Customer Service... or Lack Thereof

I have determined in the last week that I will never purchase anything from HP again.

I've had my digital camera for less than a year and contacted customer service about a problem I'm having with it. I wanted to make sure it was taken care of before the baby comes. I explained my problem to a service agent & she had me jump through all kinds of hoops to figure out what I was doing wrong with the camera or how I had messed up the settings on it. When she finally admitted that something was wrong with the camera, I gave all my purchase information, serial number, etc & she said it would be taken care of & they would ship me a replacement camera.

Two weeks passed without a word. I talked to another service agent. He said the replacement process was never started because I hadn't emailed the information to the right place. The previous lady told me she would email it to the right place. And I had given both my email addresses and phone number... no one contacted me to let me know there was a problem. He tells me they did email me, I just never got it.

Now I have to fax a copy of proof of purchase to their warranty department so my file is updated... and, he tells me, get back to him to let him know I've been updated & he can start the replacement process. This is nuts!

So I have to go to Office Depot and pay $3 to send a fax. Then I get an email saying my fax was received and my file has been updated, so I go back to the online chat to tell them I'm updated, send my camera! I give my case number and wait.... after a few minutes another service agent tells me they're having issues with their software, log-off and come back in an hour. I'm guessing he's used to the night shift & doesn't realize that in an hour I should be asleep?!?!!?

I've dealt with other companies before...

• When David was a baby, suddenly his mobile stopped spinning. I called Fisher-Price to see if they had any suggestions to get it going again. Instead of trying to figure out what I was doing wrong, she quickly asked for my home address and overnighted me a new mobile - free of charge, no questions asked. As if my baby's happiness was all that mattered in the world... to her!
  
• I called Melissa & Doug about a toy piano that had been damaged in transit, assuming I'd send it back or just not worry about it because it was on clearance (and I told them that, too) - they never questioned or asked for the damaged one back, but quickly sent a new one.
• Clorox sent me coupons for free stuff when I called to tell them the Ready-Mop didn't work on my textured linoleum.
• When lightening struck our transformer, Dell quickly helped me figure out what was wrong and replaced the power cable to my computer.

Those are all good examples of customer service. The run-around I'm getting from HP is NOT!

So, I don't know who might read this... but buyers beware of HP. Cool commercials or not.