What is Digg?201 Comments
- mikejamesss, on 12/11/2008, -16/+77NEWS FLASH!!! If you send you hard drive with your laptop for repair they're gonna reformat it. They do not need your hard drive when you send it in for repair. ITS STANDARD POLICY WHEN YOU SEND IN YOUR HARD DRIVE WITH YOUR LAPTOP SO TAKE OUT YOUR HARD DRIVE WHEN YOU SEND IN YOUR LAPTOP. When you send a request to repair your laptop HP sends the box for you to ship the laptop. Inside that box there is a piece of paper inside of it that says not to send your hard drive with it. SERIOUSLY...THERE IS A PIECE OF PAPER SENT WITH THE BOX THAT TELLS YOU TO NOT SEND YOUR HARD DRIVE WITH YOUR LAPTOP. It cannot get any clearer than that!!! Next time pay attention before you send stuff in for repairs and back up your data. All it takes is a CD or DVD and 10 minutes or less to back up your data on a disc. Don't blame someone because you don't know how to back up your stuff.
- ryan83189, on 12/11/2008, -2/+40Makes sense, they would not want to be responsible for any data on the disk that might be compromised on the way back. Could you imagine the PR nightmare if confidential information, perhaps thousands of people's credit card or social security numbers, were leaked because of them? You would probably hear about it on... the consumerist. 8 gig jumpdrives are $30 and DVD-Rs are dirt cheap, there is no excuse to not back up before you send your computer across the country.
- Scott2, on 12/11/2008, -4/+32welcome to the land of cheapest-possible-resolution tech support.
- loper, on 12/11/2008, -1/+27I hate dealing with HP/Compaq. We deal with warranty work for them and I do most of it in house but if I have to send a system to their depot yes, they insist that they be allowed to wipe the drive. That being said they usually don't but they will not accept a system that permission to wipe hasn't been given by the customer.
Just as bad is that for a lot of out of warranty repairs, if you send it to their depot they charge a flat rate of around $400. I had a customer with a dead fan in his laptop whom I told to find it on ebay and I would install it for him. Saved him about $300. - inactive, on 12/11/2008, -5/+26Now why can't these things ever be like Weird Science or something? Can't a hot chick just come out of the computer? The whole damned hard drive has to be wiped out? I refuse to believe this can't be accomplished.
- uptwolait, on 12/11/2008, -8/+29That's like taking your highly-modded car in for a flat tire, only to find they've removed your turbo, stereo, and stripped off your custom paint. *****.
- bruins72, on 12/11/2008, -1/+20It's company's support policies that are at fault here. Even if you are a good tech, you're handcuffed by them. About 11 years ago I worked at a company that did support for Compaq (I'm sure it's since been outsourced to another country). We were forced to charge the customers $35 for the call if it didn't immediately sound like something that was Compaq's fault. Once we got their money were were supposed to have them off the phone in less than 10 minutes (I can't remember the exact number of minutes but I know it was less than 10). We were supposed to refer them to online resources or their faxback service or just tell them what they needed to do and leave them to it. We weren't supposed to actually help the customer resolve their problem and see it through to completion. If your average call time was over 10 minutes (or whatever it was), you were reprimanded. Eventually, I got taken off the regular call queue and was assigned to handling the "irate callers" that threw a fit when they got no help the regular way. So I would either argue with them (if they wanted a new computer or for us to send a tech when it wasn't clear that there was a hardware problem) until they threatened legal action or try to help them if they were willing. If they threatened legal action we were supposed to tell them that their call was being passed on to the legal department (and some paperwork was started). If they were still willing to let us try to help them after they had been jerked around, they finally got the help they should've gotten initially. I just don't understand how they can run a business like that. This is one of the many reasons why I will NEVER buy a brand name computer, only custom built computers.
