Acer - now you're in trouble...

By Mike King

I’m currently in the middle of something that I can’t quite believe is happening.  In today’s brand savvy, socially networked, Web 2.0 world, you wouldn’t think that any company – let alone a PC manufacturer – imagines it can get away with treating its customers like dirt.  But that’s exactly what Acer is currently doing to my daughter…

Let me explain.  Last month, my 17 year old daughter bought a new Acer laptop from www.acernotebooks.co.uk.  Within one hour of switching on her new notebook, the keyboard packed up and the screen stopped working.  She was pretty upset, particularly as it had taken her two months to save up from her Saturday job to buy it. 

She called Acer.  They agreed to repair it and sent a courier to pick it up.  After a week, she chased them – at which point, they said she’d have to pay over 400 pounds (that’s only 50 quid less than it cost to buy in the first place) to repair the faulty laptop.  Remember, this is a brand new Acer laptop that she had used for just one hour.

The strange thing is they've sent through a repair estimate (that laughably they’re expecting her to sign to authorise the repair!) that confirms the fault exactly as she described it when she first called them – but Acer now claims that a ‘mark’ has apparently appeared on the laptop, and has conveniently concluded that it must have been damaged.  However, seeing as there was no mark on it when it left our house, this alleged damage has either happened in transit back to them or at their end. 

My daughter’s got onto the Office of Fair Trading and they say she is clearly entitled to a replacement, free repair or refund.   But of course, Acer is still trying to fob her off. 

What is the matter with this company?  They’ve sold a faulty unit and are legally obliged to sort it out.  There is simply no doubt or debate about it. 

So, curious about Acer’s track record, I did a quick search – and unfortunately, it seems like this is a common ploy.  On the PC Review forum, for example, there is an Acer thread complaining about poor support that runs to 27 pages.

Acer is clearly a company with some serious problems in the areas of product quality, customer support and meeting its legal obligations.  But just how long does it think it can get away with this behaviour? 

The internet has taken ‘people power’ to a whole new level of influence – and when unhappy consumers make their voices heard online, companies have to take them seriously or suffer the consequences. 

Comments

[Phil Roberts]

Mike

Acer has no legal obligation for your daughters laptop, the company who sold it has the legal obligation this is acernotebooks, unfortunatly by sending it back to ACER this has removed any obligation on the part of acernotebooks to give you a replacement or a refund, always return any product to the supplier of the product and let them get the repair sorted out never ever rely on a manufacturers support, they are not your supplier

[Mike King]

Thanks for your feedback. You are absolutely correct, the obligation lies with the company that sold the product not the manufacturer. However, the website that my daughter bought the laptop from (www.acernotebooks.co.uk) appears to be part of Acer (though that may not be the case). Either way, after much pressure Acer has now repaired my daughter's laptop so there must be a close link.