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HARDWARE SUPPORT is fundamentally a simple proposition. If it's broken, the vendor should either fix it or replace it. But it doesn't always work out that easily, and right now readers say that's the case, particularly when it comes to Compaq.
In the last two months, the Gripe Line has seen a large spike in the volume of complaints concerning Compaq technical support. As is usually the case with any big company with a wide variety of product lines and service plans, it's hard to pinpoint from the readers' specific experiences just where the problem lies. The one pattern that does seem to emerge from the tales of unresolved but closed cases, equipment replacements that never materialized, circular escalation procedures, etc., is that customers must spend considerable time and effort to get the support they deserve.
Many of the gripers complained that Compaq's support methods seem designed to force customers to jump through hoops in the hopes that they'll get tired and leave Compaq alone. Bureaucratic procedures must be followed to the letter, no matter how irrelevant, and woe be it to any customer whose paperwork is out of order. One reader, for example, grew frustrated with the process he kept having to go through after his...