Awful problems with a Sager notebook

Hey guys,

I'm really just posting this to get some feedback - as you can see from my sig I'm one of the "other lot", the guys that went with Alienware, but I've had Sager in the past. I'm a journalist for a few magazines, and I've also got a growing YouTube channel. Another freelancer I work with is just going through hell with his Xotic supplied Sager and I really wanted to hear what your experiences have been like before I just go ahead and publish an article on this.

He bought the machine about 2.5 months ago, and it's been problem after problem. It's got dead pixels, the USB ports on one side of the machine stopped working soon after delivery, the hinges feel terribly stiff/awkward. But, the machine worked, and he didn't want to have to stop work to go through the 2+ week hell of sending it in, and waiting for work to be done. Xotic have never been that helpful in his emails to them asking about these issues, so he figured he'd put up with it and continue working.

Now, one of the drives has failed (raid 0) making the machine next to useless so he's faced with having to get something done about it. He reached out to them (third or fourth time I think, including all the other issues) and asked for a refund or replacement. Their response? Nope - because of Sager's policies (?? Sager's policies...?) he can't get a refund at all and has to send the machine in. Even though it's just 2.5 months old and has other issues that he's communicated with them about, they also won't consider the fact that this machine might just be a lemon, and replace it completely. Their line right now is that he needs to send the whole machine in, then it will be checked by Sager themselves, and God knows how long that will all take.

He's begged around for friends and colleagues to lend him hardware so that he can keep on writing and working, but to me it just seemed pretty crap service from a company that I'd always heard was one of the better ones.

Thoughts? Is this standard for Xotic (and thus worthy of a "Stay the hell away from these people" article somewhere)?

Thanks guys

Froogle

 

Could you elaborate more on the details of the emails? It's hard to say who's at fault from what you have just written. But based on other customers here, there have been many many positive and satisfied customers who has purchased from Xotic. And for those who have had problems, have had their issues resolved by Xotic.

Probably most if not all manufacturers have a warranty period where you are able to send it back for a full refund. For Sager it is 30 days. Once pass the 30 days, you are stuck with the machine and if there are issues, you have to send it in, there is no refund. From what you said, he had problems in the beginning and honestly he should have sent it back and gotten a brand new Sager laptop.

I did not buy my laptop from Xotic, but from Powernotebooks. My first Sager laptop had problems and I had to send it in to Sager (I was still under the 30 days refund period at this time). It took about a week from me sending it and receiving the laptop. Then about a week later, I had more problems with it and at that point, I have spoken to my Reseller, he told me that since I'm within my 30 days refund period, he gave me the option of either returning it back and getting a new laptop or getting this one fixed. I opted to returning it and getting a new laptop.

What I'm trying to say is, this is a standard procedure through all the Resellers and Sager/Clevo. And from what you've written, unless Xotic was truly not helpful and/or rude in the emails, I think they have helped you as much as they could on their end. If they suggested your friend to send it in for repair and he opts not to, then it's not their fault.

To be honest, I'm very satisfied with the way my reseller have dealt this issue with me. They are very quick in responding my emails. Their technical support was very helpful. I'm very impressed with Sager and the Resellers. When I called Sager's technical support, I would be actually talking to an actual tech, not some Joe Blow from out of the country that is just following step-by-step troubleshooting guides. I've never had this kind of great support when I had my HP laptop.

 

Can you change the name of this thread, or point out that it is not Xotic's fault. All the problems you mentioned are laptop problems and should be directed to the manufacturer. The only other thing is did he try to contact Sager or Xotic to fix his machine? He should have a 1 yr parts warranty that will fix any problems. Also, Xotic, as I just recently said in another post is a reseller, they deal with the customer service so you do not have to deal with the manufacturer (and trust me, you don't). As vNAK just stated, XoticPc also tries to resolve issues that occur.

 

We have basically nothing to go on from what you posted regarding whose fault it is, etc. Sorry to hear about the problems nonetheless.

Sounds like a defective notebook assuming it was treated normally to begin with. If that's the case, you should CALL Sager or Xotic and get it fixed under warranty. There should not be any issues doing that.

