Rodent Regatta

HP was once known for quality and over-engineered products. This category of entries documents what HP has become. You can catch up on the entire series by reading these:

• Atlas Did More Than Shrug
• First Do No Harm – Thus begins Volume 1
• Volume 2 of The Saga
• An Open Letter to Carly
• Volume 3 of The Saga
• HP Remains Clueless
• Volume 4 of The Saga
• Volume 5 of The Saga
• Volume 6 of The Saga

I couldn’t think about the laptop on 7-31-03. It was hot. The house had no electricity. I hadn’t slept well in days. I knew something was fouled up at HP regarding my laptop, but I couldn’t figure out what.

During my last two calls, I had asked both Theresa and Ryan if there was any way at all to ”keep them on the case.” Was there a way for me to reach them if I had any additional questions? Both assured me that they couldn’t personally take ownership of a customer’s problem.

By Friday, August 1, 2003, my curiosity was killing me. I decided to call at 11:40 a.m. Using HP’s ever-changing voice-activated menu system, I responded ”repair status” when told to do so by the voicebot. Jodie answered, asked for my CSO# and said she was transferring me to the Pavilion notebook repair department. I held for some horrible period of time.

Thomas answered the phone. He asked for my CSO#. He told me it would be 3 to 5 days before HP could arrange to pick up my computer. I kid you not! That’s what he said.

I went nuts. I explained when HP got my laptop and who signed for it. Thomas said he wasn’t sure that was correct. It wasn’t what his system showed. We argued. He asked for the FedEx airbill number in a way that made me think he thought I didn’t have it.

He went to FedEx’s web site, quoted to me what I had already told him and said, Wednesday will be the fifth business day from the time HP received my laptop so they were still within the promised service window. Thomas asked if there was anything else HP could do for me today. I assured him there wasn’t a thing more that HP could do for me.

I hung up the phone and decided to take a couple of days off. Eleven people at HP had checked ”the system.” Eleven phone calls had been placed. Two faxes had been sent. The laptop had been in HP’s hands for 48 hours. Clearly, they needed more time. A lot more!