specific issue. Can you please give me details for a local support center in Japan…..
Praveen : Okay definitely I will help you with the Japan technical support link.
Praveen : They will definitely help you out with this issue.
Me : For free correct?
Praveen : As per the records I would see that the notebook is not in warranty and I cannot see any One Time Service Enhancement repair for this notebook. However If you would contact the Japanese Technical support they will be able to provide you with the information.
Praveen : They will have all alternate options to help you in a better way.
Me : Are you saying this issue will not be repaired for free?
Praveen : As the notebook is out of warranty and there is no onetime service enhancement service for your notebook, it will be a paid service.
Praveen : I appreciate your cooperation in this matter.
Praveen : I will check the weblink. Please provide me a minute.
Praveen : Thank you for being online.
Praveen : I appreciate your patience and time.
Praveen : I have checked the link.
Praveen : I will explain you with the details.
Me : Ok?
Praveen : There are some Hardware issue with only some of the Compaq Presario F500 series notebook PCs when it was manufactured.
Me : I KNOW THIS! I Am asking if you are able to refer me to a support/repair center that will repair this issue. This laptop is having that exact problem!
Praveen : Don’t worry, I’ll try my best to fix this issue today.
Praveen : I understand the concern.
Praveen : We need to contact the Japanese Technical support and you may explain the issue to them. They will definitely help you out with this issue.
Me : For free correct?
Praveen : I will provide you with the link for Japanese technical support.
Praveen : As per the records I would see that the notebook is not in warranty and I cannot see any One Time Service Enhancement repair for this notebook. However If you would contact the Japanese Technical support they will be able to provide you with the information.
Praveen : This will be the paid service.
Praveen : If it were to happen to me I’d be concerned too.
Me : Why? The website says this reapir will be done for free! This is an issue with the manafacturing process. The link I gave you says HP WILL REPAIR THIS ISSUE FOR FREE.
Praveen : I understand the concern.
Praveen : Kindly contact the Japanese technical support they will check the records of your notebook and they will provide you with the information.
Me : The laptop was bought in England. Does this matter?
Praveen : Okay
Praveen : As the notebook is purchased in England we need to contact the England technical support link they will be able to help you with the issue.
Me : And it can be repaired in Japan?
Praveen : They will check with the records of your notebook and they will help you with this issue.
Praveen : As you have purchased the notebook from england we need to provide the notebook for service in england.
Me : So I can not get the laptop serviced in Japan?
Praveen : If we would like to service the notebook in Japan, it will be a paid service.
Me : So it could be repaired for free in England?
Praveen : Kindly contact the England Technical support, as they will check the records of your notebook and they will be able to provide you with the information.
Me : Ok, thanks for nothing.

I cant accept that this is another person providing support. I think HP is working on some Computer Support artifical intellegence system where any question that fits a certain guidelin is responded to by a set solution. Notice how many times my questions were ignored.

]]> http://blogger-off.com/2009/04/hp-online-support-still-sucks/feed/ 1 OSX Tiger on HP DV1610TN http://blogger-off.com/2006/05/6/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=6 http://blogger-off.com/2006/05/6/#comments Mon, 01 May 2006 09:27:53 +0000 Chris http://blogger-off.com/?p=8 I have spent over two days playing around with OSX and managed to get it running on an external USB2 drive connected to my new laptop. Tiger is so much prettier than windows, but alas, as it wasn’t made for wintel machines not everything works. I did manage to get the on board sound, video, on board network and most things working. What do not work are the Intel Wireless, DVD Video, Microphone and on board Camera. I’m not complaining tho, it’s a great operating system. For those of who might be interested in doing the same, head over to osx86project (Google it) and have a look. 3 Months to go until I leave for Japan and I have yet to organize anything yet :) . I will probably get around to contacting IRD regarding tax etc sometime next month after I find out where I will be working. Also as I have yet to hear back from jet about where I will be working, I haven’t been able to sort out my visa. All in due time.

]]> http://blogger-off.com/2006/05/6/feed/ 0 Stupid HP!! http://blogger-off.com/2006/04/stupid-hp/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=stupid-hp http://blogger-off.com/2006/04/stupid-hp/#comments Thu, 20 Apr 2006 09:21:37 +0000 Chris http://blogger-off.com/?p=5 Got a nice new laptop (dv1610tn) from a retail store – no problems except the backup software will not create the restore cd’s as stupid hp do not supply discs with the laptops anymore. So, after installing all my stuff into the laptop, and discovering the computer wouldn’t create the recovery disc set – and waiting on the hp support phone line for half and hour, I decided to try the online support team. More…This was a nightmare ! After working out that the support team were either a bunch of semi-smart monkeys, or 13 year old tecchie wanna bees i gave up on them also. So, in the end, I wasted about 7 hours of reinstalling software, debugging and troubleshooting myself (nothing really helped from HP) I decided to give up.

I decided that if there would be a fatal system crash I would send it to HP and let them deal with it then. The actual suggestion from HP was to send the laptop back (less than a day old) and they would re image the whole machine! And for those of you out there who might be interested, the issue was “PC Recovery Disc Creator” not being able to create the restore image (error 20), although after a HP noob suggested I delete the image file that the software uses (it may be corrupt etc…) the software doesn’t even try anymore. I GIVE UP YOU HP BASTARDS – ILL SEND YOU MY INVOICE FOR 7 HOURS OF WASTED TIME ON A BRAND NEW LAPTOP

]]> http://blogger-off.com/2006/04/stupid-hp/feed/ 1