Zepto- bad customer service / support

Hello,

this is my first posting.
And I you are thinking of buying a Zepto Laptop, you should read this first!!!
The laptops are good and fast and I´m trying to be fair!

The problem is the support!
So my never ending story begins...

First of all the controller of my DVD-ROM wasn´t working- so I sent it to Zepto. It came back from Denmark with a broken lid (of the DVD-ROM) and my hard drive with all information was replaced by a new one (of lesser quality).

After I bought a Vista certified laptop with TPM chip, I decided to use Bitlocker- bad mistake, because the mainboard crashed down. Zepto told me that all laptops have this problem!!! (Maybe some idiots, who used the TPM chip are not as worse as a press release or an announcement on the Zepto homepage- maybe it´s a case for Microsoft to konw that Vista certified laptops crashe down by using the Vista-feature Bitlocker!)

Now the left hinge of my case is broken. I opend the display like every day (without force) an heard a gentle "Click". If I open the laptop over a certain angle the display crashes down- so I´m currently working with two large books behind my laptop.
I called Zepto. I had to realize that there is no german support any more, although there is still a german form on the website! Insteat I have to call a danish number. So I called the number and an automatic voice told me another number I have to call. So I called the second number and an employee of InfoCare answered me, because Zepto offeres no direct support any more! I had to sent my informations and an error discription to them.

And than I was SHOCKED!!!

Because I need my laptop for work I bought an extra 36 month guarantee called "36 Monate Pickup & Return EU" as Zepto recommend o their homepage!
Now they are saying that I paid about 150 Euros for “The 35 monate pickup and return is only so that they will pick it up and deliver it after repair.”
As I bought my laptop a 24 month guarantee was including and my extra 36 month guarantee costed 150 extra.
I compared the prizes of current guarantees and the difference among the "24 month bring in" and the "36 month pickup and return" guarantee is 120 Euros! So I even paid 20 Euros more just for pick up and deliver services?! What an idiot would pay so much money just for potential shipping costs in case of defects and malfunkions?!

..and all I want is a working hinge... and the story goes on!!!


My opinion is, that the closing of the german support was a great mistake! The german employee was fast and answerd all my questions. He was polite and very friendly.
Now I have a german contract, written in german language, contraced under german law on an german homepage with a german support and I have to call a danish call center, who denies my guarantee- that´s realy cheeky!

So, if you are a german customer I cannot recommend Zepto, although their laptops are good!!!!!! Unfortunally many german Zepto customers are thinking the same way and there is no reaction of Zepto!
To be fair, I will post any reaction of Zepto in my case- maybe there will be an improvement.

 

dast - sorry to hear you had a bad exp with Denmark.

I second what you've said and i can't recommend zepto to a uk consumer either, in fact i wouldn't recommend it to anyone who wants to buy a laptop!

Contact : http://www.forbrug.dk/english/ . They are very good and helpful, and fast to reply.

Good luck.

 

Yeah, im willing to follow on with this assessment to be honest. Ive had nothing but trouble with my laptop, took me a good 3 months until it settled down into the useable state it is in now. I think its always best to go with a company like Dell/Asus/Acer simply becuase they are well known and have good customer services.

 

Hello,

adr_vdr- that´s a good idea!
I will contact the german consumer protection agency (Verbraucherschutzzentrale)! Maybe they can help me, because I didn´t get an answer, although I wrote to several Zepto and InfoCare (thats´s the service provider of Zepto, who take care for the support) employees.

 

dast, Infocare are not the ones answering the phones. Infocare only takes care of the physical repairs. Theres another company doing the åhone support, which company that is I do not know.

 

Can we please be clear on which Zepto wee are talking about... Zepto USA loses sales all the time because of posts like these and its a little unfair

 

Just make a statement on your website, that Zepto DK is the problem, not Zepto USA ^^

 

Problem is that people read these problems on forums, etc. and if they read something negative, they will not go to the website as there is no need to as they more than likely lost interest in the product or brand. God Bless

 

@Zepto USA - that is the problem. Zepto as a company should have a single image and a global "attitude" if they pretend to be global. You won't hear dell,apple,sony customers complaining about a particular region, if they have problems they have it with dell, apple, sony, period.

Zepto is too fragmented, no one takes responsibility if something goes wrong, dodgy mentality.
I cant contest that you guys are doing a good job over there in the US, but overall zepto as a company doesn't have a good image. (at least what i can see)

 

I think people can and do recognise that customer service may vary from region to region. Because i might have an issue say with Sony in the UK (this is just an example) this does not mean to me that Sony in America or say in Japan would give me exactly the same service.
I think image is important for a company but you should also keep in mind that customer service can vary from region to region.

I can understand both of the points being made though.

 

UPDATE: 03.09.09

I wrote to every email adress of InfoCare and Zepto, I knew- NOTHING!!!!

They just ignore me. I explained my problem and asked for help, again. I attached my bill (incl. my 36 month guarantee) and NOBODY answered.



@ ZeptoUSA:
The German support was very good, too- but was closed! Maybe, you are the next one. So every customer should know, what will happen, if they have to contact Zepto DK! Furthermore, YOU have the power to talk with them!!!! Zepto DK ignores customers, so maybe they are reponsive to your pressure.

