Acer - very poor support

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Killeant said:
Hi All


Interesting forum.

I just received a Acer aspire 3613 and the case above the keyboard is not cliping in at the left. The clips have snaped.

As ive only had it less than 12 hours im thinking of sending it back but dont want to lose it in an endless cycle of repair.

Does anyone know if you can get spare parts like this?

Ant
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Very interesting Forum !
Sounds like the 'middle-cover' is broken, this should get sent in under the 'DOA' system (Dead-On-Arrival), they get dealt with the same day they enter the building (pretty much the same hour). The engineers who deal with the DOA's are the most competent in the Pit of Damnation.
Personally I would take it back from where it was purchased and insist under the Sale of Goods Act 1978 that your notebook was not of 'merchandisable quality' when purchased and you require a replacement even though you are entitled to every single penny paid back in full.
Letting them send it off to a different company (Esplex) only allows them to shift the blame elsewhere, misdirect you and waste your time. It is simple cosmetic damage, one of the cheapest parts of the Notebook, a middle cover, dont allow then to fob you off, that is what they are paid to do.
There are many alternative ways to deal with such a problem as yours, if I ran the establishment that sold you the notebook I would simply remove a middle cover from another unit and replace your faulty one there and then, but you know what sales people and customer services are like, they fob people off for a living.
Best of luck
 
I was just wondering if anyone knew whether or not i could open my Acer PC and install/uninstall hardware? It is stil under warranty and im not sure if doing this would void it, also why does it have the warranty sticker on the case?
 
If upgrading things like ram or hdd would void your warranty why then Acer posts in the user's manul steps on how to unsqrew ram/hdd's case and "modify" it? At least I have it under "modify your computer" section. Taking computer apart would certantly void the warranty, but I think things like hdd or ram could be easily upgraded (that's why they are so easily accesable ;) ). Though I am not sure.
 
Upgrading or opening the case of any Acer machine starts to create a warrenty grey area. Essentially it works like this. Parts you fit will have their own warrenty so if they break down its nothing to do with Acer, if the parts or your workmanship result in a fault to existing hardware the warrenty is void, if the original parts break down independantly from your workmanship or the new parts the warrenty is intact.

Just because Acer gives you the tools and information to do upgrades and such doesn't mean that they are liable for your actions. A prime example is when you flash your BIOS. The software and guide is on the Acer website, but if you mess it up then it has nothing to do with Acer and a repair would therefore be chargable.

If you ever have a machine which you send in for repair and get a NFF letter in the post or a quote for repairs then you are entitled to ask for another engineer to look at the unit for a second opinion. Damage to the unit is always obvious, if you have a new unit which is damaged right out of the box go to the retailer for the fastest turn around times. If you hesitate then the chances of a technitian seeing the damage as caused by the user increases. In reguards to the person with a damage optical drive which was just under a month old you need to understand that those drives are very easy to diagnose when it comes to damage. Mechanical breakdowns are very very rare with optical drives so if the gears internally have become missaligned or the drawer has come off of its railings then any engineer looking at a unit such as that and sees that the customer has had it for several weeks will conclude 'user damage'.

Whether Acer considers themselves to be a manufacturer or not is irrelevant when it comes to consumer law. If they sell goods directly to consumers then they are by definition a retailer.

Acer does not sell anything to the public. They don't even sell direct to retailers or dealers. All Acer machines are sold to distributors like Northamber, retailers then place orders with the distributors and the stuff arrives for them to sell. Even websites like Shopacer.com has nothing to do with Acer direcly. Its run by a company called CET UK. Everytime I hear of some irrate customer who says they'll be seeing their solicitors, or going to trading standards or the petty claims courts I always get a little smile because these people are so ignorant its amusing. UK law is pretty clear about manufacturer rights, they don't have to do anything. They're not even obligated to repair units. That is why every company has unique warrenties with different conditions, because while they are not obligated to support their products they do so to avoid going out of business.

There is a whole load of stuff about suitable lengths of time for repairs but the law is on the side of the manufacturer as well. While Acer aims for 5-10 days turn around by law they're allowed something like 3 months to repair a unit. I'd love to get the full details on stuff like that but wouldn't know where to start looking. :(
 
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if the parts or your workmanship result in a fault to existing hardware the warrenty is void, if the original parts break down independantly from your workmanship or the new parts the warrenty is intact.

