Fed Flex I like to call them.
I bought a new computer from HP (first mistake) in May of 2000. Two months later, the darn CD writer went down. The HP repair guy said that in order to get it fixed, they had to have the entire tower. Against my better judgement, I mailed them my tower (second mistake). The computer made it to Dallas and then just vanished off the face of the Earth.
Then FedEx said that it was HP's responsibility to replace it, and HP said it was FedEx's problem. Two months pass with no computer. I'm getting pissed. After several expensive calls to somewhere in Canada (with no toll-free number, of course) I threaten a lawsuit if I don't hear from someone with authority to fix this problem within 24 hours.
The HP guy called two hours later. They said they would send me a computer to replace, top of the line, blah, blah, blah.
Four months pass...
I get a call at work from a lady in a warehouse somewhere in Wyoming. She says she may have my property. MY COMPUTER!!! She then explained that her company is contracted by FedEx to handle "lost" packages, kind of like the Island of Misfit Toys. She said my computer was lost because the shipping label fell off. So how did she know it was mine? Opened the box and grapped the paperwork off the top.
To make a long story short, I hate FedEx and I ended up keeping both computers. Screw FedEx and HP...
Oh and I never did get my damn DC writer fixed. My computer just went on a little 6-month vacation...