I bought a computer (a Pavilion notebook) for my daughter in college and after about 4 months it has been working flawlessly. She is very happy and consequently so am I.
I have always had great support from HP.com, in fact I have owned 4 computers and always been happy with them. I do buy them at Sam's Club though and not online.
I was drawn to their site by a great deal on a banner I saw somewhere. However after I configured the computer with a few more items, the price was back up my budget. I guess another instance of bait and switch.