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snowburnt
April 10, 2009 4:55 PM
Moderate | Flag for review

I would have pursued the warranty issue. If it is under warranty they would have had him ship it in and he would have had it back in less than a week. I had an issue with a ram slot on my computer \"from damage\" and got it taken care of in no time.

Also, it might help him to contact sales about this, they'd be more interested in helping him.

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9 replies
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Heresy_Fnord
April 11, 2009 6:03 PM
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@snowburnt: I just looked up his laptop. It has been out of warranty since March 10th, 2009.

Warranty Type Base Warranty
Wty: HP HW Maintenance Offsite Support
Status Expired
Start Date 04 Feb 2008
End Date 10 Mar 2009

A keyboard for $300 is a little high, but I remember from my service department days that keyboards on laptops cost $150 and up normally. If I was him, I'd find one on eBay and order it and install it myself. There are instructions on HPs website for replacing keyboards. I could probably find them for him and tell him how to do it.

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snowburnt
April 13, 2009 1:46 PM
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@Heresy_Fnord: yeah, it wouldn't be hard to replace if he got one. Nice of him to vent on the Tech rep because the guy forgot his warranty.

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Neil Patel
April 11, 2009 1:57 AM
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@snowburnt: A couple years ago i bought a brand new dell laptop and in the first 3 days i dropped a stapler from a high place right onto the 9 and O keys and they broke off. I called dell and they overnighted a replacement keyboard to me. I messed up installing it and another keyboard came the next day.

So in some cases they will just send you the keyboard and provide an easy instruction guide for installing it. no need to mail it in and wait a long time.

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zombie_batch
April 10, 2009 6:46 PM
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@snowburnt: if he sends it in, they'll also wipe the hard drive.

Lenovo will simply send a replacement keyboard with instructions on how to replace it, so long as the laptop is under warranty and you agree to send the defective keyboard back.

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Sabbadeus
April 10, 2009 6:30 PM
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@snowburnt: One thing you can't forget, shipping in a laptop to HP, even if it's repairing PHYSICAL damage to a keyboard, buttons, whatnot. They usually wipe the HD at the same time as a 'service' for the customer. I know consumerist had a story about that, but I'm having trouble finding it for the life of me.

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sirwired
April 10, 2009 5:44 PM
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@snowburnt: What you really meant was that you can mail it in, and they will lose all track it ever existed in one week.

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catastrophegirl chooses not to fly
April 10, 2009 5:12 PM
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@snowburnt: i've read articles here and elsewhere that lead me to believe he wouldn't get it back in a week... if at all

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snowburnt
April 10, 2009 7:19 PM
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@catastrophegirl, @sirwired: As I said earlier, based on my own anecdotal evidence, it worked for me, they even replaced the monitor and didn't wipe the harddrive...even though I was prepared for them to.

@Sabbadeus: This will happen no matter where you send it in to.

A) you should always have your computer backed up
b) you shouldn't send you computer anywhere with information that could be lost on it.

HP treated me good in the past, I'm just letting you know my single experience.

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taking_this_easy
April 10, 2009 4:57 PM
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i'm guessing the keys are too small to be considered parts

anyways... last i checked, my laptop's keyboard can be purchased on ebay for $30

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SJActress
April 11, 2009 7:46 PM
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@taking_this_easy:

What's ridiculous is that the keys are obviously a separate part at some point in the assembly chain. It's not like plastic is pressed into a mold and Voila! a whole keyboard.

I would try to find out where the keys are manufactured, and get in touch with that factory.

(of course, I worked in a car parts place in the US, and computer parts are probably ALL manufactured overseas, but it's worth a shot).

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Keavy_Rain
April 11, 2009 4:56 AM
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@taking_this_easy: Or just buy a USB keyboard from Amazon, Newegg, or Best Buy for $10

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Papa Midnight
April 11, 2009 12:16 AM
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@taking_this_easy: I could also buy a replacement keyboard from my manufacturer for $29.99. Free shipping.

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Ein2015
April 10, 2009 5:35 PM
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@taking_this_easy: everything is a part.

even the little rubber feet.

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must hold harmless
April 10, 2009 6:25 PM
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@Ein2015:
I once lost two rubber feet from my Dell laptop. I really didn't think Dell would replace them, but I thought I had nothing to lose and that it was worth a shot -- I was just annoyed that my laptop was out of balance. Anyway, I called them and sure enough they sent me 4 replacement pads within 2 days, my only complaint was they shipped them in a HUGE package which was obviously a complete waste!

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SJ Stanaitis
April 10, 2009 5:00 PM
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I second the thing about just replacing the keyboard, it's generally inexpensive, and only held in with a few screws and a small ribbon cable. For $297 you can send it to me and I'll do it for you. :)

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mindshadow
April 10, 2009 5:02 PM
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Wow, popping keys on will damage the internals of the computer? Ridiculous. They can be a bit tricky to replace SOMETIMES, but no more than that. Do what the editor suggested and buy a replacement keyboard online. They're usually reasonably cheap. I'd try to drop an EECB on HP to let them know their customer support is retarded and has cost them a customer.

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4 replies
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kexline
April 10, 2009 6:56 PM
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@mindshadow: I had a horrible experience getting a warranty replacement of an optical drive on a Compaq laptop. I found that it was worth the effort to call during the day to get HP's stateside support. They took the issue seriously, could handle the idea of a customer self-diagnosing a ragingly obvious problem, and actually stayed in touch with me over short stretches of time.

(Full disclosure: As it happened, HP still failed -- they quickly and enthusiastically sent me the wrong part ... twice. I finally got the right part by showing a Fry's manager a warranty service receipt claiming that the system was fine, and a screen cap proving that Windows had logged dozens of critical hardware errors while the tech was writing out the receipt. But at least the HP folks tried!)

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calquist
April 10, 2009 5:30 PM
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@mindshadow: I worked in a phone center and it is totally possible that he has no way of getting those keys to him. Plus Randy was hostile right away. Be nice to the people on the phone (its even easier to fake nice on chat). It will get you much farther in the long run.

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mindshadow
April 10, 2009 6:34 PM
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@calquist: Right, I highly doubt those keys are available. A keyboard, however, should have been available. Every time I've had a bad key with our company's laptops it's usually a quick customer service call to the manufacturer and they send a new keyboard and ask me to send the broke one back. They actually will send a technician to do it (we pay for the nice warranty), but it's a tad embarrassing and a waste of resources to have someone do that.

If this guy's laptop was in warranty that's how things should have gone down. \"Okay, let me send you a keyboard, we'll be giving you a return shipping label to send the old one back.\" If it was out of warranty they should have offered to let him buy one. Also it seems that Randy had already been on the phone and was frustrated, so it's understandable that he's upset.

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calquist
April 10, 2009 6:52 PM
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@mindshadow: Well I think his warranty expired on 3/11? That is why the price of replacement is so high.

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katstermonster
April 11, 2009 12:42 AM
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@calquist: Read the article. The reason for his grumpiness is that HP and the OP are disagreeing on the warranty date, and it sounds as if he has documentation to back it up. He shouldn't be paying for this at all.

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sodomanaz
April 10, 2009 5:06 PM
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If you bought this through AMEX, they add an extra year of warranty and will give you a choice of sending it in to their repair people, or being reimbursed the cost of HP doing it.

I've had this runaround with HP too. I love they sneak in the trick question of, \"could this be from damage?\" and if you say \"yes\" or \"not sure\" they can give you an even rougher time.

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Mike8813
April 10, 2009 7:56 PM
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@sodomanaz: VISA will also extend the warranty, and send you a check for the repair cost. I used this last week to get a replacement part for a Roomba vaccuum.

