Earlier today I called HP to tell them what I wanted in a new PC. The first sales representative I spoke to was a man who tried to talk to me very fast into buying a particular PC. I told him I wanted a customized system and that it was very important that I have a drive that can play and burn Blu Ray disks. He assured me that I would have that. Less than five minutes later he asked me "How important is it for you to have a Blu Ray drive?" I, again, told him it was very important. He asked "If you have data on Blu Ray discs can you transfer them to something else?" I, becoming exasperated, told him I want to be able to watch and record Blu Ray discs on my PC. I use it as my entertainment system. This IS a deal breaker for me. He reassured me that it would have a Blu ray drive.
After I finish making the VERY EXPENSIVE order I check the E-mail invoice and it's for a DVD Drive. I call them back (and was left on hold for over two and a half hours). This time I get a woman who says "Oh, DVD players can play all discs, including CD." Me: "I am not talking about CD. I am talking about Blu Ray. Blue Ray uses a different type of laser." She tried to assure me that DVD players can play both. And then said we could read over its capabilities together, she would get me the page for the drive. A few seconds later she says "Oh, hold on. I need to talk to my supervisor." She puts me on hold and comes back several minutes later. "You were right, they are read by different lasers." No kidding! She then offers me an external blu ray drive for two hundred more dollars.
At this point I wanted to hurry off the phone because there were things going on around me I had to take care of. So I accepted this. Once things calmed down I called them again to make sure this was the only option. This time I got a man, he sounded Southern. When I told him the situation he asked "Do they even sell Blu Ray discs anymore?" Then he told me "When I was last in the Business department we still had PCs that could burn and play Blu Ray discs. You can try our business department on Monday. They're closed on the weekend." So I'm stuck with an order I might have to cancel until Monday.
What angers me is I think that first sales rep knew perfectly well that he was selling me something that wasn't able to play Blu Ray. He was treating me like an idiot the whole time I was making the order, I had a serious sexism vibe, like if I was a man he would not have treated me that way.
I have bought from HP for years and NEVER had this much trouble buying a PC before. They usually understood and respected my specific customization requests. And now I have sales representatives who don’t understand there’s a difference between DVD and Blu Ray or don’t even think Blu Rays are manufactured anymore?!???
I used to have such good experiences buying from HP because they USED to respect my customization requests.
