I just purchased a new HP Computer about a week ago and was excited to a have a powerful Desktop Beast again. I’ve been using laptops for the last few years and finally decided we needed a stable workstation that can handle a lot of automated processing, home media and other things. This morning I logged onto our awesome HP Computer that has a 27″ monitor, I know, it’s more like a TV, hah… anyway, I was greeted with a notification to complete my HP Warranty Status. I clicked the button and sent HP some private information that it claimed would help me. After a couple minutes I got a message pop up which I am providing in a screenshot below that told me that my warranty had started on 7/16/2010 and that my warranty would end on 8/9/2012.

HP Warranty Scam

What is crazy about this is that I just purchased this PC on 1/10/2011 (the day of my Birthday) at Costco here in Overland Park, Kansas. Yes, I still have my receipt and no it wasn’t a used computer, it wasn’t a rebated computer and it wasn’t some refurbished computer either. This was a fresh brand new computer from Costco.

I decided to immediately take care of this and contact a support representative at HP through their HP Support Assistant program. I will post for your enjoyment and your consumer warning my conversation with the HP Support representative named Regina. One issue I found annoying right off was that each time you send a chat message you have click back into the window to chat. Incredibly minor but certainly a pain in the butt, who designed this chat?

Regina went on to tell me that I would have to mail in proof of purchase to HP in order to receive my full warranty. You can see in the information below from the chat all the information I have to include to HP to have them authorize my new warranty period. The problem is, when I purchased this computer I filled out all that information to register the computer with HP and my warranty.

How and why would my brand new computer already be activated? Well Regina told me it was because, and I quote: “The issue could be due to activation made by the Computer Center earlier. Do not worry, the issue is resolved, as we have a separate POP team to verify the entries and rectify it.” I was told that Regina and HP were sorry for the inconvenience of this issue. My response was: “It’s not inconvenience it’s theft and scandal. This is not something you can say sorry for. You’re a corporation ripping off thousands of customers a day. You’ll be exposed for the shit service company you are.” I’d say this smells like an HP Warranty Scam.

If HP Computer does this to every single customer, or heck even if they just do this to 10% of their customers do you realize how much money they’re saving? They could be saving millions in warranty repair and service issues. Just systematically reduce people’s warranty by 6 months and you save millions. Brilliant!

I was told by a guy named Brad on Twitter his opinion of this issue at this tweet: http://twitter.com/#!/Wopatoolie/status/29250149955932160 which stated “#SCAM your pc was returned to be fixed previously and replaced by hp w another one; typical ‘fix’ – reboot entire OS. return it.”

So this raises the question, what is my issue? Was my computer preused and then sold as new? Was it a refurbished computer? Is this standard HP Computer Center practice to pre-activate computers? All I know is that if this is even happening to 5% of customers only 20% of those customers are noticing or taking care of this issue. HP is counting on people being lazy or stupid and they save millions of dollars. I’m not sure what your idea of a scam is but I’d say this fits nicely into the corner of scandal and scam.

If you love HP and think I’m being harsh, feel free to comment and let me know about it. If you hate them and are being ripped off be sure to leave that as well.

In search for the keyphrase I thought I should rank for, I found this interesting conversation about extended HP Warranties and how HP rips people off with these, interesting enough for a good read if you plan on purchasing an HP Computer. You can read it here: http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Desktop-Hardware/How-can-you-get-HP-to-honor-its-warranty/m-p/402261

I will give HP props on this, at least they allow negative information to stay on their HP Forums. Maybe they’ll stop scamming people. I’ll update you on HP takes care of this issue after I’ve taken pictures, faxed copies, spent money, wasted my time and begged HP to give me the warranty that I’m owed. I paid nearly $1400 for a new desktop PC and have to spend more money and time now that I own it. Brilliant! I love big corporations and their red tape, scams and fine print.

If you would like to talk to HP directly in a public place and hold them accountable for any issues you’re having, feel free to talk to them on Twitter in a public setting at:
http://www.twitter.com/HP_PC

Read the HP Warranty Scam chat below:

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:07 PM] — Automatically generated message:
Your support request has been submitted and is in queue. Please wait momentarily while the system connects you with the next available support specialist.

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:12 PM] — Automatically generated message:
You are now chatting with support specialist Regina S.

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:12 PM] — Joel Mackey says:
Hi Regina

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:12 PM] — Regina S says:
Welcome to HP Total Care. My name is Regina. Please give me a few moments while I review your problem description details.

NOTE: For security reasons, PLEASE DO NOT send credit card information via chat

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:13 PM] — Regina S says:
Hi Joel, how are you doing today?

