CONSUMER REPORT

Two months ago we purchased an HP 2613 computer. It will practically do everything except make coffee. I don't have any problems with regards to its printing. I can say that it rivals the prints that comes from the shop. Scanning is also very easy to do. You can even scan a text document and edit it. No need to retype it because of its I.R.I.S. technology.

But last week the LCD stopped working. No remedy from the HP Certified Online Technician can help me. All they can tell me in the end is that "its a hardware issue", which I don't really understand. I guess the best advice that they gave me is to send it to the Authorized Service Center. In this case its the Zayani shop along Sitra. The service personel were very assuring that it will be fixed. It only needs about a week because the new spare will be coming from Dubai. Who cares for 2 weeks if they will bring my LCD to life, right? And afterall, I am entitled to a "free service". It says so on the warranty. No need to worry about payments.

But after a week they called me to say that they didn't fix my printer, but instead they are giving me a new one. It was far better than what I expected. Imagine a new printer? But I knew that its too good to be true. When me and my wife got to the HP center they gave us a printer wrapped in plastic. No more new printer smell...it isn't new!!! We asked why it isn't new, but all they could tell us is that with this kind of model they dont repair it anymore. Models like this gets shipped to Dubai and replaced by an old refurbished unit. We tried to reason with them that this isn't fair. AFterall, our unit is only two months old. The one that they were giving us is probably older. It has scratches all over and a nick to one end of the scanner cover.

Even when we called the Manager Mr. Mohammed Shafi, he told us the same thing. But regardless of his reply, I thanked him for his help, and that I hope Mr. Zayani reads the Gulf Daily Newspaper. He said "Thank you". We chuckled afterwards and took the refurbished printer. Lets just see what happens after I wrote the editor of GDN.