If I upgraded my HDD with a new one (not because the one from Acer got broken; I just installed a larger one) but then, let's say, in a period of time I have an electricity problem or ram death, would Acer people refuse to fix that even if HDD didn't have any relationship to the problem? I mean, can they say that "foreighn parts detected" or a kind of thing in order to escape fixing another problem? If yes then it is ridiculous. I just got to know that a friend of mine had electricity problem after a few monthes he upgraded his HDD by himself. The HDD was working great. Just something happened to mobo in 3 months. So, after sending the machine to the warranty repair, they said the exact phrase in their report ("foreighn parts detected. insert original Acer hdd"). Moreover, they took away his waranty sticker from the back of the machine. He was wise enough to not sell the original hdd, placed it back and sent the machine again. And what do you think? This time they fixed the problem (which testifies that it had nothing to do with HDD), but noone put the sticker back. So, now in their reports Acer write "no warranty" while keep fixing the thing. It is ridiculous. Who gives a right to those engeenires to take a lable away?

There can be too much speculations. I think if upgrading HDD can cause Acer people not to fix your mobo or RAM, then Acer should place a sticker on HDD, saying something like "putting a new thing in will void your warranty." Acer should be clear about such points that can cause people not to fix the problem. Or talk one more time with a Repair Center staff saying them what you, Tal-N, just posted. Their behaviour is not responsible.
 
hi im glad that it is not onlyme thatseem to behaving these sort of problems with ACER laptops.

where do i begin well had my laptop 4 months started to make some very strange noise from the sound card, tried phoneing oh but yes got cut offmany times, but got through they agreed to look at, amonth and half later after many phone callsas they out of parts.... i get it back..... oh the courier wont even start there. i switch it on and same sound problem so guess what i send it back, i then recive it back again three weeks later to find out the ran test on it and that was it. and within 30 seconds oh you guessed right sound card problems. so i phone up again complaingabout thelack of service contact from them self and i get we have an email support to which i laugh as i reply i tried but you didnt answerany of my 4 emails!!!!! so eventuly i speak to a supervisor and he assures me i will recive a replacment laptop.. so im kinda happy now just waiting.... only a week this time and more courier problems!!!!! and i have a box delevired and guess what my old laptop with a 2nd new mother board.... low and behold it kinda works now noise as yet but i now have a new problemto switch on the wireless network i have to avtivate the LAN,strange i know but very anoying... so phone up again to speak to there well customer service AKA (pointless team) who tell me there is nothing they can do apart from i log anew call. so i ask well i was told i would recive a new laptop where is it, she replys its the tech team that decide this... so evently i after 2hours on the phone now after being cut off severly time i get through to the tech team.... and explain my situation all over again brrn in for repair three times blah blah i ask for a replacment laptop.... im told on the techs can do this i ask to speak to them but this is impossiable... so i ask who can i speak to sort my problem can your supervisor sort this no.... im told so i ask who can only the techs people who can be contacted.... i ask for some else im tols there is no one...... so i conclude the custer service teamdont really have ajob as i still cant see therepoint as they have solved none of my problems, the tech department is run the the technicens who dont speak to customers and no one is on charge of any of them so they just plod along and get nothing sorted......... if any one has ant thoughts i would love to hear them
 
I cannot believe what an incompetent company Acer actually is.

My monitor broke down on me 12 weeks ago (two months after purchasing it). I phoned acer support and they were very helpful and a courier picked up my monitor for repair the next day. I thought to myself what a great company Acer were.

How wrong can you be. I have turned into a stalker phoning acer everyday. I phoned after 1 week and they said they were waiting on a part, then they said they couldnt get the part and they would get me a replacement. Then that it was waiting for managers approval to be signed off. Then they said it was at the top of managers pile to be signed (that was a week later). Then a further week later they are looking for a part for the engineer to fix the monitor.

So in 12 weeks i have gone full circle in the list of excuses to looking for replacement parts when i was expecting a replacement.

I have never heard such a load of bull in all my life. The last phone call i made they said the engineer has 24 hours to find a part or they will send a replacement.

I ask what sort of company are they?

What can we do to stop them doing this to anyone else.

I have give up on my monitor but i will fight on for other misfortunate customers.

Everyone i come into contact with I let them know about how bad acer support is and rude their custermer advisors are with cutting you off and promising to phone you back and never doing.

I have also vowed to myself only to deal with big name companys now who care about their brand image.
 
