Acer & Online Buying

This is the last in a series of posts revolving around my computer purchasing prowess, feel free to look through the history for a more complete story.

This is the Acer V3-771, my actual laptop

Before I had my current laptop, I had a dell one, which to be honest, could hardly run Minesweeper without crying in agony. This is how I played games like TF2 and League of Legends back in the

days—lowest settings, horrendous frames. When it finally sang its final song, I went looking for a new computer, but I thought that I would stick with laptops, for the sake of portability. I found my
answer on Acer’s online store. Acer’s Aspire V3-771 was on sale for the low price of just $700. I couldn’t resist. I found myself getting specs I could only dream of.

·         Model: Acer Aspire V3-771

·         OS: Windows 8: 64 Bit

·         Processor: Intel i7-3632 QM clocked at 2.20GHz with 8 CPUs

·         Memory: 6 gigs DDR3

·         Graphics: nVidia GeForce GT 640M (2 gigs of memory)

·         17.3” HD monitor

·         750 gig HDD

The year was 2012, and I was desperate. I bought the computer and waited eagerly for its delivery. The day it came I couldn’t explain how pleased I was. As I unboxed, I could finally begin to imagine what 60 frames may look like, but upon reaching my home screen, I noticed a problem. Colors, usually blues and greens would not display properly. They would fluctuate between their respective colors and black, and white. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement, and reinstallation of drivers and even a complete system wipe did not fix the issue. I called up Acer and asked for them to replace my model, it was broken from the moment I opened the box. They responded by telling me they would repair it, as that’s how their company policy worked.  It would take a week to repair and ship back and forth. After little debate, I convinced Acer that it was their fault, and that they should pay for the shipping.

I received my laptop back and read the repair report. Their answer was replacing the LCD, and re-installing the drivers. It had worked, initially. Over time, I noticed the problem starting to creep in again, and contacted Acer. Once again, I asked for a replacement, stating that the repair had been ineffective. They tell me to re-install drivers and wipe the computer, which I tell them I have attempted before and didn’t work. I was pushed up to Acer’s secondary level of support. I asked for a replacement and was once again told that the only thing they could offer me is a repair. I once again agree, thinking it would be pretty hard to completely screw this up. I send it in, they send it back a week later. Looking at the repair information it says the wiped the computer. I turn it on, the issue is clearly still there.

I don’t use the word ‘insulted’ lightly when it comes to purchases. Acer’s repair team literally did what I had done, twice, and had already been established as not fixing the issue. I call Acer back immediately, explaining to not only their first, but secondary level of support that I have had nearly constant issues with my computer since purchase, and that their company has the audacity to send me back a computer that they only thing they did to fix it was do proven non-working fixes. I am pushed up to the elite level for Acer at this point: Corporate Customer Care. My account is “red-flagged” meaning that I have high priority. They offer to send my laptop (still not replacing it, by the way) to their best repair lab. They even offer to overnight it there and back. I think that we’re making progress.

I receive the laptop back, look at the report. They’ve replaced the motherboard, and re-installed just about everything. I set it up, turn it on, and I scrutinize the screen. The problem still exists. Right now, I’m coming up on finals, and I need a computer. I tell Corporate Customer Care that the problem still exists and that this time, I need a replacement, or I’m returning the unit. Their response is one that I’ve been wanting—we have to offer a replacement before accepting a return. They offer me a refurbished unit, but it has 8 gigs of RAM over 6, and I accept. Talking to Corporate, we agree that they will send me the new unit first, so I can have still have access to a ‘working’ unit.

Upon the arrival of the laptop II, I plug it in and find something to be off. The monitor does not turn on. Acer was sent a unit that literally has no monitor function to replace a unit that has a unit with a broken monitor. I’m done with Acer. Over the course of my purchase, I have been insulted by them. They have tried repairing my unit 3 times, with one attempt being completely useless. I have lost over half a month of computer usage, and the monitor has been working for about a grand total of 2 weeks, without any issues. They now respond with by sending me a dead on arrival unit. I call Corporate Customer Care, and tell them that they can give me a refund. I’m done wasting time with Acer.

