HP

In the mail today, I receive the motherboard I’ve been waiting for since Tuesday.  Two days is pretty good turnaround, especially since I got a call from HP yesterday that the part was re-ordered and might be another couple of days.  But here it is today, I check the order number and it is correct.  Finally, I can get this busted PC off of my desk.

I remove the old motherboard and components and set them aside, leaving an empty case, and put the new motherboard in.  I then seat the processor and fan, and reconnect all the cables.  I take the hard drive and DVD-Rom drives and stop.  There’s only enough ports on the board for one of them.  After comparing the old and the new I see they sent me the wrong board.  Super.

That means I have to call HP Support, which is one of the (if not the most) painful aspects of my job.  Until today…

“(automated) Thank you for calling HP Support! Please say the model you are calling about”

“7700,” I reply.

“I understand that is a small form factor desktop?” it, for the first time ever, guesses correctly.  They usually think its a server or a printer or something.  I affirm that it is and I’m put on hold.

Usually I have time to read War and Peace and write an essay about it during this time.  But after less than a minute, just enough time for me to reach for the book, someone picks up the line.

“This is Tom with HP support.”  Holy crap.  One minute, and here is a perfectly understandable human being.  Unlike most times, the connection isn’t filled with static, and he speaks english.  I’m actually stunned a moment.  I tell him my problem, he instantly understands, and less than five minutes later, I’m off the phone and the correct part is being shipped.

Normally this process (I have been shipped the wrong part a few times in the past) takes at least half an hour or more, the worse being a call that lasted an hour and a half of me arguing with a guy I could barely understand that the part was, in fact, wrong, and that I did not need to troubleshoot the issue, as it was already diagnosed and would be resolved with the correct part.

Wow.  Way to go, HP.  Way to not suck.  Have a beer.

That’s the kind of thing that would make me consider an HP product, if they’re going back to locally sourcing their support staff.  At the very least, it’ll make days when I need to call them go a lot smoother.

Zel-kun out.