Computer Repairs - are my expectations too high?

[VintagePunk]

I'd just like some general advice from others who have had warranty repairs done on their computers. Until now, I don't think I've ever had a problem with a computer while it's been under warranty. Here's the deal:

My daughter got a new Toshiba Satellite before heading off to university last Sept. In January, several keys on the keyboard suddenly stopped working. I called Toshiba for her, and they were very easy to deal with. I was given the name of a place to take it in the city where she attends school. I called the repair place, explained the situation to the guy, how uni students NEED their computers, and asked if there was a way to minimize the time it was away from her. He said to bring it in, he'd diagnose then let her take it with her, order the part, call her when it came in, and he'd replace it while she waited. That's what ended up happening, and it was awesome for her.

This time, it went on her again a week and a half ago. I called Toshiba again and they gave me the number of a different place to take it. The first place had gone out of business a few weeks before. The new place is an IT company that deals mainly with corporate clients. I called there, explained the situation to the guy, and asked if he'd be willing to do what the first place did. He replied absolutely not, that the computer would need to be left there.

So, the computer has been there for nearly a week and a half now. It was taken in on a Tuesday, and by Thursday, both the motherboard and the keyboard had been ordered and replaced. However, on that day, a logic board (or logic board cover - I've been told both) was also ordered, so the tech must have found something else wrong with it. So now, it's a week later, and the part still isn't in yet. I've been calling for her daily to check on the status. The calls keep being redirected to a national service line for the company, which is really frustrating. All they can tell me is that the part isn't in - they can't tell me if it's in transit, if it's back-ordered, or what the deal is with it.

Once during this time, I've even called Toshiba back to express my frustration with this new place that is now handling their warranty work. It's obvious that they're used to dealing with companies who, when they have one computer out of commission, it's not a big deal to them. Toshiba were sympathetic, and said they'd get in touch with them for me, but all they said when I returned the call is that the part is on order.

Is this common? Have I just been lucky till now with the speed of repairs? Are there any other steps I can take?

The crazy part of all of this is that she's in a city with two major universities and one community college, so there are about 40,000+ students living in the area. They must be aware that students need their computers back as quickly as possible.

 

[Liesje]

Sounds a little long, both in my experience with customer service and BEING customer service. We use mostly Lenovo and Apple laptops on campus. If we are ordering a part from Lenovo, it takes 3 business days tops, but it's usually here the next day if we order it before noon. If we need an Apple part, we go to the Apple store and get it. We don't use any Toshiba equipment so I'm not sure how that works. The catch is that we have a stock of "loaner" equipment so a faculty/staff member never really goes without a computer, they just might not have their computer. So, we can take as long as we want if the workload piles up. Technically our users are not supposed to be saving their files on our computers, so they can't complain if we hand them an identical model and hold onto theirs for a week.

My personal computers have been HPs. When I have a hardware problem, they send me a box with pre-paid shipping. I call FedEx and have them pick it up or I drop it off. It goes to the FedEx hub, where the computer is repaired in the FexEd warehouse. I understand many of the larger computer manufacturers do this, they have service stations AT FedEx. Last repair I had done, I dropped off my box at FedEx on a Wed. night and on Friday morning I had my laptop back.

Now that was going through the manufacturer, HP. I never dealt with any store or had to bring the computers anywhere. I bought the computer through CompUSA which is now TigerDirect, but their store had closed so I chose to deal with HP instead.

I do all of the diagnosis and repair for student laptops at our college. My current turn around time is five business days, though I can usually get it done sooner, but I never know whether I'm going to have 3 computers or 10 so I tell everyone "Five business days" and if it's faster, great. I don't like to give people the wrong impression. I am providing a free service (we only charge students for virus repairs) and if they don't like the turn around time, they can go to Geek Squad and pay them big bucks.

 

[VintagePunk]

Thanks, Lies.

I'm in SW Ontario, and was told by the original tech guy from the IT company that orders for parts are made to Toshiba in Toronto. If they order them by 4 pm, it could be in the next day if the part is readily available, which turned out to be the case for the motherboard and keyboard. If it's not in the next day, it could be in within a 3 - 5 day window. Worst case scenario is, it could be weeks.

