On Monday of this week, I posted this rant about HP and their poor customer service. I also tweeted it…and thanks to my loyal readers, that post rose from oblivion on Monday to page two for a Google search about HP and customer service yesterday. Apparently that got the attention of a lovely woman named CeCe at Hewlett-Packard who works in Executive Customer Relations for the company. She was appalled at how I had been treated and offered a very sincere apology (with a promise to forward the information on to the appropriate people at HP), AND will be sending me a check to cover my costs of freight and the inconvenience of the situation.
To say I am pleasantly surprised is an understatement. I am happy that a big company still has the capability of reaching out to its customers when they have made a mistake. I am sorry it took a ranting blog post to get their attention.
I am thinking maybe they deserve a second chance. What do you think?
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= Ugh! Don't waste your time.
So happy someone reached out to you. Good for them!
That’s great news, Wendy! HP is generally a reputable company and even reputable companies make mistakes sometimes. Good for them to “make it right” with you.
The power of the internet at work!
The power of the internet is right! I guess it’s just a matter of talking to the right person.
Well, someone with a Twitter account can give them a second chance, I guess. But the rest of the customers won’t ever have anyone make things right again so is it worth it for them? I’m getting kind of annoyed with the extra customer service only for people who complain on Twitter. EVERYONE should get that the first time through.
Wow. The wide world of the internet is really making it a small world after all. Amazing that your blog reached so many and made an impression on Hewlett-Packard! Very cool.
I really do think they do deserve a second chance. Isn’t it amazing how powerful blogging and the internet can be???
It’s sad that as technology becomes more advanced, the human connection to a company becomes less important.
If you don’t have any of these technologies, then you will be ignored.
I agree with Isabel that if you didn’t have technology, you would have been ignored. I’m glad someone reached out and apologized.
I’m thinking someone knows the power of bloggers and was hoping you’d tell everyone that someone fixed the problem – which shouldn’t have happened in the first place.
There is a book that talks about this very same thing. Only that time it was Dell… I can’t remember what it is off the top of my head. Anyway, I am glad things are being straightened out for you!
Wow, the power of blogging has shown itself. It’s too bad that it took your negative “press” to persuade HP of their wrong doing.
I’m not convinced that you would have ever gotten customer satisfaction you hadn’t made your problem public.
WOW! That’s awesome news! I’m really impressed with the follow through on this on the part of HP.
Lenore: Yes, it was an unexpected surprise to get a response from the Executive Office no less (in Palo Alto).
Laura: I was surprised to get a response…I don’t think it hurt that my post ended up on page two of a Google Search.
Michelle: Amazing, isn’t it?
Kathy: I actually think it was the numbers…my post was getting LOTS of hits. HP is not stupid…this kind of press hurts them.
Kristen: *nods* I had this exact same conversation with my husband. I said “If I wasn’t a blogger, would I have gotten ANY satisfaction?” Nope. It doesn’t seem right…although I will give them credit that they are going to fix the problem on their site now…and perhaps it will effect how they are training their staff. Who knows if it will really make a difference?
Bookshelf Monstrosity: Well, I have my faithful readers to thank for that…I was glad my post made an impact.
Staci: It *is* amazing…we have more power than we realize when we speak out.
Isabel: I agree…I think of the person who doesn’t have a blog or twitter account…would they have gotten any satisfaction? No. It is sad to me that it took THIS (ie: posting on a blog) to get HP to pay attention to a customer…and that is because they were getting hurt by bad press, not because they really cared about me and my complaint.
Vasilly: Yup. I am glad I’m getting some satisfaction. But I still think HP’s overall customer service needs a lot of work.
Gina: Oh, I have no doubt they wanted to get some positive press to offset the negative. But you cannot unring a bell…and my original rant is still out there on page two of Google when people are searching for info on HPs customer service.
Kailana: Dell is another company that gets bad press for customer service…I’ve heard it time and time again.
Teddy: I would NEVER have gotten a response to fix things if it hadn’t been for my rant on my blog. I have no doubt about that.
Typ0: *nods* The executive I dealt with was quite sincere. I am sure she *was* appalled…they need to do a better job training their staff…and she acknowleged that which I found to be positive.
I’m happy to see that you actually received customer service – finally – but can’t help but think it should have happened right away. In some ways it’s rather a sad statement that it took a blog post and the bad publicity to make HP do the right thing. Nonetheless, I’m pleased that you’ve had a good outcome.
Maybe this will be a great lesson for HP. In this day and age, when complaints can spread literally like wildfire, companies need to be very mindful of how they are treating their customers.
That is cool! The power of blogging and tweeting!
Definitely goes to show what blogging can do. But just think of the people who have gotten crappy service who don’t have blogs. I hope this helps them change their policies.
How can I get in touch with this HP person or that department? I was promised by one of the support people 6 days ago that they would fix my laptop for free including shipping due to a known defect.
They told me I would be receiving a shipping container in a couple days. It hasn’t arrived yet so I called back.
Now the person I talked to told me it was never shipped out and wouldn’t be because the warranty has lapsed.
Why didn’t they call me back? If I hadn’t called I would still be waiting. I waited on the phone for about 40 minutes and finally ask to speak to a supervisor and was told they were very busy and unavailable. He said they would elivate the issue and someone would call me in 24-48 hours.
Meanwhile I am without my laptop.
Again – how can I contact the people you taked to?
Thank you,
David
Lori: I agree – everyone should get good customer service the first time around…they shouldn’t have to have a blog to get a little help.
Lisa: I couldn’t agree more.
Jenners: Amazing the power a blogger can have, isn’t it?
JT: Yup…I wonder how many customers dealt with that crappy customer service person who never got satisfaction.
David: Sorry to hear about your troubles….I’ll drop you an email.
Hello Wendy and other contributers,
For the record – I got a phone call from someone in HP corporate who was very attentive and sympathetic but said her hands were tied. As I understand it, because of some legalities HP had to set a cutoff date for what laptops would be fixed under the extended warranty. I missed it by about 7 months.
Wendy I want to thank you for responding so promptly and lending your help.
Blessing,
David
David, thanks for letting us know the outcome of your story…I’m sorry you seemed to have been caught in a loophole based on warranty expiration…that always is a total bummer (I recently had my Sony laptop fixed under warranty…but had it broken one month later I would have been out of luck). Glad to help.
I’m glad they helped you out, but as has been said, they should’ve offered that right away instead of taking care of it only after you posted to the internet (and got to page 2 of a Google search; if your post had only gotten to page 7, do you think they would’ve paid attention?).
HP is simply no longer on my list of companies I’m willing to buy from, and they haven’t been for a long time.
At the risk of being accused of whining, I will register one more comment for the record. I am very disappointed in HP’s handling of my faulty laptop issue. I have learned there are class action suites against them for knowing selling computers with substandard parts in them. I registered with the law firm handling thousands of others with similar problems. I may not see any compensation but they need to be held accountable.
Since I had to buy a new laptop, I further expressed my disappointment with HP by spending my money with a different company.
Thank you,
David
Canyon Lake, CA
Jena: I totally agree…and I still haven’t seen the check they promised to send me…so I am not so sure I’ll ever be buying HP again. Thanks for weighing in.
David: Wow, I didn’t realize there were class action suits…although I guess I am not really surprised. Thanks for the follow up.