Problems with the Toshiba A200-st2042

I wonder if anyone else experienced similar issues to this as I have, as well as my 2 sisters we all 3 bought the exact same model on the same day and all 3 of us have experienced these issues. Though the issues are being settled for both of my sisters and not for me. If you have experienced similar issues with this model I would appreciate your posting of the problems or emailing me your experience.

I have never had as big a headache with any company as I have had with Toshiba over my satellite notebook I purchased from them for myself for my birthday. It was time for a new computer as my old one had been put through hell and back and was to the point that half the keys didnt work properly, the monitor was held to the computer with duct tape and I wanted a computer that was a bit more feature rich than the one I had. So I selected a toshiba Satellite that came with a DVD recordable drive. Being that I live quite far from my family, and I have 2 kids and we cant go visit all that often I thought it would be awesome if I could send my family DVDs of the kids ever so often so that they could enjoy them even when we cant be there.

The first headache came with the shipping of my unit. I bought it on August 30th 2007 and paid for 2 day shipping. IT showed as the units in stock and that they ship out immediately, I thought yes I can have a new computer within a few days of purchasing it. They had them on a tax free sale and it was just a good time to buy (or so I thought)

September 5th rolls around and Ive still not heard from them about shipping and my order still showed as pending on their site. So I call them and ask whats up, and Im told they cannot confirm my address as the phone number they have on record for my bank is not good. So I give them the proper number and they verify it (now issue #1 why wasnt I notified that there was an issue when the issue first arose, they didnt contact me on this I contacted them. AND I was told it was a good thing I called as they were going to cancel my order) After they verified my information they said it would ship out the next morning via Fed Ex 2day. Ok the 8th rolls around and no computer, they didnt mark that it was going to a home address even though I told them that it was, so it was the 11th before I had the computer. (note that the 2 day shipping took 12 days from the time that I put in my initial order)

My unit arrived and fed ex just dropped it on the porch, rang the bell and ran. I get the box from the porch and it was open. The additional memory was missing from the box so again I had to call them (2 customer service calls before my computer was even set up as you can see obviously a very bad sign when dealing with any company) The employee I talked with told me it wasnt their issue and that Id need to deal with Fed Ex on this. I told her then that I bought a computer it came open during shipment and things were missing from inside, it did not arrive to me in the condition that it was purchased in and I expected them to take care of it. After about an hour on the phone I finally was told that they would ship me the missing parts the next morning. So on the 15th my missing memory arrived and I was finally able to set up my computer so that it could even handle running vista.

The one I bought said it had a DVD Super Multi (+/- double layer) DVD drive supporting up to 11 formats. I bought some DVD Rs in a few different formats and not one of them was able to be written to. I contacted toshiba hey whats up this doesnt work like it is supposed to and I was told hey Im sorry about that lets see what we can do to fix it, it should be able to write to any media you put in it, we will, esclate your claim to one of our customer service experts and they will get you the discs needed and they will call you within 24 hours. I waited 72 hours and called again can you tell me what is up with this issue and this time I was told this is our newest model in this family so we do not have discs to support it just yet, but we are working on this and we will have a solution for you tomorrow and we will call you then I was ignored for 2 weeks. I called again and nothing, this time however I was armed with the information that the drive wasnt present on my computer. I talked to 3 different employees and was given the run around.

So now its the 15th of October, Ive had my computer for just over a month and can get no resolution on why my computer was not right when it was shipped to me. I am completely frustrated at this point as they have falsely advertised my computer. On their website they no longer even offer the computer for sale (yet I was just told it was the newest model available in this line) but the information on their site still shows that it was available with the DVD recordable drive.

At this point I sought assistance with the better business bureau. That didnt turn out well either, they tried to offer me a credit stating that they no longer make my model. The information from their website regarding my model was also pulled at this time. They also expected me to pay the return shipping. I complained stating that returning for credit would not make this issue better, as Id just be left without a computer and in order to get the computer I initially paid for I would have to pay an additional $200 and that atop everything else I was appalled that I was expected to pay the return shipping. Their solution to this complaint? Send me a return shipping authorization.

Through the better business bureau, I was told we offered the consumer a refund and consider this matter closed They falsely advertised the unit, made no effort to make good on their claims and only offered to screw me further. By this point I couldnt even really return the computer, and it has become a matter of principal for me. Below you can see the two screen prints I took from their site of the page that I bought the computer from. but wait it gets worse keep reading. Mind you the page that I purchased from is no longer even available on their website.

Article of Proof #1
http://aprilsjunk.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/toshibascreenshot1.jpg

article of proof #2
http://aprilsjunk.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/toshibascreenshot2.jpg

So my 2 sisters also bought the exact same model at the exact same time (they both had theirs within days of purchasing) And I mentioned to them about the issue with mine, wondering if theirs had the same issue. And yes they both had the same problem with their computers, so they started the same process as me.

My younger sister was given resolution that is acceptable without any sort of headache at all. This week she is shipping her computer back to them and they are replacing the drive to make the computer what she bought. Why on earth was she treated differently in this than I was? I wrote to the employee that was able to help her Guy Lugo (who is also shown on the BBB site as their customer service expert) and Ive been ignored by him as well. At this point Im so frustrated that everytime I pick up my computer Im so irritated it's hard to see straight.

AprilAD Newbie

dubs29 Newbie