HP Small/Medium Business

Full review
HP's name deserves better. They claim in-stock when it isn't; the online status provided is untimely, cryptic, incomplete, and uses an insecure login.

Specifics: I ordered a Tripp-Lite USB-to-parallel converter, roughly a $30 item, on 8/20/05. This store, live-linked to Shopping.com, claimed "in stock" and had the best price even with shipping and tax burdens. They sent a confirmation Email and billed my credit card immediately but it was a day before their status server accepted my Customer ID. (Fortunately I wrote down the Customer ID; it has never shown up again but you need it to access status online.)

I ordered on a Saturday evening; when online status was available, it showed credit approval as expected and a UPS Ground delivery date of 8/29/05. On Wednesday I received an Email saying they were out of stock. No stock date was projected. Online status still showed an 8/29/05 delivery date and **still** does, a week later, though no tracking information is available where it should be. And Shopping.com still relays HP's claim that what I ordered is in stock! They do offer an 800 number to call Monday-Friday if I want to cancel the order, but that is beside the point (and probably not worth the wait and credit-card mess.)

The only explanation I have for this sub-par behavior for HP, a company that is known for stellar customer relations, is that this store is one of the NON-gems that Compaq contributed when they merged with HP. Indeed, there was a Texas phone number somewhere on a screen. My advice to you is to buy elsewhere unless you don't care when your order is delivered and don't mind incomplete, code and jargon-filled online status reporting that lies to you. This store provides the low service quality that I learned--once was enough!!--was the Compaq standard. HP should fix it or kill it.