It just seems crazy to me that they can't give me a window in which I can expect the part to be in, when virtually anything you order online, you can immediately access the status of the item, or the shipping/tracking information. Very frustrating. And, in the next few weeks, she has some pretty major work that needs to be done.

 

[Liesje]

Honestly, if a comp already had a hardware repair and now was needing a new cover and motherboard...if I were Toshiba I'd just give her a new one. One more time and it's a lemon anyway....and being a Toshiba something will likely go wrong, she will get a new one.

 

[VintagePunk]

Do all computer manufacturers have a lemon policy?

I'm not sure if this would count as being two incidents. I'm assuming that the first repair just wasn't done properly, that it wasn't fixed by replacing the keyboard the first time because the problem was actually within the motherboard to begin with.

You said you use all HP products. Coincidentally, she got an HP laptop in the first place but returned it and got the Toshiba because there was something about the HP that she didn't like. I can't remember what it was, though. And she's told me that since her computer's been in this time, three of her friends have Toshibas that have broken down, too.

If I can't get any answer tomorrow from the repair place beyond "it's not in yet," I'm going to call Toshiba and raise hell.

 

[Liesje]

I'm not sure about the manufacturers, but the stores I buy from do (Best Buy, CompUSA...). I usually get a three year extended warranty from the store, but if anything happens in the first year I deal with the manufacturer b/c it's faster.

Yep, I use HPs for my personal computers. I've dealt with their tech support many times and never had problems that weren't my fault.

 

[anitram]

I know from past experience that Toshiba's lemon policy was (at the time, about 5 yrs ago) that if you have a substantial repair on the same unit 3 times, they will replace it with a comparable model.

 

[VintagePunk]

I've been on the phone for 3 hours straight trying to get this sorted out.

Called the place that has the computer first. Well, their national service call centre. After calling daily for a week and being told that the part has been ordered but is not in yet, I was informed today that the final part hasn't been ordered, and that there appears to be a $34 charge they've been waiting to get an okay on before they order it.

Long story short, after many calls to both Toshiba and the computer place, they're claiming that when the first repair was done in January (by an authorized Toshiba service place, Toshiba told me to take the computer there), they screwed the screws in too tightly and cracked the case, and Toshiba is not liable for it, I am.

I am beyond livid.

I told the Toshiba customer service supervisor that the bottom line is, I'm NOT paying for it, and he referred it to their customer relations center, and said I would get a call from them on the next business day. Given that tomorrow's a holiday here, that won't be till Monday.

DO NOT buy Toshiba products. They suck. This whole thing has been a nightmare.

 

[Liesje]

Damn......screwed the screws so tight the case cracked? Who does that?!

 

[bonoishot]

Long story short, after many calls to both Toshiba and the computer place, they're claiming that when the first repair was done in January (by an authorized Toshiba service place, Toshiba told me to take the computer there), they screwed the screws in too tightly and cracked the case, and Toshiba is not liable for it, I am.

I am beyond livid.

I told the Toshiba customer service supervisor that the bottom line is, I'm NOT paying for it, and he referred it to their customer relations center, and said I would get a call from them on the next business day. Given that tomorrow's a holiday here, that won't be till Monday.

DO NOT buy Toshiba products. They suck. This whole thing has been a nightmare.

Yeah cause you screwed the screws too tight, so its your fault. Sounds lke they're trying to get out of fixing it. You took it to the recommended shop as your were told and THEY mucked the computer up. Idiots.

I don't blame you for refusing to pay, I wouldn't either. I hope you get them sorted out and sarah gets her computer back soon.

 

[VintagePunk]

I waited till 4:30 yesterday for a call from Toshiba's customer relations before I finally called myself. Unfortunately, you have to appeal to a Customer Service agent to get them to connect you, which is a pain the the ass, but I was persistent, and told the agent I'd wait till someone was available.

