Perservence Pays....

Sometimes, in life, when people gave u inconsistent answers, u need to hang on and find out the truth.It pays....or rather, it saves...

Thomas 1 HP 0

One-Nil to me at half time. I lazy to write.keep it short.

2 weeks ago, my Compaq notebook's harddisk went dead.(once again,Fxxk IBM harddisks)
Trying my luck, I called HP to see if there's still warranty for it,since harddisk in retail has 3 yrs warranty.(HP has eaten up Compaq,Twinkle)
Called up HP's customer support, it was actually the Indians in India who do the phone support thing nowadays. Anyway, found that the hardware like harddisks,RAMs etc,are only 1 yr warranty.Abit unconvinced,but maybe that's the way things goes in notebook industry...
After all the enquiry stuff, suddenly came into my mind: my notebook keyboard's area,the paint coating had melted,resulting a some sticky,messy stuff.And the battery case cracked while I tried to removed the defective harddisk(I don know that was the battery k..)so..try my luck and check how much the replacement would cost...
Was directed to Spore's service ctr. The technician I spoke to, did an investigation on my notebook's serial number, and told me, my 'parts only' warranty ended on 21 OCT 2005.(Mine was bought in 2002) Ho seh liao...though must pay the $95 labour charges,but at least got free parts..better than none..tring my luck again,ask abt the harddisk warranty..."Nope,doesnt include harddisks"...Hmmm..maybe "parts" refer to the casing,shell and the plastic...

Went HP today.After waiting at the customer service for 20 mins, the couter guy did a check for me based on my serial number, and replied:"the warranty ended long ago already..its only 1 yr warranty,and was bought in 2002."
WTF.Made me go all the way to Alexandra for nothing?(Alexandra is near Depot Road,CMPB,Twinkle)..Nah bay..no way Limpeh gonna take it lying down.I'm gonna dig out the damn technician who made me came all the way down for nothing.
So, went downstairs, found a public phone,and took out my brand new phone card(yes,public phone card.surprised I still have,eh?tell u eh,it comes in handy when u knew u need to hold on to calls while the automated voice runs,and proceed to put u on hold listening to some Behtoven,or whatever music). So,started with the 1800 calls to the Indians.damn Indians,simply couldn't help me trace who the technician is.Never mind.Called direct to HP-Spore and spoke to them.After rounds of divertings,an unfortunate lady named Lilian was given the shit job of attending to me. Don understand why she was arrowed to me,since she told me she is in charge of Corporate Notebook customer service, where I wanted to speak to a Technician.
Never mind,maybe she can help.
So,started the long journey of investigations. Though I'm able to produce the call details last week,its pretty useless.No way to trace who the technicians are,especially all the technicians are Indians(again!) while I had spoken to a Chinese.
After trying all sorts of ways to trace out out that technician,which failed,she wanted to transfer me to the Feedback dept.TMD what could the Feedback pple do except to record down my complaints and get back to me a few weeks later??So,I rejected her flatly.
Last attempt: I told her why I wanted to find that technician.After my explantation,she asked for my serial numbers,and did a check for me. Yes!I DO have a 3 yrs warranty for "Parts only"!!Don ask me how this warranty came about,I hv no idea.
Now,next important thing: define "Parts only" warranty.
She couldnt explain in details to me.seems like she not very sure.In fact,everybody in HP I spoke to today,couldn't tell me what's excatly "Parts only" warranty.Never mind.As long got warranty to get something,who cares?Mind you,a simple battery cover plate less than 10cm long cost $30!!
So,she arranged a supervisor in the same place I went earlier,to attend to me.Rosli is his name.He apologised that earlier when I was there, the computer systems couldn't show the full warranty status of my notebook.By the way,he couldnt explain the terms "Parts Only" warranty,as well.
Anyway,I took the opportunity to list out all the big & small defects on my notebook.Actually,with the new Toshiba harddisk I installed,the notebook is functional.But since I'm here,and they made me ran a big round,wasted 20cts on my phone card(now hard to buy phone card leh!),and almost lost my warranty claim,I decided to report all the defects on my notebook.
1. Harddisk crashed.
2. Paint melted.
3. Battery plate cracked.
4. LCD blackened due to heat.
5. Battery life short.(Anyhow say one)

Let's see what the engineer allowed me to claim warranty on.
Moral of the story:

Perservence Pays.
If you feel you have been short-changed,go get it sorted out.
And if you felt that you have been played around, dig that guy out and let him jia-lat jia-lat.

Let's hope that:
Full-time: Thomas 2 HP 0