So when you take your Mac to get repaired and they have to send it to their repair center, politely request that a service technician with the ID 31514 at the “CTS, Apple Authorized Repair Center” in Houston, Texas does not fix your Mac.
laptops
Apple Repair Center Doesn't Repair Your Laptop, But Does Replace Your Keyboard With German Layout
By 11.17.08
Best Buy Sells "New" Laptop Used By Employee
By 11.5.08
Best Buy sold Clif a “new” laptop one of their employees had bought, used, and returned. They made up for it by giving him an actually new laptop with a slightly better configuration, then tried to upsell him to the Best Buy extended warranty. Two things I enjoyed about this story: 1) The clerk he went to return the laptop to was the same employee who had used the laptop (Clif knew this because he saw the guy’s resume on the laptop) 2) Clif then subsequently asked to speak to the manager in private and explained the situation there. That’s the classy way to do it.
Best Buy Threatens To Replace A $2200 Sony Laptop With An Asus EeePC
By 11.4.08
Is there a difference between a Sony TZ ultraportable laptop and an Asus Eee PC? Reader Ignacio bought Best Buy’s accidental damage protection plan for his $2200 Sony TZ laptop, and when he did, indeed, drop it — Best Buy threatened to replace it with a $600 Asus Eee PC, and finally decided to issue a $1200 gift card — the price of a 15″ Dell notebook. Fair?
Opposite Of EECB Gets Delayed Lenovo Laptop Order Expedited, Plus $5000 Loaner
By 10.31.08
When the Lenovo laptop Rick ordered for his college-bound daughter was super-duper delayed in arriving and he hadn’t heard anything from the company, he did the opposite of an EECB (executive email carpet bomb). Instead of blasting his complaint to every single executive he could find, he wrote a well-crafted letter laser-targeted at a single individual, the SVP of operations. The result? An email from the Chief of Staff in the CEO’s office. His order was expedited, and, in the meantime, they got a $5000 “Reserve Edition” leather-wrapped laptop as a loaner. Here’s his letter that got him the fix:
How A Nigerian Steals Your Laptop
By 10.30.08
Molly’s laptop was stolen, and the thief didn’t even break into her house, or snag it from her at a coffeeshop, or hold a knife to her neck in a darkened alley. No, her laptop was stolen via email. In fact, she mailed it to thief, in Africa. OMG, you’re probably saying to yourself right now with your hands up by your face, how could this be? Discover the horrifying true story, inside…
Dell: We Can Only Send You The Wrong Kind Of Battery
By 9.23.08
Dell charged this guy’s daughter over $200 for replacement batteries that don’t even match her laptop. When her battery died, Dell sent her the wrong battery. Since she was out of warranty, Dell insisted that they could only continue to send her the wrong battery. When she asked why, Bill says the a supervisor repeatedly said, “I don’t know ma’am, that’s not my problem.”
SONY Recalls 440,000 Vaios
By 9.4.08
Sony recalled 440,000 Vaio TZ laptops today due to a faulty wiring issue. The recall affects models made between May 2007 and July 2008 in the VAIO VGN-TZ100 series, VGN-TZ200 series, VGN-TZ300 series and VGN-TZ2000 series. Consumers owning one of these laptops are advised to stop using and call (888) 526-6219 or go to sony.com/support to determine if their computers are included in the recall.
Morning Deals
By 8.29.08
- Lenovo: Employee Pricing on ThinkPad and IdeaPad Notebooks, up to 42% off (login with passcode 536686)
- Woot: Sandisk Clip 2GB MP3 Player for $19.99
- Newegg: ESET NOD32 Antivirus Home Edition v3 for $14.99 (Best antivirus around, won’t slow down your computer)
Highlights From Dealhack
- Buy.com: Kingston 4GB USB 2.0 Portable Flash Drive $14 Shipped
- Hanes.com: Save 15% off Complete Order on All Clothing
- Vann’s: Sony FX820 Portable 8-inch DVD Player $150 Shipped
Highlights From Bargainist
- Amazon: Kitchen & Home Labor Day Sale: Save up to 65%
- Linens ‘n Things: BOGO 50% off bath furniture, more + 20% off coupon
- American Eagle: 40% off purchases coupon
Update: EEEPC Return A Recursive Hellhole
By 8.28.08
Mike writes in with an update on what he’s doing to get his Asus EEPC fixed. We think his number one way to solve the problem is to activate the extended warranty protection on his credit card. His reply to that is, “My credit card has an extended warranty but since it is still in warranty with Asus, that can’t help.” Not that we want to embarrass Mike, but since this can help other people, I need to point out that this isn’t true.
