HP and the Great Wall of Refund Issues

Finally I have managed to get a refund on the extended warranty from HP for the computer I returned because the motherboard never worked even after they failed to “mend” it.  I spoke to a man who asked my serial number, my invoice number, my article number, my address, my date of purchase and my purchase channel and after collating all this information told me that I needed to email another department.

“Can’t you email them?” I asked.

“No, I’m the technical department.  I only deal with technical issues,” he said.

“But you work for the same organisation?” I replied.  “Can’t you just email between departments?  After all you have their email because you’re going to give it to me?  You do have email.”

“I can only deal with technical matters,” he said.

“But,” I responded, “then why did you ask me for all this other information - my serial number, my invoice number, my article number, my address, my date of purchase and my purchase channel if that’s somebody else’s job to deal with?  You can see the databases that hold that information therefore you are interacting with it.  You’re not just dealing with only technical matters.”

“I asked for the information to check that the refund details are correct?”

“So why do I need to talk to someone else?  Why can’t you refund me?”

“I can only deal with technical matters,” he said.

“But you’re not just dealing with technical matters,” I said, “because you’ve just asked for financial information.”

“Refunds are the job of another department,” he said.  “You need to email them through the address I will give you and they will respond within one to two working days.”

“Do you have a telephone number for this other department?”

“No.”

“Do you know where they are physically?”

“No.”

“You don’t even know where they are physically?”

“No.”

“So … are you behind a Chinese Wall or something? – you literally can’t communicate between departments?”

“What we do in this situation is I give customers an email and they email the refunds department and they respond within 1 to 2 working days and give the customer what they want?”

“How do you know – you have no contact with them whatsoever?”

“I can only deal with technical matters.  I can give you the email.”

“What if I write it down wrong?”

“I will spell it for you.”

“But I’m dyslexic.  Even if you spell it phonetically I might get it wrong.  Can’t you email it to me?”

“Yes, I can email it to you.”

“You can email me but you can’t email someone else within your own company?”

“I will send you an email now.”

We compromised and he sent me an email of who to email.