I’m adding Hewlett Packard (HP) to the Hall of Shame. Don’t buy their computers.

It has been my experience that Hewlett Packard computers are of poor quality and HP customer service is poor.

For the second time, an HP computer has crashed on me. In both instances, the computers did not have Windows XP backup disks. To cut costs, HP created hard disk partitions where a small portion of each drive contained the OS backups. In both instances, the recovery partitions did not work. This meant pulling data off the crashed hard drives and back up data from a server to install on new computers, plus the joy of re-installing software.

Decided to give HP one last chance by ordering a replacement computer (and pay extra for a back up OS CD) last week. You would think that HP would be delighted I stayed with them despite having two horrible experiences with their shoddy computers.

However, 2-day shipping (also paid extra for) apparently meant only the extras (video docking station and case). Clicking to check order status, discovered the computer would not be shipped for 2 weeks and would arrive when I was out of state on business.

After numerous e-mails and a couple of hours of Hewlett Packard Customer Service, I was informed that absolutely no accommodations would be made. I could not get the computer any time in 2009…although I’d get the fun of looking at the case and video docking station until the computer arrived.

Hewlett Packard would not ship the computer sooner, refused to ship the computer to my office rather than home, and would not have the computer shipped and held to a local FedEx office until I could pick it up. Note that I had already paid for the computer, i.e. no money out of their pocket to have their shipper hold the computer for a few extra days.

It took 2 hours to request a cancellation of the order from customer support. Although they claim they can’t build and ship the computer for a couple of weeks, I was told that the request might not be processed because the computer might already be in the process of being built! Who knew that the process could take several weeks? If I get a shipping notice by e-mail, I’ll get to spend another 2 hours on the phone dealing with that too. And if they decide to refund my money for a computer they can’t timely ship, I’ll get an e-mail letting me know this…and it will take an additional 3-5 business days to process after receiving the e-mail.

Here’s the support e-mail received after spending hours on the phone…

[W]e are making an active attempt to fulfill your cancellation request.
If successful, we will notify you by email and the refund will be issued. Typically, your bank will post your credit within 5 business days.
If unsuccessful, you will receive a ship notification email. If you choose not to keep the product, please call us on 1-866-217-6014 to arrange a return and credit.

In contrast with HP, Dell computers have always been reliable and their customer support is excellent. Although I had been splitting purchases between HP and Dell, in the future I will be buying only Dell computers. I explained to the customer service agent that long-term loss of value to a company that happens when customer support is mishandled this way. She could care less. Perhaps her supervisors will care more than she does.

Will my purchases (or lack thereof) significantly affect HP’s bottom line? Of course not. However, they’ve lost at least 20 sales from me over the years plus hundreds from friends and clients who I recommend not buy a Hewlett Packard laptop, desk top, notebook, etc. Word-0f-mouth is a powerful tool that can positively or negatively affect a business. In this instance, WOM is going to cost Hewlett Packard far more than a single transaction.

If you have a choice between Hewlett Packard and any other computer brand, consider skipping HP and save yourself the headaches of dealing with a company that has lost its way both as to quality and support.