Monday, February 8, 2021

HP failed an unsatisfied customer

 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.

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