One might believe that I would be angry and upset. Why you ask? Well, last week, on 14 October to be exact the graphics card started acting up again. For those of you that have read this blog for a while you know that I have had to send my HP dv9074ea laptop in for repair twice already due to the graphics card dying on me, rendering the laptop useless. In order to fix the problem the motherboard had to be replaced in both those instances. When I tried to start the laptop last week I got a blue screen before it finished loading the OS and it restarted again. I noticed red stripes all over the screen at boot-up and Windows offered me the option to repair the system. It did not work, and the only way to boot into Windows was to go into Safe Mode and roll back the screen card drivers to the Standard VGA driver ones. Obviously the graphics card had started its downward process of dying on me…

I contacted komplett.no, the vendor from whom I purchased the machine in October 2006. Obviously the 1 year warranty was out, but I could still complain about the product under Norwegian Consumer Purchase Laws which asserts that a product like a laptop should work for 5 years. Komplett.no approved my request to send it in, and I wrote an additional claim where I asserted my knowledge of the laws in question and wanted a so-called re-delivery. Basically claiming, under law, to have a new laptop in replacement for my old one.

The laptop arrived at komplett.no on Tuesday this week, and I was very anxious to find out how this process would evolve. I got an email reply (after several phone calls) stating that komplett.no’s technician were not allowed to diagnose the machine, and that they had to send the machine to HPs service partner Infocare. The email also stated that just the process of determining whether the machine was repairable or fell under the provision in the law could take 2-3 weeks. Yikes! I am going on a business trip to the Netherlands next week, and I really want a laptop on that trip, and the prospect of that happening were bleak to say the least.

So, after receiving that email yesterday I decided to contact HPs customer service center in Norway to see if there was any way to speed up this process. I explained my predicament to Anna and later Mads at the HP return and complaints division. They were very understanding, and agreed to have one of HPs technicians call komplett.no and perform a diagnosis of the laptop via phone. This was not exactly pr protocol, but they would try anyway. After I hung up after that conversation my hopes were up. I immediately phoned komplett.no to inform them of HPs attempt to help me. They were lukewarm to say the least. “You know, this is not exactly the way it is supposed to be done…” I insisted, and were probably considered an annoying customer by the time I finished my (several) calls to their customer service representative. The end of the story? I got a call from HP today(!) informing me that the machine had indeed been identified as having the third instance of the same problem, and that they would send me a brand new computer as a replacement free of charge, and that I would hopefully get it by Wednesday next week! Amazing! Unbelievable and just a prime example of a company putting their customers first! Huge cudos to HP!

What laptop I will get as a replacement? Sometimes next week I will be the proud owner of a brand new HP Pavilion dv7 2114eo laptop computer. Specs as listed below;

Click here for a product demo.

I cannot wait to get the laptop, and I will of course post a review of it here on my blog once I have run it through its paces.

A big thank you to the customer team leader at komplett.no and a thousand more and then some to Mads and Anna at HP. They understand what customer care is all about!

Microsoft’s brand new anti-virus application just went live and are available for download. I am downloading as I am typing this, and will post my review of this application shortly. If Microsoft has pulled this one off (which I assume they have, based on initial feedback from other reviewers and bloggers) they have changed the security application software landscape significantly. Offering a free alternative AV application from the OS vendor itself will make life (read: business) a lot harder for the likes of Symantec and others. For the average user I think it will be much easier to just download and use the free Microsoft product than buying a license from another provider. Time will show, but I think everything just changed.

You can find my review here later this week.

Brandon LeBlanc has updated the Windows Blog with additional information on Windows 7 in Europe. Basically it breaks down to this;

• Family Pack is now available it these additional countries; the UK, Ireland, Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands and Sweden
• Family Pack is a limited offer (!)
• Windows 7 E will not be delivered in Europe due to the proposal that Microsoft has made to the EU of presenting a ballot screen where the customer decides which browser he wants to use
• People that have preordered upgrade versions of Windows 7 E to special promotional upgrade prices, will still get the full Windows 7 version

Read the full post here.

Additional information: Norwegian tech-site digi.no has gotten comments from Microsoft Norway that confirms that Norway will not have the Family Pack offer, since it is too small a market (!?)

My comments:

First of all – how come the Family Pack offer is a limited offer? Will you run out of digital licenses? What is this bs? I understand that it is all about the bottom line, but come on Microsoft. A Family Pack is something that should be a standard item in your product line – it is called taking care of loyal customers, instead of screwing them over for some easy bucks.

Then, to follow up on the first item; How come this Family Pack is not already available everywhere? Is it so hard to produce license keys that your activation system accepts being used 3 times, no matter which language version you are installing. This is just plain stupid, and once more about screwing your loyal customers over for some easy bucks. Why should it be more relevant for a Dutch or Swedish home to install a legal copy of Windows 7 on the household computers than it would be for a Norwegian or Danish one? Your excuse that the markets are too small does not hold up, just a sorry excuse.

Disappointed, really disappointed. I thought you were improving, but no.

Fix it Microsoft. It is still not too late!