When Customer Relations finally got on the phone, the woman said she'd been looking over my case, and that they would be sending in a request to Toshiba to make an exemption in the no covering damages policy. I said to her "you're aware that we didn't cause the damage, right?" and she was fully aware that the previous service center had caused it, and agreed that Toshiba should cover it. There was no discussion, no debate, no argument, just "of course, don't worry about it, we'll have it fixed for you." She also said that she had flagged my case as high priority. She said that as soon as she got off the phone with me, she would have someone contact the current repair center, find out the part number, order it, and get right back to me to let me know how long it would be. By the time we got off the phone it was after 5, so I knew nothing could be done yesterday. First thing this morning though, a man from Toshiba called me back to let me know that it had been ordered, and it's in stock, so the repair place will have it tomorrow morning. He also gave me his name and phone number with a direct extension to him in case I need to call back for anything.

It was so easy once I was talking to the correct department. So, why the hell did I have to argue with customer service for hours and hours the other day? If they wanted to make the process easier for customers, why make us jump through fucking hoops and talk to useless people who have no authority?

Ugh. Seriously, they have not done enough to redeem themselves to make me want to purchase another of their products. Sadly though, I've been researching online since all this came up, and virtually every computer/home electronics company has a plethora of customer service nightmare scenarios, and they ALL have astoundingly high breakdown - repair rates.

Now, I just hope that the repair place can get its shit together and do the repair promptly tomorrow when the part comes in. Once we have the computer back, I'm going to be making a call to their head office to let them know how displeased I am that we were left hanging for over a week thinking that the part was on its way.

 

[bonoishot]

I waited till 4:30 yesterday for a call from Toshiba's customer relations before I finally called myself. Unfortunately, you have to appeal to a Customer Service agent to get them to connect you, which is a pain the the ass, but I was persistent, and told the agent I'd wait till someone was available.

When Customer Relations finally got on the phone, the woman said she'd been looking over my case, and that they would be sending in a request to Toshiba to make an exemption in the no covering damages policy. I said to her "you're aware that we didn't cause the damage, right?" and she was fully aware that the previous service center had caused it, and agreed that Toshiba should cover it. There was no discussion, no debate, no argument, just "of course, don't worry about it, we'll have it fixed for you." She also said that she had flagged my case as high priority. She said that as soon as she got off the phone with me, she would have someone contact the current repair center, find out the part number, order it, and get right back to me to let me know how long it would be. By the time we got off the phone it was after 5, so I knew nothing could be done yesterday. First thing this morning though, a man from Toshiba called me back to let me know that it had been ordered, and it's in stock, so the repair place will have it tomorrow morning. He also gave me his name and phone number with a direct extension to him in case I need to call back for anything.

It was so easy once I was talking to the correct department. So, why the hell did I have to argue with customer service for hours and hours the other day? If they wanted to make the process easier for customers, why make us jump through fucking hoops and talk to useless people who have no authority?

Ugh. Seriously, they have not done enough to redeem themselves to make me want to purchase another of their products. Sadly though, I've been researching online since all this came up, and virtually every computer/home electronics company has a plethora of customer service nightmare scenarios, and they ALL have astoundingly high breakdown - repair rates.

Now, I just hope that the repair place can get its shit together and do the repair promptly tomorrow when the part comes in. Once we have the computer back, I'm going to be making a call to their head office to let them know how displeased I am that we were left hanging for over a week thinking that the part was on its way.

I'm glad you've made some progress with them and they finally admitted the damage isn't your fault. Fingers crossed about the part coming tommorow then sarah can have her computer back.

I agree with you, what was the point of going through to customer service when they were no help at all. You should have an option maybe to be put through to customer relations when you first call, would have made things a bit easier for you.

 

[Lila64]

I find that if you are getting nowhere or the runaround, ask for a supervisor.

Sorry you've been having so much trouble VP

 

[VintagePunk]

Thanks Jem, Lila. Hopefully there's light at the end of the tunnel, and she should have the computer back late Wed, or sometime Thurs, at the latest.

Lila, I'm not sure if this is the case with all companies or if it's unique to Toshiba, but the problem is, you have to work your way along the chain of command before they'll deem you worthy to speak to someone who can actually help you, and you have to fight tooth and nail every step of the way to go on to the next step. It's nuts. The first person you speak to is the Customer Service Agent. I spoke to several of them over the past few weeks. When I finally told one I wanted to speak to a supervisor, she refused, saying that a supervisor would only tell me the same thing. I literally argued before she would put me through to a Customer Service Supervisor. Then, I discussed/argued with him for well over half an hour, and demanded to be put in touch with someone higher up. That's when I was forwarded to Customer Relations, whose role it is to settle disputes. They're the people who can actually resolve things for you, but you have to jump through hoops before you can speak to them. I had the same experience with Toshiba a while back regarding a DVD recorder I had purchased from them. I can't believe that they would risk customer goodwill for the sake of a $34 part. It's nuts.

