So you’re having a problem with an HP product? Too bad for you, if you bought it 365 days or more ago. Too bad, if your product is broken in a way not covered by their warranty. Too bad? That’s what I was told when I first called HP customer support. Let me tell you the secrets to success.

And boy did I call them. I made 10 phone calls, and over the course of those calls, I was routed to India at first, or by transfer six times. Twice, the agent didn’t speak English. Four times, the agent refused to transfer me. When I finally got to someone real, they quoted me $150 for repairs. I kept on calling until they finally said, you must stop calling unless you call this one person. It was a case manager who offered me repairs for $75.

Here’s how I succeeded from there. I said no. I wasn’t paying $75 for their poor build quality. I joined a club called Gnomies (For other reasons too), and emailed the head, Chris Pirillo for help. From there, Chris forwarded my email to his contact at HP. His contact forwarded my email to an elevated case manager. From there, I simply communicated the problem to him. Finally I had reached the kind, caring, powerful level of HP customer support.

Within weeks my laptop had been repaired at no cost to me. I thank HP for finally fulfilling their obligations, and Chris Pirillo who made it happen. Gnomies is a great community with some cool free stuff, great video and print content, and great connections (obviously). So check it out at Gnomies.com.

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