Here we go again

Warning: This is ultimately a political statement but unpaid.

I will accept contributions, however. I need the money to replace the failed Samsung Galaxy Tab, and to save up for a new desktop.

The Tab was just over 6 months old and the HP Pavilion Desktop is still under the two year warranty and has its second failed hard drive if you do not count the one they first sent with a hard drive that never worked.

Every time I have trouble with my HP I get the MAC users telling me how trouble free their MAC's are. Go away. In the last three months I have had three MAC friends (PC's vs MACS is about as entrenched as Republicans vs. Democrats so I count myself lucky we still talk) that have had failed hard drives. And from what I gather their customer support sucks. HP, the last time this happened, did offer data recovery. Not MAC.

One of my friends with the failed MAC has informed me that 99% of all hard drives be they in a Dell, MAC, HP or tablet or laptop of any of those brands probably come from the same off-shore company. And what incentive do they have for making a dependable product? NONE. It is win/win for them even if we lose. They get to continually make replacement hard drives. And all their people that can speak even a modicum of English get employed in tech support centers.

We have come a long way since my mother's 25 year old Maytag that was still working when Dad bought her a new washer and dryer set. 

So it is not all about American jobs overseas. It is about accountability. Your neighbor working at the assembly plant in Detroit took pride in his role in producing Fords and he did not want to hear us complain about them. But the workers in China do not know us. And if introduced would not even understand what we were screaming. I wonder at times about even the tech support people.

HP does seem to be working on its customer service image. It was once rated one of the worst in the industry. Just a bit better than Dell. I have a friend that told me Dell has gotten better but I have no intention of finding out. But this time from HP I received an e-mail I am able to respond to about the tech problem being experienced. Last year it took me something like 6 days and twice as many phone calls to get my problem escalated (don't you love that word) to someone that might actually own a computer and know that the DVD tray is not a cup holder. It did take me over 30 days to get the computer fixed. And then it didn't work when I got it. Fortunately that time I was able to immediately talk to someone that speaks computer.

So this morning I emailed HP and let them know I think the solution their tech (I do hate using that word for someone speaking from a set list of phrases that constantly has to put you on hold to go ask someone else what to do if that just did not work) came up with is wrong. A recovery disk returning the computer to factory specifications won't work. There are bad sectors on this hard drive. And if I have to go to the problem of restoring all my programs and backing up all my data I want it to work.

I do not want to go back to the incident on the last computer where I insisted it was a hard ware problem and they were adamant it was not. Two days of erasing and recovering and it did not work. Turns out that when they replaced the memory sticks (those had failed in 30 days) they had unplugged the wireless internal modem.

But I do not know that industry today wants anything to work. They make too much money re-selling you a new version of the failed product and promising that major improvements were made. It isn't just that all our money goes overseas it is that it does it again and again and again.

My first computer lasted me over 12 years. I bought a new one because of the internet and a need for more RAM because I changed what I did with it. Since then no computer, except my laptop, has made it past four. It is the manufacturing version of the food industries smaller packages at the same prices. In case you hadn't noticed there is no such thing as a 50 pound bag of dog food any more. And the 25 pound bag is now 17.

I do not think I want to trust my government to a CEO. Their track record with the products I purchase is not that good.

A Modest Proposal

Aiming for the Ponytail Joe

As the previous blogs indicate I have been battling HP computer company and Fedex shipping over the issue of incompetency when it comes to dealing with my under warranty HP Pavilion Desktop computer that broke over Labor Day weekend.

I was promised it would be fixed in 7 to 10 business days and we are now on the 7th business day and it sits boxed and ready to go but without a shipping label. HP forgot to include it in the box shipped to me. But Fedex refuses to allow HP to e-mail me a label to print. Not the label has to be shipped Fedex!

