In a blog post ironically called “Customers for life,” Hewlett-Packard this week announced upcoming changes to the way it provides firmware updates. Starting February 19, the company will provide firmware updates only to customers who have a valid warranty, Care Pack Service or support agreement. In other words, as soon as your support coverage runs out, you could find yourself without access to further updates. According to Mary McCoy, Vice President, HP Servers – Support Technology Services:
This decision reinforces our goal to provide access to the latest HP firmware, which is valuable intellectual property, for our customers who have chosen to maximize and protect their IT investments. We know this is a change from how we’ve done business in the past; however, this aligns with industry best practices and is the right decision for our customers and partners.
Our customers under warranty or support coverage will not need to pay for firmware access, and we are in no way trying to force customers into purchasing extended coverage. That is, and always will be, a customer’s choice.
It’s not immediately clear if this will apply to all products or will be limited to its line of servers. The move is likely limited to the enterprise space given that it was posted under the ‘Enterprise Business Blogs’ category. We could not find a similar post on the consumer side of HP’s website.
With consumer warranties rarely extending beyond a year without some additional expense to extend it, HP and other manufacturers looking to implement such rules may find themselves in very hot waters with those very customers they are hoping to keep for life.
Could knowing that firmware updates will only be provided to you for free while you’re under some kind of support coverage agreement play a role in your future device purchases? Let us know below.
Sources : HP Technical Support Services Blog // Canadian Reviewer