free floppy drive

I got a really good deal on a laptop. Unfortunately, it was assembled in China, so it promptly died. Because the laptop I'd purchased was a discontinued model, Circuit City couldn't exchange it. However, they let me apply the value toward another laptop, and I ended up with a Compaq Presario 900 series.

As I was setting it up, I noticed something missing--a floppy drive. Now, few things are more ridiculous in the year 2002 than floppy disks. At a mere 1.44MB, they're barely large enough to hold most documents anymore, let alone anything substantive. Unfortunately, though, floppy disks are still in wide use and I need the ability to use them. 

I called Circuit City and asked whether a floppy drive was available. The salesman had heard it all before. "Look at the paperwork that came with the unit," he said, "and you will find a coupon for a free USB floppy drive." True to his word, there was, in fact, a coupon for a free USB floppy drive.

After rebate.

Rebates are, to anyone who purchases a lot of computer hardware from mass-market retailers, a necessary evil in exchange for getting a good deal. They're always a hassle to properly complete, and manufacturers deny rebate claims for reasons that are often borderline spurious. Still, within the prescribed 6-8 weeks, I usually receive my rebates, which is why I keep putting up with them.

Nothing, however, could have prepared me for the obstacle course HP put into place. In order to receive my free floppy drive (after rebate, and of course shipping wasn't included), I was required to:

  1. Purchase the drive for $49.99 from a limited inventory on hpshopping.com, and pay an additional $4.99 for shipping.
  2. Complete the rebate form with the following information:
    • My name, address, city, state and ZIP code (no PO boxes, of course, so too bad if you live in a rural area without delivery to your home)
    • My phone number and e-mail address (too bad if you don't have an e-mail address)
    • The exact model number of my notebook PC (a 906US, as I discovered after a lot of searching--the box says "Presario 900 Series")
    • The serial number of my notebook PC
  3. Mail the completed rebate form along with the following additional documentation:
    • A copy of the original purchase receipt for the laptop
    • A copy of the original purchase receipt for the floppy drive
    • A copy of the UPC symbol from the laptop (good thing I got a copy of it before I mailed the rebate for the laptop itself!)
    • The original UPC symbol from the floppy drive.

Whew! Got all that?

Assuming that I didn't miss any of the steps in the above procedure (which is actually  more complicated than most of the troubleshooting procedures I write at work for our global network operations center), I'll get my rebate in 8-10 weeks. That is, as long as my claim isn't postmarked any later than February 28, 2003, and isn't lost in the mail on the way to Young America, Minnesota. Well, that, and as long as I cash the check within 90 days of issuance, notwithstanding when I actually receive it.

I'm beginning to wonder whether I really needed the floppy drive after all--which is, I imagine, exactly what HP intended. The presumably unintended consequence of this, of course, is that I've purchased exactly two things from them in my life (a laptop and a floppy drive), and I now consider them such a nuisance to do business with that I've not only been unhappy with my experience, I've told the entire world! When you consider that all of this trouble and ill will is over a floppy drive--costing maybe $10 in parts--it's clear that HP is missing the mark.

Or perhaps, in a world where nothing seems to work as it should and I've come to expect companies to alienate customers for the sake of boosting their quarterly earnings report, I'm missing the mark. Time, I presume, will tell.

 



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