ACER & SUPPORT

[paulklee]

I've been an ACER laptop fan for quite a while - typing this on one ACER machine and another two around me in the house (and another just recently "retired"). There has hardly been any problems with these machnes. In addition, I bought the ACER SWITCH 10 at the end of last year (mainly for use when travelling). That has been quite a big disappointment with two main issues. Firstly, the keyboard lags and the first key typed is often missing. Secondly, intermittently, the thing freezes from half an hour to sometimes half a day! The second problem is more critical but the first is more frequent. These problems are well known even on the ACER Community website. Some posts say they are hardware problems

I finally gave up trying to get my own solution and took it to the ACER shop in Fortune Mall last week for "repair". My Thai wife told - in Thai of course - the nature of the problems and we left it for the engineer to look at. One day later, she got a call that the computer was fixed and ready. She asked if the specific problems were fixed and was told that the software had all been updated and that would fix the problems. Well, guess what? Not even close.

So far, we have travelled twice to Fortune Mall to deliver and then collect the machine - thus 2 half days lost so far. When my wife called back and said the computer still didn't work, they said, bring it in and we'll look again. How it was said just did not sound encouraging. We decided just to make a complaint (mainly about how they hadn't even bothered to test against the problems which were notified to them). And then we got a few calls back, especially from the engineer who had "fixed" the computer. But after talking to him, the furthest forward we got was "to bring it back in and he will REALLY look at it this time". I just didn't fancy trekking back to Fortune Mall for probably more of the same. So back to the complaint procedure. How do we complain, my wife asked the shop manager. "Well, you have to come into the shop and tell us your complaint.....". The irony that the complaint involved having to go to the shop again was lost.

It seems that to make a complaint to ACER you either do it by telephone to their call centre line or visit an ACER shop who might give you a form (so far, the form appears to be like some mythical beast, it exists but nobody has ever seen it! . There is - we were told - no online system for making a complaint! And they won't post the form out or even fax it.

Is this just ACER or is this the way of the support world works these days? Am I expecting too much in terms of service/support??? Is this a Thailand only phenomenon?

OK, apart from the rant and frustration with firstly the service and then the support, I'm interested to find out if any TV members have the ACER SWITCH 10 and had these problems and fixed them. if so, how did you get the problems fixed?

ACER have already lost a pretty loyal customer in me but I guess my vote will just be lost in the customer churn anyway. But why make it so difficult?

[chiang mai]

Are you certain you went to an Acer repair facility and not just an Acer reseller, my experience of the former in CM is that they charge a flat rate to fix any problem and the work is guaranteed for 90 days - THB 2,600 last time I checked.

[paulklee]

It was definitely an ACER service shop, it didn't sell anything, only service. Also confirmed in the many telephone calls to different parts of the ACER busiess. The machine was under warranty, so no payment required.

But the point you made is valid - when we first got to Fortune Mall IT floor, we went into an ACER reseller who then directed us to the ACER Service Shop.

[dddave]

I had a positive experience with Acer Service at Fortune doing warranty repair on my Gateway Laptop. Repairs completed properly and on time.

I was surprised how quiet the service center was compared to SC's like Samsung which is always packed with two hour queues. Only a few customers besides myself during the hour I was there.

[harrry]

I know when we called about a cheap acer tablet to the call centre we were handled well and quickly. The problem was not warrantee..(dropped screen) but were offered a half price replacement. In good English too.

[Brit_Doggie]

Could be connected but idk but my acer had os 8.1 damn it performed like a muppet had it in to look at/repair,no joy until win 7 was installed now it performs perfectly no more freezes blah blah,even went to acer drivers forum to install hardware but they were hopeless and found program driver easy,located missing drivers and installed same,ok was the free edition so a tad slow but at least i'm up and running and i a old xp user and never wanted change but happy now i did.

[lostinisaan]

Firstly, the keyboard lags and the first key typed is often missing. Secondly, intermittently, the thing freezes from half an hour to sometimes half a day!

​ Sounds like a very good brand to me. Buy a DELL and you'll have a special customer support, a higher quality, plus a very supportive website.

I've never seen an Acer I liked so far. Next time go for DELL.

Edited April 4, 2015 by lostinisaan

[lostinisaan]

Could be connected but idk but my acer had os 8.1 damn it performed like a muppet had it in to look at/repair,no joy until win 7 was installed now it performs perfectly no more freezes blah blah,even went to acer drivers forum to install hardware but they were hopeless and found program driver easy,located missing drivers and installed same,ok was the free edition so a tad slow but at least i'm up and running and i a old xp user and never wanted change but happy now i did.

No wonder when you "advise others" to use BAUDU AV........

[pault17]

Acer. Not impressed. Battery failed after 2.5 years. 3,000 THB. One year later battery problems : replaced. Another year later: battery fails and do not want to replace straight away and want me to pay for for HW checks.

Keyboard bad, was replaced, now it is better but still unreliable.

USB 3 behaves like USB 2

Mouse problems, intermittent hangs or even shut down.

Service Center people are nice and friendly, but I question their competence.

Anyway, I've had it. Acer? Never again.

[paulklee]

Thanks for the input.

Like your experience dddave, the Fortune Mall ACER shop was very quiet, the "service" was quick but ultimately the service wasn't service at all. They just did a routine re-installation of Windows 8 and the ACER bloatware hoping that would fix the problem but they didn't themselves check to see if the problem was fixed. I imagine if you went in with a specific repair requirement, broken screen, broken keyboard etc, then the hardware service result is very specific and has to be tested. In my case, referring the staff to the comments about these exact same problems already on ACER community website did no good at all.

Brit_Doggie: I've heard that many people have abandoned W8 and gone back to W7. Not sure about doing that with the Switch 10 though, a main feature is the detachable screen, which is then used like a tablet and touchscreen is pretty important. Maybe there is a W7 touchscreen implementation?

Pault17 - after being such a loyal customer, I'm so disappointed with ACER. And they have lost me as a customer too.

But one of my main gripes was that ACER IMHO makes it so difficult to register a simple complaint. Is that usual? Everything is, "you have to go into the shop", again and again, even to do the complaining about having to go into the shop!

I'm going to ask the specific question about the Switch 10 in another thread, in case somebody knows the answers. Surely, I'm not the only ThaiVisa switch 10 user in Thailand?

[dddave]

Yes...my problem was a very specific one; a bad HD. I had already confirmed the problem at another repair shop. I hadn't realized that Gateway was part of the Acer group and was covered locally by Acer warranty repair in Thailand.

Nick, the proprietor of ProCorner repair on the 3rd Floor of Fortune suggested I check if the repair could be done under warranty. He could have made a nice profit for himself and I would not have known but he's a decent guy and a great technician. Highly recommended.