HP: Customer Experience Disconnect
In May 2007 I purchased my youngest son an HP Pavilion Notebook so that he would have a bright shiny new laptop to start high school with in the fall. We looked at several different options but what tipped the scale towards HP was Eric Kintz. Eric and I had “connected” via our blogs but hearing him speak about HP’s commitment to customer centricity at the Forrester Marketing Forum in April 2007.
Here are some of the things Eric highlighted (Thanks Josh): The importance of integrating the customer into driving the business, measure and manage what matters to the customer, and inspire employees to drive customer centricity. He talked about their understanding that customer service is an important touch point and how HP is focusing on customer experience training.
So, here has been our experience. The brand new shiny laptop that Sam took to school everyday to take notes on and help him keep organized (hat tip to Microsoft OneNote) stopped working in late November. My older son spent HOURS on the phone with HP tech support (we won’t even talk about the nightmare of their off shore tech support). I am not sure of the details but it was agreed at the end of the conversation that although they had gotten it booted up, HP would send a box so that at the end of the semester, it could be returned to HP to really fix the problem.
The box arrived. No instructions or paperwork inside. Well, we would wait till the semester ended anyway since the computer was kind of working. Problem was, the computer died again right before Sam’s finals. I began calling HP. Well, what turned out to be a system wide continuing issue surfaced: they couldn’t find any record of the original phone call. Although they give you several different numbers every time you call and ask for your phone number, they never seem to be able to find the records.
Even when I returned a call in February to someone in their so called executive customer service they began their typical “do you have a {fill in the blank} number” interrogation…I stated my name and said, I am returning your call.
So, in December, they apologized for the “no directions” box and said they would send another one right out. Weeks went by. No box. I called again. No records of the call. We begin again. They will send a box and I add the new set of numbers to be collection.
They box arrives. Of course unfortunately, a new semester had begun and Sam had to start school without his laptop. The computer arrives at HP. A flurry of emails announces all this. The status report states: Atlantis and Apollo Motherboard issue. An email arrives saying that though they would like to return the laptop but they do not have the part. Several more weeks go by and finally the laptop arrives home. Yippee!
The enclosed letter from HP thanks me for choosing HP to repair {their inferior} product. It says that HP “created this repair program to ensure it is repaired to the original product specifications {could that be the problem?}.”
The letter goes on to say, “HP is committed to creating superior products which offer the highest standards of quality, durability and reliability.” Sounds like Eric’s talk.
The first problem is that this letter says that the problem was a bad LCD and that they had replaced it. NOTHING about the Atlantis and Apollo motherboard.
The second and larger problem was that Sam had his laptop on for about 3 hours when it stopped connecting to the internet exactly like it had before it died the last time. Huh?
I called HP. Of course. No records. I finally get an English speaking customer service person who first tells me that although they were very sorry, the motherboard unfortunately was not repaired and that we would have to send it back. As we talked a bit more he said that this was a “known issue.”
So I will digress a bit here to the issue of the known issue.
Known issue? Have you heard that term before. “Known to who exactly.” About six months ago I got a letter from the Ford Motor Company telling me there was a “known issue” with my son’s 2003 Ford Explorer and all other Explorers model year 1992-2004. It seems that there is a defect in the cruise control that causes it to “catch on fire”, “possibly to blow up.” It advises not to park the car near your home. OK, so the letter is dated August 2007. Exactly when did this issue become known? In 2005 when apparently the problem stopped? Kind of reminds me of “The Formula” in the Fight Club
Of course, though we now all know about the issue, none of the Ford dealers in the Missouri or Illinois metro have the part in stock.
With T-Mobile, although I have Wi-Fi at home, in November I noticed that they were counting my Wi-fi at home minutes as anytime minutes. After being transferred all over the T-Mobile system just to find someone who even knew what I was talking about, he promised he was putting in a “help desk” ticket to investigate because it was not a “known issue.” Long story short, 2 1/2 months later, after dozens of phone calls from me (I have a collection of names and employee numbers) they decided it was in fact a “known issue”. As of this month, I still had to spend 45 minutes on the phone with billing straightening out the mess.
On another issue, that t-mobile says is not a “known issue” and not covered by the one year warranty,” the track ball falls out of my Blackberry Curve,I have been waiting 5 days for a “manager” to call me back within 3 business days.
I asked them about their announced upcoming pro-rated termination fees thinking that I would rather get an iPhone than buy a new Blackberry from t-mobile given their “too bad so sad” attitude. They didn’t know anything about it. $200 to cancel one phone contract, $600 to cancel all three. Thanks, it may be worth it.
Back to HP and the known issue of the Apollo and Atlantic motherboard. The rep said that he would “escalate” the problem (meaning he would overnight the return box) and that we should have the laptop back with a repaired motherboard in about 7 days. That was January 22nd. He gave me a whole new set of tracking numbers. He apologized and said if it happened again they had a program that might replace the unit; had to malfunction three times, not two.
Off it went. It was at this point that I emailed Eric Kintz and finally got a response by leaving a comment on his moderated blog. He put me in touch with the friendly folks at executive customer service that I mentioned above. Suffice it to say, that did not solve the problem. I was assigned a “case manager” who promised that his job was to provide one-to-one assistance in solving my problem.
What did that mean exactly? He said he would look into the availability of the “part.” He assured me there was not a motherboard known issue. Despite the fact that someone else at HP had said those exact words and the fact that it is all over the web, all over the HP Forums, and being blogged about by those experiencing the almost identical treatment that we have received.
KD Paine writes that she was a lifelong fan and is now a permanent skeptic. Political Thinking has posted some of his correspondence with HP.
