I finally heard back from HP Customer Services and, surprise surprise, they still won’t deliver at a time to suit me. They did say they would use any address I chose to pick up and deliver back to. Problem is, I have lost touch with my family left down here, my step-kids work and when they don’t work they go out. I have therefore got 2 problems to contend with, finding out when someone will be in for the day and getting the laptop to them for a repair (the 5th repair to sort out the boot up times and also to correct the issues from the last time they had it). None of this is really acceptable so I was wondering what my other options would be when I remembered the Citizens Advice web site. Lo and behold they are breaching the Consumer Rights Act, which states that they have 6 years from date of purchase to correct the defects. If the defects aren’t corrected within a timely period then I should be given my option of a replacement product or a refund of the purchase price.
I have mentioned this in my reply so here’s expecting to hear nothing further from him, or else to reiterate that he cannot offer me a replacement without proof of purchase which was sent to an email address I have not had access to for years. Apparently, even though they are supposed to keep records of sales for at least 6 years for audit purposes, they don’t have the record of my purchase. However, they do keep repairing it as they have the record of the extended warranty.
Surely if they have the extended warranty they must also have attached that to the purchase date of the laptop as it increased the warranty period from 12 months to 36 months. How can they find one and not the other?
Answers as always on the back of an unstamped elephant to the usual address. Replies welcome my dear reader.
Well, no surprise I haven’t heard anything from HP about my laptop being replaced or repaired any time soon. I keep being offered a pick up Monday to Friday but they can’t guarantee that it would be picked up at a time I could be in. However they will pick it up from work address, my work won’t allow that, or I can take it to the nearest DPD depot, which is 2 hours bus journey away. Needless to say the depot closes at 7 which is about an hour before I could get there. I have even offered to have it repaired locally if they pay for it, still only offering me a pickup on a day to suit me which they won’t offer (Saturday is the only day I can guarantee to be in).
Anyhoo I won’t go into that further as I’m up for my dad’s 90th birthday bash of a high tea in a posh restaurant, more later when I return from it. I don’t know what to expect so it would be interesting to read if any one else has been to one.
Well, high tea starter was toast, butter, jam or marmalade. This was followed by a main meal, choice from the restaurant menu, steak pie, steak, fish & chips or mac & cheese. This was followed by cakes, tea or coffee. Then we decamped to the bar area for the birthday cake and chats, as well as family pictures of dad and various family members. Everyone started to disappear about 5:45 and dad was being taken home by my youngest brother before he took his eldest daughter home to Aberdeen.
Hope to get some pictures soon to post here. I was too tired to run around and take any myself.
It may have taken a little while to get things moving with the complaint but it looks as though my laptop issues are finally going to be resolved. I told you last time, dear reader, that I had replied to the email asking me for a convenient time to be called when I’m at work and on the phone, so couldn’t be contacted. I received a reply saying that someone would deal with my complaint via email and he could offer me a little something to ease my issues (the company didn’t want any more bad publicity reading between the lines). He offered me a wireless mouse (I bought one with the laptop), a case for the laptop (I bought one with the laptop) or a printer (I bought one two months before the laptop).
I replied and told him that none of these solutions would be acceptable as I already had all of those items. I also told him that my laptop had not been returned in an acceptable condition so could he offer me a replacement? I then told him the one I wanted as a replacement (£1200 worth of laptop) and he didn’t send me the expected reply which would have been telling me to take a running jump from a very short pier. He asked me for my proof of purchase email (sent to my work email address) in order to replace the laptop. I checked through my personal emails to see if, by some miracle, I had sent this to myself from the work email address which I lost access to in 2016 following the company split. I hadn’t so I thought I’d ask if he could look up my details and see from the store records the proof of purchase. Again expecting a reply in the negative, he told me he couldn’t but he had asked the sales team for company purchases to look through their records and would be in touch when he heard from them again.
This was totally unexpected so I will wait with bated breath to see if anything comes of this and will update you all later with any outcome to this ongoing saga.
On another note, I’ve noticed a lot of activity in the US this year following President Trump’s inauguration and his spread of hatred against minority groups in his country and the armed forces of the USA. As a human being who respects everyone and feels that human rights are not given to a select few but everyone has the right to be treated as a valuable member of society regardless of age, sex (gender if you prefer), skin colour, sexual preference, religion (or lack thereof) or where they live in the world, this strikes me as abhorrent.
