I (No Longer) Hate Hewlett-Packard

Last Summer I bought a new laptop from Hewlett-Packard, a normal purchase that led to some highly unusual frustrations and bad experiences.

To summarize, the hard drive on the laptop failed after about a month, and the experience of getting it repaired led me down some dark and dreary paths into the nether-world of product support. But today I'm here to report that all is right with the world. God is in his heaven above, and little bluebirds of happiness are chirping outside my window, for I have been graced by a visit from the Consumer Advocate for Hewlett-Packard and I am now the proud owner of a completely new laptop and it is Good.

As it turns out there is a moral to this little story, and perhaps some lessons for both businesses and consumers. More on that in a bit, but first let's get everyone up-to-date shall we?

As I said, I bought a new laptop last year after my old PC started behaving in ways that made me think that it wasn't long for this world. Nothing major mind you, just some crackling/sparking noises and a little grinding coming from the tower, but hey, we've all heard those things right? So with a new book contract ahead of me, I really needed to get a new PC to do the work I had agreed to do. After watching the sales flyers for the major electronics stores in my area off I went to Best Buy to purchase another Teacher's Salary Special when the prices dropped into my price range. A basic no-frills laptop that fit my budget and still had the capabilities I need. Cool! Nothing like a new computer to warm up those old heart-cockle things.

Unfortunately, after about a month the hard drive started to go south, as evidenced by a very troubling grinding noise. Not to worry, as it was under warranty and things would certainly be made right by the world's largest computer manufacturer, right?

Wrong, or so it seemed at the time. In fact, the experience of trying to deal with an automated voice recognition program and various support specialists was so frustrating that I ended up writing a long diatribe about the whole mess and posting it at my web site.

Why I Hate Hewlett Packard was an instant hit, zooming to the top of the page ranks in Google when you happened to do a search for "hate hewlett packard". Apparently there were enough people performing that arcane search that the article did, and still does, get more visits than any of the tutorials I have on the site.

In I Hate Hewlett Packard Part II , I recounted the continuing troubles I had with the fine folks at HP, and tragically left my readers wondering if I would ever have my laptop repaired. As it turns out, there were several more twists along the road. So, with all of you up-to-date, let's move on to the concluding chapter in this saga.
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