- Rockkybox, on 12/12/2008, -1/+19And tinfoil on your nipples
- MorbidNoodle, on 12/12/2008, -1/+17I honestly do not understand how a rant this idiotic made it to the front page. Not only are there data disclaimers that need to be read before any repair ticket, there are several logical reasons why all hard drives are re-imaged. One reason that a lot of people haven't even glanced at, is the fact that HP has to guarantee a quality repair. Considering that a huge amount of PCs have software problems (corruption, malware, etc), people should consider this a service. Other OEMs would not touch your software, and believe it or not there are PLENTY of people out there that do not know how to restore their own machines. I cannot tell you how many people I have dealt with that were PISSED, that their OEM would not cover the cost of reimaging. Sure, not every PC that comes to their hands has a software issue, but imagine the extra ETA that would be added to all of their repairs if they diagnosed these issues. Compound that with the fact that they'd also be dealing with consumer privacy issues (lawsuits) by doing so. It just appears to me that the guy who wrote this letter; A. cannot read, and B. has no idea how anything works in the real world. End of rant.
- dondada619, on 12/12/2008, -0/+15Have you ever replaced a fan in a laptop? It is not the same as doing it on a desktop.
- inactive, on 12/12/2008, -1/+15hahaha.... "You can free up 300GB space"...
I guess you then thought "Oh awesome" *click* Live and learn dude. - DarkerMaster, on 12/11/2008, -3/+17I don't have the time to back up all that Porn!!
- FoxOrian, on 12/12/2008, -0/+14That's what I was thinking. Why would you just send your computer off without backing up all of your important data first? Especially if something happened to your system in transit that wasn't HP's fault. It always seems that most people need to "learn the hard way" before getting into a habit of backing up the stuff that means a lot to them.
- Gareth321, on 12/12/2008, -0/+14I work in the cellphone industry and have experienced the same policy. While not as damaging usually, customers are utterly perplexed at why their family photos and contacts are wiped when their buttons fall off and their phone is sent in for warranty repair.
Official line: There are always new software updates and users can unintentionally install malware on their device.
Truth: Our ***** ***** up all the time. We try to minimise this by installing the newest software and crossing our fingers that it isn't worse. - ippey, on 12/12/2008, -1/+13I agree with mikejamesss. Don't send in your hard drive if you want to keep the data, or make sure you have it all backed up.
Regardless of what the phone rep says if you don't include it, any technician with half a brain doesn't need the hard drive to replace a key on the keyboard. - mikejamesss, on 12/11/2008, -4/+15that tech on the phone is not really a tech. those people are trainees that specialize in software tech. they do not mess with the computer itself - they're there to answer questions or problems that customers could have found the answers to by going to the manufacturer's FAQ page. usually people who fix computers follow some sort of ethics so they just reformat the hard drive to make sure no information is leaked. its just to save their butts. now i don't know what company fixed your dad's laptop but from what i can remember Dell and HP has been sending pieces of paper with warnings that state if you send your hard drive it might be reformatted so don't send the hard drive or battery in. its usually in BIG BOLD LETTERS LIKE THIS and comes in the box the manufacture ships for you to mail the laptop in.
- ohearn, on 12/12/2008, -0/+11What don said, especially on an HP/Compaq laptop. You have to pretty much completely dismantle the thing.
- FunkyWitDaSysTm, on 12/12/2008, -0/+10that i categorically false. i've checked apple's web site, and i just called all 3 apple stores in new york city, and they all said that that is NOT apple's policy.
what they said is that it is apple's policy to urge you to back up your hard drive if, for some reason, a repair may require it, but ONLY if the repair requires it. they do it to cover their butts. you can explicitly tell them that they don't have permission, but it may prevent the repair if the repair required it.
and no, there is no "please don't wipe my data" fee. if a genius at an apple store told you that, you either misunderstood, or that genius was not working by apple's corporate policy and should be reported to apple corporate. - BreatheRhetoric, on 12/12/2008, -1/+11They wiped my hard drive when I sent in my laptop to have my battery replaced. I was mad about it because I had to go through the trouble of reformatting etc. when I got it back, but luckily I backed my stuff up. The RMA package that they send you specifically tells you to back up all of your stuff so I feel no sympathy for you.
- pintomp3, on 12/12/2008, -0/+10did they erase the hard drive or just swap the whole computer? a lot of places just do a swap to decrease turnaround time, and then fix the computer later.
- renegadeafk, on 12/12/2008, -0/+10that's a relatively rare bug... its not like it goes around wiping everyones hdd that used disk cleanup...
- inactive, on 12/12/2008, -1/+10the article's analogy wasn't good enough for ya?