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noone1569
April 10, 2009 5:06 PM
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I'll do it for $197 =)


But yeah, this is crap. I have had good experiences with HP products, but when they go bad . . watch out

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SavitriPleiades
April 10, 2009 5:07 PM
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I had a key break on my Apple Powerbook G4 after the computer was out of warranty. I went into an Apple store, the rep went in back, got the right key, popped it on for free, and I left in under 5 minutes.

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4 replies
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GuinevereRucker
April 10, 2009 5:52 PM
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@SavitriPleiades: That's why I'm an Apple cultist. The customer service is great, *especially* when compared with other computer companies. When you call them, you get someone who speaks English every time! It's amazing.

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HeartBurnKid uses Linux: the taint of OS's
April 10, 2009 10:28 PM
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@GuinevereRucker: It's funny, that's why I'm big on Lenovo. I've always found it to be greatly ironic that, while all the American tech companies are outsourcing their support to India and Asia, we have an Asian company that has a call center in Atlanta.

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Cocoa Vanilla
April 10, 2009 5:10 PM
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@SavitriPleiades: Yeah, I find it hard to believe HP can't just give him the damn keys.

And that's why I'll never buy an HP. Or a Dell. Or really, any PC for that matter.

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sodomanaz
April 10, 2009 5:17 PM
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@Cocoa Vanilla: That's at an apple store. Try calling their customer support. You will get the same run around.

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jrlcopy
April 10, 2009 5:08 PM
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Laptop keyboards come as a full unit, they are not meant to be 'popped' in, popping them in causes the plastic part to break which is what happened to his keys in his first place.

Sending it in will replace the entire keyboard, of course the entire keyboard is no where near $300 and is really probably close to $30. lol.

I went through the same conversation over a dell keyboard a few years back, though it was covered under the warranty, I just didn't want to be without a laptop for X amount of weeks.

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sodomanaz
April 10, 2009 5:09 PM
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Oh, and if you feel like searching, search for \"hp [model # of laptop] scissor\" and you may find some luck through google. Assuming there is no damage to the key itself.

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sodomanaz
April 10, 2009 5:29 PM
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@sodomanaz: One last thing: I think you can buy the keyboard through HP's site. Log in and look around for \"upgrade parts\" or something similar under your laptop. If I remember correctly, they should offer a replacement keyboard for like $30-40.

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Anonymous
April 10, 2009 5:15 PM
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He wasn't going to be charged $298 for 2 keyboard keys, it was for parts+labor of a new keyboard. It's not possible to buy individual keys for ANY keyboard let alone a laptop keyboard. This is not hard to understand. I'm usually the first to side with someone who has been ripped off by \"the man\" but I'm siding with HP on this one.

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onetruejp
April 11, 2009 8:22 AM
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@LandryBabalindo: This is just an outright falsehood. I popped a key off my HP dv6150 (my bad), called HP to see if they'd send me a new one. They wanted me to send the whole thing in (still under warranty), but the dealbreaker for me was that they insisted on restoring my HDD to factory settings. After I had undone all their \"system restore\" partition nonsense and installed Ubuntu (which would have voided my warranty. Whatever). LIKE THAT HAS ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE KEYBOARD. Anyway, I got a replacement key off eBay for $7 and just popped it on. You'll have to make sure it has the right hinge/scissor mechanism to fit the board, but the eBay sellers make this pretty easy to do.

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sodomanaz
April 10, 2009 10:20 PM
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@LandryBabalindo: \"It's not possible to buy individual keys for ANY keyboard let alone a laptop keyboard.\"


Dell will send you one, though you may run into a headache unless you know the part number.


For more on topic, surf through HP PartSurfer and you possibly can get one as well (though it is a pain in the ass). [partsurfer.hp.com] Take a look. I have found multiple laptop keyboard part numbers. :)

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halloweenjack
April 10, 2009 9:02 PM
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@LandryBabalindo: So you're claiming that even though I can buy cufflinks made from individual computer keys, I can't buy the keys themselves? Is that what you're saying?

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Reid Antonacchio
April 10, 2009 8:26 PM
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@LandryBabalindo: Using words like \"ANY\" gets you into trouble:


[www.machinaelectronics.com]

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Death to Frying Things
April 10, 2009 8:00 PM
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@LandryBabalindo: So assume the keyboard costs as much as $50 for the replacement part. (Set aside that that the real cost to HP would have been maybe $3). The labor for replacing a keyboard plus paying for laptop shipping is worth $248? For a 5-minute repair? Ridiculous. Maybe the extra time is spent on wiping the hard drive and copying contents for personal use of the tech. Glad they are getting paid for that.

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HalOfBorg
April 10, 2009 5:18 PM
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My Saitek Eclipse II keyboard had a few keys get wiped blank a bit. They sent me new ones no charge.

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dreamfish
April 10, 2009 5:18 PM
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I have suffered similar randomness when it comes to HP custoemr service rules. The fan my new HP desktop was far too loud (sounded like it was catching on something) and I called asking for them to send a replacement that I could fit myself.

Instead, they insisted it had to be sent back and as part of the process of replacing the fan they would have to wipe the hard drive! I never received a decent explanation as to why - it was just 'part of the procedure'.

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Anonymous
April 11, 2009 5:00 AM
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Having worked tech support for HP a while back I can tell you that this is standard operating procedure. Out of warranty repairs are run at quite a markup, it's like a secondary market for them. If you send a laptop (out of warranty that is) in and then decide that total cost of repairs are too much you will be billed about $100-120 to have the laptop returned. They claim this is to cover cost of shipping. The 10 mins of labor to install a new keyboard is >$2 and cost of the part is about $10-30. The rest is pure profit.

@dreamfish:
Formatting the drive for a replacement fan isn't part of the repair procedure. HOWEVER, if they need to access the O/S and there is a password, file corruption etc... they will reimage the drive rather than attempt to repair your O/S, to save time i guess. Tech support is supposed to warn you that the drive may be reimaged, and when i worked for them I would tell the customer to either remove the HDD or backup anything valuable and delete sensitive info. In your case you had either a lazy or (more likely) stupid tech agent on the phone who didn't understand why an HDD might be reimaged.

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Geekybiker
April 10, 2009 5:19 PM
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Yup, buy a parts laptop for cheap on ebay. You can get the keyboard itself, or a non-working complete model for cheap and just grab the keyboard out of it.

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James Daniel Henshall
April 10, 2009 5:22 PM
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Long time reader, but first time commenting...

I chime in only because of the CSR insisting the keys were not replaceable by the customer. When I had issues with my wireless card on my laptop, they sent me a new card with instructions to replace it, which involved using a really small Phillips head, opening one of the doors on the bottom of the computer and removing two thread-sized wires from their terminals.

If a customer is expected to do hardware replacements like that, then swapping out plastic keys is child's play. Although, judging by the price, I assume they wanted to replace the entire keyboard.

HP's TotalCare is anything but. See my experiences at [hpissues1.blogspot.com]

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snowburnt
April 10, 2009 7:37 PM
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@James Daniel Henshall: My thoughts on this case:

Randy was obviously frustrated and he took it out on someone who didn't necessarily deserve it.

If he'd taken a breath, tried to understand the situation I bet they would have given him a new keyboard under warranty.

I've had a couple good experiences with HP, mostly as a business customer. The key to ANY customer service interaction, particularly if the person has English as a second or third language is to be calm, be straight forward, and can the snark. they won't get it and it will take longer to sort out the mess than it's worth.

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Ichiro51
April 10, 2009 5:25 PM
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\"Unfortunately you can't buy single laptop keys to replace.\"

I bought a couple on eBay for my old Toshiba for a few bucks.

