Compaq Presario — Poor Service in warranty period

Please refer to the following:
Service event id: T001/N133 Dated 27/01/2010: Case id [protected]
Service event id: KN 1750 Dated 03/02/2010: Case id: [protected]
I own a Compaq Presario Notebook (Model CQ40-330TU with serial no.CND91832RC) purchased on 16/07/ 2009.
On 26/01/2010, the notebook developed a problem in switching on. It was not working on AC power or battery. 26th being a holiday for Republic day, we called the HP service on 27/01/2010 at the toll free number given on the website and reported the problem. We were advised to visit one of the three HP service centres located in Delhi. My PC was (and still is) within the 1 year warranty period.
We went to Techno Land systems Ltd. A 2/177 Safdarjung Enclave, New Delhi and submitted the PC. We were told that we would receive a call within 24 hours about the nature of defect. However we received no information even after 48 hours, hence we called and asked the concerned person. We were informed that the mother board of the PC was to be replaced and that we would be informed about the date when we could come and collect it.
After 3 days, we did not receive any information hence we called the service centre and were told to “enquire after 3-4 days”. After repeated daily enquiries, our call on 02/02/2010 finally yielded a positive response and we went to collect the PC. On testing the system on the spot, we found that the boot up screen showed up with an Hp invent logo whereas previously it used to show Compaq logo. In addition, the serial number of my system was not entered, hence the boot up screen showed the legend “Serial number not found”. When this was brought to the notice of the service engineer at the centre, he told me to ignore the graphic as the mother board has been changed to a compatible type. He also rectified the serial number problem.
On bringing it home and checking all the functions, we found that the function keys related to sound located on the extreme right side of the keyboard were not working. Also the physical wireless button was no longer able to control the Wi-fi and Bluetooth functions although these could be controlled via the desktop icon. On informing the service centre we were asked to reinstall all drivers and if that did not work, to reinstall the operating system. We did the needful, but since the problem was not rectified, we went back to the service centre and submitted it to the engineer. He made us wait for over 5 hours and said nothing much can be done about the problem and that everything else seems to be working fine.
We contacted Hp service toll free number on 03/02/2010 and after discussing with them, they assigned a new case id (No.[protected]) after assuring us of prompt action and repair within 48 hours. We were asked to go to another service centre, RT Outsourcing Rama road Kirti Nagar New Delhi, for this purpose. We gave the PC as suggested on 05/02/2010. We received a call the next day saying that the replaced mother board was incompatible with the model and will be changed. Thus began another long and arduous wait for repair. Again, we had to make the calls for information. On 12/2/2010, we called HP service toll free number and requested them to look into the matter as the 48 hour claim had been proved null and void. We received a call the next day from RT outsourcing as if they had been woken up from a deep slumber and were asked to come and collect the PC on 13/2/2010.
On reaching the RT Outsourcing service centre, we found that our problems had been cleared, only to be replaced by a new set of problems. Although now the boot-up screen showed the Compaq logo, the serial number of the PC had not been entered and the boot up screen showed the legend “serial number not found”. In addition, the hard disk capacity was seen as just 45 GB in system properties, although the PC originally had a capacity of 160GB. The demo engineer was unable to explain any of these problems and said the required equipment to enter the serial number (namely bootable USB drive or floppy) was not available. Hence we were asked to come back 2 days later, on 15/2/2010.
On calling the service centre on 15/02/2010, we were told that the PC was not yet repaired. The same thing was repeated the next day as well. Finally, we called one of the higher officials of the service centre and narrated the whole story, and were asked to come to the service centre later in the day.
Finally the PC was delivered in seemingly working condition on 17/02/2010. Due to bitter previous experiences with HP service, we had to spend hours checking whether everything was working, down to each button of the keyboard.
HENCE TOTAL DURATION TAKEN BY HP SERVICE FOR REPAIRING A PROBLEM THAT REQUIRED ONLY REPLACEMENT OF MOTHER BOARD TOOK 22 DAYS AND 12 TRIPS BACK AND FORTH TO 2 DIFFERENT SERVICE CENTRES!!!!
My feedback for the service provided is this
• The claims advertised by HP regarding fast service and complete customer satisfaction was proven a big gimmick. Not only did it affect my research and work on a daily basis, but we also wasted considerable time on phone calls and travelling, as well as expense on petrol in driving back and forth unnecessarily, at the whim of your service centre employees. Needless to say, it led to a lot of stress also.
• There is no quality control mechanism in place at these service centres to check the nature of repair carried out. No apparent control is exercised by Hp over these outsourced repair agencies. No grading of the service is carried out and no telephonic feedback is taken by HP until much later. We received the call on 27/02/2010 that is 10 days after my PC was finally restored to me.
• No extension of warranty period is provided for replacement of parts and to compensate for the number of days lost in the process of repair.
• The unprofessional attitude of the service agencies should point toward the dangers of indiscriminate and poor quality outsourcing by large organisations like Hp.
• In short, we shall no longer recommend Hp/Compaq products to anyone.