Rodent Regatta

Dear Carly:

What you’re reading here is only going to get worse over the coming days. In the meantime I don’t have the laptop I sent to your company to be repaired. The longer it takes to get to me, the less concerned I become about how I characterize your firm’s treatment of me.

First, let me say that I began admiring HP and its products while a sophomore in college. Holding my very first HP35 calculator and checking its results with my sliderule, I discovered a product of enormous quality with great documentation and engineering pride behind it. Through the years, I’ve owned companies that resold HP products. I was a Fortune 500 executive at one of HP’s largest distribution customers.

Now, HP doesn’t resemble the company I so admired. A recent purchase of an HP12c Platinum calculator has been a severe disappointment. It’s slower than it’s 23-year old predecessor in some critical areas. Again, not the HP of old!

Your company has my laptop. Your company farms out phone inquiries about warranty service to a team or contractor in Bangalore, India. They have little or no visibility into the service center in Milpitas, CA. When I tell them that HP cannot find my computer in Milpitas, the folks in India can only refer to what they ”see on their CRM screens.” One person told me that HP is over five days behind in updating that information. How do I know you have my computer? FedEx’s tracking system tells me who signed for it, where and at what time.

Lest this letter become solely a gripe letter, let me offer a suggestion. Rather than posing for pictures for magazines, use that time each week to submit and track a warranty or non-warranty repair with your own company. Don’t have an assistant do it. You do it. Spend the time on hold. Act like a customer. See what your firm is doing to its customers. Get a printer repaired. Call for service on a server. Send a calculator in. Pick some Compaq products and some HP products. Mix it up a bit.

That’s my suggestion to you. I’m still waiting for my repaired computer. The story I’m telling here is already thirteen days old. What’s happened will be reported. Trust me – it’s not pretty. You won’t like what your company has done.

Please for the memory of David Packard and Bill Hewlett, fix it. If you need help, email me. I can offer some assistance that will improve things in less than thirty days. It will cost you, but it will be worth every dime you invest!

Thanks,

Steve Pilgrim