I called the number, and amazingly, I got a support person who spoke English! She was very accommodating, and handed my case up to a case manager. After being on the phone for about an hour with this person, and after having him try and get out of it as many different ways as he could, he finally told me that a “2 year extension” included the year that was purchased with the laptop. Does this make sense to anyone? I was not happy, telling him that the support agent who sold it to me led me to believe that it was actually two years, and asking why there was also a year extension offered. The guy did not have an acceptable response to this, but he did say something that I find funny: “Sir, you can’t expect our older products to last that long. They are sort of like cars, they could last two to three years, or they could last twenty.” This did nothing to help the matter.
He then informed me that he could do an “out of warranty” service that would cost either $250 if the problem was not on the LCD or the motherboard, or $650 if it was on the motherboard. I informed him that there were problems on both, since the network card is built into the motherboard, and the drives were not – so it was going to cost me $900 to get it repaired. I said no thanks, because I could get a new system for that much. He offered me a deal: 10% off of any HP product $195 or more purchased from hpshopping.com. Needless to say, I don’t think I am ever going to use the coupon.
If just reading this story stressed you out, (we’ve all been here before), then building a computer is probably better choice for you. There might be more “up-front” stress involved in building a computer. But, at least you have something to show for it – knowledge. However, in the long run, you can be your own technical support….and nobody cares about solving your problem more than you do. You think that that guy from India cares? (Nothing against people from India, but they get their paychecks just the same, and they know it).
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You don’t address the issue of build or buy!
Which makes your article “JUNK”.
As a owner of multiple HP products and having to deal with their customer support more than once and one of those times it was a over 5 hours that their tech person helped me.
One of the times it was help for a computer that was 2+ years out of warranty.
NOW Whether to build or buy,
THAT IS STILL THE QUESTION THAT WAS NEVER ANSWERED.
Congratulations, you just commented on a five-year-old article.
Go buy a Mac. Apple people love it WHEN YOU TALK IN ALL CAPS LIKE A BLITHERING IDIOT. You’ll fit right in.