I’ve had my issues with hardware companies big and small over the past few years. And frankly, you’re probably starting to think I’m just congenitally grumpy.
So it’s nice to be able to report a positive support experience.
My Acer Tablet PC (C314XMi) developed keyboard problems a few months back. After some basic troubleshooting, it became pretty clear the keyboard was defective. It’s less than a year old, so it’s still under warranty. I called Acer, and I was pleasantly surprised. My call was answered within 30 seconds. The support rep I talked to listened to my complaint, asked a few questions, and agreed that I should send the machine back for repairs. I had an RMA in my e-mail inbox less than an hour later.
After shipping the machine back to the company, I was overwhelmed with feedback. I got an e-mail two days later when my package was received. I got a phone call the next day to confirm my return address. I got another e-mail when the unit was returned (via FedEx) to me. All told, the repairs took less than three days.
At no point along the line did I have to raise my voice. I didn’t have to call back to get an answer to a question. I didn’t have to check a website to find out where my machine was. This is how support should work.
Ed Bott (@ wordpress.com) 
Currently I’m in the middle of a three month battle with Linksys over a number of defective routers, where I am always having to chase them for status updates, any kind of contact, RMA numbers, RMA Labels, etc – so I’m very jealous!
K
ah, fear is a great weapon ed.they probably new who you were.no seriously the first laptop i bought years ago was an acer which i promptly dropped.there suport was unreal even though it was my fault not theirs .they didn’t even charge.me.it’s good to hear they are the same.to bad some other companys were not as 1/2 good.
luck with the book.ron
My guess is they knew who Ed Bott is…
My son’s experience with Acer was not pleasant. His machine stopped booting after 11 months. After requesting an RMA, he read the directions, one of which was to back up his hard drive. I removed the drive and imaged it for safe keeping and packed the machine off to Acer.
They were prompt, all right. They promptly rejected his warranty because they noticed the screws on the HD panel had been removed and refused to fix it because the case had been opened. They further said that the machine had suffered a spill. My son recalled no spill episodes to the machine. They did however, offer to fix it for something in the neighborhood of $500. He declined.
After it came back, I took the machine apart down to nuts and bolts to see where the alleged spill had intruded. I found no indication of anything other than a pristine set of innards.
So, needless to say, there won’t be any more Acers around our house in the near future.
I don’t know what the problem(s) were, but my dad refuses to let his company buy any more Acer laptops (and he doesn’t blacklist many companies). He claims their support is terrible. He also doesn’t buy them personally.
But to #2 and #3 replying: if Acer support is so bad, how did they recognise the name? It seems unlikely…
I’m not sure I understand your question. I see no correlation between a company’s support and being familiar (or not) with Ed Bott’s name.
Ed,
I’ve had a bunch of Dell keyboards break on Latitude notebooks. These are business systems with Gold technical support, and my calls are ALWAYS answered within a few minutes and in almost every case I receive a keyboard the next day. One time they even included a mini screwdriver in the box. Tech companies should certainly provide better basic tech support. Good support exists. You just have to pay for it.
Carl
Ed,
a few months ago I had a completely different experience with Acer support. Acer was not able to fix my broken Tablet PC for about two months! Their support was really terrible, a nightmare.
My tablet is still under warranty, so I consider taking a legal action against them.
I’m not gonna buy any Acer HW never more.
Kamil
I’m a nobody and I got the same service as Ed did. Damaged CD ROM drive.
3 day turn-around.
And Carl, try getting that service from Dell with regular consumer support. Horrible. You can’t even converse with the techs. 10 weeks on a warrenty consumer E1505.
Michael D made a point of returning his Business, Gold, support back to the States after many threats and extremely bad publicity.
Left the old regular consumer in the weeds.
I was also pleasantly surprised with Acer UK support when I had cause to contact them last. My laptop battery stopped holding a charge after about 4 months so I gave them a call, answered very quickly, very pleasant on the phone. A replacement battery arrived by courier the next morning, no questions asked, no need to return the old one and wait for it to be tested or anything – very pleased!
Acer support does send the emails and make a quick turn around, but if they don’t actually fix the problem, all that is useless. My brand new Acer Aspire notebook is in its fourth trip to their Texas repair facility since Christmas day when it was new (it’s now March 2). They just keep sending it back and it still won’t run more than about 8 hours. They even sent me a hard drive once and had me install it myself! They absolutely ignore you if you suggest they need to just send me a different computer. This is a brand new unit and they refuse to replace it! I will never give Acer another cent of my money.