 

We arent the same company... We cannot pressure anyone into anything... We are a complete and separate entity from the rest of Zepto. This is why we are different. We also handle all of our own warranty issues etc...
I can and will try to help but, I cannot guarantee anything.

Also.. to everyone else:

The reason some of the other Zeptos are closed/closing is because people arent buying from us as much as they were. One reason is the economy, another is because people assume our customer support is terrible.. so what happens is the good Zepto distributors like Germany close down despite trying to do the right thing.

The guys here at Zepto USA depend on myself, Dennis, Edwin etc.. to sell laptops in order for everyone to earn a living and I have had to lay off some of those very same people because sales are down. Now I know for a fact because both myself and my guys here have been told "sorry, I am going to buy something else because Ive read about your customer service over at xxxxxxx forum.com". So please do not make rough generalizations about "Zepto's customer support".

 

What date did you write to Zepto Denmark?
Also i bet the support pressure is different in Denmark than it is other places Zepto sells their products as they are the main company and have sold the most units, thereby also having the most support pressure.
Just because they don't answer within 2 hours or 2 days doesn't mean they ignore you. I've had very different answer times from Zepto during the years I've had products from them depending on how much they need to investigate before they contact you. What I have seen has been from 1-2 hours answer time up to 1,5-2 weeks answer time on a complicated question.
Even 2 weeks answer time is not a lot compared to some of the other companies I've asked questions over the years. I've tried contacting TDC (a danish phone/internet provider), got an answer i couldn't use for anything after 2,5 months of waiting.

 

Hey there, I've also had a problem with the german support closing down. I called them a few times, and, well, I asked a question about a formality on the service sheet (the sheet where you point out what the problem with the laptop is) because it was in English (I was fine with that, I just wanted to know one thing about a box to fill in) and the guy on the line basically told me (in a very defiant manner) that he can't answer my question about their very own service sheet and that I should learn English.
So I can not exactly say that the german customer service was good (the other times it was ok, their e-Mail support was awesome, they replied within minutes, even in the middle of the night!) , but at least it was existent (well, what good that is - I don't know).

However, I can highly recommend the Livechat support on the Zepto website. I always used that when I needed it and it was quick and friendly. It's usually available on working days from 9:00 on. It is in English, though, but I guess that's no problem for you.


I've had my Zepto Mythos in for a repair twice so far, once with InfoCare and once without. The first time, without InfoCare, was a blast. I sent it in, and one and a half weeks later, it was back, safely packaged and nicely repaired. Awesome!
The second time, with InfoCare, was a steaming pile of ... you know what. It took them more than one month to replace my motherboard, and checking the status of the repait online was also kind of screwed up. One day, it said that it was finished and shipped back to me, but didn't arrive back here. So I asked where my laptop was, and 3 days later, they told me they did a mistake and it took them another week or two to repair my laptop. Ok, everyone makes mistakes, but waiting one and a half months is absolutely unbearable. I really, really hope you get yours back quicker.

@ZeptoUSA: Kudos to you, I wish more reps of companies such as yours would be this active in forums, because this is the place where more and more people make their decisions about buying a certain brands electronic device. Sorry that your european pendant's reputation hurts your branch so much

 

Yes, I'll vouch for Dave at ZeptoUSA. We've had many phone conversations and emails have always been answered. My requests for assistance have never been ignored... thanks Dave.

Shopped around quite a bit before deciding to purchase a G14B. It fulfills all my requirements with gusto. To my knowledge, no other laptop can match it.

 

Some of the Zepto Denmark staff used to be active here but pulled out because they were bombarded with too many problems. My guess is they were frustrated because they were unable to come up with solutions because they didn't have the authority.

John

 

Update 06.10.09

Today I got in contact with "Josepe" via Zepto support hotline (after several tries).
He said my 36-month guarantee is accepted, but InfoCare will decide whether it is a warranty case or not. So I have to send my laptop to them. If there are any external damages, it´s not a warranty case. If it´s a manufactoring failure, they will repair it.
Because there are NO external damages at all, I´m sure they have to repair my laptop.
Otherwise I have to pay about 80 Euros for their expenses.
Right now, I´m waiting for an email confirmation, because I will only send my laptop to Denmark, when I have a written confirmation!!!

 

No offence meant but that's just the normal procedure.

If you doubt that some harm will happen in the shipping, take a couple of pictures of your laptop just to be shure.

 

Of course I took pictures of my laptop, the hindge and the package- just in case...

 

What is it exactly you want in writing? I mean no company is going to promise you in advance they will fix your computer without examining the damages, your only choice is to send the computer to the workshop and get it evaluated there. It seems to me like you are under the same conditions as the rest of us notebook owners regarding warranty etc. ?

 

Update: 12.10.09

My laptop is on the way to Zepto (via UPS).


@ blackwebdk
All I want is a written confirmation that they are not longer dening my extra guarantee (as InfoCare).

So my problem is that they repair my laptop and send me a bill, although it´s a warranty case- that´s the reason I want a written confirmation.
But until today I got nothing!!!

