One of the companies I provide IT support for has a small number of HP business notebooks. The oldest one of the notebooks is just now turning one year old, which means its manufacturers warranty period is almost over. But we’ve really made use of the warranty because this laptop has been a serious problem child.
It’s been returned to the HP repair depot, I think four, maybe five times now for various defects. Backlight failures, keyboard flaws, you name it. The latest one is a really goofy one. The laptop simply refuses to turn off. You go Start Menu / Shut Down, and it goes through the process like it’s going to turn off
but as soon as the screen goes dark, the sucker starts right back up again (you can press and hold the power button for 10 seconds to get it to stay off). This was the problem we most recently sent it back in for
and when the laptop was returned, the repair checklist proudly stated “No problem found.” Oh, and they wiped and re-imaged the hard drive for us for good measure. No data on it, but it’s still a pain to reload and configure all the apps.
So I don’t know if we’re anywhere near the record for most hardware problems encountered and not fixed by a leading notebook manufacturer or not. I think we may be close. I’ve had a lot of luck with HP products in the past, which is why I recommended their laptops to this customer. Fortunately, the other three machines have been behaving themselves for the most part. I am not at all impressed by the service, I can tell you that much. Every manufacturer is bound to spit out a lemon now and again. I realize and acknowledge that. But please guys, will you just fix it once and for all for us? And why do you always wipe and re-image the drive when we send it in for problems not software or hard drive related? I know you have your SOPs, but exercise some common courtesy and common sense. Replacing the backlight does not require wiping the hard drive.
[tags]it support,hp business notebook,manufacturers warranty,backlight,sop[/tags]