An unfortunate support story that must be told

Good morning all,

(Please note this a -very- long story. Unbelievably long)

First off let me start by saying I -really- hate putting people on blast. Especially companies. Because companies are run by people, and people make mistakes. It happens. Which is why this post has been held off for TWO months. (well.. almost. Dec 3rd will mark the two month spot.)

You can see my laptop and it's specs in my review, here .. the pictures don't work right anymore as I have swapped servers around twice since I did the review.. and I'll fix them soon as I can.

Anyway, Let me start with the good here, PCTorque has a Tech Rep Named John that is quite superb. I talked to him maybe 3 separate times; and I have 2 log entries inside their "Message History" from him explaining what him and I discussed. Also, Ed made 3 entries in this History - but that's all the entries. 5 Entries inside a message history of 2 months of phone calls. Wonderful. (I got the entries inside an email when they finally shipped my laptop to "me" yesterday... to the wrong address. Explained later.)

So .. On with the story.

October 1st: Me being the wonderous genius that I am decide to clean my desk of junk papers and debris and crap that guys do when they get settled into somewheres.. (Living at the in-laws at this point as I just got out of the Navy and have no job.) When all of a sudden I drop the power brick off the counter while the laptop is still attached (DAMMIT!); so it jerks on the laptop (which i grab, btw, the laptop is fine) and the power brick slams on the floor. (I have accidental warranty coverage - what can I say.. I'm a clutz.) At this point I realize the battery charging light is not on. I wiggle, jab, move, and tinker with the power cord and get the light to flicker and what not until i finally find a spot where it'll charge.

Now, I'm a computer guy. Currently a Contractor for the Government as a Systems Administrator and was a SysAdmin for the Navy for 4 years... So I know the power supply is attached to the motherboard on laptops - so now i'm real worried thinking: Best case scenario - Broke Power Brick. Worst Case scenario: Mother Board replacement.

Well i shoot off an email october 2nd using the online thing at PCTorque's site stating my problem and asking the procedures to having this sent back. October 3rd I hadn't received a response so I called the support number. Talked to Ed.

Now, Ed's a great guy - but I think he was new or something - in any case.. He says "I'll send you an email with the address and RMA number for this ticket and just ship the laptop back."

Note I was honest up front about how it broke.. I was just glad when it seemed to be covered under the accidental warranty (i'm no lawyer.)

So, hang up with Ed, 10 minutes later an email.. w00t. Has everything except the RMA number inside it (This set off a little flag in my head but I didn't call back.)

So I remove my HDD from the Laptop (THANK GOD), box it up, and ship it to the address in the email with $1800 insurance and tracking. In my mind - case solved. W00t. week, maybe two, and all is well right?... If only.

Let me interject here about this email - it claims to have this nifty little feature that all I have to do is reply to it to get the status on my problem - how awesome is that? Click Reply, Click Send, Get Answers - SWEET.... right.

(Let's also note here that I got Delivery Confirmation on the 6th of October; it was signed for.)

So I send 2 replies to that email in the course of a week and get nothing. So the next week I phoned up again and asked for the status in person. The conversation went vaguely like this (this is not direct quotes):

"Hi, I'm calling to get the status of my laptop."
"Can I get your RMA Number"
*COUGH ... CRAP*
"Ermmmmmm it wasn't in the email."
"That's ok we'll look you up by name"..
----fast forward to finding my trouble call----
"Sir, We don't have your laptop."
".. Come again?"
"Where did you ship it to?"
-read address-
"Oh, well you are still under your first year of warranty (i know this, kthnx)
and apparantly the person that sent your email thought you were covered under the
extended warranty; so you shipped it to the wrong place; let me contact the ATS facility
and have them ship it to our repair facility so we can get working on it."

