Acer Ferrari Story

I am new to this forum, in many ways I wish I had discovered it before I purchased my last laptop computer, an Acer Ferrari 4000. However, I do want to share the experience I had with Acer and the Ferrari 4000 in the hope that others may not repeat my mistake.

Before I start a wall of text, I want to express my recommendation: do not purchase any Acer laptop.

I purchased an Acer Ferrari 4000 on January 6, 2006. This machine's primary use was for engineering calculations and gaming. On May 7, 2006 the unit had video problems ( I could give the screen joy spasms by tapping the keyboard lightly) and the blue tooth unit died. I sent the unit back to Acer, free of charge, and they promptly repaired it and sent it back (so far so good).

On November 28, 2006 the unit failed again, with the exact same issues. This time I was informed I had to pay to ship it back to Acer. I was upset but sent it out. I received the machine back, only to find the DVD drive now produced a low frequency hum and the reapir technicians had wiped my hard drive againsy my instructions. I called to send the unit back, but was told I would have to pay for shipping again. Knowing it would break again and looking to save money I decided to deal with the DVD drive by not using it and transferring all files/installs across my home network.

As predicted the machine died again with the exact same issues on April 16, 2007. I called customer support, and learned that I had to pay shipping again but also that Acer would have covered shipping on the DVD drive issue from December. I sent the unit out to Acer on May 4 after spending two weeks trying to get Acer to cover my shipping.

It is now June 26, the unit is still with Acer (52 days and counting) and parts have come in dead twice already. The customer support has been less than helpful, and I have two complaints open with the Better Business Bureau.

If anyone is considering buying an Acer please at least buy the extended warranty. Although it would better inmy opinion not to purchase their computers in the first place.

If I can answer any questions or anyone else has had similar issues with Acer I would love to hear from you. Thanks!

 

Ouch...I feel for you man It seems kinda similar to my Sony experiences, except for the fact that there wasn't a highly extended/delayed repair like yours. I was considering an Acer Ferrari at one point in time, but not anymore...

 

That sounds sorta like what I had during the month of February. I sent it back 3 times and on the 4th time I demanded a replacement unit. Quite simple to do actually. Where is your repair depot? Did you not buy the Total Notebook Protection warranty? If not, then you technically have to pay for shipping since you are beyond the warranty's lifetime.

 

I didn't purchase the top level plan (protection against physical damage), but only the failure plan since I am fairly responsible with my use of the machine. The warranty is therefore good on the machine for 4 years, for any parts failure during regular use.

True, according to the service contract Acer is not obligated to pickup the machine from me, although they used to do pickups I was told "It changed to cut costs, whis is why you saw a discount on your laptop" Of course, I never saw the discount since they already had my money, some hypothetical customer did. Regardless, I felt after sending the unit back 3 times since purchase for the same issue it would have been the least they could have done.

I'm on the demanding a comparable replacement unit step at this point as well. Also since the machine is absolutely vital for me to complete my thesis, I'm also on the "eating the bill to buy a new laptop from someone else" step too.

 

I am sorry to hear you have had such a bad experience with acer notebooks , seems like you got a lemon. But you have to remember all manufacturers have lemons so who is to say if you bought a HP or IBM you wouldn't get the same issues with one of their lemons. My brother tells me some horror stories about Dells from time to time.

Anyway this is my second acer in a row and I have never had one single problem with either one of them (knock on wood ) . My old travelmate is 3 and a half years old now and it still works like it did when I first got it. My current aspire 5102 works like a dream no issues what so ever.

Acer is unfortunately going to fight you to the end if you want them to give you a replacement notebook but just keep at them, hope something works out for you .

 

Isnt there software out there to simulate many months of wear and tear, that stress out the core components on a pc. I think everyone with a new notebook should use that to weed out weak components.
Apprentely this is what is used by most pc manufacturers in testing products that have components replaced. If I remember correctly, they give out trials of some of this software in pc magazines.