I live in a rural area and we love our UPS service. And know our mailman by name. We often chat with both before they go on with their scheduled deliveries. But nobody in my area likes Fedex or Ponytail Joe, the current Fedex man. We groan when some internet company we have purchased from gives us confirmation of shipment and a Fedex tracking number. I personally shifted from one art supplier to another due to their shipping methods. DickBlick ships USPS or UPS depending upon the product. Cheap Joe's shipped Fedex.

I know big companies sign contracts with shippers, but these contracts are not exclusive. When I had my mask business I, for a short while, had accounts with both UPS and Fedex so they would pick up. So why can't the Internet customer be given a choice on shipper. We are already given a choice on bargain, standard, second day air, etc. Just a couple more options, an invisible to the consumer calculation behind the scenes to figure shipping cost and the customer is happier.

I love shopping on line but it gets complex for me because my billing address is a rural route box and my UPS or Fedex delivery address in a street address with a different postal code. Unless I know how the company I am dealing with plans to ship I don't know what address to give them. UPS has developed an agreement with USPS and hands over a package with a rural box number to the delivering post office. Fedex doesn't. But if I could choose my delivery method no problem. And I would never, ever have anything delivered Fedex.

We are being denied choice. I have complained to HP that admits the error Fedex made by not delivering a second day air package on the second day. And they admit that not being allowed to e-mail me a label creates further delay. They apologized for the error of their shipping department with the label. Fedex complaint department apologized for any inconvenience the tardy shipment or their new policy has created but that does not get my business computer fixed.

Yesterday I was told that the label would not be picked up by Fedex till Wednesday ergo I might be lucky to get it Friday and maybe not. If I had the money I would just buy and MAC as long as it would be shipped UPS.

Thank You, HP, for Totally Ruining My Month

It was this or a rendering of the Spanish Inquisition. HP has be raped and strapped to the rack and is holding me hostage. I either have to wait for them to deliver the replacement for their faulty desktop or wait for them to give me a refund (5 to 10 days to process). The first way I don't get a computer before the 30th of December. And the latter way I don't get the money to buy a new computer before it is too late to get one before the end of the year from another computer company.

HP management is very fond of the word escalate, which too me brings to mind wars and hostility. And yes I am hostile now because I seem to be the only one escalating. They seem to move on at their funeral dirge pace. So I went to Wiktionary and looked up the word. Please note that definition one is my understanding.

to escalate (third-person singular simple present escalates, present participle escalating, simple past and past participle escalated) (transitive and intransitive)

1. to increase (something) in extent or intensity; to intensify or step up
   

   Violence escalated during the election.

   The shooting escalated the existing hostility.



2. in technical support, to transfer a telephone caller to the next higher level of authority
   

   The tech 1 escalated the caller to a tech 2

 HP has definitely escalated the hostility I feel for them at this point. They have been playing with my $800 without payment of interest. All other on line companies do not take the money from your account until they ship. So technically HP ought to have credited me the money back when I returned the non-working computer and then not taken it back out until they shipped the new (hopefully working) computer. But no. They gave me a $70 credit for my time fighting with their faulty computer this call but that does not get put into my account until 5 to 10 days after they ship my new computer (hopefully a working HP Pavilion).


Nothing seems to escalate the pace at which HP is handling their problem. And make no mistake it is their problem. They built and shipped a faulty computer. May I, HP Management, suggest another word - Expedite. Once you escalated my problem (which is fact your problem) you should have expedited my claim of faulty manufacturing and expedited the shipment of a replacement to me.

to expedite (third-person singular simple present expedites, present participle expediting, simple past and past participle expedited)

1. (transitive) To accelerate the progress of.
   

   He expedited the search by alphabetizing the papers.



2. (transitive) To perform (a task) fast and efficiently.

Your people do not perform fast and efficiently. I will be without a computer for 24 days longer than necessary. A company computer that should be updatng my website during the holiday season, that is needed for preparation of end of the year paperwork and tax documents, that should be available for photo editing to prepare submissions to spring and summer fairs (my bread and butter). But not only do I not have a working computer capable of such tasks but you won't ship it till the 28th of December.