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:13 PM] — Joel Mackey says:
Not to bad.

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:14 PM] — Joel Mackey says:
I’m submitting a Support Request because I just got a notification of our warranty and it makes no sense whatsoever. We have had this computer for 1 week, bought brand new from Costco.

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:14 PM] — Regina S says:
Let me try my best to ensure we resolve this issue together so that you feel better.

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:14 PM] — Joel Mackey says:
The warranty states it started on 7/16/2010 and ends 8/9/2012.

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:14 PM] — Joel Mackey says:
I’d be very short of calling this a scam.

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:14 PM] — Regina S says:
Do not worry, let me check the warranty status as per our record

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:15 PM] — Regina S says:
Please confirm if the serial number is MXX0270BFG

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:15 PM] — Joel Mackey says:
How do I confirm that?

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:15 PM] — Joel Mackey says:
I don’t know what the serial # is. Where do I find it?

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:16 PM] — Regina S says:
You can also press Ctrl + Alt + S (simultaneously) on the keyboard to get these information regarding your computer.

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:16 PM] — Joel Mackey says:
I just saw that # on a sticker on the side of the computer.

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:16 PM] — Joel Mackey says:
The serial # is correct.

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:16 PM] — Regina S says:
Thank you for the confirmation

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:16 PM] — Joel Mackey says:
This chat is horrible. Once I send a message I have to click in the chat window again to continue sending another message.

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:17 PM] — Regina S says:
I am sorry to know about your recent experience with the issue and the chat tool. HP values you as a customer and we would like to assist you. I will forward your feedback and suggestions to the concerned department.

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:17 PM] — Joel Mackey says:
Thanks.

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:18 PM] — Joel Mackey says:
And the warranty?

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:19 PM] — Regina S says:
Please provide me 3 minutes while I check the details

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:19 PM] — Joel Mackey says:
Ok.

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:21 PM] — Regina S says:
Thank you for staying online

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:22 PM] — Regina S says:
May I know the date of purchase of PC?

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:22 PM] — Joel Mackey says:
Looking for the receipt.

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:22 PM] — Regina S says:
Okay

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:24 PM] — Joel Mackey says:
January 10th, 2011 was the purchase date.

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:24 PM] — Regina S says:
Thank you for the information

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:25 PM] — Regina S says:
Joel, as per the record the start date of warranty is 07/16/2010 and end date is 08/10/2012

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:25 PM] — Regina S says:
So, I request you to send the proof of purchase to our POP team

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:26 PM] — Joel Mackey says:
That’s fucking crazy. Scammy service.

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:26 PM] — Regina S says:
I request you to fax or e-mail the proof of purchase (pop)/receipt. Please fax or e-mail the pop to the following options.
Fax: 1-800-563-4860
E-mail: hp.pop@mail.support.hp.com
NOTE: Hard Copy of the Receipt must be attached.
Along with the fax or e-mail, please include the following:
* Name of the owner:
* Phone Number:
* Physical Address:
* E-mail Address (Optional):
* HP Product Name:
* HP Product Number:
* HP Product Serial Number:

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:26 PM] — Joel Mackey says:
I’ll bury you on Twitter and make you look like the scam you are.

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:26 PM] — Regina S says:

We will update your registration information within 48 business hours from the time the fax or e-mail is received and then process the order for parts/service.
NOTE: If you have e-mailed your proof of purchase, you will receive a notification once the update occurs. If you fax the request, no response is given. You will only be notified if there is a problem with the warranty.
Please accept my sincere apologies for the inconvenience caused to you in this regard.

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:27 PM] — Regina S says:
Sorry for the inconvenience caused

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:27 PM] — Joel Mackey says:
It’s not inconvenience it’s theft and scandal. This is not something you can say sorry for. You’re a corporation ripping off thousands of customers a day. You’ll be exposed for the shit service company you are.

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:29 PM] — Regina S says:
The issue could be due to activation made by the Computer Center earlier. Do not worry, the issue is resolved, as we have a separate POP team to verify the entries and rectify it

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:31 PM] — Joel Mackey says:
This issue is not resolved. You’re forcing me to take my valuable time to fax something, pay for the fax and send you information that I should not have to bother with. I bill at $35 an hour and this will take at least 2 hours. Nothing has been resolved you’re still ripping me off with my warranty until I prove to you that you’re scamming me. How many unsuspecting victims are either too stupid or too lazy to take care of their warranty like I have to do? This is what HP is counting on, customer lazyness or stupidity so that they can scam people out of their warranty. COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE.

