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Peace nearly breaks out between iPaq Petition and HP over faults

The sound of frantic diplomacy has been just about audible after users of Compaq iPaq hand-held computers put together a petition complaining how bad they were. Apparently, they've agreed to go through "channels" in future ...

The original petition caused a furore on a major scale when we reported that resellers were unhappy with iPaq reliability. Then, ominously, the petition itself vanished from the Web. Word was that the new HP wasn't happy about seeing its inherited iPaq brand bad-mouthed in public.

Now, the organisers of the petition have returned to the fray with what looks like a diplomatic compromise. They say: "Hewlett-Packard recently contacted the ipaqpetition.com team in an effort to better understand the concerns cited in the iPAQ petition regarding iPAQ PocketPCs."

And, they say, HP has responded. "Hewlett-Packard assembled a cross-functional team representing various departments of their organization including marketing, quality control, customer service, technical support, and product engineering. During a 2-hour conference call, the team from HP and the ipaqpetition.com team discussed the various issues cited in the iPAQ petition. HP will continue to research these issues and then schedule another conference call with us to discuss their findings."

In the meantime, here's the diplomatic bulletin: "Both HP and the ipaqpetition.com team want to stress that any iPAQ user who has experienced a problem with their device should take the following steps ... " and it lists them:

1. Visit the HP/Compaq iPAQ support page to download and install all available updates. This includes SoftPAQs, End User Updates, and drivers. The support page is located here.

2. Research the problem through the HP/Compaq Reference Library. This library provides information regarding many of the issues users may experience and provides work-arounds for many of them. The reference library is located here.

3. If the iPAQ is still under warranty and the user is still experiencing problems, contact HP/Compaq technical support. They will attempt to address the issue and/or repair the iPAQ. The phone number for technical support is in the contacts listing on the iPAQ or visit www.hp.com for more support information.

That last will make eyebrows rise in certain quarters. All too often, iPaq users report, all such attempts to get Compaq to respond were futile. Drivers wouldn't load, problems were not acknowledged, faults were not repaired, and attempts to make contact were ignored.

"Overall, the ipaqpetition.com team is very happy that HP is working with us to clarify the issues cited in the petition and we look forward to our next conference call with them," say the organisers of the petition. "The very fact that they are attempting to address these issues with us speaks highly of their desire to produce a better product in the future."

It also speaks very eloquently of the contrast between the response of the new HP, and the indifference, or perceived indifference, of the old Compaq.

"After the next conference call, we will update our website with the information we receive from HP," the announcement ends.