I have an HP notebook computer covered under extended warranty, which my business depends on. I have never experienced such poor support with any product as I have with this computer. We have spent well over 100 hours dealing with HP and its representatives and repeatedly reinstalling our software and data, only to have it fail again. And, months later, I still don't have a working computer.

In early 2009, the computer started experiencing problems, which got steadily worse--to the point where it began shutting itself off while on AC power. Our warranty covers support at a local HP-authorized repair shop, so we took it to one. Over several visits, they replaced the motherboard, CPU, and heat sink. The last step solved the shut-down problem, but they also identified a hard drive problem. By then they had lost so much money trying to fix the computer that they told us never to come back.

So we called HP, which sent us a new hard drive. After we got everything reinstalled, the computer started blue-screening and also developed intermittent booting problems. Eventually, it wouldn't boot at all.

We called HP, which sent us another hard drive. That did get it to boot, but the bluescreens and bootup problems soon returned and got worse over time. Soon we again had a computer that wouldn't boot.

HP then insisted that we had to send it in to them, even though we had paid for local service. Since we had no other options, on July 2 we sent it in. When we got it back a few days later, we found that all they had done was to wipe the hard drive and reload Windows. It still wouldn't boot.

We called again, were told the problem would be escalated to a higher level, and waited for the next box to arrive. However, they sent the box to our old address, which we had left 9 months ago! Clearly, they had the new address, because the first box had arrived correctly. When we called to find out why we hadn't gotten the box and learned what they had done, we asked them to remove the old address from their records. But they said they couldn't do that. (How can that be?)

We got another box and sent the computer back. When it came back, we learned that all they did was replace the hard drive (that's the 4th hard drive, if you're counting). Yes, I could spend endless hours again reinstalling my programs and data--but if all previous hard drive replacements didn't solve the problem, why should I expect this one to? And yes, they claim to have "tested" it--but supposedly they had tested it the first time they sent it back. Besides, the blue-screen and bootup problems don't happen right away: they start appearing a few days later and get worse over time. So, given that the hard drive replacement is the only fix they made, and it hasn't solved the problem any of the previous times, I am not inclined to put in endless more hours getting my programs and data back on the system, only to have it fail again.

My business has suffered terribly due to being without my computer for several weeks, not to mention all the time we've lost reinstalling programs and data on what basically is a computer that can't be fixed. I asked HP if they could send me a new computer, but was told that wasn't possible, because it's past the first year of ownership.

I called their corporate number and asked to speak to someone in the president's office. Instead, I was routed to their "Executive Customer Service" department. The person I spoke with there told me I could expect a call back "in 24 to 48 hours." I'm still waiting.