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Inglix_the_Mad
April 10, 2009 7:41 PM
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@Ichiro51: Yeah, but if you actually deal with a vendor, they only sell the full keyboard. Too easy to break the individual keys as most users are ham-handed. Still a replacement keyboards for most (90%) units is less than $100. Heck many are less than $75 or even $50 new.

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Shadowman615
April 10, 2009 5:26 PM
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I think maybe you should have blacked out or otherwise anonymized the serial numbers and service tags.

Might be overkill, but still...

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Anonymous
April 10, 2009 5:27 PM
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WOW. I walked into an Apple Store Genius Bar the other day with almost exactly the problem with a MacBook, except that the problem was, by my own admission, caused by damage done by my three-year-old. The Genius's response was to rummage around in a drawer full of old keyboards until he found the same model of keyboard that I had, and he pried off the two keys I needed and GAVE them to me, along with a tool (the infamous \"Black Stick\" spudger tool) that I'd need to get the new keys stuck onto the old laptop. Total cost $0. Total time investment 2 minutes.

(Maybe those people on the TV commercials who \"aren't cool enough for a Mac\" oughta think again about whether they are or aren't getting what they pay for when they go for the cheap option.)

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Dave J.
April 10, 2009 8:34 PM
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@ZahraMojojojo: And now they get loyalty from you and probably a few people who read your comment and think \"huh, maybe next time I'll reconsider Apple.\" I have no idea why companies don't take the long view and realize that eating a $5 (and that's being generous) charge is in their benefit.

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metaled
April 10, 2009 5:27 PM
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HP is well known for doing this, tried to charge me $1,200 for a new LCD screen on a $600 laptop. Offered to reduce it to $800 and then finally offered to sell me a new laptop for $700. Felt like I was talking to a commissioned salesman instead of a tech support guy.

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Heresy_Fnord
April 11, 2009 5:57 PM
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@metaled: HP isn't the only one that does this. After working in the service industry for years through more than one vendor, it's completely common to have LCD screens on laptops that cost upwards $1000 or more for replacement. Doesn't matter if you have a Sony, HP, Gateway, Macintosh, Dell, etc...All vendors charge lots of money for screens.

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Aidan Roche
April 11, 2009 2:02 AM
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@metaled: You are. HP techs were forced to perform sales duties about four years ago. It was literally put up or shut up and quit.

I quit, I could never in good conscience recommend an HP product after fixing them for over two years. Being forced to sell more HP garbage was just too much and I ended up going to University.

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exconsumer9
April 10, 2009 8:49 PM
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@metaled: It's likely you were.

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Overheal
April 10, 2009 5:29 PM
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On the HP Chat support form there is a drop box that asks how good a computer user you are. If you select Expert, you tend to get their smarter reps. Had one help me very well out of warranty after I lost my Vista OS during a funky win7 beta install.

Why it shows him out of warranty I don't know. Thats worth an EECB in itself.

As for the keyboard you can replace it yourself. They wont sell individual keys, but if you go to the spare parts page you can buy a new board for a stupid sum of money or get one elsewhere. They wanted $600 to replace my cracked screen - did it myself for $190.

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Knippschild
April 10, 2009 5:32 PM
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Is it just me, or was Randy acting like a spoiled little brat the entire time?

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madanthony
April 10, 2009 9:41 PM
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@Knippschild:

I think he could have phrased stuff a lot better - calling the product crap, telling them he'd just bought a competitor's product, that he's not going to buy another HP product again ect. isn't going to make the tech help him any more - if you've already lost a customer, why do anything for them?

Replacing keyboards for a few missing keys is fairly standard - we buy Lenovo/IBM's where I work, and they always replace the whole keyboard for a missing key - although it is a field replaceable unit. $300 is stupidly expensive to replace a keyboard, but I don't think it's reasonable to expect them just to send two keys.

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From the cubicle of PGibbons
April 11, 2009 4:34 AM
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@madanthony: Agreed that FRU stocking would be a nightmare for individual keys. But there's gotta be a reasonable method of getting a keyboard for well under $300. Sell him a complete bag of spare keys for $30 - you'll still come out ahead.

Ebay and local computer junkyards are great for this sort of thing.

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dragonfire81
April 11, 2009 6:51 AM
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@PGibbons: You know after fighting with the rep on the phone and then dealing with an obviously not well educated and not very strong with english online chat rep, I'd probably be pretty frustrated too.

Reading that log, I can't even figure out what the chat rep is saying.

\"We are very much concern about our customers.\"

Apparently not if they don't care to provide CS people who can actually speak or write english.

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Corporate_guy
April 10, 2009 8:44 PM
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@Knippschild: Definitely you. I don't know anyone would wold react well to being told it costs 300 bucks to replace a keyboard on a a laptop.

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Dave J.
April 10, 2009 8:38 PM
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@Knippschild: He was kind of dickish, but in his defense he was doing the online chat thing after trying to talk to a tech over the phone, and not having a good experience there. But, yeah, he approached the call with a negative mindset, and, surprise!, he got a negative outcome.

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Knippschild
April 10, 2009 6:41 PM
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@Knippschild: I didn't say what I did to excuse HP's stupid practices/policies. By all means. $300 to replace two keys? that's bull crap. But that's hardly the CSR's fault. No need to say \"hmm I wonder what I'm gonna write on the survey about\" your THIRD line in.

You don't have to kiss ass to get good service. But definitely being hostile and moody to the CSR, is hardly going to get you anywhere.

If the CSR cannot help you, escalate it to someone specifically empowered to bend rules to customers' benefit. No need to be a dick about it to the guy who's just trying to make a living at probably-entry-level-wage help desk.

tl;dr - I didn't say HP was fair about this policy. Just that Randy didn't help either ;)

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Eldon Brown
April 10, 2009 6:07 PM
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@Knippschild: I'm with you on this one. Any good consumer knows that the better you treat people, the more willing they are to go to bat for you. There's no excuse for berating someone who is most likely not empowered to do any more for you.

I am noticing a trend in these recent chat transcripts that people think because they're hiding behind a keyboard they can be assholes. Maybe the guy is a jerk to service people in real life, but I suspect he wouldn't go off on a store employee the same way.

If you're not happy with the answer, escalate, don't berate.

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Snullbug
April 10, 2009 5:49 PM
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@Knippschild: Oh we definitely need to blame the victim! Spoiled because he wants to replace 2 plastic keys or even a keyboard for less than $297? Yeah, what a douchebag, expecting HP to live up to a warranty - of all the nerve!

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Ouze
April 10, 2009 5:42 PM
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@Knippschild: Is it just me, or is that hardly relevant to the issue of HP ultimately advising him to buy a new laptop rather then just replace 2 broken keys on a laptop under warranty?

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Knippschild
April 10, 2009 6:46 PM
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@Ouze: Assuming the CSR wasn't lying, the manufacturer's record said it already expired. Normally their support system will lock out any work orders if it detects the expire date has passed. But we don't know who was lying. For all we know, Randy was trying to pull a fast one.

Or, even more likely, there was some issue and neither were lying. Randy's screen stated one thing, but HP's records stated another.

Either way, it doesn't excuse Randy's initial attitude. \"OH I CANT WAIT TO WRITE TO THE EDITOR HAHAHA!\"

See, when a CSR can't help you out, you escalate, not throw a tantrum.

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legwork
April 10, 2009 7:45 PM
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@Knippschild: HP's records are notoriously inaccurate. There's something about early warranty termination helping their bottom line by removing potential warranty claims from the books.

They will fix it if pressed. I once had to fax them a sales receipt when my notebook started smoldering (!) after three months. They did have my unit on record, but showed the sale date as months before the model had even been available. Crazy.

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From the cubicle of PGibbons
April 11, 2009 4:31 AM
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@legwork: VERY interesting. Thinkpads have dates printed right on the machines...

