HP suspends Care Pack for consumer notebooks

In an e-mail communication to its channel partners across India, HP PSG
(Personal Systems Group) has informed that Care Packs for PL (product line) MN
(Presario and Pavilion models), except those for consumer desktops, will be
suspended in India till further notice.

With this move, the Care Pack for consumer-class notebooks shall not be
available for sale to end-customers, with immediate effect. It is also
understood that HP has requested its partners to return any stocks that they may
be holding to the respective T1 partner/s at the earliest, for which Nov 16 has
been set as deadline. For the returned stocks, the T1 partner will issue the
necessary credit note in the partner's favor.

The partners are also informed that any open/unused links remaining in
market, both at T1 and T2 levels, beyond Nov 20 shall be canceled from HP's end,
and no further credit note requests shall be entertained.

Deepti Dang, Head, Marketing-Commercial and SMB, PSG said, "HP continues to
offer its standard one-year warranty on all consumer notebook PCs sold across
the country. The Care Pack services will not be available on this product range
purchased on and after Nov 15. All other services from HP India remain
unaffected and are available to our customers as usual. Customers are our top
priority and we keep customer satisfaction at the core of our business." HP
India will continue to honor Care Pack services to customers who have already
purchased them before Nov 15.

The DQ Week spoke to partners across India to understand their view on this
issue. Few partners declined to comment, while others expressed their
discontent. Some said this move would not have any impact on their business.

Expressing his disappointment over the company's decision, Ravikumar, CEO of
Madurai-based Pentagon's Compushop said, "This is bound to have an impact on the
business. We have been selling Care Packs to corporates as well as end-users.
They preferred it because it protected their investment for three years."

In line with this view, Dayanidhi, CEO, Scott Systems of Vellore said, "It's
very disappointing. Many of our clients-executives, doctors, engineers, etc
prefer Care Packs. I see it as a drawback and we are going to raise our
concerns."

Ketan Shah of Bengaluru-based Kruthi Comp said, "I personally feel that by
default the products should carry three years warranty, rather than 1+2 years.
It's not a right move from the vendor's side. If HP is going to come out with a
program wherein, by default the notebooks will carry three-years warranty, it
will be a feather in HP's cap. Being one of the leading vendors, HP should see
consumers' interests first."

Jacob Durairaj of Tirunvelveli-based Avalon Data Products takes a different
stance. "Every three years the model changes and the price drops. We have been
pushing Care Packs to customers as a value-addition through aggressive
marketing. I don't think this move is going to have any impact on the business."

Swaminathan, AGM of Pune-based Data Care Corporation also expressed his
concerns over the company's decision and noted that his company will take up the
issue with HP. Agreeing to his view, Pankaj Kumar Agarwal of Docket Care
Systems, Lucknow said, "It is very disappointing. Such sudden decisions will
definitely affect our business and we are going to raise our concerns."

Sunil Gupta, CEO of Delhi-based Alsun System said, "The customers feel
secured if they have three-years warranty for the notebooks they purchased. In
my view, this is definitely going to impact the business."

Another Delhi-based partner, who preferred to be anonymous, slammed HP's
decision. "Is HP asking the customer to get lost after one year?" he questioned.
"Before buying the product, the customer must know, for instance, how much it
would cost if motherboard or some other component fails, and not after buying
the product," he concluded.