If anyone can tell me where to get such software, I would be much oblidged. I haven't had much luck as I can't remember exactly what this type of program is called.

*I found the type of program I think Im looking for
http://www.7byte.com/

 

Acer is relatively new to notebook manufacture. They are listening to consumers and improving their products in leaps and bounds. Their service backup in many countries is pretty crappy. That will change too.

Me personally, I love my 5684WLMi. I have had absolutely no problems. Yes, the notebook runs hotter than I would like but it's perfomance is absolutely stunning.

Give Acer another year maybe and they will be able to sort out QC issues and provide notebooks with both reliability and blistering performance.

And lemons happen with all mass produced equipment- be it cars,computers etc. Unfortunately, people rarely praise things that work well. But if a problem occurs they will make it known. To all. Thats life I guess.

 

Acer is a company in its adolescence, and while I wouldn't buy from them right now, in 2 or 3 years time I am sure they will be on par with the other major manufacturers. They have a lot of good ideas, but their QA/QC has not yet come into its own.

 

im the same as EVO still using a four year old travelmate 230.its old the battery is dead the keys and touch pad look worn.but hay it still works great.and my new aspire 7110 with some new ram ***im in love**

 

Hey Hoggie

Good to see ur still around. Changed my username from Theo Schultz to TeeJay 44. Same Avatar though.

Regards,
Theo

 

alright mate hows things ?

alls well in the hog house.just getting shot of all my old pc's.

 

Alls well here just bloody cold and it's very late. Don't delete pics by mistake!!

Speak to you tomorrow

Cheers,
Theo

 

see you mate it late here to so.....see you around

 

well acer laptop do have they issue and odd bad lemon laptop as Evoltion say

they not that bad i happy with mine they support in canada is pretty good

we have sold quite few to customer well best top of line laptop they seem to be good value / profomance for the money


most issue see where people breaking them

also hard disk failing cdrom dieing bad ram winch cound happy to any laptop maker

 

LoL, I thnk you jsut hijacked my thread...


My issue isn't so much with the performance as with the poor customer supported and complete incompetence on repairs.

I agree I got a lemon it seems. However, the same component failing three times is a little rough. Also, when Acer cannot even acquire quality replacement parts I draw the line, and say is it a lemon or is it a systemic issue?

I purchased a new laptop yesterday to replace the piece of junk Acer. Also, I can tolerate failures in components, but when customer support is rude to say the least, completely unhelpful and keeps my machine (which I was relying on to complete my Masters thesis as now I sit in a computer lab for 6 hours a day on campus watching simulations run) for over two months....

Andy you are right, it can happen to any computer. However, the way Acer has handled it is pretty awful.

 

calypso2ts, I feel your pain. And that's the thing, when the problems start, does the company deliver the service and goods? My experiences with Acer say they are unable.

 

I agree with you on the shipping, why should we have to pay to send it back if it needs repair?

 

I feel your pain Calypso....I have had the opposite experience with my ferrari 4005, i.e. no problems, great screen, the performance is on par with my son's A8js in CS:S in real world play. So I've never had to experience Acer 'support'. But based on their clunky and often out of date website, I can just imagine. HST, my next gaming rig will probably be Asus or Sager. Hmmm...unless I see a Ferrari 6000

 

Sadly Acer has horrible support in the US. At Taiwan there are Acer service stations everywhere that can fix the laptop speedily.

 

That's a shame really. I have really been impressed with this Ferrari 4005...I've owned it since Nov 05. The screen looks much better gaming than my son's A8js, and he agrees.

 

Judging by my experience with their products, and the experience others have had i'd say this is a POS company. Yes, they may produce some very good laptops that work most of the time. But thats not all that makes a company. Not worth the headaches that may ensue in my opinion.

 

Amazingly, Acer emailed me to say they have sent my laptop back from being repaired, they had it less than 2 days. Hopefully it is all working again when I get it.