So back in winter I dropped my laptop and it chipped the outer shell and caused some cosmetic piece to pop off. The laptop turned out to be fine, but I called into HP Customer Service because I had the extended warranty only to discover accidents weren't covered but they could fix it for $298. However, since I decided to order the iPad when it was available I thought $298 and the loss of my laptop for up to 7 business days wasn't worth it.
Fast forward to yesterday and my "N" key popped off. I tried popping it back on but it didn't work. The Control button also popped off a few months ago but I didn't use it so I didn't care, but the N key is a big deal. So I went over to HP support which is always such a "treat" and couldn't find any documentation on how to fix it so I contacted support. In a nut shell, they would replace the keys for free, but if they found it was due to an accident they would charge me $298 but in either case I'd be without my laptop for 7 business days. So I started to think, hmmmm, cracked shell with a chip missing, what are the odds they are going to try and charge me $298 for a repair? If their customer service/repairs department is a profit making unit, pretty good, right?
So I googled "replace key on hp pavilion laptop" and right at the top I found this article on how to replace keys on a HP Pavilion DV1000 which was close enough to my current laptop model. In about 2 minutes I had the key replaced and therefore didn't need the service. In fact, the entire online chat with HP's rep took almost 45 minutes to setup the process - too long and too tedious.
So this got me thinking. How damn hard would it be to put that documentation on HP's website? How many people have shipped their laptop back for something that took about 2 minutes to fix? Besides the chat and losing my laptop for 7 business days, I'd have to remove all passwords and backup all of my files - all for a damn key.
You know what I learned from all of this? Extended warranties are crap. HP customer service (not the rep) was crap - I get trying to upsell clients but for a damn process that took 2 minutes to fix you couldn't put that on your website? In this area of transparency, crowd sourcing, and instant satisfaction via web search, couldn't HP do a better job of trying to put easy fixes out there especially for us suckers that bought the extended warranty? I don't think extended warranties are worth it and perhaps all of the money I pay for a Windows - HP laptop isn't worth it anymore either...
PardonmyFrench,
Eric
Comments