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Griffin Hammond
April 10, 2009 5:33 PM
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If the OP can't buy the keys, any way he could remove less used keys to trade for the O and P? (Weird, the OP needs O and P.) Maybe pull off the ~ and function keys or something?

This is a great, terrible HP customer service story, BTW.

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Sam Oldenburg
April 10, 2009 5:33 PM
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I've had to run into rediculous run-arounds with HP customer service before.

HP used to be reliable for me, but lately it seems like they're hiring complete dipshits to do their work. Even the higher-ups that I was able to contact wouldn't give me any information, and instead I faced lies about case maanagement and whatnot.

My next laptop wont be an HP.

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missitnoonan
April 10, 2009 5:34 PM
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Hate to say it, but I've had the exact opposite experience with HP. The battery on my HP mini expanded and cracked the plastic casing. Went online, had a curteous chat with the service rep, got everything taken care of in a week and a half.


Anthony seemed ready for a fight from the start, if his notebook was actually still in warranty he should have persued it that way (especially after hearing the repair cost). I doubt he's being comletely honest here.

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Preyfar
April 10, 2009 5:36 PM
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I hate to say it, but if HP refuses to help him, he should try to go a site like www.laptopking.com for parts. They're usually a bit more expensive than they should be, but it sure as hell beats the extortion... err, the generous repair fees HP wants to leverage.

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Shappie
April 10, 2009 5:38 PM
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I know Dell has all their service manuals online. HP might have the same. Easy step by step process to get a new keyboard on there.

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morganlh85
April 10, 2009 5:39 PM
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There are tons of broken laptops for sale for parts on ebay and craigslist. I'm willing to bet he can find what he needs there.

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catnapped
April 10, 2009 5:52 PM
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@morganlh85: Even a new (or slightly used) keyboard is probably like $20-30 tops. Not rocket science to replace it either.

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emilymarion333
April 10, 2009 5:48 PM
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I have a newer hp laptop..and the keys started to pop off after two months. I was able to get a replacement \"keyboard\" sent the next day. My IT guy told me this is a common problem with them...

I had it fixed in 2 days..

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sam-i-am
April 10, 2009 5:50 PM
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It's never occurred to me to try ordering replacement parts from the manufacturer. I wouldn't do it for my computer and I wouldn't do it for my car.

I had the keyboard on one of my old HP laptops go bad, so I found a replacement keyboard on ebay for $20. Yea, it's not a user replaceable part, but if you have a screwdriver and a brain it's not that difficult...

This is nothing new. Manufacturers will always gauge you for any repair and prefers to do this rather then sending you the part.

Ebay is your friend.

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suedehead
April 10, 2009 5:55 PM
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Wait, wait, hold on. I thought we were never, ever allowed to blame the OP, and yet here we have the OP blaiming the OP for not functioning, when the OP acknowledges that the OP are missing.

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Shoelace
April 10, 2009 5:58 PM
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The motherboard of my HP Pavilion dv6000 laptop failed, twice. The first was fail was evident right after I bought the computer (new). Both times the barely English-speaking rep had me jump through hoops reloading software - which I only put up with the first time - then taking the thing apart and putting it together again with a microscopic phillips head screwdriver. Before each warranty replacement was approved the CSR tried hard to pressure me into buying an extended warranty, 'just in case' something else went wrong. I made it clear that I wasn't paying another cent until they fixed their defective product. Oh, and each time I got the computer back it was crawling with viruses. HP used to be a great brand. Someone else will be getting my business next time.

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Pandrogas
April 10, 2009 6:01 PM
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It sounds like rep assumed the keyboard was damaged and didn't get the concept of replacing the cover plates to the keys. Even still, getting replacement hardware (even if it's under warranty) from HP is usually a big hassle.

A phone call might have gotten the OP a bit higher up on the chain and maybe gotten somewhere, though it could also be official policy not to give out keys.

$298 for a replacement keyboard? Ladies and gentlemen, parts extortion at it's finest.

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Tonguetied
April 10, 2009 6:03 PM
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I am also rather disturbed by their refusal to acknowledge that the notebook is still under warranty.

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Anonymous
April 10, 2009 6:25 PM
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What is it with HP reps insisting you should buy all new HP items?! Randy must have gotten the same rep i got back in August when i called in about my HP printer. It was refusing to pick up the paper when i'd send a print job to the computer. i could hear it trying to grab but it just wouldn't do it. So i called tech support since i was within my year warranty. The tech insisted it was a Windows problem, even though i told him it was a physical problem with the printer (i'm a girl after all and know nothing as compared to the almighty-guy-in-India-working-off-a-script), and he managed to screw it up so bad that the printer and the computer wouldn't even talk to each other anymore.

After an hour and a half, he told me that really my printer was so old that since it wasn't working i should just consider buying a new HP model whatever-it-was. The printer was less than a year old. i was FURIOUS and really should have asked for a supervisor at that point but i absolutely could not believe that he suggested it. It took me five tries to end the call and get a reference number so i could deal with somebody else.

HP needs to find that rep and kick him out of the corps. Or find who's training them to say that; i've been a loyal HP printer buyer since 1994, but that treatment has made me seriously starting to reconsider who to buy my next printer from.

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mindshadow
April 10, 2009 6:29 PM
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@Eldon Brown: Except you shouldn't have to kiss ass and have Buddha-like calm just to get a simple warranty claim fixed. The issue is that these companies are purposely lowering their customer service to help the bottom line. That usually involves training a few people in India to read from a script to get things done. It's like using a shotgun to hit a dartboard. If you hand them a lot of canned responses and tell them \"DO NOT DEVIATE FROM THESE PROCEDURES\" you're likely to get maybe a handful of satisfied customers but more likely get a fair amount of \"Good enough\" customers that just want the issues resolved and not to have to deal with someone that's barely literate in English.

I'm all for common decency when dealing with other human beings and I'm always very courteous when I have to contact customer service, but when companies start acting like idiots (e.g. wanting to charge nearly $300 to fix a keyboard, especially when a product is supposed to be in warranty) then it's very likely I (and honestly almost anyone) will get upset at being stonewalled by a guy that either refuses or absolutely can't help me.

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snowburnt
April 10, 2009 7:42 PM
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@mindshadow: since when has acting like a jerk ever gotten you better service? You don't have to have \"buddha-like calm\" or \"kiss ass\", act like a grown adult. Explain your problem, treat the person how you'd like to be treated, make sure you understand them, make sure they understand you. Check your anger at the door and get it done.

Randy chose to get indignant and try to catch the rep lying rather than pursue the warranty path which probably would have gotten him better results. These people aren't rocket scientist, don't treat them like second rate humans either.

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FuryOfFirestorm
April 10, 2009 6:30 PM
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I bet Randy l ks f rward t that new H la t !

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rpm773
April 10, 2009 6:32 PM
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With those keys missing, poor Randy can't put together an EECB telling HP how POd he was.

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Anonymous
April 10, 2009 6:41 PM
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A key fell off my Apple laptop, I brought it in to the Apple Store... they didn't even check when I bought it or whether it was under warranty, they just snapped a new key on and sent me on my way.

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wcnghj
April 10, 2009 6:44 PM
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They tried telling me my warranty had expired too. The real expiration date is 4/15.

I am going to give them that info tonight and if they don't accept the receipt as proof, they can listen to my AG.

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HPCommando
April 10, 2009 6:50 PM
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Randy: It's part number 442887-001 and lists for $57 at HP.


Because of the design, it's not just \"replace keys\"; the whole keyboard has to be replaced as a single unit.


