HP Support Super-Sleuth: Receipts, Records and Support Requests, Oh My!

Question

How does a warranty work?  How does HP keep track of support cases for 80 million (that’s right, MILLION) consumer products?  And darn it, do you really need to keep your product receipt?
Today we’re launching a new series on the forum blog to shed light on some of the frequently asked questions about what it is that we do here in the world of HP support.  We’ll be mining our databases for the best questions and giving you some insight into what it’s like to provide world-class support to our customers worldwide.  
Today’s topics: keeping your receipts and keeping track of customer requests.
Q:  Do I really need to keep my product receipt when I purchase an HP product?
A: Yes.  Always retain your product receipt when you make a big technology purchase.  The most important reason for keeping your receipt is so that you have the proof of purchase in case there are any questions or discrepancies about your warranty or service contract with HP.
Your HP warranty begins from the date you purchase your HP product. In most cases, the serial number of your product will be sufficient to confirm your product entitlement to warranty coverage. However, sometimes incomplete registrations or other issues make it impossible for HP support to accurately record the date you purchased your product.  If this happens, HP support agents will ask you to provide and verify your date of purchase before you can access your warranty coverage.  Your receipt should include the serial number of the product to which it applies and confirms the date you purchased your product from HP or an authorized HP retail partner. You receipt is the easiest form of documentation to provide when validating your warranty.
Don’t worry though, if you misplace your receipt (the warranty generally lasts an entire year), we can accept other documents as proof of purchase, too.  Invoices that include product details and date of purchase, credit card receipts or statements that include product information and date of purchase and other official documents can all work in place of a receipt.  Just remember to BLACK OUT any personal account information or other identifying data on your documents.  Our support agents will immediately destroy any documents that contain this kind of information – our first priority is your privacy!
 As a last resort, if no other purchase date is available for a consumer product, a default date of purchase is loaded into our systems instead of your actual date of purchase.  Customer Service will work with you to determine the closest date to your original purchase as possible. Often, that date coincides with the date the product was shipped to the store, the date it was first powered on, or the date it was manufactured.
To recap: Keeping your receipt helps ensure you receive the best support possible and allows HP to deliver the customer experience you expect. Keep your receipts! 
Q:  How does HP support keep track of all of its customer requests?
A:  It’s true: we have a LOT of consumer products out there in the world.  Luckily, only a fraction of the 80 million printers, laptops, desktops and other technologies we produce ever need help from our support team.  Even that fraction translates to significant data that HP needs to track.  We know that to you, that data is more than bits and bytes – it’s the access point to your digital life!
Our highly trained support team uses state-of-the art software to keep track of information related to each customer case and works hard to document each customer’s concerns and ongoing interactions over the course of a service experience.  Our software is secure, but allows us to share case notes between the various experts you might need to work with to resolve your support questions. This way, anyone who responds to your request can see who you talked to you and what was discussed.  You might have to provide a little bit of context, just to set the scene for our support agents, but the key points are right at their fingertips!
We also have some policies that help us stay focused on open and active cases.  For instance, we have time limits for responding to requests for information, like the proof of purchase requests we talked about above, before a case is closed.  These time limits are communicated to the customer along with each information request, which is usually sent via email.  For instance, if HP requests a proof of purchase to validate a warranty claim, we ask that the customer reply within five days to let us know they’re pursuing the necessary information.  If we do not hear from a customer within the five-day window a representative is authorized to close that specific case. After that point a customer can open a new case number and reference the old case in their claim.  This process ensures we do not keep old cases open and unresolved indefinitely.  We maintain clear, precise and secure records for support requests and can access old case information quickly and accurately. 
Do you have questions for our Support Super-Sleuth? Submit your burning questions today, by sending a PM to one of the forum Admins, and stay tuned for more installments each week.
I work for HP, supporting the HP Experts who volunteer their time and technical knowledge to help others.
--Say "Thanks" by clicking the Kudos Star in the post that helped you.
--Please mark the post that solves your problem as "Accepted Solution"

