Update 2 on WM5 HP Support

This is a bit long, but please be patient. It is informative and
useful information.

Regarding the unresolvable flaws in WM 5, and my ongoing process with
them (see previous posts by me):

I spoke to several dozen people at HP, got forwarded around to a bunch
of departments, including "Customer Relations," "Executive Customer
Response," (whatever the hell that means), and this one's great:
"Customer Satisfaction Mission Control," I KID YOU NOT.

They are going to send me a new hx2410 in exchange for my 2490, which
is basically the same as the 2490 but with PPC 2003 SE. Actually I
think it has a drop more user memory than my 2490. They are making an
exception for me which they say they ordinarily wouldn't do. I pointed
out that it is very unordinary a situation, where an entire product
model line is inherently defective. They actually seemed to concede
that.

Anyway, the 2410 is on back-order so they said they're not sure when I
would receive it but probably within the next week or two. I won't
hold my breath. I did verify this status by looking it up on my
distributor's website - it actually is on backorder believe it or not.

Part of the discussions disturbed me, and I will try to explain
briefly what it was that bothered me:

HP has a policy that only "Authorized Resellers" can sell HP products.
Nobody can stop anyone else from selling an HP product, but HP
actually does not honor any return policy or exchange if it was not
purchased from an Authorized Reseller.

Now, I AM an Authorized Reseller, but I was able to get this unit from
someone on eBay for cheaper than I could even from my distributor.
Nearly $50 cheaper! Who wouldn't take advantage of a deal like that?
It was brand new, still in shrink-wrapped box; the person probably got
it as a gift or he got it cheap as a promotion. Anyway, the seller
won't take returns for a working product, and I cannot blame him - why
should he? It was in brand new condition; the fact that there is a
defect in the product's OS is not his problem. I don't contest that.

HP say they only give refunds for products that were purchased
directly from them. However, they charge so much more than any place
online, but they said even an Authorized Reseller would be ok, because
that seller would give a refund. I asked what recourse an Authorized
Reseller would then have, if they were to give a refund to the end
user? They said that the Reseller then would get a refund from HP. I
pointed out that I AM a reseller, so let's just pretend I sold this to
my cousin, and he returned it to me for a refund. I am now requesting
a refund. NO. They said since I didn't get it from an Authorized
Reseller, they don't refund or exchange (remember, they are making an
exception for me, but this is their policy). So basically, the chain
of sale must always be through "Authorized" sellers all the way until
the end-user. Once that chain is broken by a private sale, HP can duck
out of ANY warranty obligations they want to. They usually don't, when
it comes to repairs, mostly because they cannot start tracing the
chain of sale for every product. They definitely do duck out of any
exchange or refund policy, though.

This is not the first time HP has simply refused to honor a policy,
even one for which they have NO caveats to get them out of their
obligations.

A number of years ago, maybe back in 1999 or 2000 or so, I was working
for another company (also, HP Authorized Resellers). We sold 3 HP
Vectra VL PCs to a client. A few weeks went by, and suddenly two of
the three units died. It was too late for a DOA return to the
distributor, so we had to go through HP. The problem turned out to be
the PSUs (Power Supply Units) on both systems. So obviously I
requested parts replacement. I even offered to do the installation
myself, even though they are supposed to. They said the PSUs for those
units were unavailable! Well, well, well... so basically you pay much
more money for an HP computer because of the _Reputation and the _Name
and the _Guarantees, but in this case they had no replacement parts
and they had no ETA on them either. So basically, their "next day"
repair policy is out the window.

After hours of yelling and threats (the words "lawsuit" and "boycott"
may have popped up a few times in the conversations; let's just say
the company I worked for sold A LOT of HP merchandise and it would
have certainly hurt them if we stopped), they were forced to send us
two brand new Vectras, which of course, had working PSUs.

A year or so ago, I sold a multifunction printer to a client, along
with a JetDirect external to share it on the network. Take note this
spcific JetDirect model is listed in HP's Reseller product guide as
the specific product appropriate for this printer. Well, we had a lot
of trouble with it, and in the end I got through to a JetDirect
Engineer who said that this JetDirect unit was incompatible with the
printer we were using, and he was shocked that it was listed as the
appropriate accessory. They did send me a new unit, one that is
compatible, but I spent one entire business day on tech support calls
only to come to this conclusion. I didn't charge my client for the
time, because I felt it would be unjustified. They bought a new
product from me, and it did not function as promised. You see, I do
stand behind my services and do not attempt to duck out of them like
sleazy HP. As far as I'm concerned, therefore, HP is indebted to me
for $780 for my day's service, but that is obviously never going to be
realized.

It is because of these and many other incidents that I have not sold
an HP product in a long time, nor do I intend to, ever again. I do
like the iPAQ and I figured I could deal with any troubleshooting as
long as it is my own, not for a client, but there is no way I am going
to make a client of mine spend a ton more money for an HP product when
almost every other manufacturer sells for cheaper. It just is not
worth the money, as HP has consistently ducked out of their
warranties, and their technical support is awful - I often find myself
speaking with someone in another country who has virtually no
technical knowhow whatsoever. Below-Minimum-Wagers over VOIP reading
from canned solution scripts... that's what the high & holy HP has
resorted to. At least Dell has the decency to sell their systems dirt
cheap because of these kinds of savings.

I realize I have been rather long-winded, and I hope some of you have
followed me through to this point. My purpose is to enlighten people
and advise them as to the serious inadvisability of purchasing HP
products. I have a long history as a reseller of HP, as well as many
other manufacturers, and in all the years I've been doing the work I
do, I find that HP's overall quality of product and service has
declined consistently and constantly, to the point where all you're
getting is expensive trash. It is shameful, and people should simply
stay away from their stuff. They don't deserve your money.

Comments/questions/etc. very welcome.

Atreju


---Atreju---
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