Taking Hewlett-Packard India to Court

[koshyjohn]

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.

True. It won't take much time.

No, HP India's President didn't bother replying but the worldwide CEO did. Both e-mails are quite useless but you can use both as evidence that you've tried your best to resolve the issue if you go to court.

The notebooks from HP seeing failure rates are as follows:
(MOST FAILURES, least cost) Compaq > HP Home Entertainment > HP Business (LEAST FAILURES, highest cost)
HP Business laptops are very expensive (and honestly don't look very attractive; which is why you rarely find them in stores) but the support you get for them is amazing in the rare chance that they do fail. In the *long run* though, the HP Business laptops are more likely to cost the least. The above is a known fact and I've seen it among my friends and the pattern continues with what you are telling me. Search on the net for problems with business laptops - you won't find much.

VERY IMPORTANT: I *very* strongly recommend that you get your warranty extended to 3 years. It is worth every penny if you are already facing serious problems in the first year - because the parts that they put into your system during repairs are refurbished parts - fixed parts from some other customer's notebook - the cycle repeats with the old parts that are taken from you.

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.

Extra 40GB? The Compaq must have offered 120GB while Acer offered 160GB... I am not familiar with Acer's durability levels but the general opinion I hear is that HP has better quality usually. But that might not be the reason why the dealer gave you that answer. It might be entirely possible that he is getting a better margin of profit from selling the Compaq than the Acer. Face it: at the end of the day the dealer has to make as much money as possible, you are not likely to remember much of what he said if you laptop fails 10 months into its life.

 

[virus_killer]

I had faced the similar problem once, I own a Compaq Presario V6102AU , and couple of months before i was facing a strange problem. My laptop wasn't starting even if i press the power button, Blue LED comes for a while and then went off after few seconds, wireless was not working either. i talked to HP people and they told me that your laptop is out of warranty period and therefore you will have to pay $140 Dallas just to look up for the problem and they will charge further more if they find any major problem.

I thought i would probably buy the new laptop rather repairing this one. but before buying the new one i was looking for the solution. and then i found one page on HP's website, that they have got some manufacturing defects with the model comes under V6000 model (which i already had). so i called them again and tell the story. they agreed with me and told me that your motherboard will get replaced. and that too for free. i went to their service station and just gave them the reference number which that call center guy had given to me. and thats it. i got the new motherboard. and its working fine now.

In short, i had good experience with HP people, and i hope you will get fair feedback from them.

cheers.

 

[gcbeldar]

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.



True. It won't take much time.

Hey all, I am also suffering with V3425AU laptop, CPU temps reads 65C with load it reaches 90C, One some replacement done by HP sevice centre, still temp reads 65C idle and 90C with load.

 

[phreak0ut]

I had asked Aditya to do the same thing as koshy, but he simply keeps getting parts replaced

 

[narangz]

No, HP India's President didn't bother replying but the worldwide CEO did. Both e-mails are quite useless but you can use both as evidence that you've tried your best to resolve the issue if you go to court.

The notebooks from HP seeing failure rates are as follows:
(MOST FAILURES, least cost) Compaq > HP Home Entertainment > HP Business (LEAST FAILURES, highest cost)
HP Business laptops are very expensive (and honestly don't look very attractive; which is why you rarely find them in stores) but the support you get for them is amazing in the rare chance that they do fail. In the *long run* though, the HP Business laptops are more likely to cost the least. The above is a known fact and I've seen it among my friends and the pattern continues with what you are telling me. Search on the net for problems with business laptops - you won't find much.

VERY IMPORTANT: I *very* strongly recommend that you get your warranty extended to 3 years. It is worth every penny if you are already facing serious problems in the first year - because the parts that they put into your system during repairs are refurbished parts - fixed parts from some other customer's notebook - the cycle repeats with the old parts that are taken from you.

