It is your fault you bought an Acer product!! Now live with that!

Acer is definitely the worst laptop maker, ever. And I must say this is not because of their hardware, as you can tell they try hard to innovate and come up with good units for a reasonable price.

However, their customer care... they are something.

Back in November, 2007, I sent a unit for repair. The unit kept crashing all the time. BSODs every five minutes even just after a clean Windows installation. They kept my unit for less than a week and when it came back it was a shock to see that not just the problem had not been fixed but it also was featuring some brand new faults. Some of these faults included the power button being "deeper" than it should and the screen flicking and distorting in a way that it was almost impossible to read anything on it.

I then sent the unit back and it took almost a month to get it back. During this time, I spoke a lot of times with their customer care in Plymouth. In almost all occasions I was treated in the worst possible ways. In one specific situation when I was trying to convince the advisor to send an email to someone just to see if they could find out what was going on with the unit, I was replied with a "I can't do that. Would like me to send the unit back unrepaired?" and he kept asking me the same thing over and over, like I would really like my laptop back even more faulty than before.

In many occasions I had to speak to their customer care, the only thing I could feel from them is that they hate each and every single person who calls. There was just three times I spoke to an Acer advisor who was genuinely intended to listen and help. Two of these times were with advisors who sounded over 40s and one time with a lady, the only time I spoke to a female there. She was extremely helpful as well as the other two guys.

There is a guy called David there... and another one called Paul... that there are times I think they were sent from hell. They have such a bad attitude on the phone. First they make you feel like a piece of filth then they treat you like they have the control of who lives and who dies on earth. I wouldn't mind being treated like that if they were also efficient. But they are not... they are not...........

New issue. I know, I know... it's my fault after all. After all I had been through with Acer in the past I upgraded my laptop to another Acer. I knew this was going to happen. I just expected it to be smoother as I sent them a Formal Complaint letter a few weeks after I got the unit back for the second time and they sent me a letter apologizing for all the trouble they caused.

Well, here we go again. My new laptop which I purchased in January 2008, has been showing some strange behaviour since June 2008. I would have sent it for repair before if I was in the UK but I had to spend six months abroad. The main problem is the webcam not working. The second problem is the HD-DVD drive now struggling to read HD-DVD discs.

When I try to use the webcam, the computer is very likely to freeze completely in a way I have to hold the power button until it dies sometimes the webcam will not work but it will still let me carry on using the system but an annoying popup balloon saying the hardware inserted was not recognized will keep popping up over and over again no matter how many times I click on the X and to make the whole thing a lot better I still have to put up with the Windows hardware insert / removal sounds.

People will first say this is a software problem. Anyone would think this is a software problem. But on this specific laptop I have a dual boot, like many other guys out there who like to play games. Windows XP, a retail copy - original and activated - and Windows Vista Home Premium, provided by Acer, original and activated as well. Both OSs feature the latest drivers and Service Packs and I keep Windows Update turned on on both.

The problem happens on both Operative Systems. As it starts happening out of nowhere it happens sometimes when I'm playing games such as GTA or basic arcade emulators. The Windows sounds will keep playing in the background.

Another way to trigger this problem is to connect any hardware to any of the 4 USB ports. A pen drive, a mobile phone, a PDA, a digital TV receiver, an external hard drive or even a bluetooth dongle. Anything will make the webcam start "plugging" itself in and out for a long time.

Where is the problem? The USB controller or the Webcam itself?

Acer engineers found that the problem is the sound card.

What????????????????????

There is nothing wrong with the sound card.

And they tried to charge me for the repair, but the unit was still on warranty.

And they also want to perform a Software Preload.

Do you see the problem? Their employees don't care about the company. They refuse to listen to me. They will repair a problem that doesn't exist, they will send it back to me, I will get it, I will see the problem I reported is still there, I will send it back and then what will happen? God knows. But one thing I'm sure: Acer will be spending money unnecessarily with DHL to transport the laptop.

They just don't care.


My advice to ANYONE looking to buy a new laptop or upgrade their current ones: I know Acer prices are really good but please go for another brand. Acer employees could ease the fact their units use cheap materials by providing an excellent customer service and quick repair but they don't. The whole Customer Service thing just gets worse and worse specially when you disagree with what you are told. It's like you're in a hospital and there's this evil nurse taking care of you. Being a rebel will just make things worse for you, so you just shut up and take all humiliation you can to see if you can get better. That's Acer's principle. It's your fault you bought their product. Just yours.

I will publish here all the communication I had with Acer so far. I sent them an email this morning which I am still waiting for a response. They still have my unit since the 06/Jan/09.

If you have purchased any Acer product and is not happy with their customer care or having faults, please post a comment. I will be more than happy to publish it on future posts. Someone has to stop these people. I am not sure I will be the one, but I will do my part.