Compaq runaround

DENIALS OF WARRANTY service by computer manufacturers are standard fare on The Gripe Line, but we may have touched bottom during Compaq’s last months as an independent company. Let’s hope so.

Readers have recently reported some of the most outlandish warranty episodes that I’ve ever heard of on Compaq products ranging from handhelds to high-end servers. One Presario laptop customer was outraged over the treatment he received for an intermittent power connection problem. “Plugging in the AC adapter caused the charge light to illuminate for a few seconds, only to go out again,” the Presario customer wrote. “It turned out the power adapter in the back of the unit was not attached to the chassis and has disappeared partway inside, leaving no way to charge the laptop. After the usual tech-support stress, the unit is shipped back to Compaq where, after 10 days, a Compaq rep tells us it is our fault for damaging the socket. … And none of this is covered under the warranty.”

The Compaq rep told the reader that, as the socket was part of the motherboard, repairing it would cost the price of the unit. “Apparently Compaq’s warranty service function is outsourced to some contractor who evaluates warranty claims like my HMO scrutinizes my request for a doctor’s appointment,” the reader wrote. “He faxes us an invoice for $850 [for repairing the problem], exactly one cent more than the $849.99 retail price of the unit. We demanded the return of the unit and now have a nonfunctioning new unit. Compaq/The New HP has victimized us to the tune of $915.86 with tax.”

Another reader discovered that having a system under warranty wouldn’t necessarily protect him from having to pay for the simplest of repairs. “Last fall I found a good buy on a new Compaq desktop … [that] had a coupon for a free upgrade to the forthcoming Windows XP, of which I took advantage and installed within two months of obtaining the computer,” the reader wrote. “All was well for six months, but then the floppy drive began malfunctioning.”

After determining that other floppy drives would work fine in the system and that the suspect drive would not work in other systems, the reader called Compaq to get a replacement floppy drive under warranty. He was told that “even though my one-year hardware warranty was still well in effect, my 90-day software warranty had expired. The Compaq technician informed me that since she could not determine whether my problem was with the hardware or the software, I would have to pay in order to diagnose and fix the problem. … I would also have to reload the original operating system [Windows Me], returning the computer to its factory state, before Compaq could do anything. I asked the Compaq person what the value of a one-year hardware warranty was when they could claim undetermined hardware/software failure and depend upon the expired 90-day software warranty to extort money from the customer anyway. … I gave up and bought a new $20 drive myself.”

Compaq support can be just as difficult when more is at stake than a $20 floppy drive. “Yesterday, my Compaq DL360 server reported that the power supply fan had failed, and the server shut itself down,” another reader wrote a few months back. Because the server was still covered by its original warranty, including overnight shipment of replacement parts, the reader called Compaq and was promised the power supply by 11 a.m. the next day. “This morning, UPS came but no package from Compaq. I called and was told the replacement had been shipped and should be in my hands.”

Desperate to get the server back up, the reader made over a dozen more calls, hearing everything from promises of the power supply’s imminent arrival to declarations that it wasn’t even in stock. “I finally determined that the power supply was on hand, but I could only obtain it if I paid $750 for a special 24-by-7 service contract that promises that Compaq will make its ‘best efforts’ to provide service within four hours. My card is now charged, and I am now promised that the power supply will be in my hands at 2 p.m. today. My server has been offline for 25 hours, and the warranty is worthless.”

Of course, none of what happened to these readers represents current official Hewlett-Packard warranty policy, and in fact none of them represent what was supposed to be Compaq policy at the time. At my request, HP/Compaq officials looked into the Presario laptop customer’s case and determined he should indeed have had his machine fixed under warranty. It is now being repaired at no charge.

Company representatives could not make any definitive comment on the other cases without the opportunity to look into the specifics, but a spokesman did point out that the customer with bad floppy would have had his software support charge refunded if it had proved to be a hardware problem. He added that users can also go to an authorized service center rather than to Compaq for warranty repairs. One reader pointed out, however, that his computer came with a flyer proclaiming, “Do Not Return This Product To Your Retailer. At Compaq we take pride in our ability to support your service needs.”

The optimistic view would be that this is all past history now that Compaq is part of “the New HP” and that we’ll see no more warranty gripes of this sort. Perhaps, but as we know, HP is far from having a blemish-free service track record. (Remember, this is the company that doesn’t even want to give you a recovery CD anymore.)

Can two wrongs make a right? We’ll see, but don’t be surprised if the HP-Compaq merger marks the beginning of the end of the computer warranty.