Hewlett Packard Technical Support?

I recommend that you strongly consider the technical support that you will get, before you purchase any HP Pavilion product. I was extremely disappointed by their inflexible and shortsighted policies.

The GJT runs on an HP 8775C. It is a nice machine.

HOWEVER, I strongly recommend that you consider HP technical support before you purchase one of these machines. It is not what you think!

I have purchased, to date, seven of the HP Pavilion models for both home and business. I have not had any problems with any of these models, until I purchased the HP 8775C that runs the GJT. I purchased these machines, as opposed to some generic brand, because I wanted the weight of HP behind the support.

BOY, was I wrong!

When the new GJT machine arrived, I started the machine and let it run for 24 hours. After this burn-in period, I attempted to Ghost off the drive before installing Linux. The machine had been up and running for over 24 hours without a problem. However, when I started to write the CDR, the machine started to smell like burnt electronics. Then, when Ghost attempted to close the session on the CDR, the drive ejected and immediately re-inserted the disk, and Ghost reported an error.

I attempted to write several CDR's with different software (Easy CD, cdrecord, and Ghost), and all failed with the same result. Finally, I replaced the drive with a new one, and everything worked fine.

Conclusion, drive is broken.

I called technical support, and the process was very professional. The tech support people are very good. The tech support person also concluded that the drive was broken and explained that I would need to send the machine to HP for repair. I then explained that the machine was running the GJT, and I simply could not afford to drop the machine, re-install Windows ME (eek!), and send it to HP to wait weeks for its return. Support indicated that this was the only option they had.

Ok. I understand the hierarchy. So, I asked for a manager. I was handed to a Senior Tech Support (STS) person. I explained everything to this person, and they indicated that they also believed the drive to be broken. The STS person then agreed that my case was not the norm, being that the machine was being used as a server and that I was relatively competent to determine the status of the drive. The STS agreed to send my case for special consideration to the Customer Resource Center (CRC). I thought everything was handled really well up to this point.

However, the next day, the Customer Resource Center called and left a message stating that they would not replace the drive and that I would have to ship the entire machine in "to bench". Worse, the machine would have to be reinstalled back to its original Windows ME operating system.

No exceptions could be made to their policy, they explained.

I fully understand why this policy exists for a consumer machine. However, as with any policy, there are exceptions in the real world, and that is why humans enter the picture to handle these exceptions. Their own STS person agreed this was the exception, and agreed to send it to CRC for review.

So, even though everyone agrees that the drive is broken, and even though I have offered to send in the broken drive for confirmation, and would wait for the new drive to be sent back, HP refuses to make any exception to their handling of warranty for this machine. Even though the procedure would cost everyone, including HP, more money due to the increased cost to ship the machine as opposed to just the drive. Even though shipping machines exposes all of the other components, such as the hard drive, to possible failure due to mishandling. Even though it would cost me more than the price I paid for the machine to have the downtime. Even though their Senior Tech Support agrees that it would be better for everyone involved to just replace the drive.

So, why am I going back to purchasing DELL computers? They have never left me hanging like this. They have always replaced hardware anytime it has failed. They have always been able to make exceptions for their customers. I purchased the HP specifically for the name and the tech support that I thought it represented.

However, the name, like the King, has no clothes on!

Tim Endres