HP who issued free computers to the remotest areas of China with each Broadband connection contract, have been under fire from users today.

Complaining of poor quality service, crashing computers and suggestions that they actually pay for the computers after all.

HP Compaq DX2308 desktop computer free of charge after they sign with China Telecom and pay £13 ($26) per month for a total of 27 months.

Breakdown of costs

Average Broadband cost
£4 x 27 months = £108

HP Offer
£13 x 27 months = £351
plus
“Free Computer”

Cost of PC = FREE £243!

Under China Telecom and HP’s “Computer + Broadband” service, a user will get a HP Compaq DX2308 desktop computer free of charge after they sign with China Telecom and pay £13 ($26) per month for a total of 27 months.

However, the average monthly ADSL fee is only £4 ($8) in these areas, so the total ADSL fee for the 27 months is £351 ($702), which means that the HP computer the user receives costs them more than £243 ($486)!

Chinese chat-rooms are ablaze with complaining farmers who have applied for the service and say the HP computers often crash and it is difficult to access the Internet.

Taking advantage

Cui Wu, a lawyer from Jiangsu Shengdian Law Firm, has told local media that HP took advantage of the Chinese farmer’s ignorance of computer knowledge and sold them low configuration computers with 3.2G Intel Celeron D processors, 512Mb memory, 80Gb hard disks and 17-inch CRT monitors at high prices.

Cui said that consumers should sue HP and ask it to cancel its agreement with them.

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