Warning: HP Support

Because of my Broadcom Wireless issue (it disappears altogether from my system when it gets hot)

I called HP to complain. Unfortunatley it gets routed to India, and they use Voice over IP. So even opening a ticket and explaining the issue was VERY difficult, we were constantly repeating ourselves and we just could barely hear each other talk..

So first your cheap enough to outsource the support, then you are cheap about the infrastructure of your phone system.

It was quite a battle but they I have to ship them my table pc for repair.

Keep in mind, I just bought the tX1320 only two days ago!!!

Luckily we avoided the tedious steps of checking this, checking that, because I told him I followed the HP support forum and already updated the BIOS and drivers. So he bypassed all those steps...



My only concern is this, what if they apparently "Repaired" my issue, only for me to have the same issues again? What actions can I take then?


FYI: I tried to return my table PC today at Circuit City and I had to pay a $180 restocking fee(15%). So I wasn't going to lose $180.....


I will update everyone on my progress....

 

Doesn't Circuit City have 14 or 21 day return/exchange policy? Did you try to return it for an exchange? Best Buy and CompUSA would exchange it, no question asked as long as it's within the 14/21 day return policy.

Go back to Circuit City and demand an exchange. This is better than returning to HP.

 

It's 14 day for UNOPENED items. I read that part too but read it too fast.
When I was at the store, I read it again, and it said if you opened it, it's 15% restocking fee.


I was thinking about exchanging it, but after reading all the forums (there are many) it seems to be a problem with the Broadcom cards and some overheating with the unit.

Chances of getting another unit with the same problem is very high...
So I might as well just officially create a case, and have them fix it...

Now if they SAY they fixed and it still doesn't work, then I will start to worry...

 

interesting, my friend's TX gets very hot, but it never overheats... what's the issue that causes the overheating?

as for support, i've called in before, but it went pretty smoothly. definitely didn't have any outsourced Help support, unless they do a great American accent over in India. I got a brand new docking station for my TC4400 in a few short days after sending my defective one back to HP.

and I'm extremely skeptical that Circuity City would charge you so much to exchange a defective unit. at least with Best Buy, they exchange units left centre and right so long as you have your receipt and you've had your unit for less than 2 weeks. besides, your unit is still covered by Circuity City's warranty, unless they don't have such a thing (which is rare). there must be something wrong with their system, or they're just really cheap! you should go back and demand an exchange!

 

If the item is DEFECTIVE, you should be able to exchange within the 14 day policy. After 14 days, then HP should take care of it. Go back and the worst can happen is they say no.

 

also, have you read anywhere if this issue with your Broadcom wireless has happened to other people? have they found any solutions to this problem?

it sounds like something's loose within the chassis, and it's not uncommon since the box could have been bumped several times during shipping from HP's warehouses/factories to Circuity City's warehouses.

I would also recommend registering your tablet with HP, and see what kind of return/exchange policy HP would have.

I know at least in Canada, if the issue is not resolved, HP will just ship you a brand new unit after the 2nd attempt. Of course, by brand new, they mean "we're going to charge you $40 to back up your hard drive to DVDs and ship it to you with your tablet, but hey you can't blame us for not backing up your hard drive". this happened to my friend when his HP dv-series laptop wasn't working within the first week of his purchase. it had something to do with his LCD connector, and he had to send it in to HP twice before HP just gave him a brand new unit. all is working fine for him now.

 

Hey guys thanks for all the suggestions.

I ended up calling HP and without any hassles at all they shipped me a box overnight so I can send it to them to fix.

I also printed out a nice description of the issue as well as screenshots of when my wireless works and when it doesn't. This way if the HP guy I talked to, didn't write down exactly my issue, then whoever gets my laptop to fix can just read my incident.

I'm just annoyed that this is happening at all, I bought it as a toy to play with during the Xmas break and now I won't have it for Xmas. I just shipped it back to HP this morning...


As for the other poster, yeah, it seems that there is an issue with these Broadcom cards, it's causing a lot of issues with other models too, not just the TX......

 

http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/showthread.php?t=13010

seem other member also found the phone support very bad but the repair and speed very good.

hope your problems get resolved as easily. (and permanently!)

 

Thanks!

Yeah my problem wasn't the person on the other end, (he was obviously Indian)

But the call QUALITY was bad. They were using VOIP and it kept breaking up, so it sounded like very very bad static...

I called back and got a different guy this time American, but the call quality was still bad...

They need to fix their VOIP infrastructure...

 

I wanted to give everyone an update on my laptop.

I sent it in December 18th. It must have gotten to support overnight. It is now December 22nd and I just got an email saying my laptop is already shipped coming back to me!!??


I am suppose to get it December 24th right before Xmas! That would be great if they actually fixed it because I bought it so that I can play with it during Xmas. When there was a problem with the wireless, support said it would take 7 days to fix, I really doubted that and figured I wouldn't see the laptop for 2 weeks, 3 weeks maximum..

Anyways, if I get it back on time, and it's fixed with NO scratches, I would be absolutely impresssed...