Acer Violating Warranty of Merchantability
I will preface this by saying I have been an Acer customer for the past 8 years, running through two laptops. I have not had problems with either of these laptops. On this purchase, I have ran into issues. Acer customer service has been entirely unhelpful, and is the reason this will likely be my last Acer laptop.
I purchased an Acer TravelMate at the very end of July 2017. Almost immediately, the laptop showed signs of a severe issue -- it would randomly turn off once or twice a day for no apparent reason (battery wasn't low, not overloading the computer, etc.). I contacted customer service, who told me that I should reset my laptop to see if the issue persisted. The representative began walking me through the steps to reset my laptop. I had to tell him "it would probably be a good idea for me to back up my files" before that idea even crossed his mind. If I was a customer who was not tech savvy, I would have lost all my files.
Following this reset, the problem persisted. I was told that I would have to send in my laptop for repair. That ended up costing me $40 (packaging and shipping). I sent in the computer and subsequently called customer service, furious that I was required to pay $40 extra, after having bought this laptop two months prior. I was told that my laptop had been purchased in February (again, I purchased in July) and that I wouldn't get refunded unless I could provide proof of purchase. I did, and was only refunded $20 for shipping. Apparently a refund for packaging isn't an option.
I went two weeks without a laptop, of which only three days were spent trying to repair the laptop. When it was sent back, the provided note said "Could not replicate the problem. Updated firmware. Passed all testing." To no one's surprise, updating the firmware did not solve the problem (and if the repair center thought it was a legitimate solution, why couldn't I have done it at home?), and the problem persisted.
Now, some important context to this situation. I purchased a new laptop because I started law school in August. My previous laptop was on its last legs and I didn't want to face issues in what is arguably the most important year of law school. During the two weeks I was without a laptop, I had to write a memo (our only grade for that class) and take a midterm. Pretty difficult without a personal computer.
Following the failed repair, I was understandably pretty frustrated. I called customer service again, asking for a replacement product. I was told that replacements couldn't be issued until the product had been sent in for repair three times. Let me say that again, three times. This means, I would have to go at least six weeks without a laptop, and have to pay anywhere between $60-120 total, depending on whether Acer was kind enough to reimburse shipping.
In the context of law school, this leaves me with two options:
1) I don't have a laptop for finals, which puts me at a severe disadvantage relative to other students, as I found out during my midterm
2) I take a chance with this laptop, at the risk that it turns off randomly during my exam, another severe disadvantage
So I spent >$700 on a laptop because I didn't want to have computer problems during law school, and instead of peace of mind, I have increasing payments, time without a laptop, and unnecessary stress.
From a legal perspective, this is impermissible. The warranty I purchased does not disclaim the warranty for merchantability (a guarantee that the product will be reasonably fit for ordinary use) for personal purchases. Acer has breached this warranty. In their Standard Warranty, Acer gives customer service the option to replace the defective product. Nowhere in the warranty does it require it to be sent in for repair three times until it can be replaced.
My conspiracy theory (although I hesitate to call it a conspiracy theory because it seems like the most plausible explanation) is that someone did buy the laptop in Febraury, encountered this issue, sent it back to Acer, Acer could not replicate the issue, and dumped the laptop on me. It amazes me that a simple, inexpensive customer service solution exists and Acer refuses to even consider it. Send a replacement laptop, I'll send back the defective laptop, and Acer can solve the issue on its own time, not mine.
Customer service has been entirely unhelpful, I cannot send back the laptop for repair because I cannot survive another week, much less six, without a laptop in law school, a solution exists, but no one wants to consider it. The question here is what are my options? Because it doesn't seem like anyone in Acer actually wants to help their customer.