Speaking of shoddy merchandise, I've had my fill of it lately. On the weekend, a console humidifier that I run during the winter when it's dry literally caught on fire! Thank goodness we were right there, I shudder to think what would have happened if we weren't. Admittedly, it was old, but still, it had worked well up till then, and you certainly don't expect household appliances to end their lifespans by going out in flames.

Also, the cell phone I just bought in September stopped working today! Thankfully, I called the store today, and it sounds like getting it repaired will be a much easier process than the computer was, plus, they'll provide me with a replacement while it's being fixed.

For fucks sake, is ANYTHING built to last more than a few months before crapping out?

 

[Lila64]

I feel your pain, I do. I remember when I was a kid and you had a TV that would last 20+ years, no problem. Or appliances... anything. Nowadays it seems they make things NOT to last so that you consume more

And no, I don't think your problem is exclusive to Toshiba. It's just the way of the world these days, unfortunately. I think the "reps" are trained in very basic stuff, and are probably told to try & resolve without going to a supervisor, but without giving in either You pretty much have to be relentless & vigilant and demand proper service (and state that you aren't hanging up til the problem is resolved). What ever happened to "do unto others..."

I had a problem with my router recently where it apparently had died or was dying a slow painful death (for me). Trying to get someone on the phone that actually spoke in English without an accent (no offense) is always a challenge, especially when you are pissed & frustrated. That's really the last thing you want (again, no offense). I was on the phone for about 2 hours on a 3-way call. Two of us knew going in that the problem was probably the router, but Netgear kept on trying to resolve the issue (with me & my ISP). The router was about 7-10 years old, so I could understand (I guess) if it was dead, as they supposedly don't normally last that long.

Just go find the kitties & relax

 

[Liesje]

I like dealing w/ HP b/c they have one of those online chat tech support things. That way I don't have to deal with accents/ESL and don't have to interrupt to get my points in. I tell them I am a computer technician, I ran these tests, *this* is broken, yes, ok, send me the repair box, thank you good night.

 

[Lila64]

Lucky for you Liesje. Do you know Cold Fusion? I'm looking for a webperson

 

[Liesje]

Nope, I have it but don't use it.

 

[VintagePunk]

Okay, so, let's recap. Monday morning I was told by Toshiba's Customer Relations person that approval had been given to do the repair free of charge to me, that the part was in stock and would be delivered by the next day.

Every day since then, I've called the repair places' (Metafore IT - I'm not protecting their identity anymore) phone line that tells you the status of your repair, and I've been told that they're awaiting delivery for the part. After being told that again today, I called the Toshiba Customer Relations guy back again. He said he would call Metafore and look into it, and get right back to me. This was noon-ish. I still haven't heard anything from him.

Then, I started calling Metafore myself. I left a voice mail for the CEO. Still haven't heard back from him. A couple hours later I called Metafore again and asked for a woman whose name the Toshiba Rep had told me Monday he spoke to. Got her on the line, and between the notes she looked up and my filling in the details of what I've been told from various parties, she seemed like she was pissed on my behalf. She said that the part HAS been on order since the 13th, and that Toshiba shipped it to a Metafore office in British Columbia by mistake, and that they're waiting for it to be returned from BC - it should be delivered to the proper office this Monday or Tuesday. I pointed out that since Toshiba keeps saying the part is in stock and would be delivered the next day, wouldn't it make more sense to place the order again, and then return the one from BC to Toshiba when it comes in. She said that Toshiba always promises next day delivery for their parts, but rarely makes good on that, and that she thinks the one from BC will be in faster than reordering it.

She said that Toshiba is making them look very, very bad, and she will be getting to the bottom of it for me, that I'm basically stuck in the middle of two companies that are passing the blame back and forth, and she understands my frustration. While we were on the phone, she was composing an e-mail to be sent to Metafore's national service manager, and their parts manager. She said that these two individuals will not take the complaints lightly, that they pride themselves on service, and that they will be all over this case. She also asked me for the Toshiba rep's name, number and extension, so that she could get in touch with him and attempt to straighten this out with him.

