My first e-support message to ACER ..

I have a specific problem , related with the known ACER MBR - Alt F10 & eRecovery.

My laptop can easily called as Dinosaur this days ... (age )

I got my laptop used , and the previous owner, had messed it up .
I am out of any warranty, but this fact did not stopped me,
from "testing my luck" ( Greek expression ) with the ACER e-support .

I am eager to see with my eyes, their reaction .


You are free to gossip , and educate me , about their usual response time,
success stories , or what ever you had in mind.

My message to them , was explanatory - honest - and simple in understanding, showing clearly that the customer did not push accidentally the wrong button.

I had register my laptop too , and got an Customer code.

I have send this message this weekend , so i expect, that the in first working days i would get an respond.

It looks that all the e-messages travel to Acer - Euro .. does any one knows the physical location of them ? ( curiosity mostly )


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Acer support varies radically from country to country.

Where I live, Acer is recommended by almost everybody I speak to both in business and otherwise.

The service levels and backup are second to none. The service team know what they are doing here and strive to keep consistently high performance levels.

Luckily, I have not needed to use or prove their services yet. My Acer has been just too reliable so far. Says it all.

Cheers,
Theo

 

Well, in the EuroVillage ... ACER looks to had shrink the customers support , and there is no local ACER offices in a country level.
Partners only.

The localized WEB pages its just a modern delusion ,
that many companies use.

What i am try to say is , that in Europe , the customer support is the same no matter were you live.

The quality of ACER , still unknown at my eyes .


Speaking of support at the EuroVillage , i had an superb experience with Olympus ( Digital cameras ) and their department in Portugal.

PLEXTOR - APC - HIPER (psu) , does offer good services too .

About notebooks in Greece , Toshiba - IBM - Sony haves low or minimal support.

As about non branded laptops sold by E-shop and electrical equipment chains , there is the most laughable stories .

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Got my reply .. first working day .


About the MBR = Send it over we will fix it for you ( Not free)

I asked also about upgrading hard drive : 100GB , max capacity that you can use.... send it over we will make it with ACER parts .

And , they send me also about five dealers to contact , all 300Km away from my location.

I do not know what to say ..
Zero collaboration , to troubleshoot my problem.

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Well i had send another message , hopping that i would get some collaboration this time ..


I had read messages in this forum, reporting that ACER send them files, in ISO format , to repair their laptops ..

I do not know, if to be on warranty or not , makes any difference , of how ACER evaluates their customers.

My first impression so far with them are neutral.

 

Ok , new answer arrived , next working day .

ACER : 1) The file system recovery - MBR , its our job ..

ACER : 2) The larger usable hard drive, tested by as, are 100 GB,
no warranty for other sizes.

At list they reply fast , other than that i am disappointed , because behind of any word of them , its a hidden message saying ..." Give as your money ".

Well i have few money , and i prefer to keep them.
I will not feed ACER in every hard drive exchange or MBR destruction from virus or other reason.

But i admit , they had set up, one smart trap , to collect money.

 

They answered me with the same crappy "answering machine".

I've requested the proper patch for the fingerprint scanner, and they are bull****ing me that's because I've made a up-grade. **** you *******s, I did a clean install of Vista x64!

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=290020

 

I stolen an interesting part of your post ... hope that you do not mind ..

In Greece we have 0800XXXX ACER phone lines , but at list they do not charge by the minute .

1€ per minute ?? What are they ??? , Lines with Hot girls uses this rates.

Oh my .. they are unbelievable pathetic.

 

The sad part is that they hire idiots that have no clue about your problem, so you'll have to explain him and be charged lots of money just to make him understand. An then... he will tell you: Your problem have no solution. Sorry, try somewhere else.

I just need a small registry patch... that's it.

 

Ok , i am a troubleshooter too , freelancer .
And i do have a partial understanding, about their methods.

ACER had try to simplify the software repair issues , by throwing on its laptop,
a simple hard drive image.

And thats it..


The smart customer , or the trained freelancer who will demand one more advanced solution , he will stay empty handed .

Simple as that .


