Arrgh - So annoyed!

[SteveB_NI]

Scenario is this: out of warranty HP laptop requires a new motherboard possibly due to failing to boot / access BIOS / do anything - so I call a local company who is recommended by the education board to book it in for a replacement.

I phoned 2 days ago & was told I would be called back soon to arrange for collection etc.

As of 10am today - no call.

As it's quite important this is fixed ASAP I phoned and spoke to the service department to enquire on the current status of my call... to be told quite harshly that they will call me sometime - as they are very busy at the mo. Thats nice of them - I informed him that we are likewise very busy, but that I would have appreciated if they had of informed me of this at the time of logging the call.

I lost my usually calm temper at this point & told him that as it's an urgent job I could do with it being replaced ASAP and by a company that can tell me when they will do it. They promised to try and rush it through but I'm at the stage now where I don't want to give them the business.

Anyone used HP's own technical support?

[Diello]

"who is recommended by the education board" - there's your problem right there... What, exactly, qualifies them to know a good IT company?!

Haven't used HP for a couple of years, but always got good service in times past.

[speckytecky]

Originally Posted by SteveB_NI

Scenario is this: out of warranty HP laptop requires a new motherboard possibly due to failing to boot / access BIOS / do anything - so I call a local company who is recommended by the education board to book it in for a replacement.

I phoned 2 days ago & was told I would be called back soon to arrange for collection etc....

Anyone used HP's own technical support?

My thoughts on this are:

1. Get back to the LEA and tell them of your bad experience with the local company.

2. Give HP a call - I know you said it's out of warranty but you may be surprised at how helpful they might be. That's certainly my experience recently with Dell who gave me a bundle of help with an out of guarantee server recently. Help so above and beyond the call of duty it will make Dell hard to beat when we come to replace our server.

[Halfmad]

report the experience to both the LEA and the company directors.

then get you hands on a board and replace it yourself, its the only way it'll be done quickly.

[GrumbleDook]

Call the HP education team (they don't do direct sales remember) and tell them you are wiping off every HP reseller from your purchasing list due to the poor service of the central support team. Then tell all the local HP resellers you may have used for other things as well (projectors, consumables, etc) that whilst they are HP resellers you will not buy from them due to the poor HP support.

We got 3 printers and two laptops with issues sorted within 3 days after we had been waiting nearly 3 months when dealing with HP direct for out of warranty kit.

[SteveB_NI]

A little update...

Shortly after the call to the rude company, I contacted my friend who has an IT business who offers a repairs service. He agreed to do the work for us, and has already collected the laptop & looked into it. I didn't realise we could pick and choose who to ship out repairs to but thankfully we can! I would still like to replace it myself though - unfortunately however it may not be the board.

The initial company phoned back later that day and stated they were experiencing difficulty in finding the parts required. Once I finally could get a word in I told them in no uncertain terms that I was not happy with their service and although we had used them in the past, we would look elsewhere in future. Not a big deal to them I guess, but it made me feel better!

I'm hoping to get my friends company more involved in the school - for things like supplying us with toner, printers etc.

[localzuk]

SteveB - why not tell us who the company is so others in your area can avoid them?