I'd like to add my views on HP to those expressed by Tom Calverley. I bought a "refurbished" HP Pavilion" through Morgan Computers. The software would have been installed last year. Despite this I have been able to update the many software programmes that came installed and I have nothing but praise for the way Morgan and HP assisted in my efforts to update. I shall use their service and products again, at present I'm looking at the latest laser printers from HP.

I too purchased a HP laptop on Ebay. I have had a problem with it recently and am completely frustrated with their standard of customer care.

I have spoken to at least 10 different people in 4 seperate departments. It seems they don't take any notes on the case as I need to explain the same things over again each time. When people are unable to help I have been told that they don't have supervisors and anyway I can't speak to them. They wont give me phone numbers or fax numbers - I have needed to look them up on the website. They have not made any of their promised phone calls - I have had to call back each time. The customer service people have been patronising, unhelpful and reticent to book my computer in for any kind of repairs. Saying variously that it was a software error (not covered) a battery problem (not covered) a problem with drivers (need to buy 30£ worth of disks) Once they did finally collect it they found it was broken but are now saying that it is damaged rather than faulty and not therefore covered by warranty.

I can safely say that I would not purchase another HP product and hope not to have to deal with them again.

In contrast, a camera I purchased recently stopped working. One email to the manufacturer and a new one was delivered. I'm not expecting a new laptop to turn up promptly on my doorstep. However, friendly service, returned phone calls and a more transparent customer care structure would have been much appreciated.
Sorry for the whinge. I am just so frustrated.

I re-iterate the previous readers bad views of HP Customer Service, which is pretty much what to expect when you speak to a call centre in India, that; 1) doesn't understand English, and 2) has a vested interest in PREVENTING a service call being generated. You basically have to convince them there is a hardware problem.....I am on my THIRD call to them, at 8p per minute, and still can't get them to change the hard drive, even though the messages keep coming thick and fast saying 'Hard Drive Failure'.
I can only assume the guys that think HP is great must have been dealing with an Agent for HP, and not HP direct.
Give them a miss, and buy a product from a company that supports its products (and its customers).

I bought a HP Pavillion laptop from Comet in November 2007 and one year extended warranty. The first few months were fine, then on 28th December the screen screamed at me then went blank. I phoned my the service centre and they said it was either the LCD screen or graphics card that would need replacing and gave me a case number advising me to book it in at a store for repair asap. I did so on 6 January under their 21 day repair service. On 12 Feb I returned to the store because I hadn't heard from them in 49 days about my machine and was really behind with my work. After searching the database and store, a manager told me they had lost my laptop and would do their best to find it but that I shouldn't worry because they will replace it if necessary. I then made nine phone calls to the repair centre over the next 3 weeks and wrote two letters to Comet Customer Services Manager at their head office in Hull stating my dissatisfaction, the inconvenience, loss of income etc and demanding some answers. They promised me the laptop would be back in the tore "tomorrow", "on Monday", "on Wednesday" etc and none of these were met. I finally picked up my repaired laptop from Comet on 26 March. Took it home anc charged it for an hour, but it on for 30 mins to check the Desktop, then put it back on charge. The following day it wouldn't fire up at all - no power or screen - so I took it staight back to Comet for another repair. On both occassions whilst queing at Comet two customers were also booking in their HP Pavillion laptops (there seems to be an obvious flaw with this model). When I spoke to HP in SouthAfrica last week I was told they had an additional 3 months warranty on this model due to problems with it. Therefore, had I have bought it from HP directly, I probably would have already had a repacement or refund. So far this year I have had not one day's use from by laptop due to Comets poor service and shabby repairs. What can I do to get a refund or replacement computer (preferably not a HP Pavilion)! Best regards, ALISON

I have to agree with the comments about HP's rubish customer service. After sending of my HP Media Vault for repair, I was then told it was being replaced, fair enough. Only now 2 weeks on, no-one at Hp knows what happening with it, was on hold for over an hour to be told they are waiting on a part!! Still waiting on a call back to find out whats happening.