Complaint Review: Compaq - HP - Hewlett Packard - Palo Alton California

Your claim that HP laptops won't even last a year is a very general overstatement. My HP laptop has lasted for over 4 years now and it works fine. I also have issues with it overheating, but I clean out the dust from it's case regularly and have it on a stand that allows better circulation, and it is fine. Any computer can overheat if the fans don't circulate properly.

They are not under any legal obligation to help you. Out of warranty means out of warranty.

they guaranteed that the laptop would work for 1 year. It did.

If you wanted a longer guarantee, they sell extended warranties for that. Next time invest in one.

New computers are junk anymore, I have a gateway that is not going to make the 2 year mark. Laptops seem to be made to use for a year and throw away.

I am not the original poster, but I have the same problem with a HP laptop.

Your apology for HP and selective use of facts makes me suspect that you're a HP employee.

As you noted, HP has lines of laptops that use faulty nVidia chips that overheat.  Poor laptop design leads to overheating and failure of the laptop. 

HP did offer extended warranties to some lines, but not to all.  Certainly not to mine - TX1000.

I paid over $1700 for my laptop.  It failed within one year.  They replaced the motherboard.  Within one year of replacing the motherboard, the laptop failed again in the exact same way.  Now they want me to pay $200 to replace the motherboard.  With no guarantees that the motherboard will not fail again in the exact same way.

Oh, and the $200 is 50% of the $400 that they would normally charge.  But the reason for the discount is because nVidia is giving HP $200 for each laptop they need to fix.  HP is not doing anything extra.  You'd think they'd eat the other $200 to fix the laptop since their poor cooling design aggravated the problem.

HP will not budge from this.  When I complained to them, to the BBB, to the CA Attorney General's office, they keep repeating that my laptop is 400 days out of warranty.  Nothing about the fact that the laptop failed exactly the same way as the first time, and nothing about what would be done to prevent the same failure from happening again.

To parse your last sentences:

>So....yeah....all computers fail, most HPs last longer than a year, and when HP did >discover a defect in their product they acted appropriatly and gave free repairs.

Yes, and all humans who drink water will die.  So what?

HP did not act appropriately for all laptop lines that had the known defect.  My laptop broke within a year because of a known defect.  And then again within a year of being fixed that first time.  I expected more from a $1700 laptop.  I expected more from HP.

I used to work for HP in the 80s and 90s.  Back then we took pride in our products.  It seems like now all they want to do is keep their distance (and their money) from failed products.

>.....Where is the rip off? What are you complaining about?

The ripoff is that HP disowns any responsibility for laptop failure after the 1 year warranty.  Even if the second failure is exactly the same as the first failure.  And they make no mention of what they will do to prevent the laptop from overheating after they replace the laptop - even though they know exactly why the laptop will overheat.  The discount they offer to give for replacing the motherboard is the amount that nVidia will reimburse them.  Nothing more, nothing less.

I think Dell had a similar thing a few years ago. Did you know that every single computer that Dell manufactured in 2005 has a problem where they fail eventualy. Yup....every last one of them. Lots and lots of them have failed already, and those that havn't yet probably will soon. Dell says it's not a problem...how can they possibly say that with so many people having the same issue....it's crazy.....

FYI...that was sarcasm.... You do realize that EVERY COMPTUER EVER MADE fails right? You do realize that the industry standard for notebook computer is like 3 year life span? You do realize that the days of computer lasting 5-7 years is pretty much over right (with regards to notebooks at least)? To say that "all these computer have the same issue there-for this is a big problem" is a moronical statment right? By that same logic every tire ever made is defective because they will pop or wear down.

Also...your initlial statment "HP notebooks wont last more than a year" is stupid. I have one that is two years old. My roomate has one that is a year and a half. My mom has one that is over a year, another buddy of mine has one that is three years. At the office we have several for traveling agents that are older than a year. Oh and interesting note. The Toshiba I had before my HP crashed after 8 months.

That said, HP did release a few lines that, months after release, began to show a trend toward higher than average failure rate. HP investigated and discovered a faulty nVidia Chipset was causing a slow-but-sure death due to overheating. HP came out with a program by which they would grant free repairs even to out of warranty customers to make this issue right. HP put all notebook that had the faulty chipset under this program and over the course of a year and a half preformed thousands of free repairs for customers to try and make this right....but that's all old news.

So....yeah....all computers fail, most HPs last longer than a year, and when HP did discover a defect in their product they acted appropriatly and gave free repairs.

.....Where is the rip off? What are you complaining about?

Do you ever clean your laptop?

I had this exact same problem, so I cracked open the bottom of the case. I removed the cover over my fan and discovered hair, dirt, and debris clogging up the vent from the inside. I cleaned out this vent and my laptop stopped overheated.

Have you ever opened it and cleaned the fan out?