I bought a HP laptop about 3.5 years ago. It works fine. However, “HP product status” just popped up with a warning:
“We hope you are enjoying your HP Product. As a courtesy notice, availability for repair or replacement parts and service may no longer be available after 19/3/2023”
This notice is followed by an offer to buy a new laptop with up to $250 trade in.
I seem to recall that under the Australian Consumer Law, certain consumer guarantees apply automatically, including that manufacturers will make repair facilities and spare parts available for a reasonable amount of time.
If a reasonable consumer would not have bought it if they had known beforehand that spare parts or repairs would not be available, then it is a major problem.
I could ask for a refund or replacement, or be compensated for the drop in value.
I wonder if it hinges on how long is “reasonable”. Unfortunately it is incredibly difficult to contact HP - I need to install “Whatsapp” on my phone to be able to do so.
This sort of message is a bit of marketing to get you to buy a new product with an incentive of a “saving” of $250 on the new purchase…noting from what you have posted that the indicated wishy washy “may” rather a hard “will not” is used to advise of spares and repairs availability.
In regards to reasonableness; the laptop is at least 3 years old, the manufacturer may be able to argue that keeping spare parts for 3 years for such a product is adequate time, considering that even the ATO deem such items can be fully depreciated at 3 years (or even 12 months in certain cases). What the warning may also reflect is that a warranty period that the manufacturer provided is about to expire or has recently expired.
Having stated all that, I would expect that a high end product would be able to be supported for a longer period than a budget one. The IT product industry evolves so quickly that what was once top of the town in a very few years is obsolete, holding spares for products (particularly budget ones…not saying that yours is a budget variety) that exceeds a small amount of years can be impracticable for a manufacturer, both cost wise and storage.
You could check what your warranty period was and when it ceased by visiting the following link
ACL over-rides warranty statements. Warranty rights are in addition to your ACL rights but if a fault does arise needing repair, that case may need to be more formal such as arguing using your ACL rights in a Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
That is for business use, and does not necessarily reflect the owner’s actual use pattern. I have worked for several places where default accounting for IT hardware involves a four or five year life. Even at the end of this period, many devices continue to be used for several years before replacement.
Even in home gaming (the bleeding edge of IT hardware), I have thrown away my old policy of replacing each part every three to four years; desktop computing is no longer improving (changing?) rapidly enough to warrant that upgrade cycle. Laptops are changing a little, but most of those changes are cosmetic rather than relating to device performance.
I do not disagree with what you point out a user may experience or expect. Clearly the message received was not a hard limitation, it was more a marketing spiel to encourage a purchaser to have some concern about when to upgrade…it might even be possibly considered somewhat coercive or misleading (I cannot state whether it is or isn’t, this would have to be tested in a Court for any definitive answer), perhaps one for the ACCC to weigh in on.
What a user may get from a laptop or a desktop in regards to longevity, is variable and can extend well beyond 3 years. This individual longevity does not set a timeframe that a manufacturer may deem is reasonable to maintain spares or the ability to undertake repairs. If a cheaper budget device was purchased this also may well impact the expectations of a manufacturer in regards to maintaining parts, a higher level product may be given more consideration of how long parts are maintained.
3 years for a depreciation schedule for a business purchase could strongly frame the manufacturer’s expectations of what is a reasonable period, a purchaser is able to disagree and test that. If a failure does occur after some period of time greater than a manufacturer’s warranty period, then a purchaser can test their claim for repairs, refund, or replacement using the ACL. ACL can be used prior to the warranty expiry, often though it is unnecessary to invoke those rights in that period, in some circumstances it is necessary though.
Another point to make is even if the HP ‘may’ became ‘will’, spares would usually be available through other sources for some time. This can be sellers who keep stock of HP parts, original OEM for components such as drives etc or through, worst case scenario, harvesting secondhand parts from used laptops no longer required.
The ACCC, if a complaint was made, would look at all opportunities to obtain spare parts, such as those outlined above.
We are also talking about hypotheticals as it appears the laptop in question is in working order (fault free). We also don’t know if there is to be a fault in future and what parts and their availability would be needed to repair.
As indicated by others, the pop-up is purely persuasive marketing trying to sell more laptops to existing HP customers.