I got an email recently from HP. It was about free warranty extension of certain models. They gave a link in the email for more information regarding that. Here's the link:

*h50084.www5.hp.com/rd.asp?ID=MTE0M...ZME15WTJNelk1SmpReE1EazRKamMzTWprek1nJTNEJTNE

Please go through the page & tell me whether I should go for warranty extension as you mentioned? My laptop comes under V3400 series & product number is- GN399PA


Thank you!

 

[virus_killer]

I got an email recently from HP. It was about free warranty extension of certain models. They gave a link in the email for more information regarding that. Here's the link:

*h50084.www5.hp.com/rd.asp?ID=MTE0M...ZME15WTJNelk1SmpReE1EazRKamMzTWprek1nJTNEJTNE

Please go through the page & tell me whether I should go for warranty extension as you mentioned? My laptop comes under V3400 series & product number is- GN399PA


Thank you!

My laptop was falling under the same category. and i got my motherboard replaced because it was having most of the symptoms listed on that page.

 

[koshyjohn]

Hey all, I am also suffering with V3425AU laptop, CPU temps reads 65C with load it reaches 90C, One some replacement done by HP sevice centre, still temp reads 65C idle and 90C with load.

65C idle and 90C load is definitely on the higher side. Tell them to replace the heat sink and the thermal paste - sometimes it may come with the processor as part of the package. But don't worry if it comes under warranty. I faced similar problems with this laptop once and they replaced the motherboard and it didn't solve anything. They hit upon the correct solution only in the second attempt. I used to see 74C idle and 100C full load. Now I see only 30 to 40C idle and 55 to 74C full load depending on room temperature - I have a 2Ghz core 2 duo - if you have a slower core 2 duo u should be seeing lower temperatures.

I got an email recently from HP. It was about free warranty extension of certain models. They gave a link in the email for more information regarding that. Here's the link:

*h50084.www5.hp.com/rd.asp?ID=MTE0M...ZME15WTJNelk1SmpReE1EazRKamMzTWprek1nJTNEJTNE

Please go through the page & tell me whether I should go for warranty extension as you mentioned? My laptop comes under V3400 series & product number is- GN399PA


Thank you!

You better hope that you see those symptoms within 2 years of your laptop's life to get it fixed free of cost. What is mentioned above is a warranty enhancement - it covers only those symptoms listed there and the solution is only replacement of motherboard. A warranty extension, on the other hand, comes as an approx 8k purchase (if bought within the warranty period) or 11k (if bought outside the warranty period) and covers everything except the battery for 2 years more (total 3 yrs on a 1 yr warranty laptop). Remember a hard disk failure will set you back 6k+, motherboard 16k+, keyboard 4k+, etc. so if your laptop is failure prone it is indeed worth it.

 

[gopz]

Will this work for laptops purchased in the US? My brother has a DV2000 but it was purchased in the US, does anyone know if its still qualified for the motherboard replacement, if it has those symptoms? The warranty is not valid in India, so I have a doubt...

 

[koshyjohn]

Will this work for laptops purchased in the US? My brother has a DV2000 but it was purchased in the US, does anyone know if its still qualified for the motherboard replacement, if it has those symptoms? The warranty is not valid in India, so I have a doubt...

Are you absolutely sure that the warranty is not valid in India? If it says international warranty you can somehow get it covered.

Since what you are talking about is a widespread problem, you should consider contacting HP Customer care in India and asking them about it... If that does not work, contact the support services in the United States...

 

[narangz]

Hey all, I am also suffering with V3425AU laptop, CPU temps reads 65C with load it reaches 90C, One some replacement done by HP sevice centre, still temp reads 65C idle and 90C with load.

Mine temperatures after more than two hours of normal usage:
GPU- 87
CPU-57

It's summer time, I must add. But it's too hot!

