China probes HP handling of consumer complaints
Consumer complaints about how Hewlett-Packard Co. is treating flaws in some of its personal computers are reportedly being looked into by China's product-quality agency.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the investigation by China's General Administration of Quality Supervision appears to be a response to a complaint by a group of Chinese consumers who claim HP discriminated against them. They say HP is not offering them the same warranty extension given to customers in the U.S. in its handling of a problem with faulty Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) graphics components in some of its laptop PCs.
The Chinese consumers have requested compensation, a public apology by HP and a recall of the affected computers.
HP has denied the consumers' claims, blaming them on confusion over the terms of an enhanced service program offered to customers world-wide whose warranties only lasted one year. HP (NYSE:HPQ) said it doesn't plan a recall of the affected PCs in China.
The Journal reported that only about 170 people in China complained about the flaws, a very small percentage of the total number of computers it has sold in the county.