Answer 1

How does a warranty work?  How does HP keep track of support cases for 80 million (that’s right, MILLION) consumer products?  And darn it, do you really need to keep your product receipt?
Today we’re launching a new series on the forum blog to shed light on some of the frequently asked questions about what it is that we do here in the world of HP support.  We’ll be mining our databases for the best questions and giving you some insight into what it’s like to provide world-class support to our customers worldwide.  
Today’s topics: keeping your receipts and keeping track of customer requests.
Q:  Do I really need to keep my product receipt when I purchase an HP product?
A: Yes.  Always retain your product receipt when you make a big technology purchase.  The most important reason for keeping your receipt is so that you have the proof of purchase in case there are any questions or discrepancies about your warranty or service contract with HP.
Your HP warranty begins from the date you purchase your HP product. In most cases, the serial number of your product will be sufficient to confirm your product entitlement to warranty coverage. However, sometimes incomplete registrations or other issues make it impossible for HP support to accurately record the date you purchased your product.  If this happens, HP support agents will ask you to provide and verify your date of purchase before you can access your warranty coverage.  Your receipt should include the serial number of the product to which it applies and confirms the date you purchased your product from HP or an authorized HP retail partner. You receipt is the easiest form of documentation to provide when validating your warranty.
Don’t worry though, if you misplace your receipt (the warranty generally lasts an entire year), we can accept other documents as proof of purchase, too.  Invoices that include product details and date of purchase, credit card receipts or statements that include product information and date of purchase and other official documents can all work in place of a receipt.  Just remember to BLACK OUT any personal account information or other identifying data on your documents.  Our support agents will immediately destroy any documents that contain this kind of information – our first priority is your privacy!
 As a last resort, if no other purchase date is available for a consumer product, a default date of purchase is loaded into our systems instead of your actual date of purchase.  Customer Service will work with you to determine the closest date to your original purchase as possible. Often, that date coincides with the date the product was shipped to the store, the date it was first powered on, or the date it was manufactured.
To recap: Keeping your receipt helps ensure you receive the best support possible and allows HP to deliver the customer experience you expect. Keep your receipts! 
Q:  How does HP support keep track of all of its customer requests?
A:  It’s true: we have a LOT of consumer products out there in the world.  Luckily, only a fraction of the 80 million printers, laptops, desktops and other technologies we produce ever need help from our support team.  Even that fraction translates to significant data that HP needs to track.  We know that to you, that data is more than bits and bytes – it’s the access point to your digital life!
Our highly trained support team uses state-of-the art software to keep track of information related to each customer case and works hard to document each customer’s concerns and ongoing interactions over the course of a service experience.  Our software is secure, but allows us to share case notes between the various experts you might need to work with to resolve your support questions. This way, anyone who responds to your request can see who you talked to you and what was discussed.  You might have to provide a little bit of context, just to set the scene for our support agents, but the key points are right at their fingertips!
We also have some policies that help us stay focused on open and active cases.  For instance, we have time limits for responding to requests for information, like the proof of purchase requests we talked about above, before a case is closed.  These time limits are communicated to the customer along with each information request, which is usually sent via email.  For instance, if HP requests a proof of purchase to validate a warranty claim, we ask that the customer reply within five days to let us know they’re pursuing the necessary information.  If we do not hear from a customer within the five-day window a representative is authorized to close that specific case. After that point a customer can open a new case number and reference the old case in their claim.  This process ensures we do not keep old cases open and unresolved indefinitely.  We maintain clear, precise and secure records for support requests and can access old case information quickly and accurately. 
Do you have questions for our Support Super-Sleuth? Submit your burning questions today, by sending a PM to one of the forum Admins, and stay tuned for more installments each week.
I work for HP, supporting the HP Experts who volunteer their time and technical knowledge to help others.
--Say "Thanks" by clicking the Kudos Star in the post that helped you.
--Please mark the post that solves your problem as "Accepted Solution"