 

I'm wondering where the real issue is here. You're upset with Sager (though you directed it at Xotic for some reason) because they have a 30 day refund policy that your friend agreed to when they bought the machine? And also agreed to send the machine in for service in the event of an issue after said 30 days but doesn't want to?

I'm also curious as to why you feel a singular issue warrants an article blasting a reseller, if you bought an Alienware via Newegg that had issues would you then condemn newegg? Even when you still have your support options available?

Let's not forget again that your "friend" has been offered exactly what he is entitled to, to send the machine in for service which the owner doesn't want to do...

 

I just sent you a PM, but since you have chosen to make a public post on this it deserves a public reply.

I have listed in my PM to you that we are very transparent about Warranty Repairs/Return Policies and all facades of our operation. We are happy to take care of any warranty repairs if they are needed. Since you list this is a coworkers or friends machine recently purchased, it still has plenty of warranty time left. I do not understand the reasoning to make such a thread as we are always happy to help. We set up and coordinate all repairs with the manufacturer so you do not have to lift a finger. We take care of it all, set up the UPS Return label and provide you with FULL details on sending the item in for repair. Often it takes no more then 1-3 business days after receipt to complete a repair.

Sager's return policy is for 30 Days from shipment as we and many other Sager Resellers list on their websites. We do not hind behind this or try to conceal it in any fashion.

If one of the hard drives failed in his machine he could easily disable the Raid Settings and re-install his Operating System with the working hard drive. We could then set up a RMA with Sager for ONLY the hard drive to come in or set up a Advanced Replacement on that Hard Drive. (If he is comfortable with doing this...i.e removing the drives and re-loading Windows). If he is not comfortable with this we can coordinate the entire machine coming in for the repair.

Raid 0 opens you up to more liability as if one drive goes bad you lose everything. Granted you gain performance but in my experience and how much I depend on my system I stay away from Raid 0 set ups.

As I listed in my PM if you can share some info with me on this Friend/Co-Workers systems I would be happy to help you coordinate with our service department to only RMA the entire system, the Hard Drive or maybe set up a Advanced Replacement of the Hard Drive only. Or he may simply contact me or our service department himself.

We are always here to help.

 

Thanks everyone for all the replies, and especially Justin. Yes I just got your PM and replied to it.

To be clear, my original question was not really about the machine, but about Xotic's level of service. My colleague (and Justin's details and PM have now been passed along to him) had it seemed be repeatedly brushed off in some fashion by Xotic's staff. The impression I got was that he'd had a number of problems, this last failure was perhaps the most severe of all, and there were questions surrounding the level of service that Xotic were offering. To that end I wanted to hear what other's opinions of Xotic had been, how had the company responded to similar matters, etc.

Justin has stepped up and hopefully he and my colleague can get this resolved, either in terms of making it clearer to my colleague what the limitations with regard to warranty and service are (and they are clear on Xotic's site), or in simply getting the machine's problems dealt with rapidly.

It does look like I poorly worded my original post and it's been seen as something of a "blast" or "slam" against Xotic - and I can see that in some of the sentences there. I'll take it as read then from the responses in this thread that no, Xotic are not a terrible demon of PC reselling at all (since we never see leaps to Dell's defense in similar threads in the ALienware section wink wink).

And yes, I'll retitle the thread.

 

Charles - seems I can't change the thread title. Would you be so kind? Perhaps "Question about Xotic support?" would cause less ire?

 

Your friend/coworker was never brushed off by any of our staff. I hope that us advising him that he was well outside of the return period to return for refund gives you the impression we are brushing it off. I have located your co-workers email with his requests of refund from his August 17th Order. We stand behind what we sell and are always here to offer any assistance that is needed. I think as long as he is comfortable with it we should proceed with the advanced replacement of the hard drive.

Bottom-line we will get to the bottom of this and get his problems resolved.

 

Thanks again Justin, and that pretty much answers the original question doesn't it; no Xotic are not in the habit of just brushing aside customers problems.

Thanks again.