You just can't trust anyone...

Two weeks ago, my Compaq n800c began to misbehave. The screen would flash constantly, sound died, and then, one morning, the fan went into hyperdrive, and the system would shut off after a few moments. OK... I have a warranty. I sent the unit in.

A few days after I sent it in, I got it back. They replaced the system board. And for some unknown (and undocumented) reason, they wiped my hard drive. Since the system board was the problem, there was no reason to wipe the drive. But, I had pulled the drive right before sending the laptop in, and backed up my important data. No horrendous damage done, but reinstalling everything takes a lot of time.

The *REAL* problem: They DAMAGED my laptop, physically. There was a crack in the plastic around the screen that wasn't there when I sent it in, and a chunk of plastic missing from the battery. And the back panel covering the ports didn't close anymore. I take damn good care of my laptops, and this really peeved me. I called HP/Compaq immediately. Their first response: "Is the box damaged?"... OK... "No." In fact, the plastic piece that was missing from the battery wasn't in the box at all (and the unit was wrapped in plastic inside the box). So... That means THE DAMAGE HAPPENED AT THE REPAIR DEPOT. So, the problem got escalated to Customer Relations. And the unit got shipped back to HP/Compaq again.

I got it back yesterday morning. Pulled it out of the box. Plastic piece replaced, and the screen replaced completely. And the back panel now closes. Nice. Looks good. Power on the unit... Screen looks good. Windows comes up... and there is CRAP SOFTWARE loaded on my system. "Free Bose Stereo", "Gambling Board", "Kill Spyware", and "Sexy Ringtones". It didn't go there with this software. But these URL's and software (Including spyware and software that looks for a network automatically - it isn't connected right now, so it won't work). It gets better. Whoever had my laptop at the repair depot also went and visited some um, adult websites (checking the history in Internet Explorer shows this, and nicely documents it happening on Thursday, when it was at the repair depot, which is possibly the source of much of the crap on my system. And decided to check the stats from the NBA. As I said, you can't trust anyone nowadays.

I called HP/Compaq AGAIN. I ask for (3 times) Customer Relations, who was dealing with the damage issue already. I finally get a rep, who basically tells me that she has to send a message to the repair depot, and someone "might" call me back. "MIGHT"? EXCUSE ME: They have someone at the repair depot adding crap software and spyware to computers and they "MIGHT" call me back? I told her that I expect a call back by the end of the day.

Did I get a call? Nope! I have been a loyal Compaq customer since 1986. I have brought Compaq sales in excess of $500,000 over the years. And to thank me, I get someone loading this crap on my system, and no one to call me back. How nice. I have seen service go downhill since HP bought and merged Compaq. I recently bought an HP TC4200. While I love the unit (I am typing on it now), this may very well be the last unit I ever buy from HP/Compaq. I can't take the risk that someone is going to corrupt my data with spyware and other crap software that I did not give them permission to load. And with the size of drives nowadays, it is harder and harder to back up data in anticipation of them wiping my data indiscriminately. Will I ever recommend their hardware again? It depends. It depends on what they do to correct this problem.

HP/Compaq: The ball is in your court now. Make this right. Send someone from your company to take a look at this unit. I will show you everything that was added (Beyond the picture to the left). Find the person who did this and make sure they NEVER do it again. And as I said, make it right. Don't just put off a good customer and pretend that this didn't happen.

Update: All I have received from HP/Compaq is the following email:

"On behalf of Hewlett-Packard we apologize for the delay and difficulties you are experiencing. Your message has been forwarded to someone who will help you review your case."

I finally did get contacted by a gentleman from the "Office of the President" (name withheld by me intentionally). I honestly don't know if they are going to do anything to rectify the problem. I still have to reinstall my OS myself. What happened to satisfying customers? Oh well.