On the warranty side, HP goes by manufacture date in calculating warranty time. HOWEVER, if you have your receipt showing purchase date, you can use that and get HP to modify your warranty from the purchase date instead. There's even a fax line to send your copy of the receipt to.


Now, even though you're \"expired\", if you called in or have proof (transcript above) and get the warranty modified, even if it now is expired, that you called in for service on the issue places the expiration \"on hold\" so long as you get it serviced ASAP.


For example: HP says you expired 3/31/09, but you purchased 4/7/08. Your chat session was 4/6/2009. Send in your proof of purchase (HP refers to it POP)and get the warranty date modified. Because your call for service was dated PRIOR to the new expiration, it is \"in motion\", and still covered, so long as you get it going before the \"in motion\" status expires (which is 7-10 days, when the system auto-closes the ticket.

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1234tu
April 10, 2009 9:38 PM
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@HPCommando: On the warranty side, HP goes by manufacture date in calculating warranty time. HOWEVER, if you have your receipt showing purchase date, you can use that and get HP to modify your warranty from the purchase date instead. There's even a fax line to send your copy of the receipt to.


Now, even though you're \"expired\", if you called in or have proof (transcript above) and get the warranty modified, even if it now is expired, that you called in for service on the issue places the expiration \"on hold\" so long as you get it serviced ASAP.


For example: HP says you expired 3/31/09, but you purchased 4/7/08. Your chat session was 4/6/2009. Send in your proof of purchase (HP refers to it POP)and get the warranty date modified. Because your call for service was dated PRIOR to the new expiration, it is \"in motion\", and still covered, so long as you get it going before the \"in motion\" status expires (which is 7-10 days, when the system auto-closes the ticket.


Why on earth should he have to do all of that? HP should figure out how to track warranty information properly. While it is true that Randy acted foolishly by buying a HP product to begin with - when the companies crappy product fails suddenly Randy has this huge burden of jumping through hoops.


Randy should have to make one call and take one trip to the post office. Then his product should be returned working without charge. He should not have to prove anything. HP sucks.

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sodomanaz
April 11, 2009 12:20 AM
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@1234tu: Apple does this too. If you purchased the laptop at a B&M, you either are bound by the date they purchased it, or submit proof:

Apple.com
Submit your proof of purchase

In order to update your product information in our records, we require a copy of the original proof of purchase. The proof of purchase must be issued by an Apple Authorized Reseller and must meet the following criteria:

1. The proof of purchase must be legible. Screen shots are not accepted.
2. The proof of purchase must include the following information:

A clear description of the product.
The product's date of purchase.
An invoice or receipt number.
The product's price.
The reseller's contact information, and if possible, the reseller's company seal or logo.

3. The proof of purchase should also include the product's serial number, if the reseller
normally lists serial numbers on their invoices.
----------------
So it's not that HP sucks, it's how all of the companies treat B&M purchases.

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MyPetFly
April 10, 2009 8:18 PM
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@HPCommando:

\"On the warranty side, HP goes by manufacture date in calculating warranty time.\"

Nothing personal, but THAT'S THE DUMBEST THING I'VE EVER HEARD from HP.

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sodomanaz
April 11, 2009 12:15 AM
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@MyPetFly: It's pretty dumb, I agree. Sort of OT: I was in Malaysia and my powerbrick fried, so walked into an HP store to replace it.
All I mentioned was that I had a warranty and asked if it applied to the brick.

The employee got defensive and kept explaining this policy to me about manufacture date and not sale date for my warranty. Told me to go to the boondocks of KL to get my laptop bar code scanned to see if it applied then come back and talk to him.

I found it a bit amusing, as it wasn't like I was going to walk out of there without a new brick, meaning I was a pretty simple sale. Getting all huffy and telling me to spend a full day on the LRT and bus to find their hq to save $30 made my day.

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Hayes
April 10, 2009 9:53 PM
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@MyPetFly:

Pretty much all hard drive manufacturers do this as well. The hard drive will have a date of manufacture on the label, and that's when they start the warranty. I've purchased a brand new hard, checked the warranty when I opened it, and found that the warranty had already expired. It had apparently been in a Fry's warehouse for at least a year. An email to Western Digital with a copy of the receipt fixed that problem.

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DustoMan
April 10, 2009 7:07 PM
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Just buy a new keyboard and replace it yourself. It's not that hard.

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rainking187
April 10, 2009 7:08 PM
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I kept waiting to see \"I can't let you do that, Randy.\"

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Yujin Ghim
April 10, 2009 7:08 PM
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go to a best buy and steal the keys.....its only two and im sure best buy wont care...

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JiminyChristmas
April 10, 2009 7:14 PM
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I have had similarly maddening interactions with HP customer service, also rendered by people who obviously speak English as a second language. I was trying to replace a dead hard drive that was under recall by HP, ergo it was a free replacement. To complicate matters, HP didn't provide the OS on discs with the new computer. One was supposed to do a recovery from a partition on the hard drive, the same aforementioned dead, under recall hard drive.


Of course, the ESL service reps knew nothing about the recall, despite its prominence on the HP website. So, they wanted to charge me for a new drive. After I cleared that hurdle they wanted to charge me for a new OS, even though I had already paid for a copy, which was on their failed hardware. I ended the call and called a different number the next day…by some stroke of luck I got a CSR in Canada who sent me the discs.


A few days later I got my new hard drive from HP. Two weeks after that I got my credit card statement…with a $90 charge for a new hard drive. Called Canada again and got the charge refunded. Another week passes and for some random reason I get another new hard drive from HP, which I wasn't charged for and gladly kept as recompense for my troubles.

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Miraluka
April 10, 2009 7:17 PM
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You know...people could always not be lazy and order a replacement keyboard on eBay then replace it themselves. It isn't the most difficult thing in the world and costs all of $20 including shipping. I'll gladly pay that money versus endless hours with customer service or time without my laptop having to send it in for service. Especially out of warranty.

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KatherineDadinator
April 10, 2009 7:21 PM
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I've had my laptop open down to the guts before to blow out dust and debris and reassembled it myself. The keyboard's a snap to replace and you can probably find some online tutorials to show you how to do it if you want to attempt it yourself. You need really small screwdrivers and the replacement keyboard.

Barring that, you might be able to find the keys you need for sale on the 'net. They do snap back on. They're not meant to be and you have to be uber-careful. But if your machine's still under warranty....well, regardless, try the EECB first. Taking your machine apart yourself should be a last resort. Just make sure you backup your data if you have to send it back in. I would have lost a whole semester's worth of research and draft papers if I hadn't had a jump drive, when I had to send my new computer in for repairs. Doh!

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oldgraygeek
April 10, 2009 7:30 PM
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I've been over the river and through the woods with HP laptop support.
My recommendations for any HP hardware issues:

1) Open a ticket by sending an E-mail to laptop_support_en@mail.support.hp.com .

2) When they reply, disregard most of the Email -- it will be about as useless as the chat posted in this article -- and look for this:
***Do Not Delete Service Ticket Number***
{ticket no:[1234567890]}
***Do Not Delete Service Ticket Number***

3) Now that you have a Service Ticket Number, call the HP case managers at 877-917-4380, extension 08. Be very nice to these folks, for two reasons:
a) They have the power to solve your problem.
b) They talk to a lot of irate people who are not nice to them... being nice works well because they are not expecting it.

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Allie Trevillian
April 10, 2009 7:40 PM
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Wow, when my kid broke my Dell laptop keyboard, they just sent me a whole new keyboard and instructions to fix it for 1/4 of that price (obviously since I was doing the labor myself). Dare I say Dell handled a situation like this WELL??

