This is my second Acer laptop. I bought this model Aspire 6935G exactly 12 months ago and I have learnt my lesson not to buy anymore Acer laptops after it crashed on me a weeks ago.When it crashed, I could not even boot up the Windows after multiple tries. The system just reboot itself over and over again, but never successfully launching the Windows.
After sending it to the ACER service center (near Jurong Town Hall) for repairs, I received a call from them that the hard disk was fine but the mainboard was faulty and needed to be replaced for about $500+. After that, I received another call that whilst they replaced the hard disk, they found that they still need to reformat the hard disk for the system to function properly. I was advised that if I wanted to retain my stored data, I would need to bring another laptop for them to copy the data over and copy it back to the computer after the reformatting. I told the receptionist that I do not have another spare laptop to bring over but still wanted the data and enquired if they could do the copying to their laptops instead. The reply was they cannot do this. I understood the security concerns but felt that the service was compromised as a result of this. So in the end, due to the inconveniences posed by ACER, I gave up and collected my unrepaired laptop back.
Soon after, I found the original receipt of purchase of the laptop from Courts. That was when I realised that I bought the extended warranty from COURTS. After several calls, I sent the laptop to Vital Computers at Sim Lim Square, which is COURT'S repair agent for computers, for the repair. This time round, it was a breeze because soon after that, I received 2 sms and was informed my laptop was ready for collection. I collected the laptop a few days ago and it is now working perfectly fine. I supposed the agent did the copying of the data onto their own laptops without asking the customer to bring their own along. Could they have copied over my personal data and use it for other purposes? I suppose there is always a possibility and may never know until something happens but I don't really care. I don't have any sensitive information to be concerned about pilfering of my personal information for illegal purposes. At the end of it, I was a happy customer this time round.
I guess I learnt two things. ACER may be an established company but I was not impressed with their service quality and standards. Yes, they may be trying to safeguard the customer's security but the way they handled it, they lost me as a customer because I was left with a bitter taste in the mouth after the entire experience. Moreover, I realised that both my laptops failed just soon after about a year of purchase and usage. COURTS, on the other hand, is not the one who carry out the actual repair works, but uses a third party agent to do so. I admit that calling the extended warranty number takes patience because the number is always busy with no one picking it up and leaving a voice message for them to call me back, as suggested by their recorded message, did not work. I had to make multiple calls over a few days before I got through but once that was done, the rest was history. In the end, I felt the extended warranty was worth every single cent because I got my laptop back in working condition without much of a hassle.
As a customer, which option would you prefer to experience and which company do you think is doing what's best for the customer?
