We’re starting to suspect that HP’s repair department consists of a giant warehouse inside of which is a nothing but a black hole that eats laptops. Stephen Hawking is their receptionist, and he makes sure the techs don’t accidentally cross the event horizon when they’re chucking your computer into oblivion.
warranties
Sony: Go Ahead And Buy An XBOX "Their Support Isn't Much Better"
By 5.13.08
Reader Adrian’s PS3 is broken and since the console was a gift that didn’t come with a receipt, Sony is denying warranty coverage. Where it gets tricky is that there’s a “manufactured on” sticker on the back of the machine indicating that it is clearly less than a year old — meaning that there’s no possible way it could be out of warranty coverage. Adrian tried explaining this concept to Sony, but they weren’t interested. No receipt. No warranty. When Adrian threatened to switch to XBOX, Sony’s only answer was that “their support wasn’t much better.”
UPDATE: Sony Reads Consumerist, Decides To Replace Your PS3
By 5.12.08
Reader Dustin was upset that Sony responded with form emails no matter what he wrote, now he “has a smile on his face” because Sony contacted him and would like to replace his broken PS3.
T Mobile: Listen To The Most Pointless Customer Service Call Ever
By 5.12.08
Kapil’s brand new Blackberry arrived with a battery that won’t charge. He wants T-Mobile to exchange it, but he says T-Mobile wants to replace it with a refurbished Blackberry instead of a new model. Kapil is fighting back, but even at the executive support level all he’s found are rude, uncooperative T-Mobile employees who keep saying there’s a process, and that someone will call him back—which never happens. Kapil refused to hang up on the fourth day and demanded to know what happens next after nobody calls back, which seemed to confuse and anger the T-Mobile rep he was speaking with. And for those of you who can’t listen in, we’ve transcribed some of the juiciest parts.
HP Denies Your Warranty, Accuses Amazon Of Selling You A "Fake" Laptop
By 5.7.08
There’s something deeply wrong with HP these days. It seems that instead of just fixing your laptop’s overheating issue, they’d rather accuse Amazon.com of selling fake HP laptops and deny your warranty. Reader Floria says that even though she got a letter from Amazon stating that there’s no possible way they sold her a fake or refurbished laptop, and then escalated her complaint to a “senior case manager” who approved the repair, HP still hasn’t fixed her computer. Is anyone in charge over there?
It Took 10 Emails, 4 Faxes, 40 Phone Calls and 7 Months To Get Acer To Replace Laptop
By 5.1.08
Scott in Ireland writes in with proof that it’s not just American/Canadian consumers who get screwed by bad customer service. When his new Acer laptop went kaput, it took him over half a year to finally get a working, equivalent replacement—and after all that, Acer told him they wouldn’t extend his warranty for the time he was without a laptop.
Why Does It Take IKEA Four Months To Replace A Defective Couch Cover?
By 4.26.08
Joyce has been waiting since December for IKEA to send her a replacement couch cover. IKEA admitted that the cover had a known defect, but since they were out replacements at the time, they promised to call Joyce a month later when new covers arrived. Joyce gave her information and asked for a reference number, but was told that one wouldn’t be necessary. Wouldn’t that have been nice?
Warranties: "It's Been 3 Weeks. I Don't Have Hot Water, And Sears Doesn't Care"
By 4.16.08
Reader Christina has a (broken) water heater from Sears. It’s covered under a warranty, but Sears isn’t willing to replace it. She’s been without hot water for 3 weeks and Sears just doesn’t care.
Dear HP: It's Been 6 Weeks Since I Last Saw My Laptop Can You Please Return It?
By 4.11.08
Reader D misses his laptop. A lot. He hasn’t seen it in 6 weeks. Despite tirelessly working to escalate his complaint up the ladder at HP, he keeps getting shuffled back around to “Jim,” an executive customer service rep who just keeps repeating the same old story about a delayed part.
Icy Dock Offers You Rebate Or Warranty, But Not Both
By 4.11.08
The fine print on this Ice Dock hard disk enclosure rebate (PDF) offered through Newegg says, at the very end, “Manufacturer’s warranty does not apply to ICY DOCK’s MIR Free Promotional items.”
It's Been 3 Months And 12 Days Since My XBOX Broke And Microsoft Still Won't Send Me A Box
By 4.8.08
Reader Dustin lives on a military base and Microsoft keeps telling him that they can’t fulfill his warranty because UPS doesn’t ship XBOXs back and forth from military bases. According to UPS, this isn’t true. Dustin tried escalating his complaint and got some apologies, but months went by and still no box arrived for his broken XBOX 360.
LEAKS: Best Buy Internal Doc Says Their "Extended Warranties" Are A "Myth"
By 3.28.08
An internal Best Buy training document sent to The Consumerist reveals Best Buy’s position on the “Extended Warranty” debate. Best Buy says they don’t sell those pesky “extended warranties” that get so much bad press— instead they sell “performance service plans.” The document also instructs Best Buy employees on how to sell these warranties to Upscale Suburban “Barry” and “Jill.” It’s important for consumers to be familiar with these tactics so they are able to recognize them while shopping in a high pressure sales environment such as Best Buy. Understanding the sales pitch puts you on equal ground with the salesperson.
We Post, SONY Replaces Long-Languishing Laptop
By 3.24.08
After Daniela’s SONY laptop was stuck in a warranty repair purgatory for months and a SONY tech screamed at her over the phone accusing her of warranty fraud, her story appeared on The Consumerist. Now she happily writes:
Almost immediately after my article was posted on the consumerist, I received a friendly and extremely apologetic call from a Sony exec. Before even calling me, he had reviewed my case and agreed fully that they were in the wrong. He apologized and offered to have my notebook repaired immediately!
Best Buy Sells Broken PS3 With Mismatched Serial Numbers, Denies Return
By 3.19.08
So, I take in my broken PS3 to Best Buy today, to replace it of course, and they refused to because the serial number on the console is different from that of the box. They accuse me of trying to trade back a different PS3 than the one I bought (I guess there are idiots that do that), in order to get out of paying to have it replaced. This, of course, is total crap because I bought this EXACT PS3 the night before.
Consumer Reports Calls You A "Pushover" For Buying The Extended Warranty Sales Pitch
By 3.17.08
Not surprisingly, the car dealers who sell the extended warranties disagree. A spokesman for the National Automobile Dealers Association likened the warranties to insurance for which, of course, policy holders as a group pay more than they get back to protect against the rare problem that is ruinously expensive.
My New "Certified Pre-Owned Volvo" Is Infected With Mysterious "Black Gunk"
By 3.4.08
Reader M writes:
Reader Sues Best Buy In Small Claims Court And Wins
By 2.29.08
Should it take several months and a small claims lawsuit to get Best Buy to take back their defective washing machine? No, but that’s what it did take for reader Keith.
