Bad experience with HP

Question

A STORY OF YOUR TROUBLED CUSTOMER
I write this story regretting two things. First the reputation that HP laptops had, is diminishing and second that I bought an HP laptop. (HP notebook G6-2201ax)
The story begins in an emotional and a typical Indian background in which there is an obedient child and his parents gift him an HP laptop after completing his graduation with good grades. I was very happy with the gift and the offers that came along (as it was Diwali time). The next day I left for pune (Maharashtra) with it for beginning a new career in a software company.
A little description of the events that took place before buying this laptop: Many of my friends and cousins had suggested me not to buy an HP laptop because of its low battery backup and heating problem. There was not a single person in my circle who was on HP’s side when it came to laptops. Still, (I guess this is where I started my journey full of mistakes. Don’t worry yet, you will understand what I mean as you read further) I bought this laptop thinking that the cool sense technology and the new AMD processor will prove all my family members and my friends wrong. But what happened was exactly the other way around.
Precisely ten days after getting my laptop from the dealer (Navjeevan computers, Jalgaon), when I tried starting it one evening, it gave an error “no boot device found”. I thought this was a serious hard disk issue and so I called up HP customer support the next day. They said that I will have to take my laptop to the nearest service center (that was in kothrud, pune).Now this is where the movie begins (which is very similar to a movie in which a common man enters a typical government office). As soon as I entered the service center I was made to fill a long enquiry form and made to wait in a queue. When my chance came, the engineer switched on my laptop, saw the error message and said that the hard disk will have to be replaced (he said it so spontaneously that I guess he didn’t really try to understand the problem. It wouldn’t have mattered to him anyway, as it’s the company that bears the cost of replacing the hard disk and not him. He just wanted to get this issue resolved as soon as possible).
After listening, I enquired, “what about my data?” There was a lot of important information in the laptop and I hadn’t even taken its backup as I was busy settling in the new work environment and also I didn’t expect the hard disk to crash on the 11th day itself. He said he was sorry and that the company has no policy for data recovery. I asked further if there was any way to get my data back. He replied that you may take it outside and try it with some external connector. So I took it to another laptop repair facility but the technique didn’t work out.
Disappointedly I took the hard disk back and told the engineer to replace it. He placed the order and told me to check after 4-5 days. After 5 days I called up the service center and no one answered. This went on for 2 days (and I had tried to call them at least 4 times a day and not during their breaks). Finally I had to go the service center myself (that is 25 km from where I stay currently. I had shifted to a new place after giving my laptop to the service center) and I got to know that the receptionist was on leave and so there was no one who had time to answer the call. (WOW. I have never seen such busy and dedicated people)
I somehow managed to find the engineer who was handling my case and asked him about the progress. He said that the new hard disk had arrived but even that had failed to start. (The next line he said was really shocking).He continued that the real problem was in the motherboard and now they would be replacing the motherboard that would take another 5-6 days.
ME: “How do I finish my work that is already delayed?” 
HIM: He gave me a smile
ME: “Will someone would answer my call when I call up next time?”
HIM: He gave me a smile again
ME: “How you people define reliability of your product that cannot even work properly for 12 days.”  HIM:  He smiled yet again.
(OH MY GOD! I was shocked to see how a person can be so happy to hear about someone’s problem and especially when that person is actually his customer. My conclusion was that may be nobody cares here about any of their customer.)
Now some days passed and let me tell you that I gave my laptop to the service center on 15th December and by now Christmas was around the corner and New Year too was not far. These festivals did add up to the number of days required for replacement.
I was waiting for the motherboard and had already given the recovery discs to the service center, which the dealer had provided, along with the laptop. After 8 days I called up the service center to ask about the mother board (well this time I was expecting them to learn from their earlier mistake and call me when the mother board arrives or if there is any delay) and they said that it had arrived and they are trying to install the OS and drivers. But to add up to my bad luck (and HP’s hopeless support) the recover discs did not support the motherboard. Now it was the dealer with whom I had to converse. (I felt so alone, stuck between all HP’s “great” support team members. Now I understand how a common man might be feeling while being bullied in a government office).
Now people, it’s time for the actor, the dealer, who speaks but does nothing much to keep up to his words, to enter. While buying this laptop from him, I remember one particular thing he had promised: that he would lend his support even after my warranty expires. He also added that his customers still come to him after 5 years of buying laptop. (I felt proud on my decision of choosing the correct dealer .ANOTHER BIG MISTAKE!). So finally I called him up and of course he was very busy with his customers (well who am I then, till now I thought I was his customer too) and so he didn’t come on line. One of his subordinate spoke to me. I narrated my whole story to him and very coolly he asked me to get the laptop to the showroom. I shouted, “I am 400 km away from your showroom, how can you expect me to get it there. Don’t you trust your own company’s service center people? The laptop is with them for past 15 days.”
I guess finally he got back to his senses and started telling me some procedure which even the service center people didn’t know. He told me, some tattoo procedure was to be done to get the recovery disc working. I asked why you don’t speak to the HP service center people directly as I didn’t understand the procedure properly, but he replied that HP people don’t listen to them (My god. It sounds as if two school girls who have some ego issues talking to each other; VERY UNPROFESSIONAL). I still insisted that he should speak to the service center people (as there seems to be no other solution) and I gave him all the details including the engineer’s name who was looking after my case (UTKARSH, another out of this world, one-of-a-kind of person. I remember, during the process of getting my laptop repaired, he had promised me he will call after 1 day, but he didn’t call even after two days. Then, later sometime he said he will call me after 4 hours, the day came to an end but my wait never came to an end. The reason may be either his watch does not work properly or he simply doesn’t look at it. I guess this person and everyone in the service center needs a new watch).
