Taking Hewlett-Packard India to Court

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koshyjohn

Developer
Source: *koshyjohn.com/hp

UPDATE: I won the case. *www.koshyjohn.com/hp/docs/ccjudgement.doc - judgment copy.

** QUOTING FROM A LETTER TO MARK HURD, CEO & PRESIDENT, HP:
Sir,

A high-end 17" laptop was purchased from HP at Dubai in April 2007. Unfortunately, over the last 14 months, it has been functional for only 5! It has been useless for close to 70% of its life!

HP India refused to service it from September 2007 to February 2008 (6 months). Finally in February, HP allowed us to bring it in for repairs.

Almost every part of the laptop was replaced including the display, keyboard and the motherboard (5 times!). After 3 months of keeping the laptop with them, they finally return the laptop with the wrong motherboard configuration.

Given the extreme nature of the inconvenience caused, a fresh replacement was requested in the beginning of May 2008. It was agreed to in principle but even after 27 calls to customer care over a period of 1 month, all that was achieved was a series of escalations with a huge number of broken promises for a call back (even by the case manager assigned).

All the details of this case are put up at *www.koshyjohn.com/hp including details pointing to FRAUD which may also be detrimental to HP.

Even a mail to HP India's President Mr. Balu Doraisamy didn't yield any result.

Being a loyal HP customer for over 9 years, this is a very shocking and disappointing experience. We are at a loss of what to do -- short of initiating legal action against HP and publicizing this ordeal. Being provided with a constructive solution would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your valuable time.

** TIMELINE:

1. Purchase and Configuration (April 07)
- Purchase details
- Configuration details
2. Service History (Sept 07 - May 08) - parts replaced
- Sept, 07 - Feb 19, 08
- Feb 19, 08 - Mar 20, 08
- Mar 20, 08 - Apr 17, 08
- Apr 18, 08 - May 07, 08
- FRAUD by HP / Service Center
3. Telephone Support History (May 08 - June 08)
- Re-registering Case
- Escalation
- Case Manager
- Escalation to Singapore
- Mails to HP Executives
- HP India President
- HP CEO & President Mark Hurd
4. Legal History (National Consumer Forum) (June 08 +)
- Contacting NCF
- Contacting HP
- Nortech Executive
- My Settlement Demands
- Legal notice and court case

** Current status

Registered a complaint with the National Consumer Forum in India. I was asked to give HP 10 days to respond to my satisfaction before initiating a court case.

Source: *koshyjohn.com/hp

Is there anyone here who's been in a similar situation with HP or any other manufacturer? Have you been to consumer court? What are your experiences like?
 
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intresting read.
the funny thing is that HP is supposed to be the MOST customer friendly company according to many people.
I know lots of loyal HP Pavillion Fans.

Guess HP too has a dark side.
 

gopz

In the zone
Are you hoping to get a reply from Mark Hurd?

Better contact the legal division of HP India, and ask them for a brand new laptop and compensation else take it to the courts.

I feel really sorry for you dude.
 

adithyagenius

I WANT MORE FPS!!
17" laptops of HP have overheating problems. They can't handle heavy duty applications and games for more than 10 mins without automatically shutting down. It also develops cracks overtime due to heat. Lots of people were trying to planned sue HP went lazy. If you succeed in India, it will be great.
All those people who have to take out their dvd drive just to make sure there is enough ventilation for the HP 17" laptop to extract file for installation without autoshut will feel happy if you succeed. Best of luck!
 
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koshyjohn

koshyjohn

Developer
intresting read.
the funny thing is that HP is supposed to be the MOST customer friendly company according to many people.
I know lots of loyal HP Pavillion Fans.

Guess HP too has a dark side.
HP is really customer friendly until the day your laptop really screws up. Their laptops are the best if you never have to make warranty claims. But unfortunately a lot of people seem to be having complaints - you should hear about all the stories I heard from customers while waiting at the customer service center.

Are you hoping to get a reply from Mark Hurd?

Better contact the legal division of HP India, and ask them for a brand new laptop and compensation else take it to the courts.

I feel really sorry for you dude.
I did get a reply from Mark Hurd (his aides of course). You haven't visited my site I guess. I've already started walking down the legal road.