 

Ive never seen a company that would issue that statement on paper/email whatever.

Also you say you bought it in Germany? As far as i can read around the web they had their own repair centre in Germany which seems to indicate that they where a retailer selling and repairing Zepto products like Zepto USA and ZeptoShop in NL. In that case they can have issued a guarantee/warranty extension which Zepto has nothing to do with. That basically means that if the retailer bankrupts or closes, then the money on that extended warranty would be lost. I know that's the case here in Denmark. If you buy a product from a retailer and that retailer closes you have no way to get your money back, let alone get your product repaired if the retailer had issued an extended warranty and the supplier doesn't have that.

What kind of service had you payed for? i know that there has been different pickup guarantees around the world with the different retailers, which basically just means that the product gets picked up from your address at no charge within that period but doesn't mean it gets repaired at no charge. But I have no further knowledge other than what I have been able to find by searching

 

The German Zepto reseller still exists!
Also the German Webside referrs to a German adress- but if you need any service or support, you have to call Zepto DK.
Therefore ther German reseller is not insolvent.
If the Zepto Deutschlang GmbH is legally ligquidate, under German law Zepto DK have to take over all warranties.
In any case, Zepto DK is reasponsible for my case!!!

 

@kadett2k8,

i think, you have realy the wrong Informations about
1. the Problem of dust
2. the thrue about german Zepto Company

1. dust have order, pay and get in his Orderconfirmation from german Zepto Company, the 36 Month Warranty for his own Notebook. What Zepto/InfoCare him say, he never hat buy the Warranty and dont accept his right to let repair it of Zepto cost. What Zepto/InfoCare mean, he only pay 150€ more, only for shipping costs between the 2. year and the 3. year. That is 100% NOT RIGHT.

so we come to the second point:

Zepto GmbH with his office in Wolfen Germany, was an 100% Doughtercompany of Zepto Computers AS. The GmbH was work as an stand alone Company on german Law and Rights.
Owner and Founder of the GmbH , with his Name and Sign on the Company Agreement was Mr. Morten Kjearsgard (after he leave Zepto it was Mr. Lasse Frost - founder and owner of Zepto Computer AS in Danmark).
Zepto GmbH was never an Retailer or Reseller of Zepto Notebooks, he was ZEPTO. All what was offer, made and say, was on internal Laws of Zepto DK.

So you can see, all what dast say and try to do, is get his Rights for Thinks he pay for. And, the german GmbH is exist all the time, only the Office is closed and his Employes are fired, to save more Money .

Many thanks to read

 

Does anyone have a contact emailadress for zepto in denmark? Because they have absolutely no emailadres avaiable atm. If i mail to [email protected] then i get a mail that i need to call them which is very expensive in belgium. Or if i got an rma problem then i should contact infocare in dänisch (not in english) so i'm screwed....

edit: ok i got screwed again: i rang the technical department of zepto, they said to ring the sales department so i rang that department too. That dude gave me the number of the technical department again. But i noticed it to late. I hate zepto grrrrr. Is there any decent person i can contact? Does anyone have an emailadres? Or did they just ban all emailadresses and go back to the '80s?

 

I had my lappy in for repair in feb 08, everything went smooth and was fixed for free. Took about 2 weeks or so in total I believe, was some failure of some circuit on the mobo so I assume they had to replace it completely. I had to send it in to Hedehusene, Denmark.

[email protected] was the email they were using at that point, I cant find it anymore at their swedish site so I assume they might not be providing email support anymore, but I would assume their live chat would speak english so maybe you can use that?

When I described my issue to them, the guy I was dealing with told me up front there would be no charges (maybe it was so obvious the error was hardware malfunction not caused by the user) and he sent me a shipping bill.

The name of the guy I was dealing with was Peter (leaving out his surname for privacy reasons). Didnt there use to be a Peter here working for Zepto DK?

I've got no idea if their service/support has been that significantly degraded over the year and a half ago I was in touch with them or if its very much a region to region issue and Zepto Sweden happen to be good.

 

@Anguslord - try these : [email protected], [email protected] , [email protected], [email protected]

 

thx i tried rep already, he solved my last rma issue, but he didn´t respondm i´ll try the others

 

adr_vdr, why post personal email adresses on a forum. Nice way to attract spambots which means even more answer time because of dodgy emails if not caught by spam filter.

Anguslord, the rep mail can have very different answer time depending on how many people are trying to contact Zepto sometimes it takes a few hours to get an answer. Other times it takes up to a week og a week and a half.

 

Ok i got an email from rep. adr vdr feel free to remove the mailadresses if you think a spambot will take them. I called them again and now i got an emailadres where i send my rma information to. I'm so gonna get on their spamlist ^^. The unnoying part is that everyone wants their computer fixed asap, since you need it on a daily basis. And if you can't contact them you get frustrated

 

Update 22.10.09

My Laptop is back and the hinge is repaired!

As far as I can see it´s at no charge (unfortunatly all remarks are in danish- I´m a german customer, who must communicate in english and get danish answers - why?).

Therfore I have to say that the repair was very fast!!!

 

What does it say in danish? I'll be able to translate it.