New HP Laptop: how does Customer Care work?

Annemos

Good morning everyone. 

I have just purchased a new HP Pavilion from John Lewis and it has the 2 year Guarantee for malfunctions etc. 

8 years ago,  HP swapped out a small laptop for me that was not working properly and I upgraded to a more suitable one. I also purchased what I referred to then as a "3-year Insurance Package" with HP direct. 

This was really superb. For example, if I had a problem with the Antivirus not downloading properly. Or if I could not find how to achieve something on the laptop, the HP On-line Customer Support stepped in with excellent and immediate help. 


To obtain this level of support now, would I actually have to purchase an HP Care Package again? And would that then overlap with the John Lewis Product Guarantee?   


Many thanks for any thoughts on this. 

debitcardmayhem

I wouldn’t buy one, and JL will probably not help with software issues, but of course there is everyone’s favourite help centre ….here.

Annemos

debitcardmayhem said:

I wouldn’t buy one, and JL will probably not help with software issues, but of course there is everyone’s favourite help centre ….here.

Oh thank you, 

Yes, that is a very good point. I was also less savvy with the laptop 8 years ago. I am still a novice, but I do know a lot more, now. 

We do have more access to help these days on-line, compared to 8 years ago, 

Many thanks.  

PRAISETHESUN

I also agree it's probably a waste of money. You say yourself you're a computer novice, so I personally think it's unlikely that you're likely to be trying to do anything on your laptop that can't be solved by asking here, doing a little Google searching, or asking chatGPT for assistance. Any actual hardware faults should be covered by the JL guarantee.

Vitor

Without reading the small print, I'd expect the JL guarantee to be against manufacturing faults and/or hardware failure.

Sounds like the OP is looking for HP's Remote Technical Assistance / SmartFriend service, giving a helpline for software and configuration issues.

Annemos

Vitor said:

Without reading the small print, I'd expect the JL guarantee to be against manufacturing faults and/or hardware failure.

Sounds like the OP is looking for HP's Remote Technical Assistance / SmartFriend service, giving a helpline for software and configuration issues.

Yes Vitor. That sounds like it. The Remote Technical Assistance. 

How do we get that?

Is it already automatically provided with the HP Manufacturer Guarantee for the first year? Perhaps they then offer it for purchase after that to keep it ongoing?  

Annemos

https://www.hp.com/gb-en/services/consumer/smartfriend-overview.html#section=plans

It is quite pricy.  Might be worth it for one year, I suppose. 

debitcardmayhem

Annemos said:

https://www.hp.com/gb-en/services/consumer/smartfriend-overview.html#section=plans

It is quite pricy.  Might be worth it for one year, I suppose. 

All i can say is HOW MUCH, I should come out of retirement 😎

Annemos

Yes and there are also very mixed reviews on-line about whether they can actually help. 

And one chap has been unable to cancel the monthly subscrition method, as he could never get through. 

I shall find other ways, if I get stuck. 

Grey_Critic

Annemos said:

Yes and there are also very mixed reviews on-line about whether they can actually help. 

And one chap has been unable to cancel the monthly subscrition method, as he could never get through. 

I shall find other ways, if I get stuck. 

No such thing as unable to cancel. If you pay by Direct Debit just stop it. Interesting that when you do that ypu can actually get someone to take notice.

outtatune

Annemos said:

https://www.hp.com/gb-en/services/consumer/smartfriend-overview.html#section=plans

It is quite pricy.  Might be worth it for one year, I suppose. 

I'd say that's unbelievably cheap for a year's worth of unlimited tech support.