Erm.. ok. Lets end that conversation as that was the important thing. He said he's get it shipped for one. And for two - apparently it's not common practice to check WHICH warranty you are covered under BEFORE having the customer pay to ship it??? (no harsh on Ed -at least i'm pretty sure he's the one that issued it-.. Great guy.. but wtf?) ... On Top of this... WTH is with ATS -ACCEPTING- Delivery of a laptop THAT THEY HAVE NO RECORD OF... and THEN; with my contact information ALL OVER the box and inside on a piece of paper; they can't PICK UP THE PHONE AND GO "Umm... sir.. WTF you want us to do with this laptop?"... No.. they accept it.. and let it sit on a shelf for a week until I track the damn thing down through the PCT guys. BRILLIANT move there, snap on service. A+ to ATS >.>

So anyway. I let another week slide by and call again. This gets even worse:
"I'm calling to get the status of a laptop"
.... I'll eliminate the rest and sum it for you: THE EXACT SAME CONVERSATION AS BEFORE!! The thing is STILL sitting at the ATS facility. So anyway.. THIS guy says he'll have it shipped... I told him I'd call back in 2 days to check (he explained that it shouldn't take more than a day or two because the two facilities are in the same state right next to each other.. so I wasn't being pushy here - just wanted my laptop FIXED.)

So I did.. now THIS get's harry.
"I'm calling to check..." yadda yadda
-explain the situation-
"Sir, we don't have your laptop."
I about died.
"WTF You mean?"
"It can't be found at either the ATS site or Sager's repair facility.. are you sure it got delivered?"
WTH Kind of question is that? I realize that maybe SOME of PCT's users are N00bs... but in my mind if you're fronting $2k+ for a laptop and you don't know a damned thing about computers or support - you're a moron. No offense .. but buy a dell.
Anyway.
"Yes."
"Did you get delivery confirmation from the post office?"
"Yes. It says right here on the tracking on their site it was DELIVERED on October 6th."

Long story short - he makes me DRIVE to the post office, GET THE SIGNATURE, and attempt to READ this signature BACK AT HIM... WHO THE HELL SIGNS LEGIBLY?!? Anyway. Once i had the signature in hand he stopped arguing with me about whether it got shipped or not.. and said they would try and track it down. I wasn't about to leave this alone. I asked him when they closed; he said 9PM; i said if i don't hear anything back by that night I was calling them back to find out. So I did.

Here's the good news:
"I dunno who told you we didn't have the laptop, sir, but I show right here that about an hour ago our tech at sager's facility said he had the laptop and was working on the problem."

OMG.. I damn near grew gray hair that day over nothing. Ok.. so they have it.. it's being fixed.. we're back on track..... *cry* i wish.

Now.. it should be interjected here that I got a job at this point - had to move out of the inlaws, into an apartment with my family.. get my stuff delivered out of military storage, etc. So the laptop kinda got put on back burner for about 2 weeks. Finally one day I call them up; "Sir, it says here he thinks he's fixed the problem but it still seems to only work intermittently; so he wants to watch it for a day or two before it goes to the motherboard repair facility to get a replacement." *cry*...

2 days later I get John:
"Sir, your laptop was shipped from that repair facility and we have legal actions pending against them so your laptop is on it's way to the motherboard repair facility to get fixed."

Wow... Nice... Legal Action - something I was contemplating here just to get MY laptop BACK. Anyway.

I wait another few days to a week (this is thanksgiving week); I get:
"It just got back from the motherboard repair facility; our tech guy is going to look at it, make sure it's good, and we'll ship it to you."

At this point I need to note that from here to the end of this I told 3 people 3 different times that my address as CHANGED. Apparantly NONE of them wrote it down. Also need to note that I asked for Express Shipping.. that's the LEAST they could do. This is documented in THEIR HISTORY, By John (god he's great), as such: "Customer is requesting expidated shipping when unit is returned". That's on the 22nd of this month.

Anyway.. I call late at night on tuesday before thanksgiving (they still should have been open, it was like 7) and get the after hours support lady. I leave a message. John calls me back at like 9:10 or something - good on him for staying late to take care of a customer - tells me he will get back to me.