- geoken, on 12/12/2008, -1/+10You definitely hear the consumerist rail against Best Buy every time it's discovered that some Geek Squad employee stole a customers pics.
So HP does the extreme to avoid issues like this and these whiners still complain. - adriandb, on 12/12/2008, -0/+9For a fee they will back up your data for you. Maybe that's what he was thinking of.
- m3mn0n, on 12/12/2008, -1/+10Well I deal with HP on an almost daily basis, and it's true about their standard policy. I understand why they do that. It helps during testing some things to make sure it's not a software problem with the computer. And I would say to the guy you're SOL but the fact that they did not tell him is pretty lame.
Honestly though, all he needs to do is take his computer to a computer tech who has even a little bit of experience in format recovery and he'll be fine. It's not very hard at all if he wanted to do it himself and I even think Geek Squad does it, too, if he lives near a Best Buy. - Chickenlip, on 12/12/2008, -1/+10cron and rsync make it quite painless actually ... I keep 84 backups of my data spread among 12 geographical locations in 4 continents.
- drlha, on 12/12/2008, -0/+9Don't worry Funky. People will digg up the baseless attack on Apple regardless of the facts, that's how digg works. Remember, you're a fanboy for defending Apple now.
- cyclonesworld, on 12/12/2008, -0/+9I've had to send a few laptops to HP to get repaired before. Most of them had screen issues that were repaired under warranty. As a safety precaution and because I know that their techs aren't the brightest of the bunch, I removed the hd's from the laptops before shipping them.
For giggles, I had a laptop which had nothing of value on the hd. I sent that to them to get repaired and sure enough when it got back they had formatted the drive... for a screen repair. Maybe it is some kind of stupid standard policy.
Something as trivial as a missing key, I would have just purchased a new keyboard on ebay for about $15. Replacing a keyboard in an HP takes all of 3 minutes. - bshock, on 12/12/2008, -1/+9Why are you idiots giving HP the hard drive with your data if all you need is a keyboard fix? Don't tell me you still put your important stuff on the POS HD they cram into their machines? That's like the kitchen appliances you get from a house-flipper.
- Murdats, on 12/12/2008, -3/+11they cant use a live cd to test the hardware?
- PabloMac, on 12/12/2008, -1/+9That's no excuse for not backing up.
- 80hd, on 12/12/2008, -0/+8If you must send in your laptop, pull the hard drive and send it without the disk. They won't (or at least shouldn't) complain and it gives you total peace of mind. Most laptops these days can have the drive removed in two minutes so it's well worth effort..
- Pixelante, on 12/12/2008, -0/+8A customer whom I have to work for free is not a customer worth having returning, ever. On the other hand, a customer willing to pay 100 bucks to change a fan is more than welcome to come back.
- starslinger72, on 12/12/2008, -0/+7no, it is their policy to format hard drives that come in. you must have gotten lucky
- lurrker, on 12/12/2008, -0/+7I'm surprised people think their hard drive information is safe while being kicked around by UPS/FEDEX/DHL for at least 2 days.
- bradleyland, on 12/12/2008, -0/+7I think you just nailed it. If there is a policy like this, repair guarantee has to have a lot to do with it. One of the greatest complications of computer problem diagnosis and repair is the sheer volume of environmental factors. The possible combinations of software and hardware are innumerable. The people performing the repair don't have the authority to set policy, and the people doing the hiring can't be sure that everyone they hire is smart enough to know the difference between a failed keyboard and a keylogger that is poorly written and failing to pass keystrokes through to your applications. That's just one remote example of how malware can affect system health.
The end result is that decision makers establish policies that fit as many scenarios as possible. Wiping the hard drive and writing the factory image returns the environment to the "control" setup. HP can run their tests and be assured that there are no mitigating factors. - starslinger72, on 12/12/2008, -1/+8Its SOP for all major computer companies to format the hard drive as it comes into their repair centers. has been for at least three years now and prolly longer. and this guy is stupid if he thinks they are not going to turn his comp on to test the new keyboard they would have installed. I love how people cry "you wronged me" when their ignorance is at fault. *****!
- mikejamesss, on 12/12/2008, -0/+6lol...norton...i rather have the formatted hard drive
- Metasquares, on 12/12/2008, -0/+6ALWAYS image your drive before you send a computer in for service. Or take the drive out and send the system without it (if they'll let you)
- KnarkJesus, on 12/12/2008, -1/+7"I feel like a hospital patient who went in for routine surgery and woke up with an effing amputated leg."
