Was sold a LEMON, motherboard broke twice, horrible customer service
Written: Oct 08 '04
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Pros: Can run many apps. at one time, sleek look
Cons: LEMON, horrible customer service, diminished battery, weak wireless device, heavy and big.
The Bottom Line: Do not buy, or research heavily before buying. Was sold LEMON, customer service tells me to eat it, doesn't respond to letter. Big, diminished battery, useless wireless device.
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| solpsizm's Full Review: Toshiba Satellite Pro M15-S405 (PS630U-G205HV) PC ... |
The LOWDOWN: Was sold a LEMON by Toshiba. Motherboard/hard drive crashed after 6 months, was "fixed" by Toshiba, then broke down again w/ the same problem after 2 months. Countless phone conversations and letters to Customer Service and got the runaround big-time. Will NEVER buy a Toshiba notebook, computer product and probably anything with Toshiba brand on it ever again. I should've bought an IBM or Dell.
The DETAILS: I and other members of my family and co-owners purchased this and 8 other Toshiba notebooks of different models for my small business and family use b/c we heard that these were the best selling notebooks (which I later researched and found to be dubious and just hype, look here: http://www.infohq.com/Computer/best-selling-laptop-notebook.htm). Of these 8, 3 had serious hardware problems. Yes that's right, I said 3 out of 8. And I bought them directly from Toshiba. I've owned 3 notebooks (Dell, IBM) and countless desktops in the past, and while I've had software problems, software glitches and the like, none ever had hardware problems.
But 6 months after use, the computer would start whirring very loud and vibrating, then it crashed. A few of my friends who are support experts looked at it, said they've never seen anything like it. I called Toshiba, they said to try to reinstall Windows. I lost ALL my data as my friends couldn't even copy the info. b/c they said the hard drive or motherboard was so damaged. I sent it in to customer service, and while my experience was bad just like the other reviews had mentioned, it was sort of the opposite - I got it back too quickly. UPS picked it up on Friday, they got it on Monday morning, had it "fixed" by Monday afternoon (which is what the invoice said) and I got it back on Tuesday.
I felt wary about this, but had no choice and used it anyway. After a few days, I got the same whirring sound, called customer service and they said they didn't know what the problem was and that I could send it in and have it looked at, but even if they did that, that if there was a problem I would have to pay for it as the 1 year warranty expires after your first problem. They also said that since it expired I would have to give them a $200 deposit just to have them look at it, and that just to look at it would cost a good chunk of the deposit. Yeah, I'll do that... NOT. My budget not being able to afford buying an IBM or Dell, I was forced to use this. Although it whirred and vibrated constantly, no major problems until, again, 2 months went by and it crashed again, with same symptoms and errors.
I called Toshiba's "Customer" Customer Service dept., which is based in India, they said that since warranty expired, can't do anything about it. I tell them I bought a lemon, and at the very least they should fix it (not sure I would've used it, but wanted this as a courtesy at very least) and after being forwarded to the Depot dept. and back to "Customer" Customer Service, and back to Depot, getting hanged up on, back to Depot, ad nauseum... they basically tell me they can't do anything for me. When I ask to speak to manager, they said they can't do that, that the manager would tell me the exact same thing. When I then say I just want the manager's name so I could write a letter of complaint, they said they cannot do that! When I then ask for a mailing address, they give me one in the US, and I ask but you are in India right? but they say not to worry, it will get to them. So I write a long but detailed letter.
6 weeks go by w/ no response to my letter and I call up, give my case number. They at first said there's no record of my lettter. When I insist I sent it, they put me on hold for like 30 mintues, then say that the address that I sent it to was the "Corporate" Customer Service, and that they are "Customer" Customer Service. Huh? They then say that "Corporate" CS probably received it but that they cannot confirm this b/c they are on different computer systems, and that they cannot give me their contact number but not to worry, someone will get back to me.
Needless to say, no one ever did.
Oh, and about the computer's performance? Okay, I guess. The battery mysteriously started out at 5 (or 6, cant' remember for sure) hour capacity, then went down progressively to 3.5 maximum capacity for some reason, even tho I followed the manual and properly depleted it every month. (When I sent in my notebook for the HD problems, I asked them to look at it but they said I couldn't send my battery in.) The wireless device installed inside was pitifully slow, not much faster than dial-up, so I had to buy a card. Best thing I can say is you can have many apps running and speed only slowed a little.
All in all, a horrible experience with this LEMON. Like I said before, I'll never do business with Toshiba again. I suggest to stay away and buy Dell or IBM or any other brand, or at least do proper research before buying this or any other Toshiba notebook.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 2000
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Other
Processor speed: over 1000
Screen Size: 15 inches
RAM: More than 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW
Hard Drive (GB): 31-40
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solpsizm
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Reviews written: 1
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