Imagewise Ltd.

In today's world the personal computer has become an ever increasing important tool and for me this is very true. On July 05, 2005 my laptop was accidentally run over completely destroying the system. Because I had a customer engagement the following week I drove two hours to my nearest CompUSA store only to discover the extended warranty that CompUSA sold me did not cover accidental damage as described by the CompUSA salesman when I bought the system. Being that I had to meet with a customer the following week with a working system I purchase a HP Livestrong system with WinXP Pro.

Initially the only complaint about the system was the bright rectangle shaped screen. The bright screen was great in dark areas but if there was any light behind me the reflection was really bad news. Then I discovered that the rectangle screen distorted the image. For most people this is no big deal but if you work with graphics it is a very big deal. Also the rectangle screen gave you a very limited vertical viewing range and for my work this created additional problems however I made my best to accept the short comings and use the system. Over the next few weeks I discovered that everything on the screen that should be white would "sometimes" turn a bright green and after considerable testing I discovered that the issue was hardware related. The only solution to remove the "green" was to turn the system off and leave it off for a few hours. I was very confident that it was hardware related because the issue was present and I booted the system I would see a "green" Compaq logo before any system code started to function.

While on a trip the week of 08/15 I called HP ( Hewlett-Packard ) service center and after considerable discussion with the service representative we agreed that it was a hardware issue. Because I was on a business trip a pickup was scheduled for 08/26 and it was picked up by FedEx about 1500 hours on 08/26.

On 08/29 the service center called and explained that they could not reproduce the problem. After considerable discussion "I thought" I had convinced the service representative to either replace the "most likely" component or put my hard drive in a new system and return it to me as soon as possible. He stated he would check into it and get back to me and I made him aware that I needed my system back as soon as possible because I was going to be on the road again 09/10.

By 08/31 I had not received a call back and became concerned and started my calls to the support center and on the average called twice a day attempting to get a status and requesting that my system be shipped back immediately. Every day the service representative issued a request to the service center that my unit be shipped back to me. On 09/01 I was informed that the LCD screen had been replaced and they were testing. Again I requested that the system be shipped back to me immediately.

After getting zero results and calling at least twice a day on 09/06 I escalated to higher channels and started to work with Adam (Hewlett-Packard case manager) and was informed that he had the power to get results. Each day I called Adam only to be told that he was working on the case and the service center was not responding with any meaningful information. I requested that he call the center but was informed that his only method of contact with the service center was via email and the committed service response time was 12 hours after he sent in a request but normally they responded within four hours.

Late on 09/07 I was informed that the notebook had been shipped and on 09/08 I received the unit and immediately upon booting the system I noticed that it was NOT my hard drive image and the note included with the system stated that NO REPAIR had been done. I attempted to install some of my applications and discovered that "some" resulted in failure. As I attempted to install during the installation the system would power off as if the AC adapter and battery were removed. I immediately called Adam and explained that it was not my hard drive image and the installation issue I had encountered. He promised to contact the service center and get back to me. Friday AM I again called Adam and he did not have an update for me but would get back to me by the end of business.

In the PM I again called and was informed that Adam had left for the day. At this time I attempted to escalate to a possible higher channel but as it turned out I had already reached the highest channel (sorry to say) and made contact with Melanie (another Hewlett-Packard case manager). At this time I was informed that:

I was offered a system replacement but when I stated "I don't' feel that I can trust HP and would rather have my money back" Melanie offered to buy back my system and to do this she needed a copy of my purchase receipt.

While on the road Monday 09/12 I faxed a copy of my receipt. Within a short period of time I received a voice message from Melanie stating that the fax was unreadable. I then made a copy as clear as possible and re faxed within minutes and because I was on the road I provided various different forms of contact information for me.

On 09/16 I called the Hewlett-Packard case manager line and spoke to Nicholas. He informed me that he was now the case manager but was not aware of my fax. After a few minutes he was able to find the fax but would have to review the case and determine what they would offer as a buy back.

It seems that every time I call the Hewlett-Packard case manager line I get a different answer. In a nutshell I fell that Hewlett-Packard is not really interested in the small consumer and has no regard for the damage inflected on the small consumer.

My HP (Hewlett-Packard)War Story and why I suggest that you DO NOT buy an HP (Hewlett-Packard) computer