As some of you may (or not) know, I own an HP Compaq Mini 700 netbook. I love my netbook for many reasons, the main one being its size. It fits nicely into my handbag and means I have access to my office when I am out and about. The battery life could be better and it has now been superseded by the HP Mini 110c but I’m not giving mine up yet. It still looks good though and as far as I am concerned, it can handle most things I throw at it. I know there are many users that don’t like netbooks but it depends on what your needs are. I bought one so that I could browse the Internet read emails and use Microsoft Office, whilst on the move. It doesn’t have the world’s fastest processor (Intel Atom N270, 1.60 GHz) and only has 1 GB ram, so therefore I do not expect it to handle HD output or run ram hungry programmes. It is slow but not too slow that I can’t cope with it.

So why am I writing about my netbook today? Well, I’m actually writing a blog post in complaint against the Customer Service rendered to me by HP UK. In June, my netbook lost one of its rubber feet. If you’re an owner of this model, you will have had a similar experience. For some reason the rubber feet are not glued very well to the underside of the machine. Having discovered that one was missing, I proceeded to call HP Customer Service. The call lasted over 30 minutes (including being on hold) and I was transferred 3 times. Each time I had to repeat my request to the person I was speaking too. I was finally given a number to call. I did, thinking it was another department of HP. I gave the serial and model numbers of my machine, and again, requested a spare foot. I was told that HP didn’t stock it as a spare. I then asked what I should do in that case as it beggared belief that HP could make high tech machines but couldn’t deal with low tech problems. I was told “to try and see if I could purchase a replacement foot in a hardware store”. By now I was apoplectic and launched into a tirade (in my nicest voice)  about the service I had received thus far and that it was a shambles that HP could not resolve such a small problem. The poor woman I was speaking to, then interrupted and told me that I was not speaking to HP, that she was an employee of a spare parts company. By now my annoyance was complete. I told her that I was going to complain about HP via Social Media and that if I ever had a resolution to my problem, I would call her back and let her know how other customers could obtain a rubber foot.

On 20 July, I made contact with @HPCheer who looks after the HP US Twitter account. @HPCheer responded within a reasonable time period and promised to look into my issue. I gave them my contact details as requested. A week later I was contacted by HP UK Customer Service. Without going into it the flurry of emails I have received, with each respondent, “personally promising to follow up for me”, I have now been waiting for a sodding rubber foot since 28 July 2009. To say I am not impressed is an understatement. It is now 14 September 2009. Do I hold out any hope of receiving a rubber foot? My answer is a resounding NO!

I have since contacted @HPCheer who has promised to chase it up for me. I will say this, @HPCheer has been great. The huge failure in this story is HP UK Customer Service. They need to take a look at their US counterparts and sort themselves out. Insincere platitudes just don’t cut it with me. All I want is a rubber foot. How hard is that? Apparently for HP UK, VERY!!

If anyone else has had problems getting spare parts for their HP Compaq Mini 700, I’d love to hear from you. So, to quote Star Wars, “the saga continues…”

**Sigh**