In point of fact you are also making it impossible for me to get a refund and order another brand of computer in any faster time frame. You have ruined December and are well on your way to ruining half of the new year, because your build of a grossly inferior product has put me 30 days behind at the least.

Don't expect me to ever purchase another HP. You have escalated this issue to total hostilities as far as I am concerned.

PS - I used to work for corporate American and I know how the game is played. What I totally understand as a small business owner is that it is not a game from our point of view. And even if you think you have won all these little escalations you have ultimately lost the battle.

Why, HP, Must I Be Punished

I all fairness let me first say I am not really neutral on computers right not. I have been dealing for over a month with a three year old HP desktop computer that a local nerd, in the business to save computers, killed after losing 3 years of data.

Yes, I backed up, but to an external hard drive that failed. So I was forced to go shopping for a computer when I did not have the time nor the money. Nor quite frankly was I feeling warm and fuzzy about the boxes or the people that worked on them. But computer shopping I had to do. I am a small business and while I have a laptop for play I need the desktop for lots of year end business stuff and beginning of the new year submissions of art for fairs throughout 2011.

HP had a cyber Monday sale that extended through the following Tuesday and I found a computer, that while not the one of my dreams, met my minimum requirements, fit my budget and would be delivered within a week. The HP Pavilion arrived on December 6th and I unpacked and plugged it in. Suffice it to say I am not a novice at this, but the HP computer with Windows 7 would not boot up so I called tech support and was shocked to find that in spite of all promises to move their tech support back to the United States they are in Manila.

After 2 1/2 hours of trying to become belatedly bilingual I threw in the towel. The HP desktop would not even complete a short smart disk check and would not even begin a long one. I asked to speak to a supervisor. NOW. That took about 10 minutes of waiting. The supervisor, after getting my summation of the problem, wanted to refer the matter to a case manager (they are in the US) so they could get approval to repair my brand new, non-functioning HP computer.

Up to this point (well, accept for the NOW demand) I had been rather nice in spite of carpel tunnel from hitting F8, F9, F10, and F11 keys while rebooting. But repairing the HP Pavilion was not my problem. I bought and paid for a working computer not a repaired computer. They played broken record that they could not okay this. I played broken record that the only acceptable solution was a brand new working computer or a full and immediate refund. The Case Manager would call me back before 48 hours. I could only think of all the files that had to be rebuilt before the end of the year for my small business. Tick Tock.

Twenty-four hours, and two case report reference numbers, later I was called by a case manager. And like being in a doctor's office I had to again repeat all the symptoms of my still born HP Pavilion. I think they had the file in front of them and were looking for any discrepancies so they could negate my claim. Ok, I was getting paranoid. They did approve a new computer which they told me would be $35 more expensive. "Oh, no you don't," I said in a voice that made all the fur kids run and hide, "You eat that." We compromised on $5.35. Let them win the little issues.

I packed up the HP computer in its original box, printed out the approved pre-paid return label and dropped it off at the designated Fedex pick up spot. HP got it the next morning. Time was of the essence because I was informed they would not build my new replacement computer until the non-working HP was returned even though they have kept my money. I was pleased this morning to see they had processed my order. Build Date: December 28th! Maybe.

So I have two questions, HP. One, is why am I being punished for your errors on this Pavilion Desktop? And two, given that I would go pencil and paper before I went Dell, which computer company do I go to when I want to replace my HP Pavilion Laptop? Currently you are out of the running.

Customers used to be right. Now we have to prove we are not guilty and we are still punished via time and money for our mistakes. This mistake, HP, could cost me way through next June because of the fairs and exhibits I cannot apply for because through no fault of my own my old HP failed and my purchase new HP was trash. And your response to a small business owner that used your products has been hostile and frustrating.