Hewlett-Packard's warranty policy has cost be dear. I purchased my HP a1240a Pavilion desktop computer in December 2005. I thought I got a good deal. How wrong I was.
Yesterday I went to Big W — a discount retail store in Campsie, where I live — and purchased Microsoft's Vista operating system. The pack I bought is the Home Basic upgrade kit. My primary reason is to increase security on my computer.
Returning home, I placed the DVD in the DVD R/W unit and pushed closed the little drawer. Nothing happened. I consulted the instructions that are included in the pack. Step 2 says you're supposed to see a menu after you insert the DVD. Nope. Nothing.
So I called Microsoft and got through, eventually, to a guy who works (presumably) somewhere in the world. He stepped me through the checking process so that we could identify where the problem was. We decided that the hardware was the problem.
So I telephoned HP. Without going through any process, they decided there was no solution because, they were quick to inform me, my warranty had expired. You only get one year's warranty on this computer hardware.
So I went to Google and typed "computer repair Campsie" into the field and pressed enter. In the sponsored links a link appeared for Geeks2U. I clicked, dialled and told them the problem. Today they arrived and we decided that, yes, the HP DVD drive was the problem.
I'm off to Queensland tomorrow, and Troy told me he would return on the Sunday after I get back home. The visit cost me about $150 and to replace the faulty hardware will be another $180 including the new unit itself.
But I'd rather pay Geeks2U than get the run-around from HP technical support. It's outrageous that HP provides only one year's coverage for its hardware. I also own an HP printer. Well, in future, I'll not be buying any more products from HP.
Yesterday I went to Big W — a discount retail store in Campsie, where I live — and purchased Microsoft's Vista operating system. The pack I bought is the Home Basic upgrade kit. My primary reason is to increase security on my computer.
Returning home, I placed the DVD in the DVD R/W unit and pushed closed the little drawer. Nothing happened. I consulted the instructions that are included in the pack. Step 2 says you're supposed to see a menu after you insert the DVD. Nope. Nothing.
So I called Microsoft and got through, eventually, to a guy who works (presumably) somewhere in the world. He stepped me through the checking process so that we could identify where the problem was. We decided that the hardware was the problem.
So I telephoned HP. Without going through any process, they decided there was no solution because, they were quick to inform me, my warranty had expired. You only get one year's warranty on this computer hardware.
So I went to Google and typed "computer repair Campsie" into the field and pressed enter. In the sponsored links a link appeared for Geeks2U. I clicked, dialled and told them the problem. Today they arrived and we decided that, yes, the HP DVD drive was the problem.
I'm off to Queensland tomorrow, and Troy told me he would return on the Sunday after I get back home. The visit cost me about $150 and to replace the faulty hardware will be another $180 including the new unit itself.
But I'd rather pay Geeks2U than get the run-around from HP technical support. It's outrageous that HP provides only one year's coverage for its hardware. I also own an HP printer. Well, in future, I'll not be buying any more products from HP.
2 comments:
I think you're kidding yourself on the 'increase[d] security on my computer'. All you need is ZoneAlarm and AVG anti-virus, both free programs.
By the time you add up your costs to buy Vista and the hardware and labour charges, you could have bought a new Dell which is probably a better proposition as you may find a 2005 computer will be very sluggish running Vista.
PS Did you attempt to run the setup/install programme on the Vista disc manually as some drives do not automatically start these programs?
I would certainly recommend looking at taking out an extended warranty on the hardware when you purchased the unit in the first place.
If not, Visit PCSOFT's Site! They specialise in onsite and remote computer support. Being able to provide remote support is an added bonus as the cost is significantly reduced compare to having to organise someone to come out to you..
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