HP unable to deliver what it professes
The true face
of HP is ruthless. However, they cover it with ample useless and kind words
like ‘you are our valued customer’, ‘we are at your service’, and many such
redundant words that never get applied when they are required to be delivered,
at least in my case, it had not been.
A full-time
writer, I pushed myself into retirement; like most others belonging to my day
and age, I take pleasure in communicating with the virtual world; I am
connected to some international websites that encourage people to write and
express their experiences and concerns on pressing social, political, and
personal issues. Since I stay alone in Kolkata, my family in Hyderabad, I thought
it would be great if I could buy a laptop so I could connect with my daughter
and her mother on a regular basis. But unfortunately, I couldn’t’. I am not so
much of a technical guy so I entirely missed that I wasn’t able to use any
audio facilities on my machine. No Skype, no Hangout meet, no camera, no video,
nothing. The only connection with them was through WhatsApp. Unfortunately, it
took me one whole year to look at the ordinates of HP support pasted on my
laptop. My mistake agreed.
HP hiding behind
their words
When I approached
them on their WhatsApp support number yesterday (Monday 8 February 2021) at,
+1 786 482 6615 I got a prompt reply from their technical support specialist. I
gave him all the details of the problems that I was facing. All he wanted to
know was my HP device serial number. When I gave him the number, he said that
my warranty had expired and directed me to a service center near my location.
The nearest location was miles away from where I stay but that’s not the issue
here; the issue here was money; that I have to pay for the things that were not
delivered to me in the first place! Today, I chatted with Rishabh, then with
Mandeep Singh; well, they all spoke the same language; polite and eager to
close the case with a statement like this: ‘Thank you for contacting HP
WhatsApp support. You are our valued customer, and for a seamless service, you
may also reach us through Virtual Agent and ….” then in the end, “In order to
provide you with an invaluable service, we are continuously upgrading our
existing system and processes. Thank you.”
Creating an
irate customer
In between, I connected
to their service center in Kolkata through WhatsApp who asked me to call in
between 9 am to 6 pm. He said I have to pay Rs. 1770 for their service engineer
to visit my place, if it is within 40 km. I said it could hardly be 10 km to
which he said the charge would be the same even if it were 2 or 4 km away. Moreover,
if the engineer found out defects in any parts I would have to pay something
extra. When I told him (Mr. Mukul Ghosh) if I could visit their center, he
discouraged me saying that there would be a huge rush beyond 10.30!
Escalation
I told each
one of them that I felt wronged and deceived and that I didn’t even know if the
problem existed or was it because of some technical issues I wasn’t able to
solve, and because of this I would escalate it. They didn’t address the issue
at all, they were constantly highlighting where I was wrong, they were not in
the least worried about my concern.
The
disproportionate price structures
First of all,
I don’t understand how they decide on the price? Who lets them decide
that just to visit and look into the machine, they will charge something as exorbitant
as Rs.1770? And do words mean anything to them? “Valued customer? Continuously upgrading
our existing system and process.” They are penalizing me for the things they haven’t
delivered in the first place, why? It is because I missed out on their
ordinates within the stipulated time? They are looking at my mistake, their
valued customer’s, but are overlooking the fact that they gave me a defective
machine?
Is this how learning
organizations such as HP operate?
The objective
of sharing this is to let the management of HP know how their ideals that are
put in words in the vision, and mission are applied in ways that question the
integrity of the company. Sad.
It is also
for several valued customers and prospect customers out there to know how
valued you really are when it comes to delivering what the company claims.
Conclusion
Every day, ordinary mortals like us have to face issues and challenges, some get solved, some forgotten. My issue
remains unaddressed. Don’t know if the HP management that had groomed their
workforce into dealing with unsatisfied customers would speak any differently. Paying
the price for something that was beyond my scope is certainly not acceptable.
