Not Happy with my HP

Question

Dear HP,
I’m writing to you to complain. I know you probably get this on a daily basis but I’m quite disappointed in your product and felt you should know how upset and disappointed I am in it.
About 2 ½ years ago I ran into an issue while starting one of my summer classes. My old IBM Thinkpad that had been faithful for almost 5 years would not take the QuickTime that was necessary for the class and was in a panic since I couldn’t refund the class after I started it. So I ran to my local Best Buy to purchase a new laptop, against my wish of not wanting to.  I had heard from online sources, saw the great marketing spreads of actors/actresses/musicians that showed that they loved the HP, and had heard that they were the new “Dell”. Well my HP laptop has completely failed me in my mind and so was not the new “Dell”.
Yep after 2 ½ years I wish I had taken the bigger step and had purchased the $3000 Mac Book Pro rather than the more economical HP Pavilion Entertainment laptop for the $1300 (tax & protection included). I was quite horrified to have the hard drive replaced within 7 months of purchase. My thoughts are first were a fluke but after having the hard drive crash, then the touch pad going and was replaced, I had so many weird issues come up also that my HP Computer center couldn’t fix it seems, then having a check sum error that lead to my mother board needing to be replaced, and then having my internal battery completely die and being shipped out to be replaced completely since it killed the replacement battery they (Best Buy’s Geek Squad) shipped initially to me when it died. The funny thing is my IBM is STILL working fine and has never had anything done other than the keyboard replaced (used it all through college so all the typing doesn’t surprise me), needs a new burner, runs slow (its 6+ years old so no surprise), and gets persnickety with new programs.
So needless to say I’m quite disappointed. Best Buy hasn’t deemed this worthy of a Lemon Law and will be writing to them about how after all these repairs it hasn’t added up enough to deem worthy of a credit to purchase something different. I just know that after all of these troubles that I will not be purchasing an HP the next time around…it’s not worth all this hassle. I know in May when my 3 year protection will end that it probably will completely die and I just can’t handle another computer with this many issues under a 3 year span. Maybe they’re not making computers as good as they use to…or maybe I got a bad apple in the bunch…whatever it is I just can’t go back to a brand that is just not performing up to the expectations it portrays in its reviews or within its marketing.
I hope you hear my complaint. I don’t usually do this often but I thought you would want to know errors with my laptop so that maybe you could improve with development later on. 
Sincerely,
Barbara Blake-Chapman

Answer 1

I hear your pain and I know it is a real hassle for you. In the last 15 years I have probably owned 20+ laptops that I have personally used to a great extent and really never had a problem. I have owned HPs and Dells, and IBM/Lenovos and Toshibas and Sonys and Acers and Averatecs and others. I also repair laptops. There was a bad run of HPs about 2.5-4 years ago that were way outside normal failure statistics. I never bought one of them (the dv2000, dv6000 and dv9000 series) but have repaired and examined dozens of them. It was a one-time "perfect storm" of design and manufacturing issues and if you had provided your actual model number I could confirm that you got one of those known lemons. If so, I would immediately junk it and get something, anything else and chalk it up to experience. There is no remedy now as the recall and the class action have closed. Other than that, you are searching for the proverbial Holy Grail if you are looking for a brand of laptop that will not give problems (including Macs). I also know from buying laptops for others like my employees and kids that some people just do not mix well with complex electronics. Their laptops seem to fail more than other people's over and over again for some unexplained reason. All I am saying is that for possibly the first time in history, mass numbers of people with all levels of understanding and training are relying on very complex and fragile electronics and problems are inevitable. I am not even suggesting you are one of "those" people since you have had no issues with your old Thinkpad. And I will respond that laptops do not last as long as they used to but the issue there is increasing complexity and heat generated by more powerful processors. I collect old laptops and the ones from the early years cost $5000 new, were only purchased by tech geeks and high-level business executives to whom they were status symbols more than work tools, and were built like a tank but they also had much slower and cooler running processors and there was no such thing as wireless and bluetooth and web cameras, etc. The old classics are still running but can't do anything people do with computers now. You can swear off HPs and go spend twice the price on a Mac or the same price on a Dell but don't be surprised if you are posting disappointment on their user forums a couple years from now.