PETITION ASKING HP TO REPAIR THE IPAQ

[Chairman Clench]

PRESS RELEASE… FOR IMMEDIATE DISTRIBUTION

July 20, 2002

Today marks the official launch of http://www.ipaqpetition.com. At this website, users who have experienced problems with their HP/Compaq iPAQ PocketPCs can sign a petition asking Hewlett Packard to fix or refund their devices.

The petition contains dozens of documented issues that some iPAQ PocketPCs suffer from. As a result, for many owners the iPAQ PocketPC is a defective device. The petition also contains a list of documented issues that the PocketPC 2000 and 2002 Operating Systems suffer from. These issues are contained within the petition to further demonstrate the reduced usefulness of these devices, although the petition does not demand resolution from HP/Compaq to these OS-related issues.

The petition is a formal statement expressing the complaint that HP/Compaq has not adequately supported these products. The petition also offers HP/Compaq the opportunity to resolve this situation in one of two ways:

1. Immediately announce and implement a comprehensive program to fix the non-operating system related issues some users are having. This program can include hardware replacement, software updates, and hardware repairs. Any such program must be accompanied by firm delivery dates and be completed within 60 days.

2. Offer a full refund of the original purchase price of the device and any HP/Compaq-branded accessories to any worldwide user who is experiencing some or all of the issues detailed above. Before qualifying for the refund the user must have, (a) previously attempted to resolve the problems with their iPAQ through HP/Compaq technical support to no avail OR (b) will attempt to resolve the problems with their iPAQ through HP/Compaq technical support before requesting a refund.

Although many iPAQ users are not experiencing the issues listed in the petition there are also many users who are experiencing problems. Users who are experiencing problems with their iPAQ PocketPC products simply want a device that works the way HP/Compaq advertises them to.

Please help us support the iPAQ owners who have been sold defective devices by releasing this information. We welcome media inquiries to contact us by e-mail at [email protected].

Thank you.

[acollet]

Give me a break. I've had my iPAQ 3870 for quite some time.. NO Problems. Then I had the backligt problem. Called Compaq, and had a new one at my door the next day. As far as I am concerned, Compaq DOES fix problems when you report them.

[dcharles18]

The third time was a charm for me. My first 3800 had a sound problem and a backlight problem. It was quickly replaced, but the new one still had backlight issues. Again, quickly replaced. My third one is great. (Although I do periodically get that annoying 'would you like to reformat your storage card?' message)

[Chairman Clench]

Give me a break. I've had my iPAQ 3870 for quite some time.. NO Problems. Then I had the backligt problem. Called Compaq, and had a new one at my door the next day. As far as I am concerned, Compaq DOES fix problems when you report them.

We are delighted that you have had good luck with your iPAQ. Just because you have had a good experience does not mean that everyone else has as well.

We now have over 1100 signatures on the petition in just 6 days of the site being live. That was accomplished with only a very small percentage of the iPAQ community even knowing about the petition.

Even if no one else signs the petition, we have proven that a problem exists. 1100 people are not all wrong.

My iPAQ has been in for repair 3 times. NONE of the issues that were supposedly "fixed" have been. All three issues are still occuring. I spoke with someone today who has sent their iPAQ in 14 (yes, FOURTEEN) times for repair in less than 1 year.

Also, respectable media sources are now acknowledging that there are problems here. Check out the article that was posted today on The Register and even people inside HP realize that Compaq has not been doing business the right way.

If you are happy with your iPAQ, that's great... those of us who are having problems just want to be happy too. HP/Compaq can make us happy by fixing our devices.

[sallys]

In just six days online, www.ipaqpetition.com has collected the signatures of over 1000 iPAQ users worldwide!

www.ipaqpetition.com highlights the plight of many iPAQ users worldwide. Since release, the iPAQ series of PocketPC has been plagued with many issues, dozens of which have yet to be addressed by HP/Compaq technical support.

Through coverage from premier news sites such as The Register (www.theregister.co.uk) and numerous worldwide PDA websites, www.ipaqpetiton.com has received thousands of unique hits per day.

Individual consumer users are not the only ones signing the petition. Several small and medium sized companies have expressed their desire to sign the petition for each iPAQ deployed through their organization.

The goal of www.ipaqpetition.com is to alert the senior management at HP/Compaq to the myriad of problems many users are having with these devices in the hope that they will fix them.

Please help us support the iPAQ owners who have been sold defective devices by releasing this information. We welcome media inquiries to contact us by e-mail at [email protected].

Thank you.

[Chairman Clench]

1350 Signatures and counting!

[Dave Conger]

I don’t want to sound rude, but this is PPC Thoughts, so I just want to express my thoughts. I do think it is great that you have been able to gather over a thousand people so fast, but I just wonder if it is giving some false hopes.

You need to get Compaq/HP to make some kind of statement about the petition...otherwise you just have a list of names. That could be difficult seeing that you probably only have .1% of the iPAQ's sold accounted for (assuming they have shipped over a million iPAQ's). I would think Compaq/HP would just stamp a big "fix in future" on it. A bug that affects 10 times that many systems (and isn’t a show stopping issue) might not even get fixed.

It just seems like you are saying that HP/Compaq should, because you paid all this money, fix all the problems. All the problems aren’t HP/Compaq issues. You are attacking only half of the problem. It is like saying Dell should fix the bugs in their systems that are caused by Windows. The terms of the petition don't even seem fair. "Immediately announce and implement." Haha, that is a riot. You really think that it is just as easy as announce and release? Like the solution is just there and they don’t really want to release it. If they don't fix it you want a full refund for not only the "tainted product" but for they stuff you bought for it???? Isn't that like buying a new car, driving it for a couple months, installing a new stereo, and then when you find documented issues, you want the dealer to give you a full refund for the car and the stereo??? What? Keyword you use is documented issues. If it is documented then buyers beware.

I hope somewhere you tell the signers to contact Compaq, because that would send a real message if people actually called for support as well. A thousand new entries in the tech support system (on top of the normal calls) would be a big sign to them.