Here's a copy of the letter I just faxed to the Head Office. I don't expect a reply but if I get one, I'll update here.
October 16, 2007
VIA FACSIMILE
Hewlett-Packard (Canada) Co.
5150 Spectrum Way
Mississauga, Ontario L4W 5G1, Canada
Tel. 905-206-4725
Fax 905-206-4739
Attention:
President and CEO: Paul Tsaparis
CTO: Victor Garcia
VP, Sales: Randy Ostojic
Re: Warranty Fraud / Deceptive Business Practices
This is a formal demand letter. If I do not receive a written reply via facsimile by the end of business October 19, 2007 with a guarantee to replace my defective monitor as per the warranty contract then I am filing an action in court for breach of contract and will sue for all related legal costs.
In addition, I will be filing the usual complaints with the Office of Consumer Affairs, Better Business Bureau as well as reporting on as many consumer websites as I can find to warn others of your shabby customer service and refusal to honor the warranties on your products.
I will first outline in detail the nature of my complaint and give you a chance to respond in writing. I don't expect to receive a response, as you are clearly a company that does not value your customers. However, I am required to write this letter before I can take further action.
I purchased a desktop computer on October 6, 2006 from a local retailer, the Future Shop. The computer came with a basic warranty for parts and labor for exactly one year from the date of purchase. On or about September 26, 2007, I contacted your technical support call centre to report that the monitor speakers were malfunctioning. I was routed to someone in India who was incredibly rude and could barely speak English.
First, he tried to tell me that the product was out of warranty. When I insisted it wasn't, he then said it must be a software issue, at which point I was asked to perform a series of tests on the machine and spent nearly half an hour trying to decipher what this person was saying as well as put up with his condescending tone. When that didn't work, the technician reluctantly transferred me to a hardware specialist.
Next, I was told that the monitor would be replaced and an exchange order would be set up since it was clearly a manufacturing defect and not a software issue. The representative took my information including a credit card number in order to secure the return of the defective monitor.
The order number given was: LDD890-01 and I was asked to submit my proof of purchase so the warranty information could be validated. This I did. I emailed the HP proof of purchase (POP) department at least 12 times over a two-week period to provide an image of the receipt as requested. Sometimes they replied and sometimes they didn't.
I've saved all the emails over this period, but just to quickly summarize here, this is the worst customer service I have ever encountered in my life by far. You have managed to somehow put Dell to shame in this department and that's saying a lot.
Finally, I received notice from the POP department stating my warranty was updated. Yet, when I called customer service two days later to follow-up on the above pending service order, it was not at all updated. Then I began receiving emails stating that the date of purchase could not be read, when it is clearly printed on the receipt in two places.
I had to send in a copy of my credit card statement before they would validate the warranty. Today I received confirmation from your customer service department in Ontario that the warranty was verified and in the system. However, now that I had someone in Canada on the phone, the excuses only continued.
The customer service representative, who gave her name as Marie, telephoned me this evening. She had called to follow-up as I reported to her last week the problems I was having with the proof of purchase department and that it was holding up the pending service order. I gave her all my information and she agreed to call me back the following Tuesday.
I was on the telephone with Marie for exactly 1 hour and 22 minutes. When she confirmed that the warranty had been validated, she then began to ask a litany of redundant questions all of it information that I have given to her and to every one of your representatives many times over: model numbers, product numbers, serial numbers, telephone numbers, etc.
Then she kept putting me on hold every minute for two to three minutes each time. She put me on hold no less than 20 times (I kept count); always coming back with more ridiculous questions and excuses such as I just need some more information, or "I apologize but there is something wrong with my program." Then it was, "Have you ever lived in the United States, I'm showing an American address on here" then it became, "Oh, I'm sorry that must have been another customer."
An hour into the call, when it was clear to her that I wasn't giving up, or hanging up the phone until the order to replace my monitor was processed, suddenly she came back with another brand new excuse, one that I couldn't refute. Now she began to say the model number of my monitor wasn't showing up in her database. Then, that became "I'll have to ask my supervisor, " which quickly became, "Can you provide those serial and product numbers again? " and then it was "I'll have to call you back at a later date, " and then it was, "I'm still waiting on my supervisor" to finally, "I'm sorry but this model is not available for service in Canada as it is not supposed to be sold in this country and you'll have to take it back to the store that you purchased it at."
All of these excuses were punctuated by two to three minutes of being put on hold. At this point I asked to speak to a manager and she began to fumble for excuses again saying she could not put one on the telephone, as there were so many. When I insisted, she put me on hold for five minutes, and some young fellow picked up. He identified himself as a "Non-technical Supervisor" and gave the name of Matt. He was absolutely no help whatsoever. He wanted me to tell him what the problem was. He already knew, he just wanted me to spend the next five minutes explaining myself.
I asked him point blank why Hewlett-Packard could not provide service for this product. He could not offer an explanation as to why this product that is not supposed to be sold in Canada was purchased by me at the Future Shop, a national chain in Canada, and one of their biggest distributors. Instead he replied with "there are no service options available" for this model at which point I terminated the call.
I'm just thoroughly disgusted with how you run your company. Clearly, Hewlett-Packard is either training or instructing these people to deliberately frustrate and stonewall customers or they are hiring people who are incompetent on purpose. Perhaps a class action is in order. I am posting this letter online at any and every website I can to warn other consumers off and will make sure it stays up indefinitely. And then I'm calling my lawyer.
Melissa
Vancouver, British Columbia
Canada
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