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fkafl
April 10, 2009 8:12 PM
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Randy; I've got a simple solution. Find a keyboard, hi-jack the two keys you need and you're home free.
Seriously though; I work in customer service and I have to give some credit to Anthony. He stuck to the script and never backed down. Heck, he even paid close attention to the conversation and found an opportunity to blame the problem on Randy (evidently Randy spends many hours a day removing and replacing his keys).
Kudos to you Anthony!!
Normally I always do my best to keep calm when I'm the customer but I don't know if I could've stayed as calm as Randy ( I really enjoy f-bombs).

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1234tu
April 10, 2009 8:13 PM
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HP sucks - no question there. They suck for not empowering their CSRs to solve problems like this in a reasonable manner. Making fun of some guy who probably lives in a crappy country where he has to work all day just to feed himself is also pretty sucky.

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Anonymous
April 10, 2009 8:39 PM
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I am a service tech for HP. I fix everything from laptops to servers. I deal mostly with business customers. I will tell you this:

1. If you treat me like crap I work slower, and I will tune most of what you say out. Your mad, it is noted.
2. I do not own HP and cannot get you a new laptop, printer, server, etc., just because it is taking longer than usual to fix your problem.
3. I still do not own HP and cannot change a single procedure that I must follow to maintain my job.
4. I am the repair man, I am not you backup plan. If your unit is so business critical, you should have a backup unit, and not expect me to snap my fingers and make it all better. (True story: Company leases SAN use and makes10 million a month. SAN breaks, pitches a fit. SAN cost 1 million. Cluster 2 together and no down time, no lost revenue, but noooo, rather bitch at me...)
5. Laptop keys don't just break off. Bitch all you want, but something has to have happened to pry up the key and break it. HP does not have a big warehouse of keyboard keys. You have to buy the WHOLE keyboard from HP, because HP has to buy the WHOLE keyboard from the vendor. The cost was keyboard and labor.
6. If the computer says your unit is out of warranty, yelling at the CSR or me, will get you no where. WE CANNOT CHANGE or override this information.
7. I cannot tell you how many times I have asked a customer what happened right before the unit failed, and they tell me nothing. After spending 2 days trying to fix it, they finally tell me what they did and I fix it 15 minutes later. DRIVES ME CRAZY!!
8. I have to order parts. I do not ship parts, so if the part does not come on time, don't yell at me, I have nothing to do with the stocking or availability of parts. Also, I do not drive around in a giant 18 wheeler full of every possible part that can go into your machine.
9. Customers that treat me nice, I BEND OVER BACKWARDS TO HELP. Just remember, do unto others... And you catch more flies with honey...

Is HP perfect? Far from it. Are some of the procedures I have to follow stupid? Yes. But that is the system that we must all live with.

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1234tu
April 10, 2009 9:54 PM
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@UptonCirce:


I agree with you 100%. Anyone foolish enough to buy products from HP should buy 2 inorder to have a backup when the first one fails.


You only bend over backwards to help people who are nice to you and cause problems for people who are not... wow..you are a very powerful man. Please be wise in how you wield such amazing power.


I bend over backwards to make my clients happy by not providing a crappy product. I bend over backwards to keep my clients happy by responding to their concerns ASAP. As a result my clients are almost always happy - if there is a problem I don't say it is not my department etc.... I use my status as an insider at my firm to fix the problem without making them call 20 phone numbers and fax this and that to all over.


HP sucks and you are part of the problem.

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cheviot
April 11, 2009 3:50 AM
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@1234tu:

Well, guess who's computer is getting fixed slowly when it fails.

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JiminyChristmas
April 10, 2009 11:29 PM
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@1234tu: It's like a parody of a stereotypical IT jerk isn't it?

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johnva
April 10, 2009 8:39 PM
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$298 for labor on that is a total scam. I can understand that they might not be able to sell the individual keys, but the keyboards are way cheaper than that and it should be about a 5 minute job to replace it if it's built anything like my Thinkpad.

I like how the agent was unethically trying to get him to say it was due to damage, so they could avoid paying for it on warranty, and also lying and saying it would make the computer not work due to it not being a \"customer replaceable unit\".

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cheviot
April 11, 2009 4:35 AM
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@johnva:

The $298 is a parts, labor and shipping quote. HP doesn't charge by individual repair times and parts, but by repair tiers. If any or all parts covered in a tier are defective they are replaced as needed under that tier's pricing. The quoted price is essentially a flat rate repair service that covers a certain list of defective parts, including 2nd day air shipping both ways.

The HP rep is correct in that no vendor of PC laptops sells individual keycaps. The OP's claim that he will shop with another company to avoid this issue only shows how ill-informed the OP is and makes him seem like he's trying to bully the service rep, as does his demand for a supervisor to get the non-existent parts for him and his constant threat to mail the whole exchange to Consumer Reports.

(News flash! If the rep was at all inclined to go outside the box to try to help the OP, the Consumer Reports threat just lost him that chance. Now the rep knows his bosses will be reading the exchange and he will do everything exactly by the rules, even if that means providing less help to the customer. Would you get reprimanded by your manager for the OP after the way he's been talking?)

The OP seems fixated on the relative low cost and value of the individual key caps, but, as the key caps are not available for purchase separately, this point is moot. The whole keyboard needs to be replaced.

\"Customer Replaceable Unit\" is the HP term for a part that can simply and easily be replaced by a customer. A typical example is a hard drive or power supply in a desktop computer. These are parts that HP has found that the average customer can install on their own with minimal instruction.

HP does not and will not recommend that customers replace parts not considered Customer Replaceable Units. Why not? Because parts not on that list are not easily and simply installed by the average customer. The OP is already furious with HP for not selling keycaps... how irrationally angry do you think he'd be after breaking his notebook when he tries to install a replacement keyboard?

All this being said, HP quoted him a price for the repair. The OP declined it. End of story. This is how business works. When the OP gets a quote he considers cost-effective he'll have the repair done.

Getting angry about the issue and abusing the customer service rep... that's just not going to get the OP anywhere. Shop around, find a price that's comfortable and get it fixed.

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Corporate_guy
April 10, 2009 8:43 PM
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Ebay a keyboard. I don't think keys are replaceable on HP laptops but keyboards are one of the easiest things to switch out.

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Ben King
April 10, 2009 9:28 PM
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Looks like someone needs to scale back on how often they type the word 'poop'

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Outrun1986
April 10, 2009 9:29 PM
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If you really had to you could probably take it to a local computer store that fixes computers and they would do something for you, and it would cost a lot less than the price they are quoting. I guess the point here is that he shouldn't have to pay for anything since the laptop is under warranty.

I will be in the market for a new computer soon and HP is the last place I am going to look.

Completely off topic but everyone really should learn to spend a few min with a screwdriver though, it can save you a lot of money in the long run. A lot of electronic things are simple to fix if you just have some creativity. Many times there is also a youtube video tutorial or a step by step walkthrough you can follow for common problems as well. I am a girl and I can fix simple things so if I can do it probably a lot of other people can too.

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1234tu
April 10, 2009 9:43 PM
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I poop on HP and everything it holds dear.....

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turkeyspam
April 10, 2009 10:22 PM
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On a side note, it's nice to hear the good things about Apple. As far as HP, it seems to be their style. I just bought a new netbook, and was considering the HP as it had good reviews. After seeing it in person and seeing how cheaply made and crappy it looks and feels, I declined. I went with an Acer. Reading these comments about all the bad HP stuff, I'm even happier I didn't go HP.