Well one way he dealt with it is they removed the statement regarding the Atlantis and Appollo Motherboard from my “ticket” and replaced it with something about a service enhancement program. I think it is a warranty extension.
Does that mean that they will keep fixing the defect every time it breaks, forever and ever?? How special!
But the problem with my problem is that it is really my son Sam’s problem. He does not have his much needed laptop to take to school. After spending over $1200 at Best Buy on this HP computer just six months prior to its collapse I am left with no choice at this point but to buy him a new laptop. It will be a Mac.
Why buy a Mac? Take HP’s Eric Kintz’ three points from his Forrester talk and then think of Apple.
- Integrate the customer into driving the business
- Measure and manage what matters to the customer
- Inspire employees to care about the customer
I have heard representatives from HP, Sprint, Sony and many others speak at WOMMA and Forrester conferences about customer centricity and improving customer experience. I have experienced just the opposite customer experience.
Although I have never heard Apple speak on the topic at any of these venues, I have experienced Apple customer focus. I bought a MacBook following my negative experience with my Sony Vaio. If I have a question, I can call up and get an answer. If something isn’t working right, I can call AppleCare or take my MacBook to the GeniusBar.
There are free workshops offered in the Apple Store on various topics to enhance the user experience. If you need one-to-one help for $100 you can get private instruction once a week for a year with one of the inspired Apple employees who always give you just a little more than you ask for….instead of a lot less.
Bruce Temkin, the VP and Principal Analyst at Forrester who covers customer experience at Forrester recently quoted Morpheus from the Matrix in his blog post highlighting the disconnect between what their research indicates is the importance that theyplace on customer experience and reality: “Sooner or later you’re going to realize, just as I did, there’s a difference between knowing the path and walking the path”
Let me put this in the most personal of terms. HP, my son Sam needs a computer. Isn’t that what we paid for?
The Nikon D80 Blogger Program and My Canon EOS 30D
Photo taken with Canon EOS 30D
Picture This, I have had a long term relationship with Nikon. It seems now that it was one-sided. An elaborate invitation for a Nikon D80 did not arrive in my mailbox last April. I was not on the Nikon D80 Blogger Outreach dance card.
A Nikon D80 is a very nice camera….and I really needed a new camera.
So as I read some of my favorite bloggers write about their loaners, well I kind of wondered, what if…But like Peter Kim, cool has not chased me for anything more than expensive than a book.
But, it did make me start thinking…Now, CK did a great job articulating all of those blogger relations/blogger outreach and just blogger issues; credibility, transparency, incentives, even community building. And lots of smart, credible, community builders wrote thoughtful comments on her post.
It was just that I was thinking about my relationship with the Nikon Brand.
My very first SLR camera purchased shortly after college graduation was a Nikormat.My recollection is that I saved for quite some time to accumulate enough cash to make that camera my own.
As the years passed, I accumulated quite a collection of Nikons; even the lenses from the Nikormat found a home on my last film camera, the Nikon ProneaS. My first digital camera was a very large CoolPix990. The remnants of my Nikon graveyard is memorialized above.
I had been using a Nikon 7600 basic point and shoot when I began my pursuit of something more. As a matter of fact, I don’t think that from the time that I bought the Nikormat, that I had purchased a camera that wasn’t a Nikon. It seems to me that the D80 Blogger Outreach program changed my beliefs about Nikon.
Now, I am fairly brand loyal….I don’t get why anyone but Heinz or Hellman’s even bothers to make catsup or mayonnaise respectively; and no Pepsi is not an acceptable substitute for Coke. (Full disclosure, Heinz has been a client) But then again, after three Volvo’s, the last one was so awful I would not make any brand based assumptions in considering a future purchase.
And for me, Nikon meant camera. I started with the brand and then decided which one. Before the D80 Blogger Program that is.
I thought the Nikon Flickr program was inspired….sending D80’s to Flickr users and letting them experience the camera by creating content to upload on Flickr, that became brand advertising. The program was a kind of community mash-up that linked Flickr, photographers and the Nikon D80, engaging to all.
The D80 Blogger program was not built on exactly the same principles…and I am talking about the principles of designing the context for users to experience a brand, create content and let the content and the users market the brand, not anyone’s personal principles.
Joseph Jaffe, a D80 participant, seems to have something else altogether going on with his podcast for iPhones and more, and certainly is generating lots of opinions as John Moore points out.
All that aside, what theD80 program and the discussion that followed did for me was to point out that despite my years of Nikon brand loyalty that there were bloggers who perhaps had never spent a single cent on a Nikon product, who maybe didn’t even take many pictures or ever blog about anything photo related who were going to get a really awesome and expensive camera for f-r-e-e.
The Sprint Ambassador program evoked similar thoughts….Lots of bloggers I knew had free Sprint phones and free calls. I was a paying customer.
I had been a Sprint customer for years but for the past several had issues ranging from product quality to service quality, to billing and customer service. I not only couldn’t get my problems solved, when asked at the end of one of the many marathon customer service sessions if there was anything else they could do to for me and I mentioned that I could use a new phone, the rep said that they just weren’t able to do that anymore for customers. Guess all the phones were going to all those Ambassadors.
So, as I went into serious search for new camera mode, instead of evaluating Nikon cameras only, I looked at other Brands. I found my way to Canon and eventually to the 30D, purchased in July. I love it. I am still in learning mode and it will be a while before I can commit to Canon brand loyalty. That takes time and positive experience.
Aside, I read yesterday that the new Canon 40D is due out next month. Did I move too soon?
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