Next day; for the first time.. this whole time... I got a call BACK that I didn't initiate; and it was from John. He has my laptop right in front of him; he informs me the motherboard repair facility said they did nothing to it because it wasn't a motherboard issue. (OMG I'M GONNA SNAP). But he informs he has it, he's taking care of it.. it'll get done. Fantastic.. finally someone communicating with me. He also says he plugged in his power supply and it seems to work fine (so it's a bad power brick). (this is the ONLY PLACE where i have it documented that I told them my address changed.. THANKS JOHN .. he made this entry: " Note Customer NEW Phone Number xxxxxxx Customer also has a new return address. Need AC Adapter John" - But he never took it down.

Thanksgiving came and went.. i tried reaching them on friday to no avail.. kept getting the after hours lady. I must say that it's really quite entertaining to call at 10AM and here a lady's default answer on the telephone "Are you calling for after hours support?" ... Um... No? I'm calling DURING business hours.. genius. She says that it shows that PCT is taking calls that day so try back in 30 mins, they might be at a meeting. I tried back 5 times throughout the day and gave up. Ya know.. it's day after thanksgiving.. wouldn't be the first company in the world to take a 4 day weekend. (i guarantee my old squadron did.)

So. I call Monday. I get:
"It shows here John determined it was the power supply that was faulty and he ordered you a new power supply."

He can't tell me how long that'll be tho. Anyway.. Between Monday and Yesterday we established a couple of things:
They aren't sure if a power brick is covered under extended warranty.. THERE IT IS AGAIN.. I inform them, yet again, I'm under my FIRST YEAR WARRANTY. SO,
They shipped the laptop to "me" and I got a confirmation email with a tracking number and a small history of -some- of these phone calls; where ONLY Ed And John made entries and I talked to at least 2 other people (no point in naming them - I like Ed and John despite all this; but I don't have anything decent to say about one of the other ones, and the other played a trivial part.) Remember that expedited shipping I asked for? I asked Ed:
"Is this going out Express?"
"The shipping guy says he can't because he can't get authorization today cuz the higher ups are out of the office, so if you want it shipped out today then it has to go ground."

O... M.... G... This is the 28th.. I have it here on YOUR RECORDS I asked for it on the 22nd.. Did your "Higher Ups" Take a week vacation or what? Nobody can pick up a telephone after an incident such as -THIS- to get me my damned laptop? ... Anyway.... That was not a bash at Ed.. just a serious bash at their lack of communication in that office.

Anyway.. at this point i just want it -out- of their hands and into mine.. I trust the post office more at this point - so they ship it, ground, DHL (and are going to have Sager ship me directly the Power Brick).. I get confirmation email... TO MY OLD ADDRESS!!!!!!! ($10 says even after all this.. sager still ships to the old address when they receive my bad power brick and send out the new one.)

*CRY SOB DIE SPIT*

I called Ed right back and he said he'd contact DHL to get it changed. I checked later at DHL's tracking number and it didn't have a delivered to address so i thought "cool.. they are changing it."
Checked it again 2 hours later ... STILL HEADING TO MAINE!

OK, enough. I called DHL the next day. Talked to the DHL support lady, she told me i need to send authorization to the DHL in Maine to re-route it to the new address. The DHL lady in Maine called me right back and said that only the -sender- can authorize the re-route because it will cost more so they need authorization for the extra charges.

I sent an email with the old address, new address, and DHL number using the support contact on the website and have been trying to call the PCT number ALL DAY today and I keep getting a "Number is not in service" kind of message. I'm not fat fingering it cuz I just use redial - it's literally been inside the last 10 phone numbers of my phone for the past two months. So something is jacked up with either their line today, or my cell phone, either way - I haven't heard a peep from my email i sent.

So.. Here I sit. No Laptop. Good possibility that some stranger sailor living on Brunswick NASB will get a nice free $2k laptop at my expense. My Post Office forwarding stopped after 30 days; so that won't work. So I'm screwed. And I know I'm not supposed to post while I'm upset.. but I'm completely at a loss. Completely.

