Sunday, October 11, 2009

An Open Letter to HP : Part I

Sir,

I have been somehow holding off my feelings for the last one year or so but suddenly it felt so overpowering that I had no other option but to write a letter to you conveying my experiences with HP in the recent past. I have been using HP products for the last seven years. The product portfolio as of now includes inkjet printer and two laptops. My satisfaction with the printer and the Compaq notebook assured me of HP’s quality and forced me to go with HP yet again. As a result, considering the reliability of HP products and their superiority vis-a vis the other market competitors, I decided to purchase an HP Pavilion dv9000 series notebook. That series was one of the highest end consumer laptop models in the summer of 2007. Since I am an enthusiast user of notebooks, I purchased the gleaming new HP Pavilion dv9312tx from Dotcom in Chennai, India. The purchase date was 1st July, 2007. The notebook came with the following features:

Intel Core2Duo T5300, 1024 MB DDR2 RAM, 240 GB dual hard disks, 256 MB GeForce Go 7600, Windows Vista Ultimate 64 bit OS version, 17 inch screen(1440x900), DVD+RW burner, Intel 3945 abg Wi- Fi capability, 1.3 MP camera, HDMI and 4 USB 2.0 ports.

Serial Number: CNF7190LQB

Product Number: GJ156PA

Total cost of the laptop was Rs 65260.00 plus one old Toshiba Satellite A60 notebook.
I bought this notebook primarily for its multimedia capabilities although occasionally I would play a few games as well. However, since I joined an MBA programme in the same month, I felt it would be a worthy companion since the large storage capacity would help me in storing high quality management videos and the large screen would help me in preparing attractive presentations.

All went well for the first six months. I could watch high definition videos and play games due to the GPU and also was involved in quite a lot of presentations. Also because of the HDMI port I could connect it to an external LCD and view HD content.

1st Service:

Gradually the laptop started overheating and the keyboard became loose. One of the keys even came out. I took the notebook to HP Service Center, Peters Road, Chennai on 16-01-2008. That was exactly 6.5 months from the purchase date. The fan and keyboard was replaced. I received the laptop back on 19-01-2008. Case number was 2216429725.


2nd Service:

In the month of September, 2008 the laptop went dead. There was absolutely no display on the screen and on turning it on, the LCD remained dark. There was no BIOS display. I read in many web forums like Anand Tech, Notebook Review and even HP’s own Business and Consumer support forums about the faulty Nvidia Graphic cards which led them to overheat and burn prematurely. But I resisted the temptation of doing further experiments of my own and took the notebook to HP Authorised Service Centre, Gandhipuram, Coimbatore on 26-09-2008. I had to wait till 03-10-2008 to receive my laptop. However it was repaired with a new system board and I was tense knowing fully well that it will only be a matter of time before the new board burns out too. I was informed by many individuals that HP has extended the warranty by another 1 year on certain notebooks with specific product numbers. I visited the HP site and was disappointed to know that my product number was not listed. However I enquired HP India and they told me that my warranty is valid till November 2008. Case number for this service was 2603259966.

Renewal of warranty:

Knowing fully well that it would be dicey to continue with this “premium” laptop without an extended warranty, I purchased a 2 year Care Pack on 31-12-2008. The Care Pack number is G05UINAC908A. That was again after I was e-mailed by HP India several times that now I have the option of renewing my warranty within 90 days of expiry of my 1 year original warranty.

3rd Service:

Hardly 3 months had passed since I bought the Care Pack that my DVD Writer died. I was amused simply because I had used it only twice in the nearly 2 year period: for creating HP Recovery Disks. I normally don’t burn DVDs and prefer to carry all my extra data in external hard drives which are much more reliable in my opinion. In addition to that the Quick Launch Buttons died without a reason. The case number for this service is surprisingly missing. I don’t know why. May be the service centre’s carelessness or my own indifference.

Again I took it to the HP Service Centre, Coimbatore on 17-03-2009. The notebook was returned on 27-03-2009. By this time I was frustrated as I didn’t spend more than 65,000 bucks to get a lemon laptop that seemed to develop one problem or the other over a short period in addition to the already defective system board/GPU combo which fries every year although I am using a notebook cooler. Money is hard earned Sir and before making a purchase decision, I normally sit down and do a thorough analysis of all brands before selecting a particular product. It may simply be anything-a digital camera, a notebook, an LCD TV, a washing machine or even a refrigerator. There are factors like reliability, consistency, price/performance and finally product reviews which go into the customer’s mind when he/she makes their decisions. At least for the record I follow this process and I expect the company on the other side to honour the commitment and faith reposed by me on its products. However the saga with this notebook doesn’t end here. One latest addition makes the list truly complete.

4th Service:

This incident is very recent. Green lines appeared on my display and all dark colours were replaced with an ugly light green shade. I wasn’t even able to type properly because visibility was minimal. I promptly took it to HP Authorised Service Centre, U.N Brahmachari Street, Kolkata on 04-09-2009 and was given a case number 4603379253. I was told that it would be returned in 4-5 days and only the display cable needs to be changed or repositioned. The notebook was returned on 19-09-2009.
The service report says only the system board was changed for the “umpteenth” time. However I found that they have even changed the LCD display. Because the plastic generally found on top of newly bought laptops was present on the panel. Also Everest Ultimate Edition diagnoses it as Chi Mei Display whereas previously it was recognised as an LG-Philips display. Worst of all, when I talked to the service engineers, they refused to acknowledge the change in LCD panel and they claimed that only board was changed.

I didn’t argue with them as I had already made up my mind regarding my next approach. On coming back home, I found that on turning the num lock key on, even normal alphabet keys started producing numbers. I am sure while changing the system board, they might have misplaced the keyboard ends. Please be aware that it is a complete full sized keyboard as the notebook is 17 inch.

Final words:

I was once a great connoisseur of HP products and have even recommended them to my near and dear ones for years. Additionally as a part time system administrator in my organisation: The Federal Bank Ltd, I am asked to recommend brands of IT products and also to troubleshoot them. Please advise me what to tell them if any such query is asked by them.

Sir, this letter is not meant to belittle your valued company or its products considering the fact that I am an HP user myself for years. Every word of it has spontaneously resulted out of my experiences with an HP product for the last 27 months. But what pains me a lot is the fact that my investment in this high end laptop (by 2007 standards) has gone waste. I am also a staunch follower of the statement that an organisation can prosper more when it keeps count of its Triple Bottom Line and how strictly it adheres to it. I eagerly wait for your reply so that I am convinced that HP indeed cares for its regular buyers.


Thanking You
Yours sincerely

Pranjal Patowary
pranjal1984@gmail.com

1 comment:

Unknown said...

When I read your blog about HP then it seems that you are quite disheartened with the services of HP but as you are a Loyal customer of HP so you want to give them a last chance to improve on their services.

I'll wait for the response of HP on your comment and it will be interesting to see that is this Giant is going to do something for one customer in its myriads of customers...