Regarding HP Pavilion 1700N Desktop PC, Microsoft Windows Vista and Circuit City
Let me just start by saying that I am not a novice computer user. I am probably more computer savvy that the average person.
I use my computer for work and leisure. The reason that I purchased this computer is simply because my previous computer was older technology and slow. I purchased this new computer with hopes to improve my online business. I expected to save time and increase productivity. This was far from what happened.
My sales have decreased dramatically. My frustration level has sky rocketed. I am much less productive. I even get migraines now. I have wasted over $800.00 and have absolutely nothing positive to show for it. I feel ripped off, cheated and angry.
My problems started immediately after booting up my new computer. The first issue that I noticed was my D drive was at full capacity and says it needs attention. It says that the last back up failed. I called for support but I only understand english. I called support again and again until I spoke with someone that I could clearly understand. Support told me it's not a big deal and to just tell the computer to back up at a different location. (Should I have to do this? Isn't that what the D drive is for?) I tried backing it up on DVD but for some reason, (and I didn't write the error code down) the back up has failed every time. Currently I do not have my computer backed up. I'm sure HP and Microsoft would be more than happy to tell me just to buy an external drive and back it up.
The compatibility issues are endless. The first wall I hit was that I could not install my printer on this computer. This printer was new but it was not compatible with Windows Vista. There were no drivers on Epson's web site to make this printer compatible. I was forced to purchase a new "Vista Capable" printer.
The next wall I hit was installing my usual software. NONE of it was Vista compatible. My photo editing software wouldn't work with this computer and an update was not available. I had to purchase a new Photo Suite.
Ebay's Turbo Lister software was not compatible which absolutely defeated the whole purpose of buying the new computer. There is not a reasonable alternative to Turbo Lister so I am just out of luck. Recently eBay updated turbo Lister software to be Vista friendly but it still will not work on my computer because of internal Error 2738 Error 1603 Fatal error. Oh, and support? Ebay says call Microsoft, Microsoft charges a fee for tech support and Microsoft suggested calling HP and you guessed it... HP says call eBay!
This is when I had enough so I packed it up and returned it to Circuit City. Circuit City kindly explained to me that they would not accept my return because it had been more than X amount of days. They also explained to me that this could have been avoided if I would have purchased Circuit City's "advantage warrantee plan" for of course a considerable amount of money.
Why didn't they tell me this before I purchased it? Don't you think if they would have told me, "this computer may be a piece of junk and if you don't buy our plan you're stuck with it" that I would have bought the plan? Wait, should I have to? Shouldn't that $700.00 cover it? Shouldn't you stand behind the products that you sell? Shouldn't you just jack the price up even more and give every customer an "Advantage Warrantee"? Guess not.
So, I brought it back home and tried to deal with it but the problems just kept coming.
The next issue is that this computer has the "Vista Home Premium Edition". I assumed it would have Word, Excel and Power Point but guess what? It doesn't. You know what happens when you assume, anyway. No big deal though. I can purchase that too for several hundred dollars. (I wonder if it would be compatible with Vista!) I am writing this letter on note pad. It's not a problem at all. I just love note pad.
Windows Explorer experiences constant "errors" with this operating system and often "needs to close". I never had this problem with my previous computer.
This computer freezes and crashes constantly. I lose data, have to reboot and start all over again. It is to the point that I save my work every minute just to make sure that I don't lose too much. I have computer anxiety!
I have been forced to use system recovery. I never had to do this with my old computer.
This computer is a money pit. Every day that passes I lose money, become more frustrated and wonder why I am stuck with this piece of junk. If this were a car, wouldn't there be a "lemon law" to protect me? I have wasted hours and hours of my valuable time rebooting, on hold with support, recovering, unsuccessfully attempting to install software, researching errors, looking for fixes, looking for drivers, looking for answers and asking for help.
This experience has been very upsetting for me and the only reasonable and sensible solution I can come up with is to take my previous computer and upgrade it's hard drive and processor. This will cost me even more money.
If one of my customers called me and had any kind of complaint about a product that I sold them I would work hard to find a solution that they are satisfied with. I would even let them return it for a full refund! I have actually done this. I treat people the way I would like to be treated.
Why is that the exception and not the standard? I suppose the people at Microsoft, Circuit City and HP can't relate to my situation because if they were faced with a similar situation they would be in the financial position to simply throw it away and get a new/better one. I could hardly afford this computer to begin with. I certainly can't afford it's continuing problems.
Now, I will email this letter to myself so that I can open it on my husband's computer. I can cut and paste my way into his Microsoft Word to compose my notes. Yes, his computer came with Word.
I recently sumbitted this letter through HPs web site. I did get an immediate response stating that this issue has been given priority and a manager would contact me by phone. I even gave them my personal cell phone number. I know this will come as a shock to most of you reading this, but no one has contacted me and it has been a week.
I intend to post this on the web at every available opportunity and submit this to any media source that will listen. Maybe someone will help me face the giants at Circuit City, Microsoft and HP or perhaps I can save someone else the trouble, cost and stress of buying this computer.
J
Louisville, Kentucky
U.S.A.
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