Er... Yeah, that's the same. - psykiv, on 12/12/2008, -0/+6Why the hell would they remove the paint? Turbo and stereo they can resell, so I'll understand that. They really can't do anything with the paint though.
- elitebmo, on 12/12/2008, -0/+6They use something called PC doctor, but you have to understand how many units they get a day. Its 5 times easier to reimage the HDD to ensure the drivers are installed correctly instead of manually digging around for em. As I understand it, it's also to cover their asses. If you work setting up HP depots at all you will see a little check box right before you submit that says A) they are not responisble for lost data... and B) the customer is aware of this and has given consent.
I'm not saying I agree with their standards, but as someone who sets up both in and out of warranty depot repairs and part orders all day, I can totally understand their standpoint. - sporktek, on 12/12/2008, -0/+6This kind of thing happens constantly in this industry. Dell is by far the worst offender, often completely dodging any throubleshooting, instructing the user to put in their OS recovery cd, restart the machine and follow the instructions, your computer is fixed, have a nice day.
Two weeks ago I had a customer of mine evidently find the /b/tard at Charter Communications' tech support center. I wish I was making this up, but the customer had a bit of malware that had compromised her tcp/ip stack and she had lost internet connectivity. The support tech on the other end instructed her to "delete system32" to fix the issue. Yeah, seriously.
Doesn't matter tho, gives us responsible and good techs more people to "rescue" at the end of the day. - KSUdesigner, on 12/12/2008, -0/+6Or maybe you just got a tech that doesn't follow the rules.
- evenstarred, on 12/12/2008, -0/+6Buried for total ***** and being an idiot.
Only an idiot would sent their laptop in for repair without backing it up first.
I worked with a computer repair company for two and a half years, I've sent countless laptops back to HP and I have NEVER had that happen. Not with HP/Compaq, Dell, Toshiba, Acer, and even on the once in a blue moon Gateway POS. It has however happened quite frequently with Apples, whether it be a keyboard swap, a cracked LCD or a DC-IN board issue.
Also, it's a ***** KEYBOARD! Its more cost and time efficient to replace it yourself. It's not like it's a difficult thing to do, my mom can do it for chrissake! - illusion2269, on 12/12/2008, -1/+7I also handle alot of warranty work for HP/Compaq, and if I send a system into their depot for repairs, I always remove the hard drive prior to sending it in to make sure the customer doesn't lose their data. Its sad they make a system wipe a standard part of their repair process, but I have had similar problems sending systems into Apple as well, but they will not accept a system without a hard drive.
- mikejamesss, on 12/12/2008, -0/+5motherboard problems doesn't affect you 'physically' removing the hard drive from the laptop and backing it up on another computer or preventing you from accessing it on another computer unless the problem IS the hard drive. heck just removing the hard drive and keeping it in a static free place is good enough. next time just remove the freaking hard drive. better yet you can ask a buddy who has 'some' computer knowledge and he'll find a way to back up you hard drive. im thinking maybe...buying a hard drive dock or external hard drive case so you can plug it in any other computer and back up you data...
- aphexcoil, on 12/12/2008, -0/+5It is stupid, but there might be a sound business reason behind that decision. If they tell a customer upfront that the hard-drive will be wiped, it takes liability out of their hands in case something happens to the hard-drive during repairs. They may have been sued by customers in the past for receiving their hard-drive but having files missing or, even worse, copied unknowingly.
I never trust my data with anyone and will always take steps to backup and remove the HD prior to sending it in for repair. Data to me can be worth much more than money because one of the two can be replaced. - psykiv, on 12/12/2008, -0/+5I havn't encountered this error yet, but doesn't windows NOT allow you to delete a file if it's in use.
Does it just delete all your documents or is it more of a disk read error the next time you start your comp and your 300GB hdd has 300gb free?
Genuinely curious - Metasquares, on 12/12/2008, -0/+5It's a laptop. Laptop keyboards are more difficult to replace and tend to be manufacturer and model-specific.
-
Show 51 - 100 of 205 discussions
Check out the new & improved 
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is