 

[koolbluez]

I too faced a lot of probs from a HP service centre at Bangalore.
I have adequate knowledge on my lappie... and pointed out that my dvd writer is faulty... but those guyz were just adamant that the os is at fault. after a week of repairs (for a crashed vista ultimate 64bit) and "writer testing", they gave me the lappie. Thankfully I checked it's "writing skills" there itself and showed them the problem again.. after they installed the OS fresh. They were still blaming the os..... another week of testing... (and a suggestion from my side to check with another dvd writer!!!) l8r, they pointed out that the drive was faulty (check out the loop) and took another week to get a new dvd writer installed.
Loss = 2-3 weeks of my precious lap time

Another news I got....
HP will not install the OS from now on. We will have to bring in an original OS disc (even if we purchased the system with the OS as a legal addition in the package) when bringing for repairs. I bought my 17" (now is there a coincidence here) HP 9311TX for ~100000 (last June) because of it's extraordinarily good display and Vista Ultimate 64bit OS combo. And now they want me to buy an original OS disc and (to top it all).. take it to them for installation (and replication*gigasmilies.googlepages.com/39.gif). Now why did I pay that premium for my lappie? I expect a full software service in the service period.

Real pissed off with the guyz here. They r not even good in their own fields.... all rut maarke aaye lagte hain... following standard protocol.... of debuggin.... even when the answer is staring them in their face.... loonies... *gigasmilies.googlepages.com/14.gif

 

[koshyjohn]

Mine temperatures after more than two hours of normal usage:
GPU- 87
CPU-57

It's summer time, I must add. But it's too hot!

CPU temperatures are normal but the GPU is a little on the higher side.

I too faced a lot of probs from a HP service centre at Bangalore.
I have adequate knowledge on my lappie... and pointed out that my dvd writer is faulty... but those guyz were just adamant that the os is at fault. after a week of repairs (for a crashed vista ultimate 64bit) and "writer testing", they gave me the lappie. Thankfully I checked it's "writing skills" there itself and showed them the problem again.. after they installed the OS fresh. They were still blaming the os..... another week of testing... (and a suggestion from my side to check with another dvd writer!!!) l8r, they pointed out that the drive was faulty (check out the loop) and took another week to get a new dvd writer installed.
Loss = 2-3 weeks of my precious lap time

Another news I got....
HP will not install the OS from now on. We will have to bring in an original OS disc (even if we purchased the system with the OS as a legal addition in the package) when bringing for repairs. I bought my 17" (now is there a coincidence here) HP 9311TX for ~100000 (last June) because of it's extraordinarily good display and Vista Ultimate 64bit OS combo. And now they want me to buy an original OS disc and (to top it all).. take it to them for installation (and replication*gigasmilies.googlepages.com/39.gif). Now why did I pay that premium for my lappie? I expect a full software service in the service period.

Real pissed off with the guyz here. They r not even good in their own fields.... all rut maarke aaye lagte hain... following standard protocol.... of debuggin.... even when the answer is staring them in their face.... loonies... *gigasmilies.googlepages.com/14.gif

I know what you are talking about but there's no choice but to go along with their troubleshooting steps. They have the habit of often denying there is a problem at all unless you are savvy enough to prove it without a doubt.

Since you have a model that has a design defect that will cause it's screen casing to crack, I suggest that you visit: *www.notebookhingecrack.com
(Mine cracked and I got it replaced under warranty)

Didn't you get a HP recovery disc? Weren't you able to create one from within the preinstalled OS? Such a disc is useless to many of us but HP uses it as part of their troubleshooting to isolate hardware faults from software. If you neglected to create it, well you can't really blame them.

Since you bought the system for around the same time I did for around the same cost I did, I would like to know what configuration you got. The only difference between our purchases was that I bought it abroad.

 

[koolbluez]

Since you have a model that has a design defect that will cause it's screen casing to crack, I suggest that you visit: *www.notebookhingecrack.com
(Mine cracked and I got it replaced under warranty)

Now... u got me tensed.... warranty was for 1 year.. expired recently

Didn't you get a HP recovery disc? Weren't you able to create one from within the preinstalled OS? Such a disc is useless to many of us but HP uses it as part of their troubleshooting to isolate hardware faults from software. If you neglected to create it, well you can't really blame them.