I would be concerned about the fact that something that is 6 months in the past has only just popped up. It seems like their ability to communicate something that might be more significant than the present communication may be deficient.
Consumer law applies differently (or not at all) if a purchase is by a business - so you should clarify whether this is business or personal.
Regardless, my opinion is that unless there was something unique or amazing about this laptop then 3 years is “reasonable”. So, as the laptop is still working anyway, all good.
This is my personal laptop, and why I quoted the ACL since the “consumer” part applies.
I should also note that in the further information from HP from clicking the link (which I can’t quote directly as it is gone into the ether) they specify that parts are “no longer available” - they have dispensed with the weaselly “may not be”.
My laptop is still working fine, other than an occasional BSOD when it heats up a bit, and a strange bug that makes keypresses intermittently not work for a day or so every 3 or 4 of months (HP support were unable to solve either problem).
Yes, but some of the protections of the ACL do apply to a business. Businesses are consumers too. However in some case the protections do not apply to a business. Hence why you need to state that it is a personal laptop (as you have done) or, if a business laptop, you need to provide a lot more information (not applicable here).
Hmmm. I can’t help but think that the rest of your sentence kind of undermines the quoted part of the sentence.
I know you weren’t asking for technical advice but as far as BSOD goes, not all BSODs are created equal. You would need to understand whether it is an intentional BSOD due to high temperature (i.e. forced shutdown to protect the hardware) or one that is connected to the temperature indirectly or one that is basically unrelated (just a bug).
You may consider running software to monitor the temperature and/or maybe Microsoft Windows (assumed, from the reference to BSOD) offers the option of more aggressive thermal throttling (i.e. slow the CPU down more as the temperature rises).
From the sounds of it though both problems are quite intermittent - the bane of IT Support’s life.
Although HP support were unable to solve either problem, if you have not done so
Make sure your fan and pathway for the cooling has not collected dust or become clogged with flotsam and jetsam. A can of compressed air is handy.
periodically check the HP website for updated BIOS firmware. Sometimes it gets released if a product in consumer hands is found to have a consistent problem, such as getting too hot. If there is newer firmware it might throttle the CPU to keep it cooler, or run the fan earlier or faster.
Consider how you hold the computer. If you rest it on your lap the bottom may get warmer than it should because of clothing, as will some of the electronics. It would also be influenced by the ambient temperature re your lap’s and thus the PC’s temperature profile. I experienced a similar problem on an ASUS – that went away when I started to use a reading board as a laptop desktop rather than propping it on my lap.
You or HP might have explored both but trying either is $0 and little trouble.
When it comes to ‘spare parts’ for things like today’s slim laptops, that may be a somewhat unrealistic concept. The whole thing is a single part.
Maybe a screen could be replaced. Or maybe a keyboard unit or a connector or external power pack. But mostly it is just a single board with nothing replacable.
I would not call having keyboard or BSOD issues intermittently in a laptop as that laptop is working fine. Perhaps taking your laptop to a competent repair place and having them look at the issues may provide answers that HP could or would not supply. As HP were unable to provide answers then the subsequent non HP repair would more than likely be reimbursable under ACL rules by HP.
From the ACL rules by the ACCC
When the business can’t or won’t fix a minor problem
If the business can’t or won’t repair or fix the problem within a reasonable amount of time, or at all, a consumer is entitled to:
get it done somewhere else, with the business paying the consumer back for the reasonable cost of the fix or repair
get a refund or replacement instead
keep the product or cancel the service contract, and be compensated for the drop in value caused by the problem.
What is a ’reasonable’ amount of time for a business to fix a problem will depend on the nature of the product or service. For example, it may take longer for a repairer to attend a house to fix an installed dishwasher than for a pair of pants to be repaired in-store.
Looking at the BSOD code and/or by looking at the logs it should be possible to determine what component fails and causes the BSOD. As pointed out in previous posts overheating could be a way of use issue, a driver, an unrelated coincidence, a need to clean the heatsink and venting, or even a manufacturing fault. If there is insufficient thermal paste between any component and a heatsink this may cause overheating in certain circumstances where the component may not be able to effectively transfer the thermal load away under the operating load it is placed under…such as intensive gaming not usually undertaken in day to day activities. Reasons can be varied and if HP could not determine the cause then under ACL you still have protections that help you to receive fair compensation if the problem cannot be rectified.
