(Non-story related blog) Don't buy anything from Hewlett Packard. · 1:34am Jul 25th, 2014
Evening folks.
In mid April I quit my job working at Hewlett Packard and I'm now working for a much better place. At the end of May, I was informed that if I wanted medical coverage until the end of June I would need to pay approximately $250 to extend my coverage. I called in and made these arrangements and thought it was done.
I received new paperwork in late June saying that I was no longer covered and that if I did want coverage it would cost THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS for TWO MONTHS. I politely declined that offer after voicing my displeasure at being told one thing both on the phone and in print, then being told something completely different. I was told my account would not be billed and I thought it was done.
A week later I find that over $350 was removed from my account by HP Benefits despite being -promised- no charge would go through. I called them back and explained what happened in my two previous calls and demanding that they fix this situation. The lady I spoke with was very kind and promised that no further billing would take place and that I would receive a check in the mail for the amount that was charged.
What I ended up receiving was an invoice saying that there's a $350 credit on my account, which will be applied to any future charges. This is not the check that I was promised.
I have to ask, is there anyone working at Hewlett Packard Benefits who is competent at their job and not a liar?
Too long, didn't read? Don't go with HP. I've seen inside their corporate machine and it's all hamster wheels and duct tape.
On a slight story note, next chapter is 90% done, but I'll probably end up taking most of my writing time tomorrow morning giving HP a colorful collection of four letter words describing their competency and general level of intelligence. As a phone service worker, I'm becoming the customer I dread the most, but I KEEP GETTING LIED TO. Someone will fix this problem or God as my witness I will raise hell.
Just ... wow.
And yeah, I've never much cared for the reliability of HewmPac products, but this is different, this is about looking after your own. What BS. I feel for you.
*Says is Non- Story related blog*
*Says status on next chapter at end*
LAWSUIT! :D
2313477
I didn't want to tag this to a story for one line of story update status. It'd feel like I was abusing the story tag for views. : /
2313478
If it comes to that I will but seriously I doubt it. If I threaten the law they'll likely cave since law bills will likely be more than a measily $350 to them.
Ugh, that is evil. The three-thousand thing ... that's Obamacare going into action and (as usual) wrecking everyone's health insurance, but the refusal to return your $350? That's bull. Too many companies are allowed to do that these days: Issue a charge, collect, and then when asked for a refund, give you "credit" that they know you'll never collect on. I had Comcast do the same thing the other day (or try to) but the difference was that I'd never let them do automatic billing, I'd paid by check every month, so they couldn't just take my money.
This practice should be illegal, because they literally took your money. $350 credit to them is not $350 expense. Worse, with inflation, even if they ever do refund your money, you've had a net loss and they a net gain.
The worst part, again, is that this is completely legal.
I've known to stay away from HP since 1995 :D
Also, all publicly held corporations are hamster wheels and duct tape.
Holy fuckshit... and I thought Dell was bad (they threw me under the bus and sacked me under false pretenses, claiming I walked off the job to the temp agency I was working through. Yeah) with their bullshit. I'd keep on their ass until you get what you were promised!
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It's not Obamacare, they're trying to gouge me because of the gap in my employee coverage from my HP job and my new job. Health insurance companies were trying to gouge me (and everyone else TBH) long before Obama was elected to office.
But I do not want this to turn into a political debate.
The worst part of this for me is that they keep not doing what they say they are going to do. Repeatedly. The company I work for now has this thing called 'setting expectations.' If I say something like, "You'll get a check for the refund," that customer is getting a check for the refund even if I'm completely 100% wrong because I set that expectation. THAT is good customer service.
Hell, good customer service would have been fixing the stupid problem AFTER MY SECOND CALL.
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I think he meant this.
I am not saying that HP isn't doing some shady things in this situation, but you know that first statement needs a qualifier. I am sure there are plenty of people who are competent at their job, it is whether or not they are in a position to actually have the authority to solve your problem that is at issue.
