Notebook manufacturer support stories.

N

nihilist

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Hey chaps.

I'm thinking of buying a new notebook, I want a Thinkpad T61 but they're not in the country just yet.

If I don't go the Thinkpad route, I am not sure what brand I'll go for. I know all brands have their pros and cons.

What I'd like to know from you guys, what has your support been like by your manufacturer? While under warranty, what did they do to fix the problem, did you have to pay for transport, parts, did they fetch it, how long it took, how they treated you etc;

I'm not terribly interested in opinions about make+models, but support (after dealing with Acer's unwilling and uncaring staff) is something I am going to take as a top priority.

So let's hear all your stories :)
 
Dell are by far the best after sales support in my opinion. Through my career I have logged about 2-300 calls with dell and have never been let down by them.
 
Do not get an HP!!!!

The power brick on mine just went after a few months, now I have to send the entire laptop back to them for 'up to a week' so that they can replace the power supply. It's crazy!
 
Deenem said:
Do not get an HP!!!!

The power brick on mine just went after a few months, now I have to send the entire laptop back to them for 'up to a week' so that they can replace the power supply. It's crazy!
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Agreed.
Bought one, faulty DVD Writer, took it in - took hours in a queue, they took it, week later it was fetched - no one even knew what was done to fix the problem.
Two days later we get a call to come fetch the notebook....

Lousy useless "service".
 
JUGGY said:
Dell are by far the best after sales support in my opinion. Through my career I have logged about 2-300 calls with dell and have never been let down by them.
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2-300 requests for support? That doesn't instil brand confidence for some reason.
 
depends how many you buy bwana.

If I tell you our rma system is now up to 29500 repairs, and we started it 5 years ago, does that mean lousy quality?
no, it doesnt, because you dont know the volume. It may be the industry standard 1-3%.
 
bwana said:
2-300 requests for support? That doesn't instil brand confidence for some reason.
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I was looking after the hosting environment at X when I lived in Jozi. About 1500 servers plus desktops and laptops and backend IT equipment.

Total of about 2500 machines. That was only X for 4.5 years. I also worked at Y for 3 and they had about 500 Dell machines.

This also included following up on orders, deliveries, warranty callouts etc. Their after sales service altogether is great.

Ranging from SAN's to Poweredge servers, laptops, desktops etc.

You get the picture.
 
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does dell have a descent 12.1 inch ?
1280X800 res,
and good battery life..
with docking station ?
 
bwana said:
2-300 requests for support? That doesn't instil brand confidence for some reason.
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Exactly what I was thinking

Would love to help, but I've never had to phone support for my Apple :p

EDIT: I have been using Compaq/HP now for the last 9 years, without any problems ... ask The_Librarian if he is still happy, he's got one of my 2002 (I think) models
 
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Thanks for the stories guys, keep them coming.

Particularly want to hear stories about Asus/LG/Gigabyte and Toshiba noteboooks too. The more the merrier.
 
My mate has an HP notebook. The DVD writer packed up just out of warranty ( 13 months ). ICSS wanted R2,600 for a replacement part ( no fitting - just the part ). Luckily we found an equivalent from Mustek for about R700.
 
I can echo the positive response from Dell. Also managed a sizeable network and Dell's support response was ALWAYS on time and effective.

Asus/LG/Gigabyte - no experience.

As for Toshiba - stay far, Far away. They held a faulty notebook for nearly 3 months before returning it (meaning I had to collect it) ... and they hadn't done a damn thing to it. Highly, highly embarrassing to tell the client "Yes, it's finally ready" only to tell them a few hours later "No, it's not". And then they took another week to actually do the repair ... wucking fankers.
 
I recently bought an Acer laptop and although I had hassles with the machine, Acer's support was really good. When I got the laptop I noticed a black spot in the middle of the screen, I realised it was dead pixels. I called Acer, they collected the laptop and replaced the screen, no questions asked.

Two weeks later the laptop suddenly started rebooting by itself; heat issue. They replaced a thermal fan and the motherboard. No questions asked.

Yes, I was frustrated that I had to send a brand new laptop in for repairs (they collect, send to Joh'burg, send back 2 days later) within the first month of using it but my experience with Acer support has been brilliant.

If support is important to you, ensure you check the warranty conditions of the product you're buying. With Acer they collect, fix and deliver. But if you're in Cape Town like me, that means you'll be without the laptop for a few days while they fix it in Johannesburg, since the support centre is located there.
However, I believe with Dell for example, you get an on-site warranty so they fix it at your premises, while you wait. That saves a lot of time.
 
I also had good experiences with Acer although the same spec machine from Dell was quite a bit quicker and just felt smoother to use. The motherboard on the Acer packed up so I gave them a call. They sent a courier to my work to collect and withing a week I had the notebook back with no issues. Free repair and no fuss.

Oh yes, if you go for Acer make sure you request the extra 2 year guarantee. It's about a thousand rand If I remember correctly but there is no substitute for peace of mind.
 
I HATE notebooks.

Except the cheap Sahara ones, because they're so damn cheap you can buy two of them. And then if one dies, you can just swop the hard drive and there you go again, and use it while the other one is in for repair. Notebooks repairs always take too long because of proprietary parts. You can usually have a desktop running fine again in half a day...
 
supersunbird said:
I HATE notebooks.

Except the cheap Sahara ones, because they're so damn cheap you can buy two of them. And then if one dies, you can just swop the hard drive and there you go again, and use it while the other one is in for repair. Notebooks repairs always take too long because of proprietary parts. You can usually have a desktop running fine again in half a day...
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That's why I go for Dell, next business day repair. They come to you and fix it.
 
I've been using an al-cheapo Fujitsu-Siemens laptop for two years now - and it's still going strong...

Bought it @ Makro for R5500. :)
 
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