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Anonymous
April 10, 2009 10:32 PM
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HP keyboards are crap and the keys are so hard, almost impossible to snap in. When I called about this happening to me on my Compaq (under warranty), they made me ship in the whole laptop, but without charge so it wasn't a huge deal. I never thought I would have to check out a keyboard to make sure the keys could be user-attached :\\

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PDX909
April 10, 2009 10:46 PM
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use Scrabble tiles and some crazy glue

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Kaiga
April 10, 2009 11:39 PM
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My shop will replace a laptop keyboard for $60 labor + the part (or if we happen to have a used one in good condition sell it for a fraction of the price), same goes with other parts like the LCD screen.
I've worked on many HP laptops and they are encased in cheap crappy plastic shells, all you need to do is pop off the plastic bezel above the keyboard, remove the 4 screens that hold the keyboard in place and carefully detach the ribbon cable then reverse process to put the new keyboard in. Done.

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TWSS
April 10, 2009 11:43 PM
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This is pretty much the EXACT opposite of the customer service experience I'd had with HP over the last week.

Last Sunday my hard drive was hosed (HP Pavillion dv2000, FTR). Still not sure exactly what happened to it, but Windows wouldn't boot. I called the customer service line and almost immediately got a live person on the phone, who not only walked me through some diagnostics I didn't know about (I'm ignorant when it comes to hardware), but offered to sell me the extended warranty (laptop's almost two years old) for $149 instead of a new hard drive for $500.

They FedExed me the restore CD and new hard drive, and I had some minor problems (probably due to my ignorance, admittedly) with those. Of the other two customer service reps I reached on Wednesday night and Thursday morning, one was just okay, and the other was EXTREMELY personable and helpful, got everything working for me and never talked down to me or did the heavy sigh of exasperation that I used to get at the Mac store here.

Yeah, it blows ass that my hard drive crapped out so soon, but the extended warranty offer was brilliant on their part, because they saved me $350 and got at least a year of customer retention in exchange.

Maybe my experience was unusual, or maybe it shows the difference between phone support and online chat support, but I was impressed enough to recommend HP to my coworkers for their computer-illiterate moms.

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perryw
April 10, 2009 11:58 PM
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According to the HP Warranty checker, the unit is out of warranty. [www11.itrc.hp.com] The tech can't just process warranty claims for units that are out of warranty. I bet that the warranty registration (the little postcards everyone throws out!) was not filled out when the unit was new, so HP has to base the expiration on the manufacture date. I just had a problem with a printer showing its warranty expired before it was made because they were basing it on when the printer was introduced! Emailed the proof of purchase off and we're getting a replacement printer sent out. Took a couple days to get it updated.

You can buy the keyboard for less than $60 at partsurfer.hp.com if you trust yourself to do the work. If it's like the HP business laptops I've worked on, there's probably a couple torx screws on the bottom and a couple tabs on top, then a couple ribbon cables to remove. Careful with the ribbons and the clips holding them in. Lose or break a clip and you'll be pretty upset with yourself.

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Anonymous
April 11, 2009 12:07 AM
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You are not going to get a couple of keys from HP tech support. It is just not going to happen. The way 'the machine' works with operators sitting in cubicles with a tech-support knowledgebase and a very limited list of possible actions they can take, even getting a replacement keyboard is unlikely.EBay is your friend. That being said, laptop keyboards are the part that take the most wear and tear, so it is *obvious* that there will be a fair amount of this sort of thing occuring. The fact that HP hasn't adressed it just means that they don't care. At all. Once you have boght the product, they already have your money, and as for repeat business, I think that the new HP way doesn't really take that in to account. I have had some fairly terrible experiences with HP, and I do not generally seek to buy their products. I certainly will never own another HP laptop.

I don't own a Mac, but the 2 posted comments about the help given at the genius bar indicates that they DO care about this sort of thing, and they do want your repeat business. Where I live HP just laid off another 15% of their workforce, and it would not surprise me to see them continue to decline given their complete lack of any semblance of customer service.

If they do go under, small loss.

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Brontide
April 11, 2009 12:07 AM
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Last time I had to do a keyboard replacement on a HP/Compaq x1000 it was a $60 part that is replaceable with two screws.

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Scatter
April 11, 2009 12:44 AM
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I'm a service provider for both HP and Dell and I know that individual keys aren't available. In fact I don't believe that any manufacturer sells the keys separately. They don't even have a part number. That being said, the customer can go into any Staples and have them order an entirely new keyboard for them for around $50

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dave_coder
April 11, 2009 2:03 AM
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The problem with these types of posts is that we only see the OPs point of view:

1) Warranty mistakes happen. Fax over your proof of purchase and HP will apologize and immediately update your warranty status. No biggie.

2) For the laptop that the HP mentions that keys are indeed irreplaceable. You need to replace the entire keyboard. I agree $298 is waaaaay too much but you have other options, just find the keyboard on ebay and install it yourself (or go to geek squad).

Finally for all the people who blame HP and say they are the suck: you only hear the bad stories, you don't hear the 99% of stories where the repair goes great. I however as a technician do hear about those stories. Obviously we'll see more HP stories then other companies because of their popularity.

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Anonymous
April 11, 2009 2:16 AM
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For vendor, they can only send you the whole keyboard. They don't stock single key. For the repair cost, unfortunately its not as easy as it seem. Once you send in your unit, they have to spend time checking out the whole unit. The cost cover the shipping, part, and labor. As far as the warranty date goes, if you didn't register your warranty, they can only go by the manufacture date of your unit. If you can show them a copy of sale receipt, then they will go by that date.

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bkdlays
April 11, 2009 2:19 AM
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There is a happy medium between profitable policies and happy customers.

A keyboard is a part that you should be able to purchase \"at your own risk\" and attempt the replacement. Its not that hard.

Look at other manufacturers such as Apple which have keyboards removable in about 10 seconds without any tools.

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wsycng
April 11, 2009 3:17 AM
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INDIAN CALL CENTERS ARE EVIL!

BRING THE CALL CENTERS HOME TO GOOD OL'U.S. OF A.

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From the cubicle of PGibbons
April 11, 2009 4:29 AM
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One more reason to NEVER buy an HP computer. This is exactly the scummy low-end service that Carly Fiorini's tenure has left as a legacy. Completely clueless A-holes.

Back in the old days, \"customer service\" would be concentrating on \"servicing\" the \"customer.\" Fourteen cents worth of keys have come off of our $700.00 laptop? \"Terribly sorry sir - we will be happy to mail you out these keys today and thank you for being a worthwhile HP customer!!\" Cheapest and most effective advertising they have is word of mouth from a pleased customer, but instead they pay an outsourced script-monkey to make sure his (and anyone he knows) next computer will NEVER be an HP. Brilliant.

\"Customer Service\" by HP and similar lousy companies uses every one of their own shortcomings as an ironic excuse to try upselling you to spend MORE with them! I've seen it with Sprint - my bill has become nearly unreadable - everytime I mention this their answer is to sign up for 2 more years at another plan at double the rate, rather than print a legible bill...

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Anonymous
April 11, 2009 4:43 AM
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HP tried to pull the same bull**** with me when my hard drive burned out not even 11 months after purchasing my laptop. They lied to me and told me I had bought my computer a month earlier than I actually had and because of this my warranty was up. It turned out that they had in fact lied, and my laptop had been given an extended warranty because the dv's had a manufacturers defect! Of course I got nowhere with HP and had to have Staples call them to sort it out. HP is horribly useless, but most other companies are worse...

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Anonymous
April 11, 2009 4:46 AM
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HP does it again. I bought a brand new 24\" monitor last year and could not get it to work correctly on with my computer. In the beginning I told the tech support person that it could be the video card lacked sufficent drivers to run the monitor, after 1 hour on the phone he tells me I need to buy a new HP computer as my computer is not up to running this monitor. So I hung up, bought a better video card for less than $50 and the monitor works fine. So much for HP Tech support, what a joke. I sold the montior and upgraded to a Dell 24\", much better screen and I am still using the \"{old computer. Do I ever think about buying another HP product, maybe a priinter not a Monitor or computer.

