At last, a happy ending

Back in February I bought an HP Envy convertible laptop. From day 1 it had problems. I bought it from Amazon UK and really didn´t want the hassle of sending it back and waiting weeks for things to get sorted, as it turns out I doubt they would have been sorted anyway.

The laptop would not connect automatically to wireless, it connected automatically only a couple of times. However I could connect by going into the device manager, disabling the wireless adaptor then immediately enabling it again.

The keyboard only worked when it felt like it, sometimes it would work for an hour or two then stop, sometimes it wouldn´t work at all. If the keyboard didn´t work then I couldn´t use the device manager to connect, it is impossible from the online keyboard, however I found out that switching the computer off on restart the wireless would connect when it switched on again.

I tried many times to contact HP support in UK, but trying to email them on their "contact us" proved to be impossible. You have to explain the problem in something like 30 words, but even then the email would not go, it would simply "grey out". Phoning them from Spain on premium rate number simply was not an option.

Then I thought they must have a facebook page, all the big companies do, so I found that, typed in my problem and within a very short time I received a private message from an HP technician. I refer to him as HP Eric and he was so patient and helpful, he really did his best for me. It took some effort on his part and a couple of reminders from him to the HP techies in Spain to contact me but last week an HP techie here in Spain rang me, they had organised for an English speaking one to deal with me, he is now referred to as HP Juan. I spent over 2 hours on the phone with him, he took control of the laptop remotely, all I had to do was to keep putting in numbered codes he gave me, they kept changing for each task. There were some weird and wonderful things appearing on the screen, I couldn´t begin to comprehend what they were, but he said that almost all the installed drivers were incompatible with windows, it was very strange. The laptop has had nothing done to it since it was bought at all. However he uninstalled all these drivers and replaced them with new ones. Then came the testing, lo and behold when switched on the laptop connected automatically, the keyboard worked and has worked just fine ever since. HP Juan is going to phone me again tomorrow to check whether his efforts have stayed successful. I am happy to say that since he did all his work on it remotely that everything has continued to work just fine and I´m hoping it stays that way.

It´s a bit much though that I had to go on facebook to find help, bearing in mind that the help I was getting was coming from the USA. Trying to get help from the UK simply resulted in "internal server error" or emails being greyed out.

In future if I need help with a product I shall look for their help sites on facebook. My grateful thanks go to HP Eric and to HP Juan.

Re: At last, a happy ending

So pleased you have a happy end to that problem I am not sure how many companies these days really have people on the end of the line to read emails. have had a few problems contacting companies myself lately.

Re: At last, a happy ending

Good to hear that, clumsy. I have also found Facebook useful in a similar way. When Atesa mistakenly charged me for fuel for a rental car in Mallorca, I was going spare trying to rectify it. The fuel tank was full but the gauge was faulty. After getting no joy from contacting the Spanish office, I also went on Facebook, found the US page, made my complaint, and had a refund within 24 hours with an apology.
I'm not a Facebook fan, but it does seem to have its uses...

Re: At last, a happy ending

That certainly is a good ending, Loretta! Glad it's now working well for you.

Enjoy.

Re: At last, a happy ending

I'm pleased it worked out for you eventually Loretta. My son works servicing computers and when anything goes wrong with my machine he can take it over from wherever he is and fix it, it's a weird feeling sitting there doing nothing and watching all the action on the screen.

Re: At last, a happy ending

Thanks all. Funny thing is you get a much more personal service by posting your complaint on the company facebook page, all dealt with by private message. It´s a bit much though when you have to rely on people in the USA to contact the people in the country you live in. I still can´t understand why a brand new computer should be loaded with incompatible drivers, neither could the HP Juan.

Re: At last, a happy ending

Yes indeed orang-utan Facebook does have it´s uses, it´s a bit much though when you have to go via the USA to get anything dealt with.

Re: At last, a happy ending

That's good news Loretta ... and good thinking on your part

Full marks to HP Eric and to HP Juan for getting you up and running again

Re: At last, a happy ending

Well done Loretta - your persistence paid off ....

Re: At last, a happy ending

Just as a matter of interest. Why buy it from the UK? don't Amazon have a Spanish branch?

Buying expensive things from a foreign country is fraught with dangers and expense.

As an aside the reason your message to HP UK was greyed out was probably because it recognised you as being located overseas, if you had a VPN service you could have appeared to be in the UK and it would have worked fine.