Earlier this year when I bought a new laptop direct from HP, I paid an extra $350 for a three year warranty that covered accidental damage and promised a three day turnaround for any repairs. I’ve had a couple of minor problems — the worst is a fan that suddenly sounds like its a jet engine.
Now I paid the $350 to get the three day turnaround because even a day without my laptop feels like losing an arm or a leg. In fact, I’ve been putting off repair of a minor problem for 6 months precisely because even three days is an eternity.
So imagine my surprise when I call HP and the tech support person basically says that the three day guarantee really isn’t a guarantee — because their repair center is supposedly “backlogged” my three day guaranteed repair may in fact take 7 to 10 days.
Apparently when they said they guaranteed a three day turn around in exchange for $350, they just meant that they would think about it really hard before telling me 7 to 10 days.