The famous NAP erestore image its all that they had.
Drivers and software belongs to other companies and ACER just does the listing.


Above in their reply , they told me about ACER parts .. referring to a simple hard disk !! Oh no , i am not interested about their pile of 100GB hard drives, that they have in stock , for more than a year.

I accuse ACER , because it overestimates their called , "offered services".


The bright side ..
They did throw a tip to me, under the table , but i have not test it yet.

I had notified them, that I have replace the ACER MBR with the (Star-Tools BootStar).
Known drawback : I have lost in windows , the ACER restore-backup panel .
And they was aware of that !!

The first info that they told me, with out to ask for it was .... to use my "DVD system restore to default ".
And start a recovery ... but my system is healthy , and i did not realized why they told me so.

I have something in mind , but i need to test it first ...
( The recovery with the DVD or CD's , it makes operational the erestore , to the point of making a simple backup of your system) .

Possible Conclusions :
1) ACER MBR good : D2D + backup + DVD system to default = All acer backup utilities working.
2) No ACER MBR : Backup only - active ( if system was restored by DVD)
3) No ACER MBR : No restore - or backup (if system was restored by D2D and MBR replaced afterwards ) .

Translation of all the above ... ACER tried to help me, by minimizing the side effects of my problem .

 

No more email help ... lets go live phone cal

A girl answer the phone .....
Girl = Tell me your problem ....
Me = I want a Technician ....
Girl= Its ok tell me your problem ...
Me = MBR bla bla bla .... 4 minutes ...
Suddenly .... line cuts with out notification male voice ... what is the problem ?

&^*$$$^&%

I started over again .... MBR bla bla bla delay at boot ... flickering cursor.... 6 minutes bla bla ... MBRwrwin.exe ... God commented ... You are an expert !! No S!!!T

And the God spoken
Check your HD for bad sectors .... with the manufacture software ....
Me = Hmm ok
Me = what about the MBR ??
God = 77€ OS recovery at our office .

Me = about the largest HD that i can use ?
God = There is a special tool ( with out name ) that detect the max HD size that the Bios let you use ( Translation : 48-bit LBA Bios info tool) .

God = Take one 160GB , and its possible to use about 125 GB formated space. ( Translation : If Bios does not support 48-bit LBA ) .

The Greeks between them have other codes of communication , but he did not break any of the ACER rules ... Who are : Keep the customer blind.

15 Minutes on mobile phone ... about 6€ loss .
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I've managed to have a nice discussion with them by mail. They say that the TPM platform is the problem... and the fingerprint scanner must be disabled before switching to x64. I doubt, but I don't have time to do it now. So, let's see if his "fix" works.

 

Well in my story, i will move alone .

I just ordered my new Hard drive .
WD1600BEVE 160GB 2.5'' ATA Scorpio. (55.89 €

And i will take my chances with it .
At list i know what to do , and what to avoid.

By simply imagining , the speed deference between the old 40GB and the new WD , my soul feels all ready happier .

 

Ok, i have very good news .

I solved the problem with the boot delay and the ACER MBR , accidentally !!!

I had exchange the old DVD drive with a new , from the start that i got the laptop.

The old Pioneer was stored in a safe box , and the new Panasonic installed.

With the MBR issue i got nuts , and the only thing that i did not test , was to install the old DVD RW .

I did so , and the curse lifted , the system boot normally , erecovery works as it should , D2D and from Windows , a healthy system in all .


I am a criminal because i replaced one old working DVD-RW with a new ??

Are ACER tech support unfamiliar with this issue ??? , if they do not know , or do not like to assist , they worth to be flamed .


The Panasonic drive , are compatible with windows and Bios , and not with the ACER MBR !!!

Give as a break ACER .... The only ACER parts , are the shinny logo at the top cover .

I am really MAD right now , and nothing in earth can make me feel positive about the FANTASTIC ACER Customer SUPPORT TEAM ...
And the imaginary ACER Engineers , that all that they do , are to insert recovery CDs .

Thats a Shame for ACER Europe & ACER Greece .

At list the laptop are now healthy , and in general its a good device.
I have no complains from the device .