Acer’s response is gold: “I’m sorry, we only offer refunds during the first month of purchase.” I have been told, numerous times that they will only offer me one option—be it repairs (that didn’t work) or replacements (also didn’t work). I have asked for refunds before this point, and at every ask I have been denied, saying that I have to follow their process. I don’t have the patience to bring up a legal suit against Acer, but I spend the next 3 hours speaking to representatives of the Licensed Acer Store (which is not run by Acer, by the way), the returns department and Corporate Care trying to explain to them that I have been patient with them for the past couple of months. I’m stuck with Acer.

Finally coming to terms with my fate, Acer decides to extend an olive branch. They’re sending me a new laptop, one with far better specifications than my original purchase. A more up-to-date i7, 12 gigs of RAM a GeForce 730M, and a SSD in addition to the normal one. It’s the best laptop they sell, and it sells at a good price above $700. When it does arrive (once again, shipped overnight) I turn it on to find no errors, and hasn’t had any since. 

Acer, in the pursuit of fixing my problems paid for ground shipping 4 times, overnight shipping 5 times, bought a new motherboard and LCD for my computer and sent me one that didn’t work at all. They also extended my warranty (which originally expired in November of 2013) to March of 2014. Using rough estimates, I probably made Acer spend $100-$200 just in shipping, replacement parts and hours for working on my problems. That’s not counting the fact that they probably scrapped my

Both Pictures are my actual laptop, computer III from Acer

old computer, and gave me a completely new one.

I will never suggest buying Acer products, or purchase from them again. Acer only made it right with me because I would not leave them alone until they did, I can only imagine that others were not so lucky. When you buy online, please remember that companies outsource their stores most of the time, even though you’d think that Acer would run the store at Acer.com, I was mistaken. Be sure to do more research beyond just the model you buy, it will save you time.

--Santa

Tech: Acer Redux

As I mentioned beforehand, I did get a new laptop earlier from Acer, but it came with something else undesirable: a pixilation issue that caused for discoloration of colors, namely blues. This problem was immediately visible when I pulled the laptop out of the box, and accessed the laptop, so I considered
the laptop to be a DOA. Calling Acer, they immediately agreed to repair the laptop, and after a bit of strong-arming, I convinced them to pay for shipping as well, making me hopeful all my problems were over.

I was wrong, of course.

So, I called up Acer about a month later when the problem started to occur again, and complained, this time I wanted compensation, but they convinced me otherwise, and after a week of waiting I received the laptop back, in the exact same condition it was sent to them as. No replacements, nothing.

Hell had no fury…

So, I call up Acer as soon as I see the colossal failure that they deemed as “repaired” and demanded they fix it immediately, and they apologized. Again. This time I was elevated to Corporate Customer Care, the big CCC: their highest support. I got my account “red flagged” to show that I had been having lots of problems, and they sent my laptop to the deluxe repair shop, with next-day shipping. Another week, another repair. Much to my dismay, I opened the laptop and scrutinized it, the problem was 99% gone, but still present.

 After reformatting my hard drive 3 times, replacing my LCD, updating my drivers countless times, getting a new motherboard, spending countless hours on the phone with representatives, Acer still could not fix a laptop. I needed it though for classes, so I stuck it out until finals were completed, and I thus began my next spar with Acer, which has just finished.

I called Acer a couple days ago, and told them that I wanted a new laptop, and to be given a better one, due to not only my lost time and usage, but overall loss of productivity. I by no means blame the representatives I spoke to, in fact I’ve found that most of them have bent some rules to help me with my horrible pilgrimage to laptop repairdom, but I was tired with the continual repairs. Once again with Acer’s CCC, I got an offer that gave me 2 more gigs of RAM, a 120 gig SSD along with the 750 gig HDD, and a slight change from a 640M to a 650M. It worked, and was nicer, so I’ve accepted.
Now I wait for this new laptop. I have mixed feelings with Acer now, although the bureaucratic running of its help system is horrible beyond belief, I’ve found that its upper levels have people who do care, and will try to help—as much as possible through the convoluted world of company policies. I will give this laptop another chance. There is still hope for Acer, but I will never be able to say that I recommend them. When you look for a laptop, look for a company that gets things right the first time, not after a horrible slew of incidents.

--Santa  

I'm Back: The Specs.

