HP India — Defective laptop

I purchased a HP ENVY Laptop 14-eb0019TX from the official HP website on or around November 8 for INR 1.05 lakhs, and it was delivered to me on or around November 10, 2021. Inside of 2 weeks o[censored]sing this laptop, the microphone on apps such as Zoom and MS Teams stopped working. Given I had purchased this laptop for work purposes, this was a very serious defect in the product as around 50% of my work-day is spent on Zoom/ Teams calls. This was truly disappointing, given the product was brand new and extremely expensive.

I contacted the online HP support team on November 29 to try and resolve this issue and followed all steps recommended by them, including downloading and installing some drivers. As per the instructions of the HP support team, I switched off my computer and tried restarting it after installation of the drivers recommended by them. However, to my utter dismay, the laptop did not switch on. I flagged this to the support team ASAP, however after relentless following up for 4 working days, HP finally sent a technician to my house yesterday (December 2). I was then informed by the technician that the motherboard has blown up due to a short circuit and it will need to be repaired. I demanded that I do not want a "refurbished" laptop inside of a month of purchasing a brand new one, and that HP should be replacing this defective laptop. This is the only resolution to my mind since the issue happened solely because of the steps and instructions given to me by HP team itself (and not because of any mistake or error at my end). I have chat records with the online HP support team to prove all this. Why should I, as a customer, be penalised for a defective product and deficiency in service by HP? All I am asking is that I should be provided with a new laptop (and not a refurbished one) because had it not been for inherent machine issues and incompetent service by HP customer care, this issue would have never arisen in the first place.

I am disappointed to state that my replacement request was summarily dismissed and rejected without any valid justification. The only reason I was provided was that more than 14 days have lapsed since the purchase so it cannot be replaced. But one needs to be logical here and see the root cause of the issue! I am not trying to swindle HP or make any money through this. If anything, I am genuinely and truly aggrieved and harassed with this entire experience. I believe what I am asking for (i.e. a replacement) is well and truly justified for the reasons set out above.