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:32 PM] — Joel Mackey says:
What this also tells me is that my computer is not brand new and someone else was using my computer before I paid full price for it.

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:35 PM] — Regina S says:
I understand your concern.

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:36 PM] — Regina S says:
I do apologize for the situation you have been put in, but these are the things which don’t happen every time and I’ll make sure it won’t happen again by making a proper note and send to the concerned department

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:38 PM] — Joel Mackey says:
Don’t bother, I’ll let the whole world know with a blog post and daily scheduled tweeting to my 97,000 followers to reveal that HP is scamming US customers out of their warranty. I don’t need your help or scammy service. Tell that to the concerned department.

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:39 PM] — Regina S says:
I understand how important your valuable time is. Let me help you take care of this problem in the best possible way. Please send the proof of purchase and we will make sure that these kinds of issues will not be repeated.

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:41 PM] — Joel Mackey says:
I can take a Twitpic.com of the receipt and then it takes me less time. But that would be too easy for me. You’d rather me jump through hoops so that the probablity of me STILL getting scammed out of my warranty is higher. You’re not helping me, you’re scamming me. I’m the one that is helping myself.

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:41 PM] — Joel Mackey says:
I’m done with this conversation now. Bye. You can enjoy the firestorm at http://www.twitter.com/webaddict

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:42 PM] — Regina S says:
Alright

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:42 PM] — Regina S says:
Please let me know if you need any more clarification

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:43 PM] — Regina S says:
I appreciate your efforts in resolving the issue by yourself.

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:44 PM] — Regina S says:
Let’s hope things get better and everything gets resolved.

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:44 PM] — Regina S says:
However, if you send the proof of purchase, we’ll go ahead and set things right for you immediately.

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:45 PM] — Joel Mackey says:
Things can’t be resolved because me getting my warranty fixed is not the problem. It’s the scam you have going on with your warranty program. That’s the problem. Theft of warranty from thousands of unsuspecting customers. I’ll get my issue fixed, guaranteed.

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:49 PM] — Regina S says:
As informed, we have a separate warranty rectification department. And, it is due to the activation issue and the PC is not used one, but it is just due to the activation that is done at the Authorized Computer center. However, this is not a theft or not scam. It is not a HP policy to scam the customer with the warranty program. HP provides a best service to the customers and we are here to assist you better.

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:51 PM] — Joel Mackey says:
So HP sends every computer to an Authorized Computer center before they ship to the stores to make sure that they authorize the computer before it’s purchase date so that customers are scammed out of their warranty? Why would you activate my PC 6 months before anyone had purchased it? What is the reasoning behind that?

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:53 PM] — Regina S says:
It is not with all the PC getting activated, and we have a separate warranty maintenance department to verify the functionality of the PC etc and done for some genuine purpose. However, for more information, you can check with our Proof of Purchase department on this

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:57 PM] — Joel Mackey says:
What I’ve been told is that this computer was used, returned and then HP has now sold a used & repaired piece of shit to me for full price at Costco. Is this true?

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:58 PM] — Regina S says:
Joel, may I know from where you were given the above information?

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 12:59 PM] — Joel Mackey says:
From someone that had a similar experience with HP. They are sharing their nightmare story with me on Twitter @Wopatoolie

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 1:00 PM] — Regina S says:
Okay. In this case, for more information, I suggest you to contact our POP team, as they will provide you with all the details, why the warranty of the PC is pre-started before PC purchase or our phone support

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 1:01 PM] — Regina S says:
HP Phone Support :
1-800-474-6836 / 1-800-HPINVENT

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 1:02 PM] — Joel Mackey says:
So you want me to talk to someone that is trained in disceiving me into believing that there is some plausible reason that HP has stolen my warranty? I’m done talking with anyone from your company that is going to waste my time and cost me more money and headache. Instead, I’ll expose your scammy scheme. Have a good day!

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 1:07 PM] — Regina S says:
To get the proper and true information which is not done with the thought of reducing the actual warranty period, I suggest you to contact the concerned department, as we do not have much information on the warranty details, as we are dedicated to HP Desktop technical support team

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 1:09 PM] — Joel Mackey says:
Well I’m pleased to be speaking with someone that has not details on the warranty when the option I selected was for the HP Warranty. I see that your customer support is effecient and properly organized… wait, no it’s the opposite. This makes no sense. You don’t have to chat with me anymore. I’m just keeping this window open so I can copy all the statements you said into my blog post. Feel free to move on to the next customer.

