Why is HP support so confusing

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BTR

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Topic # 231838 15-Mar-2018 12:08

My god HP make it hard, I remeber when I purchased a UPS a year ago I needed to create an enterprise account to download the software for it. At that point we were just starting down the path of purchasing HP products i.e. server and EliteDesk 800 PC's.

All of these devices were registered with HP support and I can see their warrnaty status on my "dashboard", now one of these has developed a fault and to log a case I need to create yet another acount.

HP sort your stuff out why is it so hard to get service and support!

And now to make things worse I cant get anyting but an error 400 with their site. People bag Apple but at least their support is far better than HP's!!!

Andib

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Reply # 1977105 15-Mar-2018 12:43

If it's a server / UPS that's faulty the reason for having to create an account is HP split into two companies, 'HP' the consumer side that sells desktops and such and 'HPE' which sells enterprise focused products (servers / UPS / networking etc).

I've always found HP Enterprise to be good with support and warranties, I haven't had to deal with what is now 'HP' in years so can't comment on their uspport.

Dynamic

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Reply # 1977161 15-Mar-2018 13:18

Sometimes its just easier to call. :)

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1101

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Reply # 1978443 16-Mar-2018 09:06

Yes, the HP website has been a mess for years.
take a bunch of support pages, throw them at a wall , scoop up & dump into a website
Then make sure that the search function DOESNT WORK.

Yep, searching (using HPs website search) for current products can often give zero hits using both name & actual model number

Then feed out bios updates that break brand new PC's ,because they are for a different motherboard (had that happen)
Stop access to server bios updates unless you have current HP warranty or carepack
Thats OK, I guess , but then why not make sure that driver updates, raid firmware etc wont break machines with older bioses , or at least give definite warnings

Sell servers with no HD. Well thats normal .
But then make its 100% confusing & ambiguous as to what HD's are compatible. To the extent that even your NZ distributors
dont know & sell you HP drives without the needed caddy .

Find EXACT model/product number , go into driver page
Find up to 4 different NIC divers & 4 different WIFI drivers for that exact product...because seemingly HP have no idea what hardware is
in that notebook/pc .

Its a disgrace . One of the worst websites for support .

gehenna

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Reply # 1978491 16-Mar-2018 10:45

HP support has always been easier over the phone than via their portal or email.

networkn

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Reply # 1978524 16-Mar-2018 11:20

I don't know which distributors you are dealing with, but I've had no trouble getting ours to determine what drives go in what servers. There are config tools too.

I agree the sites are terrible and broken as well.

We call. It's better and faster. If we call about a HDD, we get the Array report before calling, makes things faster. We ensure firmware is reasonably up to date, though often they insist latest be used.

1101

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Reply # 1980493 20-Mar-2018 13:57

networkn:

I don't know which distributors you are dealing with, but I've had no trouble getting ours to determine what drives go in what servers. There are config tools too.

I'd bet its the same distributor :-)
Usually not an issue , I talk to the relevant quote team .
However, on the very cheap HP servers ........ :-(

networkn

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Reply # 1980501 20-Mar-2018 14:05

1101:

networkn:

I don't know which distributors you are dealing with, but I've had no trouble getting ours to determine what drives go in what servers. There are config tools too.

I'd bet its the same distributor :-)
Usually not an issue , I talk to the relevant quote team .
However, on the very cheap HP servers ........ :-(

I wouldn't go to the I team for quotes, I am team E.

We don't sell low end servers, even to small customers. It's ML350+ or nothing. Everything under that is pretty much PC's with SCSI Cards.