I'm good enuf to repair my lappie myself yaar... the software side of it, of course.
Did the recovery disk and other recovery methods already. The discs work great.... but the prob returned again the next time i while copying disc image back.... using acronis D). Repeted errors.... i dont suppose it's got anything to do with the software/discs/OS.... it might b harddisk problem... but a sector scan gave no probs. Mayb I'm wrong... and acronis might b the trouble-maker... but didnt do a complete check.... too lazy & bc to troubleshoot..... right now... I'm presently ignoring it.

Since you bought the system for around the same time I did for around the same cost I did, I would like to know what configuration you got. The only difference between our purchases was that I bought it abroad.

Mine is the DV9311tx.... C2Duo T5500 1.67GHz, 2GB DDR2 RAM, 2*160GB 5400rpm harddisks, GeForce GO 7600 (no updated drivers available ), 17" WXGA HD ultrabrightview screen and not to forget mentioning.... Vista Ultimate 64-bit
Almost similar specs as yours... except for the processor, hard disk, display and OS.

 

[koshyjohn]

Now... u got me tensed.... warranty was for 1 year.. expired recently

I'm good enuf to repair my lappie myself yaar... the software side of it, of course.
Did the recovery disk and other recovery methods already. The discs work great.... but the prob returned again the next time i while copying disc image back.... using acronis D). Repeted errors.... i dont suppose it's got anything to do with the software/discs/OS.... it might b harddisk problem... but a sector scan gave no probs. Mayb I'm wrong... and acronis might b the trouble-maker... but didnt do a complete check.... too lazy & bc to troubleshoot..... right now... \
I'm presently ignoring it.

Mine is the DV9311tx.... C2Duo T5500 1.67GHz, 2GB RAM, 2 160GB harddisks, GeForce GO 7600 (no updated drivers available ), 17" HD ultrabrightview screen and not to forget mentioning.... Vista Ultimate 64-bit
Almost similar specs as yours... except for the hard disk, display and OS.

Since it is a design defect, they will fix it for you for free if you show that you are aware of it and you are prepared to fight with them a bit. Contact me if you ever reach such a situation and they ask you pay for it saying it's your fault.

Difference in specs:
C2D T7200 2GHz 4 MB L2 cache
120Gbx2
512 MB dedicated 7600 (i don't know what you have since you didn't mention - you can get drivers at *laptopvideo2go.com/)
Standard Brightview
Vista Home Premium 32 bit - lucky guy with Ultimate

I have a High Definition DVDROM drive - the kind that reads those 15/30GB discs - which lost against Bluray, didn't think it would back then .

I've never seen an Ultra brightview but I've read that multimedia looks amazing. Personally I find that even standard brightview a strain on my eyes when I program/read documents - I usually reduce brightness a lot.

 

[great_manish]

my roomie has been facing exactly the same problem with his compaq lappy...but he wont go to court...he's too scared of all that...

 

[narangz]

^^ That's the reason companies think they are the king in India.

 

[george101]

has any1 had such experience from DELL??? coz am planning to get one soon...

 

[abhishek_del]

hi! i had faced a similar problem with my HP PC which I purchased about 4 years ago...I had to get new copy of recovery cds after warranty expiration which costed me arnd 1500...yet i faced so many problems getting the cds with lot of tym wasted in calls

and uselessly hopping to customer care center only to return empty handed...it ws a pissing off experience n i hav decided to gt a dell lappy in a month n ditch my hp pc

 

[koshyjohn]

I hate to dig up an old thread but this is highly relevant.

I won the case against HP. You can view a scanned copy of the consumer court judgment at my website (DOC format). Basically HP owes me Rs.96,000 in cash or kind and the order is supposed to be executed by the first week of December.

Link to the whole ordeal: *www.koshyjohn.com/hp
Just the judgment: *www.koshyjohn.com/hp/docs/ccjudgement.doc

I hope this encourages those of you who are in similar situations to exercise your rights as a consumer.

 

[desiibond]

That's great news dude. Congratulation!!!