There's nothing like good customer service

[Jason Dunn]

I've had to deal with HP Customer Service twice, and both times I've been very impressed with them. The first time was last year - I had a Jornada 545 that kept locking up on me, and after sending it in for repair, it kept doing the same thing. I was a little ticked at this point, and I wanted a replacement unit right away, so the customer service rep allowed me to go to a local store and buy a new 548 (an upgrade from the 545), and they refunded the full price of the 545. So I was able to get a new Pocket PC with double the RAM for the difference in price - about $150 CND. I was thrilled!<br /><br />Today I called HP tech support about my dusty Jornada - I had been loathe to call and be without my side kick for a few days, but it turns out that they're doing a cross-ship. They send me a replacement device (refurb), and once I get it, I send back the dusty one. Perfect! And, no, I don't believe they know who I am - especially in Canada. ;-) <br /><br />How have you found HP customer service?

[docangle]

I am in the same boat as you are, my 568 developed dandruff, but they were out of stock for a week, I received my first replacement last Friday and it was just as bad as my existing unit. They are sending out another unit today and I should receive it on Tuesday, but I don't have high hopes it will be any better.

It seems as though they are just sending out units that have been turned in for dust issues, and they are just in turn sending them back out. I have talked to many people at HP (Mindy, and Mike) and they have all promised that the dust issue has been resolved. I even got this wild explanation how they are sending unit to be repaired, and that they are adding a gasket seal around the screen (The Compaq fix), but I have my doubts.

The main problem that I see is when you call HP you are calling a 'Call Center' (I am sure the same center handles VCR's and Microwaves) and they have nothing to do with the Service Center that sends out the replacement units. The reality is that they have no real idea on what is going on, they are just trained to say the problem has been solved, but really they are telling you that we will replace your unit with a dusty one, and have a nice day! :)

[rfischer]

This is not related to PocketPCs, but my 5+ year old LaserJet 1100 was grabbing multiple pages when printing. I went to their site and was not surprised that my printer was out of warranty, but was surprised that they had a FREE kit that addressed my exact problem. I ordered one via standard mail (also free shipping) and it was explained that I should allow several weeks to receive the kit. It arrived in only 3 DAYS and fixed the problem just as promised. Most other companies would not proivide a repair kit for an older product. Way to go HP! That's why I keep buying them. :D

[bandersnatch]

I just recently got fed up with my early serial number 568 and it's dust problem, so I called HP support. They were out of units, which I could understand, but the best the guy would do for me is:

* Try calling back every week or so until we get new units in
* He would NOT do an express exchange, and kept telling me that it would be quick "under three week exchange", which I can't do because I use the PPC for work.
* He said that because my problem didn't effect performance, it was a low-priority for support, even though they'd do the swap.

I think I may have just gotten a bum on the line, but still, it was surprising after the good stories I had heard about HP support, especially regarding the dust issue.

[Sslixtis]

Well, I have found HP customer service to be OUTSTANDING! They have cross shipped 4 568's for dust, with not one complaint. Now if the manufaturing side could solve the bloody dust problem once and for all, I might buy the next HP but as it is I'm eyeing the next Toshiba with Xscale and a 4" screen in the same formfactor they have now. By the way, never blow dust out of the battery well on the 568, HP says that you can't get dust under the screen from the outside...but I put about 50-60 bits under there when I blew the dust out of the battery well during a hard rest! When I told the HP rep he didn't seem surprised and simply said that my replacement would be here in 2 days. It was :) The new one has a couple of dust particles already, nothing major, just annoying. I guess the designers though the Pocket part of PocketPC was just part of the name not where it would be carried! Oh well, maybe now they can get some of the new Ipaq screens for the Jornada. Rant over.