I've indicated that I want a laptop costing as much as the original. Such a configuration today would turn out to be: Core 2 Duo T9500 2.60Ghz, Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit, 17" WSXGA+ HD widescreen display, 4GB DDR2 RAM, HP Imprint finish+Webcam+microphone+fingerprint reader, Intel Pro/Wireless 4965AGN with Bluetooth, 640GB 5400rpm (320GBx2) dual hard drive, BluRay ROM with SuperMulti DVD+/-R/RW Double Layer

17" laptops of HP have overheating problems. They can't handle heavy duty applications and games for more than 10 mins without automatically shutting down. It also develops cracks overtime due to heat. Lots of people were trying to planned sue HP went lazy. If you succeed in India, it will be great.
All those people who have to take out their dvd drive just to make sure there is enough ventilation for the HP 17" laptop to extract file for installation without autoshut will feel happy if you succeed. Best of luck!
All the problems you listed above are fixable. The crack is due to a design defect and HP replaces the affected parts for free sometimes even out of warranty period. If you know anyone suffering those problems, please tell them to visit a service center. Overheating can be fixed by reapplication of the thermal paste and/or replacement of the heat sink.

All the best buddy! Btw, I think this belongs to Chit Chat!
If so, could a moderator please transfer this thread? Sorry for the inconvenience.
 

gopz

In the zone
Why dont you ask for a refund instead of replacement, and try some other brand, this time?
 
OP
koshyjohn

koshyjohn

Developer
Why dont you ask for a refund instead of replacement, and try some other brand, this time?

It's cheaper for them to give me a new notebook and therefore more easier to negotiate out of court. Plus dv9700 series are actually very good notebooks (and HP's service is actually very good in many countries - it's only in India that these things happen - if I was in the US, I'd have got a replacement last year)...

And I forgot to add, I'm asking for a 3 year international warranty for the hassle... If they do agree and delay it much longer, I'll ask for the new dv7t series with the NVIDIA 9600 gfx cards that are releasing internationally this month.
 
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koshyjohn

koshyjohn

Developer
best of luck.....I hope they opt in for a out of court settlement else its going to take years.
Does the 'years' thing *still* hold for small claims against a solvent company? The way the National Consumer Forum seems to be functioning and advertising it's services, I was thinking of a quicker resolution period of around a year. And in any case, when I win, my settlement demands will ensure that I get whatever is the configuration selling at that time for the original system's price - just in time to replace the less-than-perfect-but-still-functioning laptop they've left with me.

If it really will take a lot of years, it will cost HP a lot in terms of attorney's fees and I will be ensuring bad publicity for them even if it doesn't come by default - because one of the things they've had their hands in is FRAUD.

Whether I win or lose, HP has got to learn it cannot treat customers like this and expect to get away with it. And maybe some other soul will benefit from this situation's outcome in the future.
 
OP
koshyjohn

koshyjohn

Developer
Can I have the email addresses of Mark Hurd & HP India president? I would love to give them a piece of my mind. :x

Mark Hurd: *www.hp.com/hpinfo/execteam/email/hurd/
Balu Doraisamy: *h50043.www5.hp.com/formlab/en-IN/0401_080505085114_1.aspx

What problems have you faced?
 

narangz

Web developer
Mark Hurd: *www.hp.com/hpinfo/execteam/email/hurd/
Balu Doraisamy: *h50043.www5.hp.com/formlab/en-IN/0401_080505085114_1.aspx

What problems have you faced?

Thanks!

Well I have a Compaq V3425AU. I bought it about 10 months ago, I guess. The battery is not upto the mark. Sometimes it refuses to work & sometimes it works flawlessly. The display developed dead pixels. Got it replaced twice till date. The laptop gets too hot on summers. My friend who has also the same model has got everything (except motherboard & processor) replaced multiple times. He still is not happy with display, battery, hard disk & DVD writer. A user here at digit forum (Thor) also has the same model & is suffering just like us.

Did the HP India President reply to your mails? Their customer service is very good at making fools out of the customers.

This is not true , these kind of cases are solved quickly. Thats why its a good idea to file a case in consumer forum.

True. It won't take much time.
 
thats intresting.

Because when I had recently gone laptop (window) shopping, I enquired about some sub 25k notebooks from Acer and Compaq. Both offered similar configurations at the same price, with the difference being that acer offered an extra 40GB disc space compared to compaq. When I asked the dealer for the difference in the two, he said both were the same thing under different hoods. But when I asked about the durability, life, etc, he said compaq is better than acer according to the customer response he got. :?
 
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