Dreadful Laptop Warranty Repair Experience

Introduction

I came to study my master degree in the UK since last year and stay in University’s halls of residence. Like other international students, laptop was my most precious property I brought with me and was my lifeline for everyday activities. Since arrived, I spent most of my time in front of my laptop; doing assignments, surfing internet, watching movies and on-demand clips, including chatting with friends and family back home.

My Toshiba laptop was quite new. I bought it just a couple of months before I left my country. It has a 1-year limited worldwide warranty, including the UK, so I thought it’s a good choice.

The laptop problem

One day, I found my laptop’s speaker volume decreased and I found out that one of the speakers was not working. I tried to find the route cause and the way to fix it.
- I tried to restart the computer but the problem still existed.
- I tried to update / reinstall my sound drivers.
- I tried to plug in the head phone and I found that I could hear from both speakers.

This means it was really a hardware problem and because I could not leave without both speakers work very well; the warranty service was needed. I then tried to find the way to contact Toshiba UK on their website. They have some great service that will arrange a ‘pick up’ of my laptop and ‘deliver’ it back which sounds like a fantastic service. However, the system to arrange such service on their website is available only for laptops that ‘was bought in the UK’ and ‘is currently in the UK’. For my case, I have to call their 0844 line which is quite expensive for a student like me but I prepared to pay because I really need it to be fixed.

The promising start

Even though I had to wait for several minutes and press several buttons, I was able to speak to one of the staffs in the end. They were quite helpful and listed my problem into their system. I was told that their staff will contact me soon to arrange the pick-up.

Soon after that, they phone me to arrange the pick-up on the next day. I told them the detail of my address in the halls and how to contact me. They also told me that since the problem was not about the power supply, I did not need to send them the battery nor the power cable. The morning after that, the DHL came and collect my laptop.

I was happy with their service by far. They were quite fast and reliable. What a great start!?

The first controversial

The first few days without my precious laptop proved too much for me. The only thing that keeps my head cool was the fact that the respond time for the service was 5 working days. This means I should hear from them within a week. I couldn’t even check my important emails.

My first frustration was to learn that the 5-day respond time was started when they received my laptop. My laptop was collected on Tuesday and then was arrived on Thursday afternoon (I checked the DHL log). That means I had to wait until the next Thursday to hear from them and probably a couple more days to send it back to me. In total, it would take almost two weeks instead of one. I tried to calm myself down, thinking that my laptop will be repaired and I can enjoy my life again.

The promising Thursday was gone without any response from Toshiba. On Friday afternoon, I received a text message from my girlfriend saying that there was an email from Toshiba required me to call them back on another 0845 number (I asked her to keep an eye on my email). I rushed to the library to check my email and found that the repair centre wants to talk to me and I should contact them as soon as possible. Frustratingly, it was late Friday afternoon, so the soonest I can call them would be on Monday morning.

It was the worst weekend ever since I was looking forward too much to the coming Monday with so many things in my mind. What if they say they have to import spare parts which I will need to cover the cost of the delivery? What if they don’t want to repair my laptop? What if...?

On that Monday morning, I called them and waited on the line for 15 minutes, the reason they wanted me to call them was !!THEY NEED MY POWER CABLE!!

If you can remember, they said they don’t need it. More importantly, they should just call me and say they want my power cable. How do they think a man without his laptop would be able to check his email every minute!?

The DHL controversial

I seriously wanted to shout at them but I restrained myself and tried to talk to them in a normal way. If they need my power cable, fine…, I’ll give them, it’ll take no more than one more week, I thought. Accordingly, they arranged the DHL to pick-up my power cable on Tuesday 8:30 am. The next morning, I waited, waited and waited, nobody came. It’s not usual for DHL to miss the time. At 9 o’clock, I rushed down to the halls management and found out that the DHL man came but he didn’t see me in the halls management and so he left (they called me last time). I was so angry at that time and called the service centre for not giving DHL my number. The 0845 fifteen minutes waiting time obviously cooled me down when they desired to pick up my call. I wanted them to put my address in detail that ‘please contacts the halls management’ because this time, I deposited my power cable with them to prevent to similar problem, and also ‘please give them my number’. The Toshiba service centre said yea.

Next day, I came down to the halls management at half past 9 and found out that DHL was not there yet. What’s wrong with them? I, then, went back to my room. About 10:30, my phone rang; it was a call from the university’s reception. She said that there is a DHL guy waiting for me in the reception and would like to talk to me. After talking with him, dress-up (it’s very cold those days), take things back from the halls management, ran to the reception, hand my power cable to DHL, I then knew that the service centre didn’t tell DHL what I said. They didn’t even give them my number. I felt so exhausted since I will have my examination that afternoon.

The never ending waiting time

The power cable arrived at the service centre on Thursday afternoon and they started putting my laptop in the process again on Friday (I used e-check ups). I heard from them again next Friday (online status) saying that waiting for spare parts.

I impatiently called them again (15 minutes waiting time again on 0845 number) asking what happened and will it finish. The call centre answered me that normally, the spare parts will arrive in a few working days, and then it’ll take a couple of days to fix the problem. Thus means, including the delivery time, I may have to wait for at least one and a half week!!

I was right, the spare parts arrived on the next Wednesday and the fixing finished on Friday. The DHL delivered the laptop back to me on the following Tuesday. The halls management then put my name on their parcel list on Wednesday. Finally, I received my repaired laptop back on Thursday.

You may be able to guess how happy I was but I believe it’s harder to calculate how many days this service is needed.

The conclusion

- Response time of 5 working days? Even if they need my power cable (they are a service centre but do not have one?), they asked my to call them after let me wait for 1 week!! I will tell you what, the Toshiba service centre in Thailand serviced my laptop in 1 hour!!
- Reliable DHL service? DHL is rubbish if they don’t received appropriate contact address
- Constant 15 minutes waiting time for 0845 numbers? Obviously money raising!!

I will never ever send my dear laptop to the repair in the UK again!!