We're a small TV production company that has an in-house repair department for all our equipment including production gear and computers, including out-of-warranty notebooks. Our company has several computers including some Compaq EVO N1020V notebook computers which are long out of warranty.
When one of the LCD panels on one of these notebooks got damaged, we went to order replacement parts and found that HP (which now owns Compaq) charges $984 to buy the replacement part (which is basically the cost of a new computer). That's just to buy the part, not to have it installed.
Compaq's part number with this outrageous price is 310689-001, and you can look it up by searching that number at http://h20141. Www2. Hp.com/hpparts. The same panel, an LG. Philips LP150X05 (A2) (C1) can be had from several open market suppliers for less than.
But here's the kicker: Compaq had LG. Philips specially modify Compaq's version of that panel so ONLY THE COMPAQ VERSION works in the computer. If you replace it with a $300 LG. Philips panel, even the same model number, it won't work. You're forced to buy the $984 HP ripoff version (or throw away your computer, or find a used computer with a functional panel).
Companies that take these anti-customer steps to shake down their customers for money should be put out of business. It's one thing to make the stuff proprietary and sell it at a reasonable cost, including a reasonable markup over generic products, but it's another to charge MORE THAN THREE TIMES the market rate and then force the customer to buy your overpriced part by deliberately re-engineering it so a generic replacement won't work. Imagine buying a car and then finding out that you can only get spark plugs from the auto maker, and they're $150 apiece.
I called the executive offices at HP and an executive assistant confirmed and defended the practice as a legitimate way for HP to be profitable. I suggested that the resulting customer hostility, when people find out they're railroaded into buying grossly overpriced parts, outweighs any increased profits. She basically laughed at me.
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