A received a call from Jeff last night at HP. I received my check last week and cashed it, so I was a bit surprised. We talked for over 40 minutes and I have decided to remove the tattoo utility. While I know there were legal reasons and they could have threatened me, but he was very pleasant about the whole situation. We talked in depth about the issues I was concerned with and assured me they are looking at and correcting their procedures.

I particularly asked him what other people who are in the same boat, but no longer in warranty, should do. If you think your computer has been tattooed improperly, and/or your recovery disks are not installing the proper software, I encourage you to check your BIOS to see if the model (or product number) is correct. If it is incorrect, go to HP's FAQ for your model, maybe even try HP's product detection to see if it is detecting properly. As a last resort, you can go to the Customer Service option, Email HP and email a letter to Mark Hurd with the issue.

In the end, if you keep pushing, as long as you are in the right, I think HP will take care of you. You just need to talk to the right people. I will keep you up to date from here.

I have always leaned toward HP products. When they no longer gave actual OS disks, I was disappointed, but they were among the last to do that. Despite that, you can still load a blank OS and get the drivers and programs from their website. How many other companies offer that option? I have always seen SONY as overpriced and Apple wanna be. Apple, well overpriced mainly. Toshiba always comes with too much software (not that HP's don't have a lot, but Toshiba seems to have the most.) Gateway's aren't too bad from what I've seen, but I haven't been impressed by them like I have with HP and their site doesn't have the driver support like HP. Dell is probably the closest, but I like to be able to get a feel for my laptop. I like to sit at the counter and feel the laptop. So, for know, I think HP still has an edge, and making things right through our conversation last night definitely helped.