 Problems with HP Support Hi
I was wondering if anyone knows a mailing address for HP, preferably one in the United States, if there is one!
I bought a Compaq Presario 2500 notebook in March of 2004 for my daughter's high school graduation present. I was able to get several rebates and all...so that's why I bought it early. I gave it to her in May. She used it for a couple of months before she left for college. Let me just mention here, that it always seemed to me that it was awfully hot. I have a Dell Inspiron here at work and it doesn't get that hot. So, I was a little concerned about that, but it seemed to work fine and I figured it was just a different brand. I do not have any experience with Compaq or HP computers.
Sometime, around November, she started having problems. It would shut itself down and then she was unable to bring it back up. The power lights would come on, but only a blank screen. So when she came home during semester break, I called HP for support. They had me remove the battery, hold the power button in for 5 minutes, plug it in, reseat the battery...and low and behold it booted up! So, I thought it was fixed. NOT! Just a few days later it happened again. We did the same scenario and it worked. Well, she went back to college. The computer would be fine for several weeks at time and then it would happen again. I got one of those fans to put under it, thinking that the heat was a problem. Alot of times, if she just left it off for a while it would come back up. She'd have to turn it on a few times but eventually it would work and stay working for a few weeks at least sometimes longer. Well, all in all I think I eneded up calling HP about 3 or 4 seperate times when she was home on breaks. I would have called more often had the computer been at home with me. My daughter called and I called...they always had us do a few things, sometimes a little different but mainly removing the battery etc. The computer would come back up...so at that point they would end the call. Well, the warranty ended in March 2005. The notebook continued to have problems, and we continued to baby it and coax it into working. My daughter has a huge room fan, and she'd set it on top of that, because the problem really seemed to be related to it being too hot. I thought perhaps the CPU fan wasn't working properly.
Well, finally it went kaput. Nothing we do will bring it up. So, I contacted HP through online chat. They suggested I take it to have it looked at by an authorized tech. So, I took it to Staples and had the HP tech diagnose it. He said it's the motherboard. $369.00 to replace it. I contact HP to see if they will pay. NO...they say they will not. I felt that since the problem began while under warranty, and they have record of this, that they should cover it. It appears that they can only say certain words in English...every one I spoke to kept repeating the same line "it's not under warranty." The supervisor kept saying if I had called while it was under warranty they would have fixed it. I said, I did call...more than once. Your techs never diagnosed it as a motherboard problem.
Additionally, after ending my conversation with HP, I was searching online for other complaints and found out that the battery on this model has been recalled for overheating. Apparently, they've had them burn people and even catch on fire. Well...this adds a whole new element in my opinion. I thought it ran hot when we first got it. Now I wonder if the overheating battery may have fried the motherboard. But in talking with HP yesterday...no one ever mentioned the recall. Not once. They just issued the recall in October 2005. There is even a class action law suit because of injuries and damages caused by fire.
I am hesitant to fix the notebook because if the problem was caused by the overheating battery, it may have done damage to other components. I don't want the thing to become a money pit. If I replace the motherboard I don't want them to then say...the CPU is bad...etc. etc.
So...anyone have any ideas? I wrote and email to the HP CEO (yeah right)...but I'd really like to send a letter of complaint to a head office somewhere! If you know where I can send it please let me know.
thanks | 
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