I want to start by saying why I made the terrible mistake of buying a HP Laptop. The reason is very simple I had two HP - Compaq laptops before this and both lasted over 4 years and both of them worked flawlessly, not once they needed a single service. I changed to upgrade to a better configuration, but who knew I was downgrading.
From the moment I bought my *new* laptop in December of 2011 the problems started. I went to an authorized HP World in Santa Cruz (West), Mumbai and picked out a decent laptop (Model: DV6 - 6154 TX) for Rs. 50,000. While purchasing the laptop I asked the person to give me an extended 2 years warranty as I wanted to be safe. He replied that I need not purchase the 2 years warranty at that time as I could do it anytime before the expiry of the official 1 year warranty (
Lie no.1)
I took my laptop to Pune and within a few days the keyboards "." got stuck. I called HP and they replaced it. (issue). After a few days my laptop started overheating on any graphic heavy application or games which used to work fine with my old machine. According to HP my new laptop which has a much better configuration than my previous laptop does not support ANY games (although it has a dedicated 1GB ATI Radeon 6490M graphics card). After some furious mails finally they replaced my motherboard (issue no. 2) and everything started working fine. Now I can go on about every issue I have ever faced in the last 1.5 years or I can just give you the jist.
Parts replaced Number of times
Motherboard 4
Keyboard 3
USB hub 2
Front cover 1
DVD drive 1
Speakers 1
Total parts replace 12
In these many parts replacement HP could have made a new laptop
Everytime a part was replaced a new issue came up almost immediately and for every issue I have had heated arguments with HP. Facing difficulty last year in September I decided that this laptop is going to give me more trouble so lets get extended warranty for 2 years. When I called HP the representative said that since I did not buy the 2 years extended warranty with the laptop I can just extend my warranty for 1 year and next year I could extend it again for 1 more year. (Cheat no. 1.
Lie no. 2). So this year I tried to get my warranty extended for another year but HP said that I can not extend my warranty now, I should have done it last year itself (
Lie no. 3)
Everytime I lodge a complaint for some reason HP can not reach me at the my given number. The whole world keeps contacting me on those numbers BUT HP has "special" telephones which refuse to dial my number it seems. (
Lies. cant even count)
Everytime HP just calls you when they like and will not even show up at the promised time. If they say 1:30pm then you can expect them to reach by 4pm. HP thinks we are waiting for them.
Latest issue which pushed me over the edge
My left speaker was not working so they came to check my laptop. They came and just checked nothing else. They ordered the speaker. When they replaced the speaker still there was no sound. So HP asked me to format my laptop (I dont know for what reason HP thinks that formatting can fix hardware issues, formatting so can not). I formatted still the speakers did not work so HP ordered a new motherboard.
When the FIRST motherboard came it was damaged when received (something called DOA), so they had to order the motherboard again.
When they received the new motherboard they started calling me while I was in middle of a seminar. I kept disconnecting the phone but HP could not understand that if I disconnecting means I am busy. So I finally picked up the phone the person was so rude she said that if I don't get the motherboard replaced that day she will void my case, I got angry and hung up. Finally she sent me an email the snapshot is attached below. The line to read is in red.
The engineer who had to visit me was not Dilip but was Sunil (Lie no. 3). The reason I marked the line is to show how HP treats its customers. The real shocking thing is that HP has the guts to make such remarks when their system and processes are not in place as the motherboard they sent was WRONG. Find the picture below of the motherboard they sent the missing port has been marked by the on-site engineer.
Finally, the correct motherboard came and the HP engineer graciously came on time to replace it. On replacing the motherboard I found that the left speaker was squeaking in comparison with right speaker. Even the engineer notice this tremendous difference in volume between the left and the right speakers. He called his superior to inform about the problem. His superior told him to tell me that the left speaker doesnt work well and the laptop is fixed. It is a clear indication on the quality of HP laptops, HP themselves are saying that their machines are crappy. Using my phone I took a decibel test using the same loop of music to show the difference.
Right only
Left only
As it is clearly seen there is a clear 20dB sound difference between the two speakers.
Finally, I got another mail filled with lies from HP. The famous HP lie "We can not reach you.". HP can not reach me because it is a company of liers and cheaters.
I understand if once my number is not reachable. But according to HP both my numbers at all times are not reachable. They are reachable ONLY when they want to contact me. To prove my point even further I am attaching a couple of more images of emails where they have said unable to reach you.
Going through my inbox I found some very interesting mails between me and HP.
HP closing the case without me giving a sign off and the email id from which they send mails does not accept mails.
Another heated email to HP. (Sorry for the spelling mistakes, had typed it on a phone in a hurry while being angry)
The reason to above mail
Another mail to HP
These are just few of the MANY mails I have written to HP.
So after all this, my conclusion and advice to everyone is:
NEVER BUY HP