HP Failed Our Q1 Secret Shopper Experiment

11

HP EliteDesk 805 G8 Mini Order #1

To keep everthing aligned, since these timelines are a bit intertwined, this is the top swimlane labled as 1 here:

STH HP.com Secret Shopper Timeline
STH HP.com Secret Shopper Timeline

The order was placed on 2022-01-02 and one can see the order e-mail, that matched the HP.com website, as having an estimated shipment of 2022-01-20 or 18 days later. We will note that HP took our funds at the time of order.

STH HP.com Secret Shopper Order 1 Order 2022 01 02 Est 2022 01 20
STH HP.com Secret Shopper Order 1 Order 2022 01 02 Est 2022 01 20

In the meantime, we ended up ordering the second unit partly because we wanted the GPU version. Also, we had no idea how long these would take to actually arrive. On the estimated ship date of 2022-01-20, HP informed us that it would be delayed until 2022-03-17. That went from around two and a half weeks to ship to two and a half months.

STH HP.com Secret Shopper Order 1 2022 01 20 Delay To 2022 03 17
STH HP.com Secret Shopper Order 1 2022 01 20 Delay To 2022 03 17

A few days later on 2022-02-01, HP reached out to us saying that there was something in the configuration that could not be fulfilled. There were a few strange bits. First, this was for a ProDesk 405 G8 Mini, a lower-end unit than our EliteDesk 805 G8 Mini. We were told that it was the I/O Expansion Module which I said was OK to not include if it was the 2.5GbE Flex IO v2 module. I was excited about that module, but it could be added later. We will see more of this in the #2 timeline, but I accepted the deletion from the configuration for $40 hoping that would mean this unit would be produced quickly. I thought this was the reason for the long delay.

STH HP.com Secret Shopper Order 1 2022 02 01 Issue With Order
STH HP.com Secret Shopper Order 1 2022 02 01 Issue With Order

By the beginning of March, the unit from Order #2 arrived, and this one was still 2+ weeks out from the estimated date, so I requested that the order get canceled. Remember this was two months after the order date and the last estimated date given was still 15 days out. The original estimated timeline was 18 days from order to ship so I thought this was plenty of time.

STH HP.com Secret Shopper Order 1 2022 03 02 Request To Cancel
STH HP.com Secret Shopper Order 1 2022 03 02 Request To Cancel

Two days later, HP said it could not be cancelled because it was too far in the process. Again, remember the original order to ship date was supposed to be 18 days.

STH HP.com Secret Shopper Order 1 2022 03 04 Not Cancelled
STH HP.com Secret Shopper Order 1 2022 03 04 Not Cancelled

Twenty-five (25) days after it denied my request to cancel, and 27 days after the request was made, the updated ship date was 2022-04-04.

STH HP.com Secret Shopper Order 1 2022 03 29 Delay To 2022 04 04
STH HP.com Secret Shopper Order 1 2022 03 29 Delay To 2022 04 04

The next day, the unit shipped on 2022-03-30.

STH HP.com Secret Shopper Order 1 2022 03 30 Shipped
STH HP.com Secret Shopper Order 1 2022 03 30 Shipped

About a week into the next quarter, the credit arrived for the Flex IO v2 2.5GbE NIC.

STH HP.com Secret Shopper Order 1 2022 04 07 Credit
STH HP.com Secret Shopper Order 1 2022 04 07 Credit

In the video, you can see the unit with the 2.5GbE NIC. Even though I conditioned accepting this $40 for the configuration change of deleting the NIC, apparently something else in the configuration was removed.

Next, let us get to that second order.

11 COMMENTS

  1. Did you actually take the time to dig up all those emails from the orders just for this? I can’t believe you’d waste the time instead of just saying what happened

  2. Patrick has an axe to grind!

    Yeah, I’ve experienced the same with HPE online ordering as well. Unrealistic ship dates which never come. Even our supplier has had to deal with their nonsense.

    Oddly, Lenovo jas mamahed to deliver when they estimate, most of the time even a few days early. That leaves the false and valuable impression of better customer service. Go figure!

  3. I recently ordered a device From HP, when I tried to return it I was told I got a great deal and should give it away or resell it.

  4. I’m in a similar situation. Ordered a laptop from hp.com in April and they just pushed out the expected delivery date AGAIN to July. Very frustrating.

  5. Interesting article and good of you to write this up Patrick. Does make me wonder though, have you contacted them as servethehome writer/editor with a request for comment? I’m curious to see if they’d continue misleading customers or promise to do better in the future.

  6. Similar experience in terms of timeline.

    Though here’s the interesting tidbit I can provide: Before placing either of my orders, I actually called sales, knowing that the ship dates were impossible.

    Sales agrees. They’re very upfront about it. They set expectations with me of more realistic ship dates they actually were correct on (though yes, they were quite far out). Additionally I actually was able to successfully request if there were available discounts available, and they found meaningful ones for me (7% and 11%).

    So props to the salespeople based in the US, but I 110% agree with the article. The HP.com and email experience is terrible at best and sets nothing but false expectations.

    Shame, because I agree that they make the best x86 1L form factors in the business, hands down.

  7. Always remember that HP doesn’t make any of this stuff. Its all contracted assembly. Also know that corporate orders with supply agreements will *always* get priority over general SKU production or SKU’s from web sales. General SKU production is what gets shipped to distributors. These are made in batches in many of these assemblers.

    All of these contract assemblers don’t warehouse anything, its all JIT through the various suppliers and if just one misses their JIT deadline, the build orders will change in priority and timing.

    If a supplier (say Intel CPU’s) is late with the i7 CPU’s the line will continue to produce the i5 or i3 SKU’s.
    If a supplier is on time, but is short on quantity of I7’s, all of the corporate orders will go first, general SKU’s will go second, web sales will go if any I7’s are left. If what you ordered is exactly the same as a general SKU, then you are in luck.

    If an optional part is late or short in quantity (like a 2.5GbE module), again corp sales will be satisfied, general SKU’s then web sales.

    If the part for your specific order is not available when your production batch is ready to go, you will get pushed out to when that part is expected to arrive. If the part is not critical to it being used (like a Flex I/O module) you will be offered a credit, but you might get tossed into the next batch if you take too long to decide. But when the next batch is scheduled to go to assembly it might be a different part missed its arrival deadline, and you may get pushed out again.

    Because of cost cutting (warehouse nothing), outsourcing of assembly, expectation that JIT parts will always arrive in time, has forced the production decision trees to its limits. That doesn’t even include parts that might fail QA, final assembly defects, inadequate staffing on the exit or entry docks and so on.

  8. I have an HP VR headset, and if you spend any time in https://www.reddit.com/r/HPReverb/ you’ll see a continuous stream of customer service nightmares from them. They might just take your money and never ship, or keep your exchange, or ship you some random product. It’s literally safer to buy from the back of some van.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.