Hi
Does anyone now where to get spares for ACER 1522 wlmi. My optical drive has died and don't want to go through the same as you guys

Cheers Paul
 
So, after sending the machine to the warranty repair, they said the exact phrase in their report ("foreighn parts detected. insert original Acer hdd"). Moreover, they took away his waranty sticker from the back of the machine. He was wise enough to not sell the original hdd, placed it back and sent the machine again.
The letter of the warrenty says do not fit parts. However the company tends not to mind upgraded parts being fitted, but they do have the right to refuse repairing it. As I said it creates a warrenty grey area, I'd say a good 90% of the time the warrenty is uneffected if you fit parts like ram and a hdd but depending on the nature of the fault the engineers have the right to refuse to work on it.

tried phoneing oh but yes got cut offmany times
Depending on your phone company you will find that on some lines where there is no activity for a period of time that in order to avoid accidently suffering a huge bill your line will drop automatically. Depending on your company this varies from around 10-20 minutes. I'm not sure of the technicalities behind it but this kind of thing is covered by all training that the call centre staff receives incase customers ask.

im told on the techs can do this i ask to speak to them but this is impossiable...
The technitian pits have no phones to the call centre circuit, hence they won't speak to you and frankly dealing with the public isn't part of their job description anyway.

so i conclude the custer service teamdont really have ajob as i still cant see therepoint as they have solved none of my problems, the tech department is run the the technicens who dont speak to customers and no one is on charge of any of them so they just plod along and get nothing sorted......... if any one has ant thoughts i would love to hear them

Thoughts? Well one giant sentance with a lack of puncuation doesn't exactly inspire me with sympathy I can say that much. But for what little its worth I can tell you your conclusions are wrong. If this has only recently happened I'd suggest contacting the Complaints team and take things further. Supervisors only have limited authority to be honest, the power to make changes above and beyond the warrenty sits with the Complaints/Escalations team. Send a fax to 0870 853 1004 and put 'FAO Complaints Department' and include serial numbers and case IDs. See if that helps you to get some satisfaction from Acer.

Does anyone now where to get spares for ACER 1522 wlmi. My optical drive has died and don't want to go through the same as you guys
You can order them direct, 0870 853 1007 for the in-house spares ordering service. They also have an answering machine when the line is busy so you can leave a message of the order and they'll ring you back. Thats assuming it isn't repair flow only, which means it can be only made from available components for repairs and not to the public.

What can we do to stop them doing this to anyone else. I have give up on my monitor but i will fight on for other misfortunate customers.
To be honest the current situation with moniter repairs is diabolical. Its hit and miss with their repair times as its handled by a contractor company called Mikrolive. Things got so bad recently that the general manager of the Acer repair centres went over to them only 3 weeks ago and basically told them to get their acts together or they're pulling the plug. I think this is the root of Acer's problems, too much reliance on other companies to do their service. They don't manufactur their own parts, they don't repair all their own machines and they don't even have a courier service of their own (although that isn't totally unusual). But back to my point, what can you do? Speak to the complaints department, good bunch of folks. But if you're waiting for replacements be advised, its not considered unusual to have to wait almost a month for a unit.
 
Thanx Tal-N. I think Acer should have more folks like you (I mean those interacting with peope who got into trouble via i-net). Then they would escape much missunderstanding on behalf of their customers. Acer is not that bad indeed. My colleagues have Acer machines and none have problems (except of two of us). But when it gets to repair service then it becomes very "hot." Why doesn't Acer create a web based chat with people like you in order to speak things through or post common threads (Dell, for example, has one of those)? I believe it would help them a lot (especially when their customer service is far from being the best one). I say let them create a chat on their web!!!

PS Or at least a forum discussing common problems with their devices and (especially) their service. Then a couple of Acer people would go through it time to time and post their replies. As for now, their web is totally useless.
 
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Well while I think an online chat service isn't anywhere in the near future Esplex (thats the company which handles Acer tech support and repairs) has been in contact with the Plymouth city council about finding a second site for opening an out of warrenty premium rate service, this would be very useful because I'd say a good third of the calls coming into the current warrenty line are for trivial issues or out of warrenty machines. If those kinds of things can be handled by a different call centre it allows for teh tech cell centre to have less of a workload. Which means no more 3-4 week backlog of emails to deal with, no more 20 minute waiting times calling in and the potential to look at something like an online chat service.
 
some good stuff (at least for others).

