About 8 months after I bought my HP Pavilion Notebook ZE4545US the
power jack failed. Although the machine is under warranty, the
Executive Office of Consumer Relations (800-756-0608 ext7) tells me
this is automatically customer damage. My question is how do I get
them to replace the broken power pin for free. I have seen the sites
describing the home soldering. I will try that after I give up on the
corporate attitude front. I understand that the question is soft so I
would also take How can I make HP stock go down. Other than post on
Craigslist, post on Arstechnica, post on Google groups, get multiple
Blogs. Thanks.

You may be angry but posting here and there will not make their stock
go down. And in somestates that would be consider slander which is
illegal. If there warranty does not cover that then you are pretty
much left to your own. Now for what you can try. Contact them and be
nice "nice is always the key" and talk to them about your problem even
though it may not be covered on your waranty they might still be
willing to help you in some way. The second you start getting angry at
them is the second you will lose all hope of them helping you resolve
this issue. Any time you have a issue with a company they will do what
they can to help you but in fairness no one gets payed enough to get
yelled at so when that happens they will automatically right you off.

I can be livid without yelling at people and I know that yelling
doesnt work. Explaining to them that you will do everything to
encourage others to avoid HP products I think rings a bell in the
corporate mindset. I have spent a great deal of time looking at
peoples posts about products and have found the research effective,
and I am sure that this will help others. "Willing to help in some
way" is exactly the blurry jargon they were giving me. What is a
warranty if not for this regular use. The weak power pin is a known
design flaw, and that should be made well public. If this is slander
then its not my country, and I look forward to a cease and desist
letter to bolster this cause. This nation of consumers has become
complacent, and I refuse to accept that a thousand dollar laptop can
break with regular use within a year and not be covered by warranty.
My approach has worked with banks, cell phone providers, and credit
cards. In a week I have deterred 5 people in person from buying HP
laptops. This is how you protest poor business practice. Thanks for
your advice though.