I told her this will be three weeks my daughter has been without her computer, and she said she realizes the hardship that that would cause because she has a son in college as well, and knows how students rely on theirs computers. I also said that at this point, I'm so angry at both Toshiba and her company that I would never use their products/services again, nor would I ever recommend them to anyone. She said she realizes that they've provided shitty customer service, and at the very least, I should have been kept better informed, and that she will do everything she can to restore my goodwill toward her company. She gave me the number of a direct line to her, and said she would let me know when she hears anything, and for me to call her anytime.

I'd like to say I feel cautiously optimistic, but with all the shit I've been through and all the assurances I've had over the past 2 1/2 weeks, I don't think I have it in me to feel hopeful.

 

[anitram]

You should have sent your daughter to Costco to buy another laptop - they have a 3 month return policy. People at law school have regularly done this when their comps went to the repair man, because they needed something in the meantime.

Sketchy? Maybe, but it works and you're FAR less stressed in the meantime.

 

[VintagePunk]

Thanks for the tip. I had no idea that Costco's return policy was three months.

The funny thing is, we got the computer at Future Shop, and naturally, the salesman was trying to foist the 3 year extended warranty onto us. I told him one of my main objections to purchasing it is that they are notoriously slow with their service. He said that if a repair is going to take too long he advises customers to get a FS card and buy another computer with it, and then return it when their repair is done. I didn't bite on either the warranty or the FS card, but knowing that, I would have gone that route and gotten one for her to use during the repair, had they not been leading me on the entire time, promising the computer back within a few days. And now, if the part is going to be in on Monday, I don't think there's really any point in picking up another computer just for the sake of a couple more days.

Of course, I'll probably still be in this thread bitching about it still not being returned weeks from now, so who knows.

 

[VintagePunk]

And the saga continues.

Got a call yesterday morning that it was actually done late Friday afternoon, so on the way back to school yesterday, she picked it up. When she first booted it, the mouse was frozen, so she took it right back. The tech guy checked the connection for the mouse, said it was fine, and told her to leave it for 30 minutes and he would check the other connections. She picked it back up, had a class, then tried to use it again. Within 10 or 20 minutes, she started getting all kinds of blue screens, error messages, the mouse would freeze, the keyboard would freeze, it would go black then recover, it would spontaneously reboot, and on and on.

Today I called the woman who has become my contact at Metafore - yesterday morning when she called me, she said to call back if there were any problems at all. She said it sounds like it was a defective motherboard, that she would contact the tech guy at the Waterloo office, probably just order a new motherboard, and that my daughter could bring it in when the new motherboard comes in, hopefully tomorrow. At least that way she can use it for 10 or 20 minutes at a time between crashes.

She said that Toshiba are notoriously bad for sending defective parts. I told her that I'd read on some techy forum about a guy who was on his 9th motherboard from Toshiba, and his computer still wasn't working right. She said she's never seen anything quite that extreme, but she has seen up to three motherboards having to be ordered and installed before it's fixed properly.

 

[Liesje]

It's a lemon now. They should send you a new computer.

 

[VintagePunk]

It's a lemon now. They should send you a new computer.

Theoretically, yes. There are several problems with this, though. First, from what I've seen, Toshiba doesn't have an official lemon policy any longer, and if you want a new computer, you have to fight with them to get one. I've read of people having far more problems with them than we have, who haven't had their computers replaced. Secondly, I've read that when they do provide you with a new computer, it isn't really new, it's some refurbished piece of crap that's very often in worse shape than the one you sent back. I've read of people receiving replacements that have worse hardware problems than the ones they sent back, others that have had scratched up, damaged cases, etc.

We certainly don't want that, so for now at least, we'll keep trying what we've been doing.

 

[VintagePunk]

Another update, and hopefully this one will be the last.

She took the computer in yesterday morning and they installed the new motherboard while she waited. She's been using it for the past day and a bit without problem. I hope this is the end of it, but I'm hanging onto the phone numbers I've accumulated just in case.