By 8.25.08
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This Best Buy coupon for free Apple software for students isn’t a very good deal after all—you can get educational discounts at the Apple store, and through September 15th you can get a free iPod Touch or Nano with your computer purchase. Our advice: skip Best Buy and go directly through Apple. (Thanks to Matt and yasth!)
Whatever Acer Is Doing To Your Laptop Is The Opposite Of Repairing It
By 8.13.08
Reader Alex bought an Acer laptop with a 3 year extended warranty, and honestly, we lost count of how many times he’s sent it in to Acer for repairs — but every time Acer sends it back it seems to get a little bit less functional. Now he’s finally had enough and is demanding a replacement. This has lead to a 5 month stand-off in which Acer is refusing to send him a replacement because it would be a “downgrade” from his current broken laptop. Alex has already replaced the laptop and was going to give up. We’re his last hope…
CompUSA Repairs Laptop After New TAP Company Refuses
By 8.7.08
Assurant Solutions, the company that’s supposed to be honoring any outstanding TAP agreements with former CompUSA customers, likes to refuse service for arbitrary reasons. Luckily for TAP-holders, CompUSA has said it will honor any TAP agreements if Assurant doesn’t. The guy with the broken laptop wrote back to let us know that CompUSA indeed came through for him after every attempt he made with Assurant ended in rejection.
Morning Deals
By 8.5.08
- Iams: Free Iams Premium Protection Dog or Cat Food if you give them your address
- Iomega: 3.5″ External USB 2.0 Hard Drive shipped for $55.66(250 GB) Or $64.16 (320 GB)
- Newegg: Sennheiser CX300B 3.5mm Connector Canal Headphone (Black) $10 after rebates
Highlights From Dealhack
- Sierra Trading Post: Extra 10% off Clothing, Footwear, & Gear
- Amazon: Summer Sale: 25% or More off Kitchen Small Appliances
- Dell Home: Save 20% to 30% off Inspiron Notebook PCs
Highlights From Bargainist
- Torrid: $10 off select Birkenstock
- Toys “R” Us: BOGO $20 off all Wii games
- PayPal: Back to school savings @ Foot Locker, Guess, Tiger Direct, more
Homeland Security: We Can Detain Your Laptop Indefinitely Without Cause
By 8.2.08
The Orwellian Department of Homeland Security claims that it can indefinitely confiscate laptops and iPods from law abiding citizens without any provocation or justification. The Department “clarified” their policies after several business travelers started asking the press why Homeland Security was fiddling with their laptops and PDAs for months on end.
Complete Norton Symantec Executive Contact List
By 7.31.08 — Updated: 12.23.13
If you have an unresolved Norton/Symantec complaint and regular customer service doesn’t help you out, you might want to try giving one of the top-ranking company executives inside a call or an email. Don’t forget to be nice, polite, and professional, and remember the guidelines for contacting executive customer service. If you need help writing a solid complaint letter, here’s a template to follow. And if you want a real anti-virus program that won’t hose up your computer, try NOD32. Now here’s the complete executive contact list…
By 7.24.08
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Want to get rid of all that crapware junking up your new PC? Try PC Decrapifier or Revo Uninstaller. Both are free. [New York Times]
What Is CompUSA's TAP Service Like, Post-CompUSA? Not So Great
By 7.22.08
(Update: The new CompUSA contacted us to say they will make sure all TAP agreements from the previous incarnation of the company are properly honored.) Remember when CompUSA shut down? Before it emerged from its ashes to fill my inbox with daily email circulars, it announced that Assurant Solutions, the company that underwrote its Technology Assurant Plan (TAP) extended-warranty service, would be honoring all remaining TAP agreements. Now a Consumerist reader, Tom, has a problem with the power cable on his laptop, and Assurant Solutions says they won’t replace the frayed cable: “[The CSR] tells me that he is unable to help me any further since the damage isn’t accidental.” Apparently “honoring” means “we’ll take your calls, but turn you down.”
