TravelMate to Hell - Story of the 8204 damaged by protective plastic

I'd like to share my story.

(Warning, this is a tale of graphic woe. It is not intended for the faint of heart.)

It's Sunday. I order a new TravelMate 8204 from www.thenerds.net. I'd never heard of this website before, but they have a really low price on the laptop (just over $2K US after shipping charges). I find some mixed reviews online for this vendor, but I decide to trust the internet gods and order it anyway.

Tuesday comes around. Low and behold, I'm surprised with a brand spanking new 8204 delivered to my door. Wow, that was fast! I feel like I just won the lottery!

I open up the box and over the next day or so, carefully inspect the laptop and run it through its paces. Everything seems to check-out, except for the disappointing quality of the display. I research the display issues and find myself reading posts here in these forums. The issues sound like they're common. I decide to try to live with it.

It is Friday. By now I've come to accept this laptop as my baby. It will become an official extension of my being as I begin the final rites ... carefully; I remove the plastic strips of protective film that cover the various shiny surfaces. Now this is real commitment!

I am at my last strip of plastic. I begin to peel it off slowly, hoping that she will still respect me in the morning. Then it is done. The last of the plastic is off.

But wait, I notice something on the left side of the shiny bezel. The surface looks like it's marred. My first thought; It's just some adhesive gunk left-over from the protective plastic. Then I realize no, the plastic film doesn't have any gummy adhesive. I run my fingers across the bezel. My jaw drops. The glossy surface of the bezel has peeled completely off! A 1 inch x 1.5 inch rectangular area of shiny coating is now missing and stuck to the bottom of the plastic film.

[For illustrative purposes, here are pictures of my misfortune - www.nthcircle.com/tm8204/damage]

Now I couldn't believe this. How could a $2K+ laptop be made so poorly? Or are the internet gods just testing me to see if I am truly worthy? I hope for the latter. This must be a fluke. Disappointing as it is, I will simply get it replaced.

Now what?

I call Acer support and am greeted with 30 minutes of hold music. Oh well, all phone support is like this, I think to myself. It reminds me of elevator music they play when they take someone down to hell. I finally get through and explain my predicament to the minion on the other end. "Alright, let me check something," he tells me. After a few minutes, he comes back, "I'm sorry, but the warranty does not cover cosmetic defects. You need to contact the vendor for a refund or replacement of the laptop."

My stomach turns. "Um, Ok." I squeak, hoping to not anger the internet gods any further. I must comply.

I go to the vendor's website and look up RMA. I am brought to a page for online RMA requests. Great, I fill out the form, submit my information, and voila! "This product cannot be returned due to the manufacturer's return policies." I'm instructed to contact Acer directly for repairs or replacements.

WTF?! I pull up the customer service page frantically searching for a phone number. I need to talk to a human being, a demon, a troll, whatever. Anybody who will listen to my desperate cries for help. I find the phone number followed by; "We are here to help you Monday thru Friday 10:00AM to 5:00PM Eastern Time." Those are kinda short hours, I think to myself. Well, even hell needs bankers right?

I look at the clock. It's 2:30 PM ... Um, Pacific Time.

So, here I am now, a broken shell of a man. I sit trembling in the corner, rocking back and forth, and whimpering some incomprehensible curses to the gods. How have I angered them and what is to become of me?

There you have it. This is my tale of woe, of happiness snatched from me by an uncaring world and laughing internet gods.

 

I'm sorry to hear about that, I really hope things get resolved in the end...

 

Well you could try sabotaging other parts of the laptop so that it no longer works and make Acer replace the entire thing. I dont have your same problem, but maybe you can just buy a replacement piece. I'm sure the whole shiny hinge piece can be bought SOMEWHERE.

 

Too bad they don't have the same warranty option as dell coverall package. But why oh why were the fingers so itching to remove the protective plastic? It's called protective for a reason

 

jujube,

Thats not helpful. Thats shipping plastic to "protect" the surface.

hungryghost, Did you purchase a warranty with it? I checked ACER's website didn't list thenerds as an authorized dealer (doesnt mean they aren't). Anyways I would call ACER back and ***** a strorm as to being defective. Ask to speak to a supervisor. This may also work at thenerds.

Last ditch effor since you happend to document with picturess. Certainly mention you contact your States Attorney.

Good luck

 

**** sorry to hear that, I hate it so much when you call and they say call, Person A says callperson B, then person B says call person A, sheez! feel like you're getting no where.
Hopefuly you can reach someone else higher up, you should not have to settle with a non perfect new product, which is what you want, and should get.
Humz, damaging something else to get a replacement, would have to think about that carefuly.

 

Thanks for the sympathy. At this point, I'm going to wait until Monday to call the vendor and plead my case. If that doesn't work, I will call Acer again and plead some more. If that doesn't work, I'll consider going to my credit card company and seeing if they can help me.

I'm sure the platic bezel could be cheaply and easily replaced. The point is that I shouldn't have to deal with this or have to fix this myself. I paid for a new product.

Thanks again for the support. I'll keep everyone posted on this continuing saga.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm refraining from fixing the damage myself, although I think you're right, the plastic bezel is probably not a big deal to get replaced.

It's a matter of principle at this point though. I expect a brand new laptop without having to make my own repairs. Plus, I think a DIY fix may void the warranty, although I'm not sure how much protection the warranty even provides now.

Accoriding to Acer's warranty text, laptops will only be replaced under these 2 cicumstances:

A. The laptop spontaneously internally combusts. You may then ship the laptop's ashes to Acer for a replacement. If there are any remaining metal or plastic pieces, the damage is considered cosmetic and the laptop will not be replaced.

B. The laptop starts spewing out anthrax spores. In order to qualify for a replacement, somebody must have died already (preferably someone close to you, or perhaps even yourself).


I'm not making this stuff up.

 

Here's an update:

After getting the run-around and talking to various people at Acer and also the merchant, I finally got an RMA number from Acer. I was told by the merchant that if Acer issues me an RMA number, I could return the laptop to the merchant and they'd send me a replacement. So, good news! The merchant seems to be taking care of me. I was worried about that since I was unfamiliar with their operation, but they (thenerds.net) seem to be pretty good.

Also, in all fairness to Acer, the last person I spoke to did help me and agreed that this should not have happened (I think my pictures helped convince them). They offered me an RMA number and said I could ship it to their service center for repair (at their expense). I declined that and opted to ship it to the vendor instead (at my expense) so I could get a replacement instead of just repairing the same laptop.

The laptop is en route to the vendor right now. I will update everyone again once I get the replacement.

As a side note; I read in another thread that somebody else had the same problem as me with their glossy finish getting peeled off by the protective film. I thought mine was just a fluke, but this seems to indicate a serious quality issue with the plastic/finish. I'm just crossing my fingers and hoping my replacement is problem-free.

 

hungryghost glad to hear things working out so far. Will be interesting to see how the replacement is.