Question:
Did I make a mistake?
Greetings all!
I just purchased a NC6400. After getting home to receive my already delivered purchase and starting to configure it I found one stuck red pixel. Contacting support I get India. I was very disappointed to have found that this has been outsourced and additionally there still is quite a considerable communication gap ( I always remain polite with these people as there is no point to be otherwise)
In any case I am awaiting a box to ship off this brand new laptop for repair. This is super frustrating and disappointing. There is no way that this repair will be back before I leave on my next trip, to say nothing of the fact that I have to load all my software on it prior to departure. The whole point of getting this thing is so that it could replace my 4+ year old Toshiba Portege with the mighty P3 installed. I really could use this new laptop as the Portege is getting frustratingly slow - otherwise I love it as it is very light.
I am concerned that this repair will negatively effect the machine and possibly screw something else up. I am very disappointed that I have to deal with this right out of the box.
Did I make a mistake in purchasing this? Is it going to be somewhat reliable? Is HP servicing going to make a bigger mess of it? How timely are they in addressing these issues and getting it repaired CORRECTLY and returned to me in good order?
From all the information that I found this machine has gotten relatively good reviews albeit there is not much information out there. The build quality appears to be ok and it is not all that heavier than my Toshiba when you factor in that I still have to carry an external CD-ROM with me and it has a much smaller screen. The other frustrating thing is that the Core 2 Duos are out as well, now I feel like I should have waited for business machines that are so equipped in a similar form factor, but then again when you do that 3 months later there is another new "latest and greatest" that has either just been released or is on the verge. Does anyone have any other experiences with a NC6400?
I am almost beginning to think that I should have gone with a Dell 620 though I have heard nightmares about Dell machines and service. I didn't want to go with Lenevo as that is a wholly owned Chinese company and I wanted to stay more on the US side of things.
Right now all I have is regret. Does anyone have anything to say that will either assuage or confirm my fears?
Answer:
Re: Did I make a mistake?
One dead pixel and they took it back? Wow, lots of manufacturers require 5+ bad ones. LCD on my desktop has 2 but after owning it for a couple weeks i found I only noticed when they were pointed out.
Dunno about the servicing them as I have a no major problems. I wish you the best of luck though :)
Answer:
Re: Did I make a mistake?
unless they've fixed it in the past month, the D 620 has a much worse screen
Answer:
Re: Did I make a mistake?
I've worked with an NC8430 and the D620. From what I've seen HP's stuff is much better.
One question though. Could you:
Keep the laptop through your next trip and ship it back afterwards? 1 Red Pixel may be anoying, but that would be a short term thing.
You might even be able to see if they'll let you pull the HDD out before shipping it back. That way, you wouldn't have to reinstall anything.
Unlikely, but worth a shot.
Answer:
Re: Did I make a mistake?
Thanks for the info. I will just have it serviced and then when I get back I will do what has to be done to configure for use on the road, after all the old one is still working (knock wood).
It is just very frustrating that things are not good to go right out of the box. I do not have a lot of luck with computers - my current desktop needed to be replaced when it was first purchased, it was completely screwed up with serious issues - motherboard, processor, the works. The Portege had to go to the shop after the external CD-ROM drive got munched within the first three months of use, and needed to be replaced.
I am hoping that this laptop repair is not going to net ongoing problems down the line.
Answer:
Re: Did I make a mistake?
Results:
Machine got sent for repairs and was returned with no work performed, even though the Indian tech rep told me that it would be fixed.
Very disappointed. This is the first time that I have ever had a stuck/dead pixel on any lcd product that I have purchased. It just stares at me like some tiny red eye, very irritating and makes me feel like I have been ripped off.
Spent over 45 minutes on the phone to India (I am getting to hate that place) telling these people that they gave me false expectations on having it fixed and that is worse than telling me that they would not fix it at all, to say nothing for the lost time pursuing nothing. When I said that I wanted a copy of the HP dead/stuck pixel policy the tech reps (first one's English was pretty bad) referred me to look it up on Google - to a link that wasn't even to a HP document! I was livid! I talked to the "Supervisor" whose English was better, but he did not want to initially do the footwork to get me the document that I needed and tried to refer me again to a web search, this time referring to ISO 9000 certification standards. I tore into him, telling him specifically that I don't care what the ISO certs are since I did not purchase the notebook from ISO and as such any rhetoric he trys to dump on me is as far as I am concerned not applicable. He finally came up with the appropriate HP document and unfortunately I am screwed regarding the stuck pixel.
I had a long conversation with him regarding the level of service I am getting out of their department in India and that communcation difficulties are rendering very poor customer service. In essence they might speak English but they demonstrated poor understanding of basic concepts. Additionally they were lazy and unwilling to do the work required of them.
In other calls with HP I forwarded my complaints to everyone I spoke with. I was able to contact someone in sales in the states and gave him my missive on these very unfortunate experiences.
In the end I tried using some software that flashes the screen in such a way that it can rehabilitate a stuck pixel. This has not worked, though I have noticed that it appears that the pixel is fading as it was really a bright red initially.
I think having a dead/stuck pixel is a ripoff. It should be 100% period.
Before I got the computer back I bought the accidental damage coverage for it. I am so frustrated with the situation I am almost inclined to take a hammer to the screen to get it replaced!
Answer:
Re: Did I make a mistake?
Well, that's rather disappointing. Maybe you should try using dead pixel buddy again in attempt to flash away that pixel.
Answer:
Re: Did I make a mistake?
I'm sorry about your problem. I've got nothing personal against outsourcing. I just wished companies outsouced to somewhere in the same general time zones as the customers. Cultural and language differences aside, these people are working graveyard shifts so they can be on during the day when Americans call. Sucks to be them.
Anyway, as an aside, I know of a co-worker who accidently stepped on his laptop and badly cracked the LCD. As he put it, it was him, his cat (who appearently tripped him) or the laptop. Accidents happen.
However, could you post a link to the dead-pixel policy so we can all benefit from that?
Answer:
Re: Did I make a mistake?
Here is the dead pixel link:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/g...reg_R1002_USEN
Answer:
Re: Did I make a mistake?
I can sympathize with your experience, firekat. Have you tried emailing HP directly? Here's their webpage for the managemenet team. There's a link for Mark Hurd's email: http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/execteam/
When I've had similar experiences, I found that contacting the corporate office in the U.S. (sometimes by letter, sometimes by email), relating what happened and how it frustrated me (politely, of course), and asking what I needed to do go get the problem fixed usually resulted in a very quick response to fix the problem.
This info isn't always easy to find. Usually, for many companies, if you go to the main page, look for "investor" or "investor relations" links, you'll be taken to the company site listing corporate officers and contact info.
Many corporate offices also have ombudsman to address these issues, and they tend to be responsive. (The only company that didn't respond positively was years ago. They eventually did provide the info I needed, but it took a while.)
Hope this helps.