So Anyway. To Sum Up:

Unless PCTorque were to offer me a HUGE deal on the next laptop I purchase. I won't be using them anymore unfortunately. I really, really, really, love the laptop and the product.. Sager, Clevo and PCT have a great product. But after this I just can't justify it. I -really- wanted the Force 510 or 710 too. It's basically an upgraded 3880 for around the same price. Dual Core with 256MB Ram video.. was gonna upgrade in a few months.

But ... my next laptop will probably be through PowerNotebooks or some other reseller. I dunno. But I recommended PCT to at least 8 of my friends after how happy I was with my initial purchase and the item. But unfortunately Murphy had to hit PCT and Me the one time I needed their support.

**NOTE**
I'd also like to say if you are considering a PCT laptop.. don't let this one post deter you. It -did- happen to me but that doesn't mean it'll happen to you - and chances are it won't. So many things went wrong in this scenario that it's just impossible for things to go this bad, twice. At the same token however, the information should be made available. Information is free - and I hope it helps to make an informed decision for someone.

Again - Thank you to John and Ed for putting up with my short burts of attitude on the phone; and for at least trying to make an impossible situation better.

Still Getting an invalid number for the PCT Support Phone Number.

"The number you are calling is not a working number!"

That's exactly what the operator lady says. I dunno how to contact the PCT people. Should I call Sager's Tech Support and try and get routed through?

*I called the Sager Support guys and he basically said they can't help me. They don't have another number. So I called PCT's Sales number and had to leave a message. It's been almost an hour and still no call back*

Never got a call back from the PCT Sales guys. Left 2 messages and even flagged one as important. Called DHL again and told them I can't contact the seller - they tried another number for ATS Warranty - Also Disconnected. Imagine that.

DHL Told me they still are required to attempt delivery to the old address as it's their "obligation to the sender" to do so. So basically i'm screwed if the people there don't check the name and/or just feel like signing for any package that comes to their door.

If I can't find a way to contact PCT or the receivers I may just have to persue legal action to getting my money back - or at least a replacement computer - at this point I can see no other alternative.

I have sent an email to the ATS Guys, PCT, twice, called every number I can find relating to PCT or Sager. I have done everything I can think of to contact these people.

The bad thing here is I am still covered under my first year Sager Warranty. Yet for some reason all the entries in the Message History say from ATS Warranty INC, and the Shipper on my package said it came from ATS Warranty.

I have no idea who I am going through at this point.

What number did you use to reach PCT?

Initially they thought I was under the Extended warranty and had me ship it to ATS. Then when I called and had to track it down we had it forwarded (or at least i thought) to the Sager Facility. I have no idea where my laptop has been the past two months.. all I know is it's going to end up in the hands of a stranger.

I'll try Sager again and see if they can patch me to PCT or something

Yup.. Exactly. I sent an email, btw. Still just getting ringing from the Sager Line.

I ordered 3 year extended warranty i believe, and 1 year accidental coverage. So I'm really getting toasted out of a 3 year warranty.

With ATS Out of business there is -no- way for me to contact the 'sender' of my laptop then. At least it explains the Disconnected messages. But then why is PCT getting disco messages? Is PCT Going out of business?? And If so what's going to happen to these forums?

oddly enough i got the same answering lady as when i call PCT.. all lines are busy press 1 to hold. And then nobody answered and it disconnected me. I'll keep trying that number, thank you. I think they've all packed up and went home.

Well - My Dilemma is almost resolved. If I were anyone else other than a former military in military housing I would have been SOL.

I called our old housing office to contact the people at the address - and allowed a forward of the package up the street to my old command. Had a friend sign for the package and he's going to ship it to me and I'm going to refund him the money.

If it wasn't for the fact that it was on a Military Installation DHL wouldn't have worked with me at all.

Oh Well.. I should hopefully get my laptop soon - I don't think I'm even gonna worry about the power brick.. I'm gonna run to Radio Shack and grab my own. I'm quite done with PCT and ATS. I may or may not call a lawyer to see if I can get an action suite for a refund of all Warranty Costs and anything else but it may just not even be worth that.

As Long as I get my laptop.. I'll be content. This was beyond a terrible experience. It was a nightmare.