Recently bought an Aspire V3-551, after only 2 weeks it stopped booting up after a series of updates were being installed.
After some discussion with tech support I've been forced to send the laptop off to their repair centre in Plymouth.
anybody had a similar problem or had recent experience of the repair service? Searching the net I've read a lot of negative reviews, mostly about poor service, bad practice, arguments over liability etc...
its been a while since I last bought a laptop and I was shocked at a few things that now seem the norm;
1. No recovery disks? when did it become acceptable to sell a pc without either installation or recovery disk?
- Acers response was to use the recovery flash drive I should have burnt when I got the laptop.. Really? It's my fault? The other option was to pay £51 for Acer to send me a recovery flash drive.. **bleep** cheek.
2. No software disks? I remember a few years ago reading a Which Magazine article where it declared pc retailers selling machines with no s/w disks was actually illegal and amounted to software piracy.. So why no Win8 disks?
- the Which report was simple, how do you prove ownership of the software on your machine without the OEM disks? Especially if the machine is defective or being upgraded, how do you provide the license key?
I've upgraded hard drives in the past and had to go through the re-install and verification process numerous times, so how do I do that now when I have no guarantee that the retailer, or Acer, haven't 'volume' installed my licensed s/w on other machines?
3. I was glibly told by the repair centre that if the problem is software related I would incur a charge to fix the problem? What? What is the point of a warranty if not to fix your pc in the event of failure? I agree that any fault as a result of wilful damage is your own responsibility, but with too many updates now being forced through with no input from the user, who is to blame then?
my main concern is that in the 2-weeks I had the laptop I spent most of that installing iTunes, syncing my iPad and iPhone, starting to download my Libary, and installing Office 10... just when it was becoming a useable machine, pow.
IF. I had the installation disks I would have simply formatted the drive an started from scratch, which is very likely what Acer repairs will do, but I may very well get charged for the privilege of THEM installing MY software, something I could have easily done myself.
rant over... I'll let you know what the outcome is when I hear back from 'Unit M' later.
