8 Aug
2010
8 Aug
'10
1:56 a.m.
On 06/08/10 20:12, Tony Duell wrote:
which di not meet the advertised speicifcations (if
they say 'built in
assembler; then i darn well expect there to be one). I wrote 2 letters,
the socond one including IRCs, and enver got a reply. The company? HP
(!). I will never buy another new HP product... It's a pity becasue I'd
been using their machines for many years until then, and had had
excelelnt customer service (not that I needed it very often).
Depends what 'era' of HP you're talking about; if we're talking
pre-Carly Fiorina, then I'm surprised. Any time after that... not
surprising in the least.
Seems they've had a run of bad CEOs -- Fiorina chopping the company into
tiny little bits, Hurd's relentless firings (and allegations of
"inappropriate behaviour", see
http://consumerist.com/2010/08/hp-ceo-resigns-following-revelation-of-inapp…
)...
And then you look at Agilent...
"Oh, you're still using a 16500B? Great, here's all the software that
was on the HP FTP site, including the Symbol Utility disc, and the
manuals are on our website under Old/Obsolete Products, Manuals, 16500B
Series."
As an aside, I've found a lot of lifetime (or
exxtended) guarantees are
not worth the paper they're printed on. They either depend on having thr
thing checked/serviced my the manufacuter (cars often have this one...)
or the gurrantee covers parts, but you still have to pay for labour. And
they wont give you the bits to fit yourself. Of coruse most of the time
they simply inflate the labour charge to cover the cost of the parts...
For some things it is worth having an "extended" guarantee. Certain
household goods for instance (read: dishwasher, washing machine, ...)
The dishwasher here has been repaired at least four times. It's had:
Two power switches
One controller board
At least one water supply valve
The washer hasn't fared any better:
New door, latch, hinge and seals
Controller board (twice)
Motor wiring harness
A couple of other bits I can't remember off-hand (thermal switches,
that sort of thing).
For those, the D&G warranty has paid for itself at least twice over. I
had one on a Canon DSLR lens because it had something of a reputation
for issues with the bearings and lock mechanism. Thus far, mine's
behaved itself... touch wood :)
That's one reason I stick to older kit. I can fix
it myself, not having
the hassle of sealing with those sort of lamebrains easily outwiehgts
having to track down faults with 'scope and logic analyer myself...
:)
--
Phil.
classiccmp at philpem.me.uk
http://www.philpem.me.uk/