I hope that the magical trifecta of competence, authority, and the will to act come together to make this problem go away.
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Nah.
Well do what the human race is good at. Raise hell. :)
In all seriousness this i scummy business practices right here and i will do my utmost best to not use their services.
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I'm going to do that if I have to. Seriously, no problem should take four calls to resolve. What I should have done is disputed the charge with my bank when it happened.
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Three calls have been made, and all three calls have not followed through on what they've said would happen. It means they either lied about what was going to happen or they didn't know what they were talking about. Ugh.
So you too got the shaft from a big company?
Be happy to be beyond that.
Talk to your credit card company and file a "fraudulent charge" complaint. Credit card companies jump on that shit so fast cheetahs feel inadequate. Their entire business runs on being "secure credit", and if they can't prove they are secure they will face serious business losses. In fact, a lot of credit card companies will cut you a check for reimbursement, then go after the other company in the courts. You don't have to sue the mega corporation and it's team of lawyers, leave that up to the other mega corporation and it's team of lawyers.
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I'll actually do that tomorrow if I don't get a satisfactory answer from HP Benefits. I should have done that from the start.
Raise all the hell. Just do it.
As long as Man has existed, Man has made tools and machines to ease his work.
This is just what corporations seem to be to me: big machines, designed for one superior task: Making profit. In other words, corporations make the job of greedy people more easy so that the greedy people don't have to be greedy themselves. I don't think we even need greedy or bad people any longer. The corporations seem to fulfil these tasks just fine by themselves.
That or there are just a lot of heartless assholes in this world.
Though I dread both to be true.
Either way, when repercussions seem improbable enough, big corporation indulge in all sorts of scam, and I'm sorry you had to be on the receiving end of that. (At least more than usual and far more noticeable than usual; I don't really wanna know how much revenue in this world depends on the customer not knowing exactly what they're buying.
)
Remember, when something annoys you, it takes 42 muscles to frown. However it takes only 4 muscles to extend your arm AND B*TCH SLAP THAT M*THERF*CKER
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Wreck 'em, man.
Okay, I just spoke with Cheryl from the company (yes I'm dropping names now) and she has submitted an urgent ticket to move the processing along. -Apparently- if there's a credit on an account that's closed, a check will be issued eventually. I was not happy with that answer and I made Cheryl aware of that since I was given a definite time frame with my last call saying I would have my money and given that this chain of events has happened in the first place I don't have much confidence in an answer like 'eventually.' She submitted an urgent work ticket and will call me back this coming Tuesday to discuss where the ticket is going to go.
I'll keep folks updated.
2314376 When in doubt use the pimp hand.
I have no personal experience with Hewlett-Packard, or dealing with Health Insurance from employers (because Canada, nerds), but when I was eight I thought they were the hypest shit because I'd only ever seen their logo and thought Harry Potter manufactured computers and stuff. If that helps at all.
I've refused to be a HP customer due to their crap-quality software and hardware and, frankly, after seeing this, I'm glad I refuse to be involved with that lot of twits.
Hopefully things come together to improve things for you Arad.
At least my HP laptop has served me well for the last 3 years!
2314168 You know, there has always been something about capacitors that have fascinated me...
2315202 I can dispute the charge bit I'm giving them one last chance to salvage this situation. If they don't fix things to my satisfaction then I will be disputing this.
I wouldn't buy anything from HP anyway. I personally have had to strip and rebuild my desktop three times (Thanks, HP), and don't even get me started on the laptop. When there's a firmware ROM functionality glitch that makes a play button the power button, there's clearly something wrong with the manufacturer.
Now, this just makes me wish that HP would curl up and die. Not only are they shafting their buyers, they're shafting the workers, and that makes me froth.
You go shout at them as much as you like. Telling you one thing and doing another is just not on.
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Call center employee where I supported a non-HP client. It was work from home (which was awesome) but towards the end of my time there I was about to lose my mind. A large part of it was the callers I had to deal with. Another portion of it was the distinct lack of support we got from management.