Compaq Ipaq takes three months to not work

THE NORMAL FIVE DAY return policy on faulty Compaq Ipaq handhelds with extended warranties turned into a staggering Capellan 90 days after an end user was left not only without redress but with an additional £100 bill.

Peter Cliffe said he bought an Ipaq last December and took out an extended warranty on the piece, realising that handhelds are fragile.

In fact, the screen broke very early on in December, he said, but he patiently waited, thinking that the Yule rush was probably a factor in the apparently straightforward replacement screen.

Although Russia celebrates Yule later than Western Europe because of different calendars, Cliffe said his patience began to wear thin and in the middle of January he called Compaq to see what the problem was.

Wirral-based Cliffe said: "I found that my unit had been sent to an incorrect address in London, 200 miles south, so I was content when a replacement unit was sent out to me at the end of January."

But this is where the Capellan Effect began to irritate him big time.

Cliffe claimed: "Unfortunately, the replacement unit had a duff battery, and would not hold a charge. I telephoned Compaq immediately, and was told that a courier would again collect the unit. However, I work in Germany during the week, and was told that the defective unit could only be collected from a UK address. I therefore had to wait nearly two weeks before I next returned to the UK."

A courier firm collected the second faulty unit on the eighth of February - close to the Chinese New Year - and he said he was told it would be returned in five days".

It didn't.

"When it again failed to arrive I was informed that there was a problem, as the serial number on the unit was different from the serial number on the unit I had returned. Doh! No-one had bothered to contact me to enquire as to why this might be, and it was left to me to chase Compaq, as has been the case for the last three months. Anyway, I explained that the unit was a replacement unit, and the Compaq agent logged this info, and said my unit would be returned at the start of the following week."

By now Cliffe was definitely in Capellan time, because a replacement was promised the week beginning March 13th - CeBIT week.

Said Cliffe: "It is now three months since I was promised a five day return. As my iPaq once more failed to turn up, I have just called Compaq to see what is wrong now, only to be told that charges have been applied, for the pick-up by the courier, for the labour costs, and for a new battery, and for return by courier, charges in total over well over £100."

Mr Cliffe is not a happy bunny.

He claimed: "Again, no-one bothered to communicate this to me, until I telephoned Compaq. I am now really p*ssed off, and asked why I am now expected to pay for a repair under warranty (extended)? I guess that because Compaq have been faffing around for three months, the original warranty has expired, but, as I say, I purchased an extended warranty when I bought the iPaq."

He said that he had asked to speak to a chap called Aidan Corey -- apparently in charge of the Capellan case - but he was unavailable. He asked then to speak to a manager, but no managers appeared to be around either.

Said Cliffe: "I have again been fobbed off with a promise that I will receive a callback today from David Garland, who is apparently a manager. All through this case, over three months, I have had to contact Compaq, they have not returned emails, apart from one occasion, and the five or six times I have been promised a return call, I have never, on one single occasion, received the return call. I will see if this latest promise transpires."

He thinks that a five day return service "transmuting" into a three month and running service of valuable customers is appalling.

Compaq could not be contacted at press time. µ