The dealer lived up to my expectations and had not called up the service center engineer. But lucky me, now I got to speak to the head dealer. He repeated the same thing:  that “the HP service center people don’t listen to us and we can’t do anything” (sounds so contradicting to what he had said while selling me the laptop).He gave me the regional coordinator’s(Maithili) contact number and also regional head’s e mail.
I was little relieved that finally I would be getting to speak with some high authority and with the R&D in progress on my laptop (I feel R&D is the correct term to describe what was being done with my laptop) the repair would be complete soon or rather I felt my troublesome days were about to come to an end (but……. in vain).So I called up Maithili and told her my story (feeling really hopeful). She added the manager of the service center to our conversation (conference call) and told him to repair my laptop and give it back in 7 days max. I was stunned to hear that. She said it very confidently and as if she was doing the very correct thing. I guess she did not realize that she was adding 7 days to the earlier 15 days and bringing the total to 22 days now. So, I asked who is going to pay for my work that have been delayed or in some cases cancelled due to unavailability of laptop. She didn’t bother to notice this and just went ahead saying that “we are sorry for it and you will get your laptop in 7 days.” I asked again “what about my work?” She replied with same words that I will get my laptop in 7 days and shirish (who is the manager of the service center like an obedient employee) just agreed to whatever Maithili was saying. Now they ordered a new recovery media. (It was going to come from Singapore and of course add few more days to my despair).
Again like a helpless customer I had no choice but to wait……..
Nine days passed I didn’t get any call from them. Tired of waiting I called up the service center and asked for the engineer. (Well, I even have to pay my mobile bill. I am mentioning this to bring to your notice that I don’t have any privilege of calling up the HP service center free of cost).
Utkarsh came online and said that the recovery discs have reached the service center and they are now trying to install the OS and drivers. They still have some issues but they are trying. (Very good! That guy sounded so full of dedication and sincerity. At least from his words he did). The next day he called me saying that the laptop is ready (this was at 5:30 pm). I asked if I can come and collect it at 7:30pm; will the service center be open? He said yes, the service center timings are from 9 to 8. I travelled 25 km from my office to the service center and reached service center at 7:33 and found it closed. I tried calling up Maithili about this harassing and frustrating behavior but she was unavailable. So I messaged her. She called me after some time and started the conversation with saying that the service center engineer will come and deliver the laptop anywhere I ask. (Didn’t seem like compensation at all). At this stage I didn’t want any favors from the people and company where even higher authorities do not stick to their word. I said “please spare me your favors and just tell me the exact timings of the service center and I will go collect it myself.” She told me its 10 to 6. Then I asked if these are the timings then why 9 to 8 is printed outside the service center door. Of course she did not reply to that and changed the topic.
My next question was, “how you define the reliability of your product when it stops working on the 11th day (and that too its motherboard has some problem)”. She said HP has a very big market share and blah blah blah…… I continued, now consider my laptop and define reliability. She said sometimes we face this kind of peculiar issue but we do resolve them. (Resolve them taking their own sweet time!). I said, “Ok, accepted that your product is reliable but what about your service. When your engineers were doing their research on my laptop, no one even had the courtesy of offering me a stand by laptop” (forget the compensation). She just ended the conversation saying “we are sorry” and asked again if I wanted my laptop delivered anywhere. I ended the conversation by pleading not to send the laptop anywhere because there are high chances that the engineer might goof up and add up to my problems somehow. I would come and take it from the service center myself.
Next day, even after pleading not to send my laptop with anyone and specifically saying that I would collect it myself, the service center people sent it with their field engineer. (This is the limit of bad coordination. How can you do something exactly opposite of what you were asked to?). In the evening I got a call from the field engineer, I told him where I was and finally I got my laptop. (Phhhhhheeeeewwwwwww)
What led to this series of events? If only I had listened to my cousins and friends, this would have never happened. I pray no other person has to go through all this.
I feel all this could be avoided, if the service center people had given me a new laptop on 5th or 6th day and continued their R&D on the original laptop indefinitely(why only 1 month. Keep doing it till time ends). Now you would say that it is against company’s policy or some other legal issues might not allow you to do so. But what is the use of such kind of policy where the customer has to face so many problems.
Every morning I get up, I pray that my laptop should not face some problem again in the near future.
To conclude, your regional manager and your service center people are very confident about the product’s reliability and the service they offer (the reception at the service center had something printed on the wall saying HP is awarded the best service prize for 2011.SERIOULSY! I guess I should forward this feedback to them also.) So how about increasing my laptop’s warranty? Can you people do that with your confidence in your product? I don’t want to mention the amount of work I have lost or have been delayed, my phone bills, unnecessary travel expenses, priceless time etc…
I hope this mail reaches the right authority and they reply to this helpless customer who has no other choice but to wait.
 This is not the end. After two days I see that my windows 8 is not activated. The process of coming to a solution is still going and god only knows when will I get my laptop working properly.
After the incident (that actually still continues) I would like put forward my demands:
Replace my laptop and give me a new one.
Extended warranty
Compensation for mobile bills,travel expenses,work loss, time wasted etc.
Compensation for data loss
Monetary compensation
Mental disturbance and distraction

Answer 1

Hello pratik_Jain429,
I am going to forward this thread to the appropriate team for review. Someone should be in contact with you in regards to your issue.
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