I make no bones about declaring myself a strong advocate for the rights of black Americans to be treated equally with the white Americans, I stand alongside my gay friends and the gay community to promote their right to be treated as equals and given the same right to employment, education and higher education as everyone else. I think that human rights apply to everyone on this planet. I agree that some people think this is strange but the majority of people today are becoming very loud in shouting for an end to discrimination of any kind.
Diversity is what makes us unique, by accepting everyone, that makes us more human. We live in dangerous times but have to show that we will not disrespect anyone who works within the law, regardless of their religion. The terrorists want us to view all Muslims as dangerous individuals and if we go down to their level they will find it easier to recruit people to further their cause and bring down the Western democracies. I count Muslims and Christians among my friends, I also have female friends that I respect and will ask their opinions as often as male friends. I respect everyone’s right to follow which ever religion they want to, some of my friends are pagans, others atheists, I’m an agnostic. I feel that too many wars have been fought under the pretence of religion since the dawn of time. Romans, Greeks, Egyptians all had their own gods and every country the fought and defeated would have their own religions usurped for the gods of the conqueror. Since the early days of Christianity, wars have been fought, and won or lost, in the name of religion. Everyone in both World Wars thought God was on their side (both sides were mainly Christian) but He couldn’t have been on both sides at the same time, could He?
Fighting wars is wrong, however, there are times when those rising up against you see an unwillingness to go to war as a weakness to exploit. Today, just as happened in 1939, there is an evil afoot which everyone has to take a stand against. Cancer spreads through the body to destroy it and the evil around in 1939 and 2001 has to be stood up to. War isn’t the answer to all problems but when someone sees an opposition to war they try to exploit this to further the cancerous spread of their poison.
Well, I’ve finally got my laptop back at the cost of a week’s work, I said I would need it delivered on a Saturday and kept getting told that it will be delivered on a weekday to suit me. So I ended up having to put my start date back a week for the remainder of my training, this is not a satisfactory conclusion to the tale of my laptop but it does get worse.
I raised a complaint on September 21, 2017 and was told someone would get back to me within 2 working days. I found the next day the estimated delivery date for the laptop was changed to September 29, 2017. Then at 20:00 when I checked my email the laptop had been picked up for onward transport to me at 16:54. I had no option but to ring in and advise the team I would not be able to do the training on the Monday as my laptop was being delivered on the Monday between 06:00-22:00. Because I wanted it back I decided to wait for delivery and if it arrived before 08:30 I’d also go into work, later than that and I’d take the day off and then contact the heating engineer to have the shower looked at again as it’s still not working as it should.
When 08:30 came I rang my manager and told her that I would not be in that day, then I contacted the engineer and asked if he could call in later that day. I got a text message from DPD to advise my laptop would be delivered between 10:47 and 11:47 so I went out and did the shopping I would have done on my way home had I gone to work. Arriving back home at 10:45 I knew I was within the delivery window. 11:30 the laptop was delivered and it had had a lot of work done to get it working again.
The screen had been replaced and was not attached properly, the mother board had been replaced but the keyboard had not been fully fitted and a few other bits and pieces had been done before the laptop was shipped, had I not complained they would have refitted everything and then shipped it out to me. Had they told me that it was still in the process of being fixed then I would have waited. On the service page it clearly states that if there are any issues with the repair then I would be kept advised of the delays, anticipated times to get parts and kept advised of when to expect the return of my repaired laptop.
No surprise then that I had been the one chasing for information, never got a straight answer from anyone and, of course, no call regarding my complaint. By Wednesday I was tired of waiting for someone to contact me so I contacted the CEO and told him the full story of my complaint and repair. Then on Thursday I received a reply saying it had been passed to the nearest English speaking customer care team to try and resolve. The following day I was asked to provide my contact details to someone in Ireland who would call me at a convenient time between 09:00-17:00 Mon-Fri to discuss my issue and attempt to resolve it. Needless to say my reply re-iterated my working times of 09:00-17:30 Mon-Fri and asking for details of someone I could contact outside working hours or when I arrive home at 18:00.
No surprise I’ve heard nothing back since. They could always pass my details to someone in the US who works when I’m at home but, apparently, that would be too sensible a solution to deal with a complaint. Let me know what you think in the replies section.
barclaydave 