HP is definitely wearing me out

It's a game of survival basically. I called my HP Executive Case Manager (ECM) immediately after my laptop returned from being repaired and expressed my disappointment that only the heatsync fan was replaced and the graphic card was left alone along with the rest of the motherboard even though I smelled it burning! The ECM said there was nothing she could do about the repair that since the repair order was submitted by a tech in India she didn't have access to it so even though I was speaking to her for over a week about the problem and how it would be fixed she couldn't update the repair order to communicate with the repair tech! What? Your kidding me. Really?

I even wrote a detailed letter to the repair tech explaining what happened and what I suspected were the problems. That didn't help either.

The call with the ECM got disconnected and since I had waited 30 minutes on hold to talk to her in the first place I didn't have the energy to call back. So later I called the Executive Customer Relations (ECR) I was speaking with and expressed my disappointment not only with the repair but with HP's processes, and the fact that no one at HP considers these failing graphics cards to be an issue even though there are hundreds if not thousands of affected people. Some people have documented their failure and HP experiences here.

But, that didn't help as the ECR just doesn't get it. Not only am I unhappy with my repair I also want to make suggestions to HP for where they just aren't getting it when it comes to customer service and the processes they employ. But...lol, I'm crazy to apparently think they would want to improve as a company. Does it help I have an MBA and I worked as slave labor while in grad school at Compaq right when the merger was taking place? No.

The next time I spoke with the ECM she told me that both her and my voices were little and that HP was a huge company and I'd never be heard. I told her I begged to differ as I work for a very large corporation and my voice is heard and my company does improve their processes on a daily basis.

So while I try to speak on behalf of the many of us who are experiencing this graphics card failure, the only thing I have been able to do is get a 2nd repair on my laptop. That's right. It goes back in this week for repair. Who knows how long they will have it or what they will do to it this time.

Laptop back from HP

My laptop returned from the HP Service Center yesterday. Unfortunately all they replaced was the GPU fan which means they took care of one of the symptoms but not the cause. Had laptop on last night for a few hours and the temp got up to 72 deg C which while hot is not anywhere near as hot as it was getting before hand. However, my laptop did spontaneously shut itself down a few times which was odd. So, we will see what happens in the next few weeks.

NVIDIA Graphic Controller Chip Litigation

I finally came across one class action lawsuit involving NVIDIA, Dell, and HP and that lack of acknowledgment about the faulty graphics cards. What's even worse is the computer manufacturers are charging people $400 and up to repair the laptops and all they are doing is putting in a fresh faulty chip (which then fails even quicker than the first one did). I'm glad there is a class action lawsuit and have heard there are at least three different ones filed through the U.S. I'm ready to join. Bring it on.

Read the complaint.

The law firm's website says the following: If you have purchased any of the foregoing products and wish to discuss your legal rights or this litigation, please call us at 1-(800)-922-4851 or Contact Us to submit a request for more information.

Wired Blog on NVIDIA/HP/Dell Faulty Graphics Cards

There is a WIRED Blog entry on this issue of getting NVIDIA, HP, and Dell to admit that the faulty graphics card are causing laptops to fail at an alarming rate.

New Executive Case Manager

Last night a new Executive Case Manager (ECM) called me and she is soooo much nicer than the previous one and she actually listens and understands what I'm saying to her.

The following is what I found out from her:
1) They are replacing (for my series of laptops) the graphics card with the exact same one, Nvidia 8400M. I have asked her to confirm the manufacturing dates of these cards they are replacing our faulty ones with. If they are additional faulty cards, then in a year we are back to the same problem.
2) They are not taking the graphics card out of laptop A, repairing it and then putting it in laptop B. Well, at least that's not HP's policy I'm told.
3) Nor are they just repairing the graphics cards and sticking them back in the same laptop. Everyone should be receiving new graphics cards.
4) If the motherboard has to be replaced then it is highly likely the hard drive will need to be reset to factory conditions. I admit I'm not a computer expert....but this prepares me for a laptop coming back wiped clean.

But, per the forums this is not happening. Heck, even an employee at HP is having the same issues with his personal laptop and not getting the service he needs.

I found another website dedicated to this nVidia issue at HP. It's called, HP Lies. How sad is that?

HP continues to amaze me (and not in a good way)

Someone please let me know when customer service has turned into this? Really, we have a known defect with a graphics card affecting thousands of computers, the OEM has provided almost $200 million to pay for repairs, and HP is fighting it tooth and nail.

The saga continues...

Over the weekend I had left a message for my original Case Manager asking him to please call me back on Monday and that I wanted to file a complaint against the Executive Case Manager (ECM). No shock - he didn't call. So I attempted to call him and wasn't allowed to speak with him because it had been assigned to an ECM, the person who wasn't helping me and was quite rude. I was told to leave a message and she would return my call. Instead I received an email that stated she already explained everything to me. I replied saying I have additional concerns about the repair and that I wanted to be transferred to a different ECM.

Then I called her thinking perhaps she just had a bad day on Friday. Oh no, that was being too generous. She was just as horrible today as she was then. It was a mistake to call her and expect customer service.

This morning I called Corporate Headquarters so I could file a complaint with Executive Customer Relations (ECR) and I politely explained my complaint against the ECM and how I wanted to be transferred to another ECM for my case. The corporate person I spoke with said the ECM was perfectly within HP's policy and transferred me back to her! I wasn't even allowed to file my complaint. I was shocked. I couldn't believe she too wasn't listening to me.

My original ECM, Cindy, was unavailable at this point so someone else spoke with me and told me that the ECR said to put me back in touch with Cindy who was on another line. I explained to this new person I was speaking with that Cindy was incredibly rude and I was attempting to file a complaint when I got transferred back to them. I was told that my request for a new ECM was being handled (yeah) and someone would call me back tomorrow morning.

But, no I'm not done yet because I still need to file my complaint and when I called the ECR back this time I received a person who understood what I was explaining and now I filed a complaint against the ECM and the ECR. She said she would send my case to the leads of both departments and that this behavior was unacceptable. Well, I agree.

Now, I still need to get my laptop fixed and I'm SO SCARED to send it off to HP's repair shop as I've read horrible things that have happened to people's laptops voiding their warranties by HP blaming the customers for things like liquid spillage. I'm going to have to take tons of pictures of my laptop (inside and out) to make sure I have documentation of the condition I send it in. And of course - I'm still trying to get a gurantee that they will replace the graphics card and not repair it.

New Tactic with HP

I came up with a new plan for dealing with HP and that was to make sure they had the type of graphics card that is in my laptop properly documented. So tonight I called them and spoke to a very nice guy in India even though we had trouble understanding each other. I found out btw he has an electrical engineering degree. Everyone should be asking the following question: why is he working in an HP call center?

It took an hour on the phone with him but I think the objective of the phone call was achieved. He documented that my graphics card is an nVidia 8400M and that my request of the repair technician is to replace the graphics card with a non-faulty one instead of "repairing" the graphics card. I'm very uneasy about sending the laptop in for repair based on the hundreds of people who have had issues with their computers failing even after the repairs.

I also shared with him that the rude escalated Case Manager (named Cindy) said HP would never replace my laptop and he apologized for her and said she should never have said that. I'm glad someone in this world agrees with me on that one.

Interestingly though, when I asked him if he could confirm my graphics card was on the list of faulty graphics cards he said he wasn't allowed to do that. Hmmm...