MikeBrum.com

I was excited to get my laptop last night and get everything set up. Since getting home, I’ve had nothing but a horrible time with it and HP.

I ordered the laptop with XP Home because I have XP Pro and didn’t see any reason to pay for it again. Unfortunately, when I went to upgrade, it gets all the way to the end and gives an error. You can read this Microsoft KB article for the details. In short, the way they build their machines makes the install choke.

So after me trying things for a couple of hours on my own, I call HP. The long and short of it is that I’m given two options:

1. The issue can be “escalated” and someone could call me “within a few days” to try to resolve it
2. I can return this laptop and they can send me a new one with XP Pro on it

In this, I asked if they could simply send me an XP Pro recovery CD and I’d reformat the box and be done with it. Given the time and shipping costs, I thought that was a great alternative. Nope – they can’t do it due to how their systems are set up. Horray for flexibility.

So the only real option is to wait for at least 2 weeks to receive the new box. Let’s face it – I can’t be the first person with this issue. If they knew how to resolve this problem, they would have a fix by now.

I finally opt to get a new box shipped to me. Unfortunately, I have to be transferred to another department to have that done. I’m told that the new person “has all of the details about the laptop” and that I’ll receive the same one with the exception of it having XP Pro, for the same cost.

This guy starts calling me “Alex” – no idea why. I correct him and he reads off the configuration of the machine and it’s all correct. I remind him that this machine should be the exact one from the previous order (and give him that order number) and all is well and good. He then transfers me to ANOTHER department to handle the return of the first machine – because apparently any given person can only do one single, solitary task at HP.

In the meantime, I check the order that was placed (since I couldn’t do this until after it was placed) and it’s screwed up. Yup, despite ALL of the information that I gave them, and the system details being in their computers, they ordered the wrong box. I waited on hold another 30 minutes and hung up and called back.

I got someone in the “customer service” department quickly and they confirmed that they had my name as “Alex” (that explains that – not sure how you get “Alex” from “Mike”). This person, however, was unable to help me and they transferred me to tech support. Now, remember, HP only lets a person do ONE THING – so tech support wasn’t able to help me. They transferred me to another department where I was told the person would “stay on the line” and my line was dropped while being transferred.

At this point, I was on the phone for some 3 hours and it was about midnight. I decided to deal with this again in the morning.

I called a bit before 9 this morning and got someone on the phone. They said they couldn’t cancel it so they transferred me. About 35ish minutes later, I get another person who says they can’t cancel it and that they’ll be transferring me to a “specialist” who can help me. It’s about 9:58 by my computer time and when I’m transferred I get a message saying that the department is closed and to call back between 10am and 5pm. Then my call is dropped.

Fucking unbelievable!

After about an hour and fifteen minutes, I get dropped.

Now I’m simply livid. I call back, get someone back on the line and I’m told that the order “can’t be canceled because it’s in a Pending Review” status. I’m told there “is no order to cancel” – yet they have a hold on my credit card. Apparently, there’s _something_ to either cancel or decline or disapprove. I don’t care WHAT they need to do, but they need to do it.

So eventually, after much bouncing around, I got to a nice lady named ‘Cathy’. She was able to delete the order and I saw the email confirming such come through. I also got an RMA number and packing slip for the laptop that I currently have, but no longer want. It took Cathy all of 10 minutes to do this – despite the horrible mess her counterparts left her.

Thank you Cathy. While I still have zero plans of purchasing any HP product in quite some time, you were able to close out this horribly stressful episode that lasted somewhere around five hours on the phone.

Sometime after the new year, I’ll probably look into other options I have for laptops. For now, I really can’t be bothered.