I own a very nice and very good HP Deskjet 6250. in 2005 I bought a stock of HP ink Cartridges that were on sale. At the beginning of this year my existing color cartridge finally ran out. I opened up the packet of my new full cartridge, inserted into the printer and the printer refused it. I tried everything to get it to work, but finally spoke to the online help message service. Now in all fairness to HP the guy on the service desk -Calvin, was fantastic. He really helped and knew exactly what the problem was. ALL HP cartridges have an expiry date programmed into them, and all HP printers have a battery and a "clock" which stores the date. When the cartridge is past its expiry (despite being full) it will not be accepted and you cannot use it. This is a shocking practice - and the only point of it as far as I can see is that it brings in more money for HP. It really should be stopped. I now have two new full cartridges which can never be used, unless I disable the battery in my printer - which I am very tempted to do.

I have also had a problem in getting Hewlett Packard to honor their "Holidays Just Got Happier" rebate program, which was running in the late fall of 2006.

I submitted all of the forms for the rebate in early January, after purchasing my computer in December, 2006. In February, HP's Internet "rebate status" form said that the check had already been mailed to me, but I'd never received it. I contacted them about this in March, and they told me to re-submit all of the forms that I'd already sent in. When I objected (they already force you to jump through plenty of hoops the first time around) they agreed to re-send the check.

I was told that the check was re-sent on the first of May, 2007 but as of May 27th I STILL don't have it. I e-mailed them in mid-May, and was told to wait a full 30 days before asking for an explanation. At that point, I submitted a complaint to the Better Business Bureau.

My sense is that they just wait for people to give up on these rebates, so they don't have to pay them.

Letter of complaint that I faxed to HP on 3/7/07 follows. Supposedly, HP referred my complaint for response after I followed up by phone on 3/14. When I phoned again on 3/15, the rep told me that he did not know when/if HP would respond, and he also told me that he could not give me contact information to check further.

RE: Hewlett Packard

This is a complaint about Hewlett-Packard Company’s (HP) products and customer service/technical support (customer service). Details follow.

Products. Since around mid-1998, I have/my brother has purchased for ourselves and for our mother three HP Pavilion desktop computers, two Compaq Presario desktop computers, one HP Media Center laptop computer, one HP Scanjet, three HP all-in-ones, and three printers. The three HP/Compaq computers that we have purchased since December, 2004, are of a much lesser quality than the previous HP/Compaq computers that we purchased:

• One of the DVD/CD drives in the HP Pavilion that my brother purchased about a year and a half ago had a melt down within weeks of the purchase. HP replaced the drive, but the computer has a cosmetic flaw because of the melt down.

• In December, 2004, which is approximately two and one quarter years ago, we purchased a replacement Compaq Presario for our mother, who is a senior citizen on a very limited income. She depends on her computer to keep in touch with family and friends who reside all over the United States, as well as in Europe. Since about two weeks ago, there appears to be a major problem with the operating system. No image appears on the monitor, and I know that the connections, cable, and monitor are not cause of the problem. Replacing the graphics card did not resolve the problem.

• In July, 2006, not quite eight months ago, I purchased the HP Media Center laptop for myself. I have used it very little. In preparation to take it to my mother last week, for her to use until we can arrange/afford to have her Compaq Presario repaired, I discovered that the laptop does not operate, either with A/C or with battery power, and I cannot operate the latch to open the battery compartment.

Based on the three above-cited problems, especially because the last two happened within such close proximity to one another, I was considering not purchasing another HP/Compaq product. After my communications with HP’s telephone technical support on March 2, 2007, and this afternoon, I definitely will not purchase another HP/Compaq product.

Customer service. On March 2, 2007, upon discovering the problem with my recently purchased HP Media Center laptop computer, I telephoned HP’s technical support, at 800.474.6836:

• I was on the telephone for almost one hour, beginning at 8:49 p.m. I estimate that at least half of this time my call was placed on hold.

• After I provided the requested information to the automated system, a message told me that the laptop is “out of warranty.” Is this a tactic by HP to avoid honoring warranties?

• I spoke with four people, who identified themselves as Eric, Joseph, Nancy, and Sharon. Communicating with the two females was extremely difficult because they speak poor English.

• The two females refused to accurately make a record of the problem that I was reporting. Both of them insisted that HP replacing the A/C adapter would resolve the problem. Several times, I had to state that replacing the A/C adapter would not resolve the problem, since the laptop will not operate with battery power, either. I informed them that I could not open the battery compartment.

• On March 5, 2007, a FEDEX representative informed me that HP provided an incorrect street address. I had to give FEDEX the correct street address, which delayed my receipt of the mailer that HP sent to me to use, supposedly to return the laptop computer.

• The two females lied to me, by telling me that HP was going to replace my laptop computer. I became aware of the lie this afternoon, when I opened the mailer and found a repair information sheet and no information about a replacement laptop computer. The lie was confirmed when I telephoned HP’s technical support today.

At around 4 p.m. today, I telephoned HP’s technical support a second time, to request that HP replace the laptop, as had been discussed with the two aforementioned females:

• This call, too, took approximately an hour, with about half of the time on hold. The only positive aspect was that Sean is an American who speaks English that is understandable. Since I purchased the product from an American company, I expect to communicate with people who speak English that is understandable.

• The first person with whom I spoke, Sandra, was very difficult to understand, the same as Nancy and Sharon. Per my request, she said that she corrected my street address. As she requested, I identified myself, and I provided the case number, order number, product number, and serial number. I had to repeat some of this information to the next person, Sean.

• Sean was pleasant, and he appeared to be customer-service oriented. However, speaking with him was a waste of time because he has no authority to address the situation, and, he said, he could not reach an available person to whom to transfer my call “to escalation,” despite several attempts.

• After wasting another hour this afternoon, the problem still remains/I continue not to be able to use my laptop computer. I cannot waste any more of my time on the telephone with HP. I will not FEDEX my laptop computer to HP to have it repaired.

Resolution sought. To resolve my complaint, I want HP to take the following action. The resolution that I am seeking takes into account the approximately two hours of my time that HP has wasted since March 2, 2007, as well as the facts that I have not been able to use my laptop computer and that my mother has not been able to use her desktop computer.

1. Immediately to send to me written verification that HP will replace my laptop computer with a new (i.e., not refurbished) laptop computer with the same or better specifications.

2. Immediately to send to me the paperwork, including FEDEX labels, to return my laptop computer.

3. Immediately upon its receipt of my laptop computer, FEDEX to me the new laptop computer.

4. Include on the new laptop computer Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 and Microsoft Office Publisher 2007.

5. Immediately repair, including backing up files before the repair, my mother’s desktop computer at no cost, including no shipping cost in either direction.

I will appreciate a response by March 16, 2007, either by regular mail or by e-mail.