Hi fellas,
Briefly: pressed my retailer with the law articles and they arranged an exchange of my faulty unit with Acer for a new one. Sent my computer to Acer. Three weeks later - nothing. I write them an e-mail: "oh, sir, your computer is ready and will be shipped on Monday. you will receive it on Wednsday the latest." Today is Thursday - nothing. How do I feel? - to buy an Acer computer was the biggest mistake in my life.

But there are some good news.;) Others can learn from our mistakes. Yesterday a friend of mine asked me to help her buying a laptop from a store. Guess what? She wanted to buy an Acer!!! Oh, she was so lucky that I went with her. I forced her to buy Toshiba Satelitte, even though Acer with the same specs was cheaper. So, Acer lost at least 850 euro yesterday! Now, none of my friends will buy Acer. At least, I will be sharing my testimonies with everyone. Who knows, Tal-N, maybe soon a company that offers such a support will get bankrupt? More and more people will prefer more expensive units even with the same specs just because of an image the company has.

Cheers.
 
Is it me or does this forum have a red flag on search engines for people who want to winge and moan about a company on the first post?

Yeah sure everyone is entitled to their own opinion, however to join a forum just to flame a company and give them a bad rep within your first post is imo a bit woafull to say the least. Maybe a Hello or HI before you start dissing a company is in order?

It does seem that a lot of people in this thread have as I said done a search for 'Acer' and came across us and joined purely just to get their oar in, and after doing that will never post again!

Sigh!!
 
Dear TriplexDread,

I agree with your critique and, you right, probably most of us came to the forum only because of problems we had with Acer. BUT, I would like to state a few more things that you didn't mention: there are not only complaints; there is a lot of helpfull advice in this thread, at least for me personaly. Why? 1) I received a good advice concerning the legal actions I can take in order to exchange my computer. 2) Tal-N did a really good job and actually changed my mind in some way about Acer. 3) Sharing one's experience (positive or negative) is always helpful since it can teach you something. What I want to say is this: eventhoug this thread might not contribute to hardware duscussions and seems to be a "complaint office" it is still helpfull, at least for some of us. Moreover, I go and read through other threads time to time and even posted a few threads by myself. Unfortunately, I don't feel myself compitent to participate in the most of discussions over here, but I still look through them.
So, even though most of us came because of Acer - some of us stayed because of PCReview ;).

Cheers,
Eugene.
 
I am seriously considering setting up a forum just for Acer products, it would have to be an unofficial forum of course but I think it could help a lot of Acer sufferers.

Got me thinking now.
 
At least, I will be sharing my testimonies with everyone. Who knows, Tal-N, maybe soon a company that offers such a support will get bankrupt? More and more people will prefer more expensive units even with the same specs just because of an image the company has.

I don't think this will be happening any time soon, the big corp suits gave everyone in the building a presentation recently about the company's growth (just imagine what it looks like to have 50 people in the same room who don't give a **** about how much money they're making the company while the big cheese looks enthusiastic as hell) and it seems Acer isn't doing too bad. 55% growth in revenue over 12 months, they're even expanding the plymouth operation to accomidate the fact they now have twice as many customers buying machines from last year. It makes me laugh they will now be sharing a building with Toshiba for the logisitics side of the service centre!

I think its a case that it boils down to just one thing, people remember the bad and shout about it but not the good. You type in 'Acer' or 'Esplex' into google and it sounds like the worst company on the planet. Now do it for Packard Bell, for Toshiba, for just about any company and it'll show you more of the same. Yes, things go wrong. People are only human and it sucks when you're on the recieving end. I'm not joking when I say the number of machines Acer needs to replace each month borders on just under 80 yet despite that fact the company is growing very well so something must inherantly be going well.
 
I resell computer equipment and sing acers praises, I'd say about 95% of my laptop sales have been acers, and i've only had to deal with them once in the last 2 years due to faulty speakers bundled with a pc.


the prices are great, and the addon warranty is excellent value (£99 for a 3-year laptop warranty with accidental damage!) but if support is this bad then £99 is a waste of money.
 
Acer!

Hi,

Before I post a new thread, just wondered if anyone had mouse problems with ACER laptops, specifically with the travelmate 800?

I've read some really alarming story's about esplex (and I have my own - they are a dreadful company!)

Santos1204
 
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