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Barney_The Plug_ Frank
April 11, 2009 4:56 AM
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Just go to an HP store and pop off the keys you need off one of their display models, similar to yours. I'm sure it will not cost them $298 to have them replaced.

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cheviot
April 11, 2009 5:02 AM
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@Barney_The Plug_ Frank:

Oh good. Advocate stealing and destroying property.

Grow up.

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Brent Woodle
April 11, 2009 5:49 AM
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Laptop keyboards are incredibly cheap. I spilled a beer on mine and replaced it by hand: $13 on Ebay. There are powersellers who sell all models of laptop keyboards.

On my Inspiron all you have to do is pop off a 2 inch plastic panel near the screen and take out 2 screws to remove the keyboard - it takes 5 minutes to replace.

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Lucky225
April 11, 2009 6:32 AM
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Aww man, I thought it was the P's and Q's I had to be watching all this time, not the P's and O's! Doh!

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Anonymous
April 11, 2009 12:02 PM
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I have to side with Randy on this one only because I bought a POS HP desktop and can't even find a number for customer service. This thing is supposed to have 8 gigs and had wonderful customer reviews before I bought it but it's slower than the five year old Dell that I replaced (that really didn't need replacing, I just wanted shiny and new) and it has \"issues\". I can't watch anything like youtube that requires buffering because it's stilted, plus I can be typing or surfing and it just puts itself to sleep but then won't walk up. Oh, and this is the best part, I can't open links because it doesn't recognize the file!! Talk about a piece of crap. This is the most expensive, worst computer I've ever bought. I think this will last about a year before I throw it through the window and by a new Dell. HP, you got me once but never again!

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DH405
April 11, 2009 8:50 PM
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Buy replacement keys here :

[www.machinaelectronics.com]

Buy replacement keyboard here :

[e-techsiliconvalley.com]

..Screw you, HP.

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clickable
April 12, 2009 1:30 AM
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@SMSDHubbard: Thanks. I bookmarked both links. Never know when they may come in handy, if not for me, then for a friend.

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SacraBos
April 11, 2009 8:59 PM
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I was thinking I'd blame the ... uh... guy that sent that in, but I have the same issue..

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clickable
April 12, 2009 12:22 AM
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They're both right, in my experience. On a practical level, it's very simple to pry off the keys and replace them, and if you're careful about it, you can pretty well assure that you won't damage anything.


OTOH, the tech support dude is also right. HP does not consider it a user-replaceable part or however they phrase it, and they do not send out replacements, even though I'm sure the cost per key is a few cents at most. If the keys go wonky, you have to send the machine in to them.


I've had this happen twice, and both times was told to send the system in for repair. Luckily, both times my machines were under warranty. It seems idiotic that they will ship me a hard drive to replace myself (under warranty) and let me ship the bad one back to them, but they won't let me swap out a stupid key on the keyboard.


The twist here is that his machine - according to HP - was not under warranty, and of course the quoted repair cost of $298 is insane. In this instance, he needs to check out aftermarket repair options. I'm not sure why he doesn't stand firm on his claim that his system is under warranty, his lack of clarity on this is confusing.

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clickable
April 12, 2009 1:27 AM
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@clickable: Oh, and one time I told customer service I suspected it was my own fault and expressly said I wanted to buy the necessary replacement keys, and he still said - since it was under warranty, \"no problem, it will be serviced under warranty, don't worry about it, no charge.\" I don't know what the magic word is to get over-and-above customer service; another time I had horrendous experience, albeit always-cordial conversations with customer service people, when my laptop needed repair under warranty and it took 3 trips to the service center till they got it right.

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clickable
April 12, 2009 1:54 AM
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Also? Possibly we are making mountains out of molehills. I think it may be possible to order a keyboard from the HP Parts Surfer. Here's what I came up with:
Part Number 442887-001
Keyboard assembly - 88 keys 101-key compatible Windows Vista supported - Integrated 10-key numeric keypad US
$57.55
This is for the the Compaq Presario F750US Notebook PC (KC489UA).
I started the search here: [partsurfer.hp.com] , entered OP's computer part number as KC 489UA, which it identified as a Compaq F750US.

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MrEvil
April 12, 2009 11:39 AM
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Generally speaking, even if the CSR wanted to send the guy the two keys he can't. HP doesn't have just the individual keys. They have whole keyboards. Nobody sells JUST the keys for a laptop keyboard. Heck, I don't even think you can buy individual replacement keycaps for IBM model M's (except for speciality or Point of Sale keys). If you need one you have to buy the whole set.

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Anonymous
April 12, 2009 6:31 PM
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true enough, keyboards for laptops are complete units, going anywhere from $30-$90... i used to work at dell, but maybe being who i am, i would have told randy that his warranty is up, but not by much. i'd check with a manager and send him a keyboard anyway, covered, free, it's the only right thing to do. and if i couldn't, i'd ask him to purchase the part if he wants to do it himself, as the warranty is indeed expired and it wouldn't matter to HP if he took it apart or not. c'mon, the warranty is up by like 3 weeks? that's not a problem to a multi-billion dollar company. but maybe it is and that's why i don't work there anymore. there's the human thing to do, and the machine thing to, guess which path tech support likes to take.

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Anonymous
April 13, 2009 11:38 AM
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I hear you, F**K HP, their customer service and many of their products are straight up garbage. Number one, if HP genuinely cared about their customers, they would be willing to ship unique keys to customers. I think anyone here who has owned other consumer electronics knows that there are a lot of good companies out there they will send you even the smallest of individual parts for repair, and it's a joke that they wouldn't do that to keep their customers happy.

But even if you give them the benefit of the doubt, at the very LEAST they shouldn't be giving the customer a line of crap about how they are going to damage the hardware etc if they do it themselves! They could have at least been honest about the fact that 300 bucks is outrageous for something as small and easily self-repairable and tried to steer him away from that. Of course, these guys are probably being paid next to nothing in some country halfway around the world and could care less about HP or it's customers, so what do you expect... If that's the way HP chooses to handle it's customers, you can already see how much they care.

Regardless of the specifics of ANY problem, 300 dollars is an outrageous price to pay just for someone to even LOOK at your laptop. If you send it in, and they determine you need a part that costs more than you want to pay and you don't want to go through with the repairs- there's 300 bucks down the toilet. After hearing stories like this and having about 5 of my own within only a few years of owning my laptop, I know I won't be buying any more HP products.

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headcase
April 13, 2009 8:26 PM
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The company that made it big by elevating the razor and blades sucker-punch model to an art-form... big surprise that they both 1) skimp on their customer services and 2) try to trick non-computer-savvy users to give them more money.

BTW, how does the fact checking work on articles like this? Even for HP this feels over-the-top.

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Sarah House
April 14, 2009 7:58 PM
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A key on my macbook pro broke off when I was trying to clean my keyboard (totally my fault; not a wear&tear thing) and I got really lucky: a few weeks later I went to a weird concert where they smashes an old Powerbook on stage, so I ran up and took the key I needed. :D

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serotoninzero
April 18, 2009 7:50 PM
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Hah. My friend's HP laptop was having overheating issues. It would get really hot while running intense applications, and then would shutdown. He sent it in. He got it back like a day later, just insanely fast shipping, with a wiped hard drive. That's all they did was wipe the hard drive and send it right back. No wonder it was shipped back so fast! They also recommended not using those programs any more.

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Anonymous
June 17, 2009 3:28 PM
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This is no where as insightful or complex as the other answers. Still, when I had the issue with my own computer I simply rolled up a tiny piece of paper and stuck it under the section of the key that crosses. It doesn't work as well as the other keys, but definitly a quick fix until you can replace the keyboard.

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