[Paragon]

HP customer service in Canada is usually very good, yet..... inconsistant. The first time I exchanged my Jornada they did a cross ship with my Visa as colateral. The second time they did a buy back, and I bought a new one. The last time, with a device that had become almost unusable, and totally undependable, I had to stand on my head and go three or four steps up the latter to get them to cross ship. I use this device everyday to take orders for my business. To be without it for a week or to would not be fun. They seemed to genuinely care, but policy is policy. Whatever it is that day.

Dave

[teschall]

Great, except for the fact that they did an advanced exchange on my (only slightly) dusty 568 and sent me an extremely dusty 568! The good new is, I got it the next day (for free) and did not have to keep the dusty one. Looks like they still have the dust problem going on.

[innersky]

This is not related to PocketPCs, but my 5+ year old LaserJet 1100 was grabbing multiple pages when printing. I went to their site and was not surprised that my printer was out of warranty, but was surprised that they had a FREE kit that addressed my exact problem. I ordered one via standard mail (also free shipping) and it was explained that I should allow several weeks to receive the kit. It arrived in only 3 DAYS and fixed the problem just as promised. Most other companies would not proivide a repair kit for an older product. Way to go HP! That's why I keep buying them. :D


Had the same thing with LaserJet 3100, but also had bad experience with driver updates. (these can only be bought on cdrom, not downloaded free as for most of their printers)
Apparently they make a difference for All-In-One devices...

[Ed Hansberry]

Horrible. The video controller on my 548 kept shorting out causing the screen to go out. They would NOT cross ship. So I sent it in and two weeks later it came back repaired.

A month or so later, it went out again. Called them up, sent it in and two weeks later it came back - as a 545! I called them up and wanted to know where my 548 was. They swore I sent in a 545. Luckily I had my serial number and proved it was a 548. They told me to ship the 545 in (no cross ship - they don't trust me I guess) and would send a 548 back. A week and a half later, I get another 545.

Another week and a half later, I finally got a 548. So, all told it was nearly two months in total time without a device for a problem common enough that several people were complaining about it in the newsgroups. This was not a one off mistake, this was a defect. Thanks HP!

[ledowning]

I found customer service at HP Canada to be excellent. I have a Jornada 568, (with no dust!) but after trying the extended battery with MMC and the PC card expansion kit, I was unable to read, write or format the MMC card. Kept getting and error code 31 and a message from file explorer that it could not format the card.

Called HP support finally, and they said we could exchange the 3 month old Jornada. HP did require a security deposit while they shipped out the new unit and I shipped out the old.

Received the new Jornada the day after I called and the PC card expansion worked and the MMC card was read properly. Even received a 'dust free' unit from what I can see.

Quite a good experience, I would say.

[bbarker]

My experience with HP support has been excellent. They've always cross-shipped. I never had to ask for it; they just did it. I received the most recent one on Friday.

[Ed Hansberry]

I am glad everyone else's experience has been waaaaaaay better than mine, which was in the fall/winter of 2000. Perhaps my conversation with the consumer satisfaction department in the office of the President (that is what they called it, though I doubt Carley answered the phone too much ;) ) made some difference.

[Hotchkissfire1]

I had some problems installing Outlook 2002, which came with my 567. The problem: I couldn't get my Word 97 to be the email editor. I emailed them, and I got replies in hours, although it took three to get to the right answer( Word 97 won't edit Outlook 2002). Overall, they tried hard.

What I hate is the Website. I tried to register, went thru about a million pages, and finally wound up with a message that the site was busy after I submitted my last page. I'm still not sure I'm registered, but I'm not doing that again.

Also, the product descriptions for the units and the accessories are better on resellers sites that HP's own site. They say I have a 10% discount to buy accessories (from registering), but I'm not sure I can even find the "store". I'd rather one click Amazon or somebody.

[Aceze]

You think you got it bad? Check out what this poor guy had to go through with HP support:

http://www.theinquirer.net/02050209.htm

Damn! The longest I've ever had to deal with any "support" staff was ~2 months (and that was WAY frustrating enough for me).

Aceze