So, I've been gone. I’m horrible at making promises—and then keeping them. But, some things have happened since I last left, and I figure it would be a good idea to touch base with the old Workshop, starting with some big news: I bought a new laptop, and this means one thing: a review.

                I used to have an old Dell laptop, and before that an old Dell desktop. It made playing video games, for the lack of a better set of words, completely impossible. They ran Vista. They had no graphics properties. They had DDR2 RAM. Oh, it was a sad, bleak existence of playing TF2 on a trade server, oh pity thy name is Santa. However, in November I decided to end this torment, and looked for a new source of life blood to keep me going.

                I’ve been looking at computers for the last 3 years, and never bothered to get one, mostly because I’m the greatest recorded procrastinator in the world. But, I couldn’t stand the death of my laptop to a computer virus, and really began the process. I figured my luck was all right, since it was near black Friday that I may strike a good deal—and one came up. I was on Newegg trying to find a good deal when I saw the words “Acer” on one of them. Normally, I had my eyes on one of the Asus “Republic of Gamer’s” models, but all of them were above $900, well out of my cheap-ass budget range. But, I decided to click on it, and to my surprise it came out with fantastic specs.

                However, it was priced at $750, which was still uncomfortable to me. I took the models name and pushed it into Google. It informed me that my best option was buying directly from Acer at $700, and after doing some calculations, I took the model, and from it I currently type to you now. It’s not bad for a $700 computer. But, then again it was supposed to be a straight $900 model. It’s specifications are:

• ·         Model: Acer Aspire V3-771
• ·         OS: Windows 8: 64 Bit
• ·         Processor: Intel i7-3632 QM clocked at 2.20GHz with 8 CPUs
• ·         Memory: 6 gigs DDR3
• ·         Graphics: nVidia GeForce GT 640M (2 gigs of memory)
• ·         17.3” HD monitor
• ·         750 gig HDD

However, you didn’t come here to read about how this laptop works. When this thing arrived I pulled it out and immediately noticed after setup that I was having problems with the display. Some colors, mostly greens and blues would “flicker” white, and would really ruin the experience of the monitor. I called up Acer and told them about the problem, and after a small debate about who would pay for the shipping, I sent it back to them. I have to admit, this was nearly heart-breaking to me. Nothing makes a purchase go awry like a DOA. However, when it came back I found that its problems were gone, and I finally began to enjoy the system.

This computer is, as can be expected, nicely fast. It’s a big, fat laptop made for big needs. It’s got plenty of USB ports, a full keyboard and numpad, and when it’s working, a fantastic screen. The i7 makes for powerful computing, 6 gigs of RAM, although perhaps a bit small for the future, are quite nice and handle my needs, and the 640M plays games nicely. On TF2 and League of Legends and Fallout: New Vegas I can play on full settings and still get 60 fps, as long as explosions don’t dominate the screen. This laptop has done everything I have thrown at it, and continues to go on.

However, it is not without its faults. Firstly, although some are fans of shiny, luminescent finished, I personally think it’s just made for smudging. There are also no indicators for Caps lock, Num lock and the sort. They may not be necessary for a laptop to work, but it can be annoying if you accidentally bump it, and then later on you’re typing in caps without knowing it. The arrow keys are very erratic and almost seem to decide which direction they want to go it, at least when using them on some applications, which baffles me. Lastly, I’ve seen the prior mentioned pixilation issues return—and at the moment are still on the laptop. I haven’t gotten to calling Acer at the moment, as it doesn’t make work on it impossible only much less enjoyable and annoying. I have no idea as per why the laptop would get it twice, but it’s quite saddening. Such a fantastic laptop does not deserve to be ruined by such an asinine issue.  

In the end, this is nearly a perfect laptop, at least for my needs. Yes, it could have more RAM or the indicator lights, but what do you expect from a low-price laptop? However, if I had paid $200 less than its general retail price, and I can definitely say that I was paying full price, I don’t think I would have bought it, that, and the fact that I’m going to have it repaired for a second time makes it nearly not worth it at this price.  However on sale, and in working order, I would hugely recommend this laptop. If you’re in the market for a new laptop, I would suggest shopping around, but be careful. You never know if it’s going to work.

--Santa