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 1:10 PM] — Regina S says:
Alright

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 1:10 PM] — Regina S says:
Is there any other technical issue related to HP Desktop I may assist you with today?

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 1:11 PM] — Joel Mackey says:
Am I talking to a robot? What I just said above would answer that question.

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 1:13 PM] — Regina S says:
It was a great experience and pleasure working with you. Hope, you have a nice weekend. Please make a note of activity id: 8761838 of this chat session for your reference

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 1:13 PM] — Regina S says:
Thank you for contacting HP Total Care Real-Time chat support. If you need further assistance, please contact us again at:

http://www.hp.com/support/chat

Chat support is available 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week.

Please take the time to register your HP product and the products Care Pack at:

Registration: http://www.register.hp.com

Care Pack registration: http://www.hp.com/go/hpcarepack/register

For information on keeping your HP and Compaq products up and running, please visit our Web site at:

http://www.hp.com/go/totalcare

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 1:13 PM] — Joel Mackey says:
That’s what she said!

[Sunday, January 23, 2011 1:17 PM] — Automatically generated message:
The support specialist has closed your support request.

Update as of January 25th, 2011:

I received a private DM from an HP Twitter account about 3 hours after Tweeting and posting this blog post: @MarkatHP that said “Hi Joel. I will personally look into the issue you had w warranty. What’s the best way to reach you?”

I responded with some contact information and Mark responded, “thx”

On January 24th, 2011 I received a phone call which I was unable to answer because I was at work and didn’t have time to talk with a support rep for hours about my warranty being automatically reduced. In the voicemail I was provided a case # of which was a different case # than what was provided to me above in the chat with the HP representative through online chat. I now have two case #’s with HP.

I called HP back January 24th, 2011 to speak with Keith at 5:30pm CST (their support office closes at 6pm PST (1 1/12 hours later than time called). I used his extension but he was busy talking with another customer. The gentleman I was talking to informed me I couldn’t speak with anyone but Keith and that Keith would call me back. I’m still waiting for another callback but I’ll need to wait until after work today to take the call or call them back.

Latest Update:

This post has got a lot of attention & definitely deserves an update. HP did finally contact me and work with me to correct my warranty. I was given a “warranty extension” on the warranty that was listed for my computer. The extension really gave me the warranty that I deserved when I purchased the HP Desktop. All told I spent multiple times on the phone with HP Support Reps, answered several calls, answered emails, signed papers that came in the mail and really went through a lot of hassle to get something I should have had up front. Did HP finally provide me the warranty that was supposed to be provided with my computer? Yes, on paper I have a full warranty now. I shouldn’t have had to go through all that.

I can also say that I do believe I probably got more attention than normal because I do have a lot of followers on Twitter. I also have quite a bit of knowledge of SEO and have had no problems ranking for HP Warranty Scam and HP Scam. This post will now always serve as a collection of unhappy customers with HP and their warranty services. As you can see there are more and more commenters below sharing their horror stories with HP Warranty Services.

My last laptop purchase was an ASUS due to my HP Warranty experience:

Would I buy and HP again? Possibly, but it will take a long time before I do. I just recently purchased a new laptop and I ended up getting an ASUS N53SV-XV1 15.6-Inch Versatile Entertainment Laptop (Silver Aluminum) and I’m really happy with it. ASUS service was quick, spot on, customer service is easy to deal with and I got extended warranty’s through Square Trade.

Great analysis on this subject from a Communications Consultant:

I had a comment left by a man named Tim Dawes which linked off to his website where he did a play by play analysis on how the customer and the customer service representative ran into issues. In my opinion, Tim did a great job of breaking down the situation and finding some flags and important points where the customer service problems could have been improved or done differently.

You can read more of Tim Dawes’s post titled: Joel Mackey’s HP Warranty Scam – Customer Service Script Gone Bad

I have to admit, here in America in the land of the lazy, when people call customer service they expect a bad experience. You expect long hold times, complicated menu’s and most of all, people expect to speak to a foreigner that calls himself Bob and tries to communicate with them on a local level. The reality is, people are fed up with this crap and the companies like HP will suffer as they “save costs” and dish up shit service to everyone with made up personalities and infinite circles of imaginery problem solving.

What I have been trained to do in America when calling customer service is to press 0 as many times as it takes, talk directly to supervisors and not the front line customer service rep and to get pissed off and yell at them. Sad but true, huh? I’ve been trained to be an asshole to get stuff done. What is the result? Short wait times, resolutions and instant connection to people that can actually solve the issue. Customer service is a joke in America anymore and if you want to get what you want, be prepared to, “fight for your right, to parrrrrrty.”

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