Owning a Cat can Void your HP Computer Warranty

http://consumerist.com/2011/12/cat-hair-in-hp-computer-means-no-repair-for-you.html

(click for pictures, there is barely any cat hair in there)

Chris sent his HP Elitebook in for repair, only to learn that he had done something to void the warranty, and it wouldn't be repaired. What was his heinous offense against technology? He owns a cat, and there's fur inside the computer, causing HP to declare his computer a "biological hazard" and send it back un-repaired. He sent along photos that HP took of his disassembled computer and used to make the case that his computer wasn't repairable.

Click to expand...

Remind me not to buy an HP computer.  

That is terrible...

fur in almost everything, is a way of life for cat people. 

Several years ago, when I had a huge, heavy 32 inch old style TV that quit working,

a  TV repair guy came to my house,  opened the back to take a look.....

it was filled with fur and cat litter dust.

It had died for another reason but the repair man told me that  fur and dust in peoples TVs who had pets,  was not unusual. 

If HP voids a warranty because of fur in the unit, maybe other companies do too.

As people owned by pets, maybe we should double check with companies when we buy a new TV or computer about fur and their  warranties. 

Hate to rag on them but their warranty service is CRAP. My roommate bought an HP video camera, after ONE use, the pins where the battery go in fell out. She called them immediately and they insisted she put the battery in wrong and that since it was her fault, they wouldn't replace it.

She ended up calling back and pretending to be someone else and changed the story a bit so they would return it but still, they will find ANY reason to get out of honoring their warranty. I will never buy an HP product.

And btw, as an ex-certified Dell repair technician, I can elaborate on why this is just wrong:

1) This device has a sensor that monitors the speed of the system fan, and would trigger and log an alert if it dropped below a minimum threshold.

2) It also has thermal protection built in, and will automatically power down the device if it were to get unusually hot.

3) HP did not demonstrate in any way that the damage was caused by thermal failure, as they deemed it a "biohazard" to even attempt to diagnose, as if one needed a hazmat suit because of a bit of hair.

4) Pet ownership is not unusual, and the HP warranty is worded so that it is voided if the user were to open the case to perform maintenance and attempt to remove the cat hair where it is shown (simply blowing compressed air from the vents is not likely to have removed it).

Thus this is not unusual abuse (spilling coke on it, dropping it on the floor) nor were the hairs shown or explained in any way to have caused the failure.  

BTW, this is similar to Apple's warranty, which is voided as a "biohazard" as well if the repair technician even detects the slightest scent of tobacco.  I'll never understand how companies get away with this.  

Samsung is quite the opposite. Jamie spit up (grass and saliva) on my old laptop keyboard, and the repair was done free of charge. It came back with a note saying they'd never seen grass inside one of their laptops before. I'd fully expected to have to pay for the repair.

why is with computer and programs just everything cant be returnable, everything cant be fixed and everything associated with computer just call on my mind crap..

if you buy a program... most progam, when you buy.. pay  a lotfor..

then user agreement says, you DO NOT OWN the program, you got it licensed...

nice... how about i go back to the store and say, hey you can  mot spend the dollar i gave you... i just licensed you.. you can show people you have.. you can make a photo about the dollars and put in your photoalbum..

but you cant spend the dollar.. that is just licensed you..

so it is all about computer..im a very peaceful guy...but with computer sometime has the feeling i go out on rampage

i also has cat...  and two dogs...

It isn't just HP, it's also Sony.  I bought a combo DVD/VCR machine some years ago and a couple months later it wouldn't play.  I sent it back for warranty repair. When it arrived back to my door, there was a hand written note in the box stating that I need to keep my cat away from the machine because it was full of cat hair, and that is not covered under warranty.

They cleaned the machine and didn't charge me.

So I think it's all electronic equipment, not just HP.

So far as HP service goes, I love HP customery service.  I'm on my second HP printer. The first one, a 2200 series, lasted me years.  Prior to the warranty on that one running out, I accidentally broke one of the cartridge holders while changing the ink. I called HP and they said they would cover it by warranty.  They picked it up from my home and less than a week later they delivered it back to my door.

In addition to that, even after the warranty expired, I could call them anytime and get help with setting it up for fax-phone, printing problems etc.  Some companies will bill you for that kind of help.

I now have an HP Wireless that I got free with my airmiles and I absolutely love it.
 

The "biological hazard" was likely due to the fact that they have employees who are allergic to cats. However, that is no reason to void someone's warranty or refuse to fix the machine under warranty.

The only time I ever had a problem with something not working because of fur was when I had a trackball style mouse. Getting fur out of it required first removing the ball. Since then, I always got the optical mice with flat bottoms.