Class Action: HP Starts Warranty Date Before Customer Buys Product

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A class action lawsuit filed against Hewlett-Packard Co. over its warranty period was transferred to a California federal court on Wednesday.

The Hewlett-Packard class action lawsuit was originally filed in a California state court in Santa Clara County on April 1 by plaintiff Maury Adkins, alleging that HP begins the warranty period for its computer hardware before customers eveb purchase the product, which violates false advertising and consumer protection laws.

Adkins, who lives in Alabama but purchased his HP laptop from a store located in Boston, explained that when customers purchase HP products from third party retailers, they are not given the one-year limited warranty that can be used by customers in the event that the hardware fails during that time period from normal wear and tear.

The HP class action lawsuit claims that when HP customers register their HP products, they are asked to provide a variety of personal information, but not the date of purchase. At that point, HP then gives the customer start dates and end dates of the warranty and adds that those dates “may not be accurate.”

If customers want the start dates revised to match the purchase date, Adkins alleges, they have to complain about it soon after they purchased the product. HP reportedly cites “pre-activation support” as the reason the reason the warranty started before they actually purchased the product.

Adkins claims he purchased an HP laptop from a Wal-Mart store in Boston on Nov. 16, 2013.

“Plaintiff read and relied upon Defendants’ representation that the laptop was sold with a one-year warranty at the time that he selected the laptop for purchase,” the HP class action lawsuit claims.

“At no time prior to plaintiff’s purchase did defendant inform him that the laptop’s Limited Warranty began prior to Plaintiff’s purchase or that the Limited Warranty would not extend one year from plaintiff’s date of purchase,” it explains.

Adkins claims that he “was deceptively led by defendants to believe that he was purchasing a laptop computer that included a Limited Warranty commencing on his date of purchase and extending one year from his purchase date.”

The Alabama man says that he was not given a start or end date when he registered his laptop, but that in September 2014, he began having problems with the machine, specifically that the mouse pad on the laptop stopped functioning.

When he called HP about the problem, he was told that he had six days before his warranty was up, when he really thought he had another couple of months.

To be able to receive warranty support, Adkins was told that he had to send in his computer before the warranty period ended. To do so, he “was forced to pay for overnight shipping to ensure the laptop reached HP in time. HP replaced the malfunctioning mouse pad and returned it.”

However, in November 2014, Adkins began having more problems with his laptop and was told that there were updates he needed to download, which he claims he did. But during the process, his computer froze up and stopped working.

When he contacted HP about the problem, he was told that he would have to pay for phone support because the warranty was up. Adkins argued that it was still under a year from when he purchased the laptop and should still be covered by the one-year Limited Warranty. However, HP still refused to change the warranty start date.

The Alabama man ended up bringing it to a Best Buy to have it evaluated by its Geek Squad computer repair service when he was told that it had a faulty drive and that he would have to pay about $300 to have it repaired.

Adkins did not ask HP to repair it because he had been told he was out of warranty. In the end, he decided to purchase a new laptop instead of fixing the part.

Plaintiff is represented by Adam J. Gutride, Seth A. Safier and Marie A. McCrary ofGutride Safier LLP.

HP is represented by Donn P. Pickett, Lucy Wang and Franco A. Corrado of Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP.

The HP Warranty Class Action Lawsuit is Maury Adkins et al. v. Hewlett-Packard Co. et al., Case No. 5:15-cv-02035, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose Division.