New with a Problem

AlanH

Hi everybody.  I recently bought two Gateway computers.  One was a factory refurbished all-in-one unit I got from Secondipity.  It was bad from the start.  It had a 90 day warranty, and Secondipity gave me the information and a UPS label to send it back to Acer for repair in Mcallen Texas.

 

Well . . . Acer has had it for weeks.  No word from them on when it will be repaired.  Secondipity simply ignores my emails asking for information.  Even though the UPS tracking indicates that Acer received the computer, it does not show up on the Acer warranty service page, so I can't get information there.  The Acer website shows it as not eligible for warranty, so I can't log into chat.  Acer has no published phone numbers for this kind of thing, so I can't call and talk to anyone.

 

So . . . here I sit.  Acer has my computer and I have no way of finding out if they lost it or if I'll ever get it back.

 

What can I do? 

finlux

Hi AlanH

 

Bloody frustrating - all you need is a simple email to keep you informed!

 

Acer's US contact details are here. Give them a call and ask them what is going on. Try to stay calm though, it will help in the long run!!

 

 

 

Tommy-Acer

I'm very sorry that you're having issues.

 

Acer does not have a repair center in McAllen, Texas.

It is quite possible that you shipped it back to Secondipity.

 

All Acer systems accepted for service will have a service number associated with them, so that both Acer and our customers can easily track repairs for the system.

 

Can you provide me the tracking number via private message?

AlanH

Thanks for your reply.  After looking a little deeper, it looks like my computer got sent to a third party service center called "Teleplan."  I was confused because the first line of the address label was "Acer Warranty Return Service."  I finally heard back from Secondipity and they told me that the service center was backlogged and that I would get my computer back eventually.  I hope they get it fixed properly (It dies randomly and fails the Windows memory diagnostic test) because by the time I get it back my 90 day warranty will probably be expired.

 

In the interim, I had to buy another computer to take its place.  It's a brand new Gateway laptop, and I do like that one a lot too. I wasn't planning to get two new machines, but when I get my ZX-6980 back, I'll probably wind up keeping them both.

 

EDIT: It would seem that the repair is being done at Acer's direction after all.  Teleplan is a large international electronics repair company based in the Netherlands.  According to what I have read, they have a facility right across the border from McAllen in Reynosa, Mexico that is contracted to do computer refurbishing for Acer in North America.  They were probably the company that originally refurbished the computer and supplied it to Secondipity.  Their facility in McAllen is listed as camera repair, so I wouldn't be surprised if they are just acting as an import/export hub, transferring the Acer computers over to their facility in Reynosa for repair.  At least they should have access to the right OEM parts to fix the computer.

AlanH

I finally got the computer back yesterday . . . after waiting a little over a month for it.  The good news is that the original bad memory issue seems to have been fixed.  Thanks for your help and suggestions,

AlanH

Well . . . three weeks after getting my refurbished ZX-6980 computer back from repair (and just out of warranty) the same intermittent problems started over again.  First the zx-6980 refused to boot up . . . emitting 4 beeps and staying on a black screen.  It did that several times and I gave up and went out and bought myself a replacement computer . . . a Black Friday special from a different brand.

 

I tried the ZX-6980 later that day.  It started normally and ran long enough for me to retrieve a few very recent files that I didn't have backed up.  I decided to wipe the hard drive and reinstall the factory installation from the recovery partition to see if maybe a software or driver problem was preventing the boot.  About halfway through the Windows set-up, the machine locked up and quit responding.  I think it's pretty much dead.

 

I spoke with Secondipity  . . .  and because the computer was in the shop for so long the first time and didn't get fixed, they granted me one more warranty repair attempt.  That was very kind of them.

 

My question is this.  There seems to be a LOT of these One ZX computers available as refurbished units.  Are they just a bad design?  Are they inherently unreliable?  Will mine ever have a chance at being relaible?  When I get mine back from repair, should I keep it and try to use it? . . . or should I just sell it at a loss on eBay, advertised as a parts machine?